By Lindell Singleton / Head Girls Basketball Coach
Shady Grove Christian Academy, Grand Prairie, TEXAS

There is a term in Corporate America known as "Kill the messenger." It's a self-defeating, infective way of running an organization. That's what we must not do with Team USA. The defeats-81-78 to Yugoslavia, 87-80 to Argentina and 81-75 to Spain-represented dark days in USA basketball. There is, however, a message in these losses. A message that if we act quickly to bring systemic changes to managing the sport of basketball, we can escape the ignoble fate of becoming, as said on ESPN's SportCenter, "A soccer nation."

The rest of the world, with commendable impudence, has taken our sport and evolved it backward to the simple, elegant game that it once was. Team USA, with its collection of solid, if not top-tier NBA players, has been lashed about in columns from New York to New Braunfels. Coach George Karl, whose Milwaukee Bucks finished out the NBA season 5-14 to miss the entire playoffs has taken his share of criticism. A broader, more instructive view leads to a different conclusion: This was the wrong cadre of players to compete in the World Games...given the fact that Karl had only two weeks to prepare them.

Team USA has been excoriated for not playing hard. Let's examine this statistically: Which team had a better field goal percentage: The latest iteration of the Dallas Mavericks or Team USA? Team USA shot .500 on two-point field goals and .392 on three-point field goals (compared to .462 and .378 for the Mavericks). Team USA even racked up a better shooting percentage than the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Even when you extract blowout wins against Algeria and China, Team USA outshone the competition in every essential statistical category. Team USA, though commonly referred to as "selfish, overpaid Superstars" by much of the national media, had a better assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9 to 1.0) than the competition. So we shot the ball more efficiently, handled the ball with greater precision, and out-rebounded everyone. Still, we lost.

Mario Palma, coach of Team Angola offers this opinion: "We win in Africa because we are better organized, but Senegal and Nigeria have better players. They have players in college and the NBA, but they have no coaching and no organization. Give them two months' preparation with a good coach and those teams could play with anyone here."

Consider the following sacred cow: The United States has the best players in the world, therefore when they step on the court facing any other nation, the USA on the front of the jerseys will have the same effect as Jedi-mind control. It is, at its core, a compelling half-truth: The United States does have the best basketball players in the world, but they don't all compete in the World Games. Shaq, Kobe, Mike Bibby and Kevin Garnett would have ripped the heart out of Yugoslavia, slammed Argentina against the wall, and intimidated Spain into 35 turnovers. (The gold medal would have been a fait accompli and we, sadly, would not have an entree into this essential debate over the failing infrastructure that is USA basketball.)

A careful analysis of Team USA's defeat shows that it was short, critical lapses in defensive intensity that spelled their doom--most notably, team defense. Despite the absence of one more great shooter opposite Paul Pierce, Team USA had plenty offensive punch to beat the Yugoslavs and the Argentineans. They lacked the ability to defend in the International game--which, with it's back cuts and screen-the-screener action makes it a slightly different than one sees most nights in the NBA. The NBA game is very much a 'break-your-man down" off the dribble, one-on-one type scheme with team offense a secondary notion. Team Argentina-having played together for eight years, had too much chemistry and offensive fluidity for Team USA. Everyone on Team USA had probably seen a flex offense before (make a pass, set a screen, get a screen, get a pass, take a shot) but most assuredly not from a team that's been daily practicing it to perfection since 1994. No team-not even one comprised of NBA players-will be able to defend that for forty minutes unless they've spent about 400 minutes working against it.

Have you ever wondered why there is such focus in the NBA on defense? Because by the time a player gets to that level, he can score on anyone. Scoring is the top-level skill in basketball and NBA players have it mastered. I know that the shooting percentages-most specifically, three point percentages have dropped incrementally over the past several years-however, the one-on-one ability of NBA players to create space and get to the rim is startlingly efficient.

Team defensive schemes though taught at every level of basketball, require significant reinforcement in every practice. Have you ever watched a kid walk onto the court with a ball? Is their first inclination to get down into as Coach John Wooden calls it, "the stance" and be ready to play defense or does the kid starting shooting? Defensive is not natural to basketball players--*therefore, it must be continually, incessantly taught and re-taught. Even at the professional level.

George Karl had two weeks to get this group ready. It is easy to upbraid him for the team's performance-the reality, however, tells us that two weeks is just not enough time to teach players who don't normally play together, a.) How to play together and, b.) To play a different game. I wonder how many International games the Team USA players studied before beginning their odyssey. My suspicion: Very few. To borrow a phrase from Sean Connery in, The Untouchables, we brought a "knife to a gunfight."

Offensive comes naturally and we did reasonably well in that area. Defensive chemistry requires a lot more time to create.

The gist of the defeat provides opportunity to discuss the mysterious debilitating nature of AAU basketball in America. In many instances, the goal is to be "seen." And, at the end of the being seen odyssey is a brass ring in the form of a basketball scholarship--hopefully, on a team that will at least be on television. Eight of my former players have gone on to play basketball at the collegiate level (though, I suspect, only two have ever been on television). AAU basketball, and the desire to be seen, leads us to a place where there are too many games and not enough opportunities for skill development. Playing too many games-at the expense of intense, focused, instructive practice sessions-turns virtues (athleticism) into vices (believing athleticism is all you really need) while reinforcing bad habits. One of the biggest problem with high school coaching is the amount of unlearning that must go on-- you've got to get old ideas and behaviors out to get new ideas in. And, when you've got a kid that's played 48 games over the summer and not been corrected on any bad habits, it's an uphill climb once the high school season starts.

I can't tell you how many showcase events and basketball tournaments I've attended where the athleticism abounded but fundamental basketball skills (shooting, footwork, passing, and cutting) were largely non-existent. And, it is this essential area of foundational skill development where the Europeans and Asians are leaving us in the dust. European and Asian players spend 60 to 90 minutes per day working on fundamentals. (Coach, I don't have time to work on fundamentals, I've got to work on my 360-tomahawk dunk!)

AAU basketball, though, is not the problem. That environment simply fills a niche that would be filled elsewhere if AAU ceased to exist. The reality of basketball skill development should be de riguer for youth coaches, high school coaches and parents. Each group should strive for a partnership with the AAU/BCI organizations with a common goal in mind: An across-the-board recognizable improvement in basketball fundamentals. The United States already has the best athletes in the world-- what we must do is ensure we have the best basketball players in the world.

Basketball is America's game. Where did the Argentines, Slavs, Spaniards, and Chinese learn it? They learned it from us! And I, for one, am not ready to cede our superiority. Let's make systemic changes to how we think about basketball in America. Let's get the focus back on fundamentals and teaching kids how to play the game. Let's demand that the NCAA oligarchy allocate a percentage of its billion-dollar "March Madness" television deal to aggressively invest in youth basketball instructional schools and camps that are available at no charge to every kid and parent who is interested. Let's ask NBA owners to allocate a small portion of their gate receipts to fund skill-based camps for the top-caliber high school juniors and seniors in their respective cities* not showcase events, but camps with both classroom and on-the-court instruction. Let's get AAU/BCI coaches and high school coaches to the table and discuss how everyone can work toward a common good. Let's get parents telling little Johnny and little Megan to put the video game controllers down, turn off the damn television and get out in the driveway, parking lot or barnyard and work on their game. I promise you; there are kids everywhere from Belgrade to Buenos Aires that are doing that this very moment. We all must take action. Without it, the death of USA basketball will be on our hands.