Anonymous
Years ago
Thoughts?
https://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/ben-simmons-plans-to-launch-australianbased-nikebacked-aau-program/news-story/0d67429ea88a6110d49b73fa2fe8b985
This obviously has the potential to be revolutionary but it's very unclear how it will work, and my guess is that there are too many impediments to doing it on a scale where it does actually alter our most common junior pathways.
Is it a national program, or restricted to Victoria? If national, do teams genuinely train and prepare together or are they in the same situation as the existing Australian AAU participants?
If participating in Nike EYBL, which is a league run over a number of months, how much time and how many trips do these teams make to the US? How much is Nike funding contributing to those trips and how much is parents?
What age groups will the program run across? If it runs, say, 15u, 16u, 17u, 18u age groups, will trials be genuinely open for subsequent years and age groups, or will preference be given to returning players? Are they running a single team in each age group or will they run a platinum/gold/etc split like many US-based programs? How many kids can commit to that much April-July travel on an annual basis?
Has BA been consulted? Will they have anything at all to do with talent ID? Major AAU tournaments clash with the BA Prospects Camp and Global Academy Games, and even u16 Nationals. So will it be possible for kids to maintain a place in BA's elite pathways and still participate in the Simmons program?
All those uncertainties leave me thinking that without a sizeable national presence - let's say 4 teams/age group in 3 age groups - this won't register as more than a blip in our junior pathways.
AAU has ruined junior basketball in states, of course Nike is involved to try and get the next Simmons to wear their shoes. Going to come down to kids getting flown in from interstate and corruption as to where they go. Don't go to that college, they wear under armour, go to that one that wears Nike and we'll give you all free shoes. No development, just showcasing players.
https://www.basketballforcoaches.com/what-is-aau-basketball/
^ And yet the overwhelming majority of NCAA coaches have responded to the Rice Commission's recommendations by saying that AAU is actually much higher quality basketball than what they generally get to evaluate in camp settings. Given the impracticality of college coaches scouting high school basketball, summer hoops is a necessity.
Corruption exists, we know that. But it can't be all-pervasive: Zion Williamson, probably the most marketable athlete coming out of high school since Lebron, played for an Adidas AAU program but signed with a Nike school.
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