The basketball term "EuroStep" is inaccurate

[Sakkreth]

Noone says it came from europe. Many players could of done it because they felt like doing it without even thinking if it was done before or not, noone knows who used it first. It's called eurostep because it was popularised by european players.

[3ball]

Yea, Baylor was doing eurosteps in the 60s, Dave Bing too, got Dr J doing it in the 70s, Jordan did it plenty, Magic too, dude in my avatar did it many times... Yet some young, ignorant people will keep on thinking that every move was invented today, that basketball was nothing before... when they don't even know what they're talking about.

Shit, just for you to see, this fool named Chris Palmer, a freaking ESPN writer, was tweeting that crossovers didn't exist in the 1980s and back A ****in crossover! Move where you switch directions/the ball to the opposite hand... And just because dribbling "rules" were stricter, doesn't mean it didn't exist, lmfao. I can post countless footage from players like Tiny Archibald, Michael Jordan, Pete Maravich, Tim Hardaway, Oscar Robertson, Dwayne Washington, Fat Lever, Archie Clark, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, so on, pulling some great crossovers (even without carrying/palming) yet some clueless folks will keep saying dumb shit like that...

The "euro" step was a common move - Elgin looked like he'd done that move 1000 times.. honestly, it only got an actual name when the europeans started doing it..

Regarding the crossover and the basketball ignoramus Chris Palmer, here's Bird doing the "Iverson" crossover (Iverson's is the exaggerated crossover, where he takes an exaggerated step and motion in one direction, and crosses over the other way.... as opposed to the Tim Hardaway crossover, which is a bang-bang double-crossover).



I credit Iverson for bringing this TYPE of crossover to the mainstream, but it was a common move long before Iverson dropped Jordan with it - it was being done by Bird, MJ, Isiah, guys like Sleepy Floyd used to drop guys with it all the time, and it was being done extensively in the playground (youtube the early AND1 mixtapes with Skip to My Lou, aka rafer alston).
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[3ball]

It's called eurostep because it was popularised by european players.

Many players did the move, even sub-par, below-average players... it was common move... so why keep saying that the euros popularized it?

Do you think that if you say it enough times it will be true?... I posted 4 euro-steps in the op alone - do you think those are the only euro-steps done?... do any of those moves look like the player was not completely accustomed to doing the move?

Here, let me fix your quote for you....

It's called eurostep because it was only given a name once european players started doing it, long after Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing and Tiny Archibald made it a common move.

It was a common move long before the euro's ever did it, but it only got a name when the euro's started doing it - this is a fact... which is why i said the media and fans are dumb.

The term "euro" step may have introduced you to the move and popularized it for YOU (and the media), but it was already a common move.

[ralph_i_el]

Elgin did the move 60 years ago....

now you want to hit me with what you heard on ESPN about how Sarunas Marciulionis popularized it?

You either haven't been watching basketball for that long, OR, simply don't have the knowledge of the game or recall to understand that guys euro-stepped regularly in previous eras - so just like you and everyone else didn't know that Elgin, MJ, and Magic did the move, you are unaware that ANY decent guard did the move.

Ignorance this significant should be a bannable offense.
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we get it. Everything was better back in the day. Kids didn't sag their pants and a cheeseburger cost a nickel.

[3ball]

we get it. Everything was better back in the day. Kids didn't sag their pants and a cheeseburger cost a nickel.

who said anything about things being better??... ignorant response.

the point of the thread is to expose the stupidity of crediting the euros with inventing and/or popularizing a move, when it was a common move decades before they ever started doing it.

by any standard, that makes no sense.

btw, how long do you think kids have been sagging their pants for?
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[Warfan]

Yo 3ball, what team do you rep?

[3ball]

Yo 3ball, what team do you rep?

they're really unlucky, but i like the thunder because durant's scoring ability is the closest thing I've seen to Jordan's, so i'd like to see a dominant scorer win again (watching dirk was fun)...

durant lacks Jordan's drop-step ability and post game, but he's 6'9" AND a pure shooter, and he's equally devastating as the primary ballhandler (at least in today's spaced game).

once durant learns how to take FULL advantage of his shooting ability via 1) the turnaround jumper and 2) having GO-TO moves for pullup jumpers, which allow him to go alpha-gunner style (using the pull-up as the primary weapon) while maintaining efficiency.

right now he can't go alpha gunner against the best teams without losing efficiency, so he let's westie do it a lot, which is fine, but not as optimal as when Durant is going for 40+.... GO-TO moves for pull-ups and a strong turnaround J and post game (like Pierce and Jordan and Dirk) would help him a ton against dialed-in defenses... then mix in his off-the-dribble game and it's murder.
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[Lebron23]

they're really unlucky, but i like the thunder because durant's scoring ability is the closest thing I've seen to Jordan's, so i'd like to see a dominant scorer win again (watching dirk was fun)...

durant lacks Jordan's drop-step ability and post game, but he's 6'9" AND a pure shooter, and he's equally devastating as the primary ballhandler (at least in today's spaced game).

once durant learns how to take FULL advantage of his shooting ability via 1) the turnaround jumper and 2) having GO-TO moves for pullup jumpers, which allow him to go alpha-gunner style (using the pull-up as the primary weapon) while maintaining efficiency.

right now he can't go alpha gunner against the best teams without losing efficiency, so he let's westie do it a lot, which is fine, but not as optimal as when Durant is going for 40+.... GO-TO moves for pull-ups like Pierce and Jordan and Dirk had would help him a ton against dialed-in defenses.
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[Warfan]

they're really unlucky, but i like the thunder because durant's scoring ability is the closest thing I've seen to Jordan's, so i'd like to see a dominant scorer win again (watching dirk was fun)...

durant lacks Jordan's drop-step ability and post game, but he's 6'9" AND a pure shooter, and he's equally devastating as the primary ballhandler (at least in today's spaced game).

once durant learns how to take FULL advantage of his shooting ability via 1) the turnaround jumper and 2) having GO-TO moves for pullup jumpers, which allow him to go alpha-gunner style (using the pull-up as the primary weapon) while maintaining efficiency.

right now he can't go alpha gunner against the best teams without losing efficiency, so he let's westie do it a lot, which is fine, but not as optimal as when Durant is going for 40+.... GO-TO moves for pull-ups and a strong turnaround J and post game (like Pierce and Jordan and Dirk) would help him a ton against dialed-in defenses... then mix in his off-the-dribble game and it's murder.
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Man, I figured you were a bulls fan. Im shocked...

[3ball]

thunder are really unlucky the last two years... if ibaka stays healthy, its the thunder blowing out the heat this year...

[Lebron23]

thunder are really unlucky the last two years... if ibaka stays healthy, its the thunder blowing out the heat this year...

The Thunder no longer have any excuses this year. Ibaka-Durant,and Westbrook are a more experience trio than Lebron, Love and Irving. I'd take the Cavs in 6 games if they meet in the finals.

[Rake2204]

The "euro" step was a common move - Elgin looked like he'd done that move 1000 times.. honestly, it only got an actual name when the europeans started doing it..

I am of the opinion that the Eurostep evolved over the years in a fashion similar to the crossover. I do not believe the Euro was originally as elaborate nor always as planned as much as it was a reaction by a certain selection of players (which does not make them any less effective or worthwhile).

In fact, the gifs included in the original post (as well as a Bob Cousy clip CavaliersFTW provided a few weeks ago) more closely resemble a sidestep maneuver than what we'd now consider a legitimate Euro-step. Sidesteps tend to lean more closely toward "Go straight, slight veer right (if any), then step left."

Having graduated high school in 2002 (right before the modern Euro explosion) those types of sidesteps were, in fact, moves many players knew and enacted. I even had those types of sidesteps in my own arsenal (though the one below is from a tough camera angle). Still, direction changes at the last moment were alive and well before Euros got big.



In contrast, the move popularly known as the Eurostep in modern basketball culture regards an elaborate lateral step in one direction, followed by an elaborate lateral step in the opposite direction, not merely a subtly lean or slight stutter in one direction (if any at all). A legitimate, elaborate Euro was a maneuver that was still uncommon enough as of 2003 that many non-NBA players attempting them in games were still being whistled for traveling at that point. Here's an example of the elaborate lateral step necessitated to warrant a dictionary form of the Euro:



As for whether that move was invented or popularized by Europeans, I personally find it relatively negligible. Names are names. No one literally died during Tim Hardaway's Killer Crossover, God Shammgod may have learned his move from someone else, and the sky hook never truly touched the sky.

Even still, let it be clear than an elaborate Euro could have been performed in the 60's at some point (though, similar to the referee-based growing pains it experienced in the 2000's, I imagine it would have struggled back then too) but the idea is it did not reach critical mass until this century, in my opinion. I'm teaching and drilling Eurosteps to my players these days. Even as recently as my senior year (2001-2002) I'm pretty sure we may have laughed my coach out of the gym for trying to drill us in a random move nobody does that may or may not be interpreted as illegal.

[3ball]

The Thunder no longer have any excuses this year. Ibaka-Durant,and Westbrook are a more experience trio than Lebron, Love and Irving. I'd take the Cavs in 6 games if they meet in the finals.

If Lebron did win, how much props could you really give him in comparison to say, when Dirk won his championship, or when Jordan, Duncan or Bird won theirs?

Lebron got to skip the growth, development, and mentoring stages of a young team into champions - TWICE now, he's gotten to hand-pick his team of experienced, veteran all-stars and skip the tough, early stages that the greats he's compared to did NOT get to skip.

So he simply had to do less to earn his championships in comparison to Dirk, Duncan, MJ and Bird, so they aren't worth as much in my mind, and i think objective historians will look at it the same way.

[Lebron23]

If Lebron did win, how much props could you really give him in comparison to say, when Dirk won his championship, or when Jordan, Duncan or Bird won theirs?

Lebron got to skip the growth, development, and mentoring stages of a young team into champions - TWICE now, he's gotten to hand-pick his team of experienced, veteran all-stars and skip the tough, early stages that the greats he's compared to did NOT get to skip.

So he simply had to do less to earn his championships in comparison to Dirk, Duncan, MJ and Bird, so they aren't worth as much in my mind, and i think objective historians will look at it the same way.

3x NBA Finals MVP. How many NBA players have 3 or more NBA Finals MVP?? Only Duncan, Shaq, Magic, Jordan, and Bill Russell if they were giving the awards pre 1969.

[3ball]

3x NBA Finals MVP. How many NBA players have 3 or more NBA Finals MVP?? Duncan, Shaq, Magic, Jordan, and Bill Russell if they were giving the awards pre 1969.

3 Finals MVP's???