Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
RFDC wrote:
The Missing Link wrote:
Nardi wrote:
The "knack" of the game got lost with all the chucking. Bird and Magic were really skilled. But it was the knack that made them even better.
I'd say the "knack" for playing basketball has gotten lost due to all of the "training" that kids do in order to play basketball as opposed to actually playing basketball.
Today most everything that a child does with a basketball (if he has any inkling of talent) will usually be conducted under the watchful eye of a professional trainer, as opposed to just simply playing basketball. There are no "pickup" games in the park anymore. There are only scheduled workouts usually lasting 1-2 hrs a day every day or so if you are lucky and that's about it. Kids never work on their game in their off hrs anymore and they damn sure aren't just meeting up in the park or gym unless a coach is prodding them to do so.
Guys like Bird would spend hrs upon hrs working on his game. Kids today really aren't doing that. The NBA isn't actually demanding that they do it either. As long as you have a certain amount of "length" and "athleticism" then they will draft you these days. Doesn't matter if you can actually play or not just as long as you have a certain look about you will be fine in most cases.
Completely agree Link. The lack of kids just going to a park or playing in their driveway has had a huge impact on things. It is sad really.
I think you could say the same thing about baseball. I'm 100% certain my dad fielded many, many more groundballs at short in his life than Tim Anderson ever will. Look at a guy like Eloy Jimenez. How many flyballs do you think he's fielded in his life? Probably not nearly as many as just the average kid in the 40s or 50s or 60s.
Whenever an MLB broadcaster says, "nobody works harder on fielding than (insert bad defensive player)", you know the team is just trying to provide cover for the fact that the player sucks defensively and has absolutely no interest in getting any better. Seems to work, Tim Anderson fancies himself as not just an above average player, but a superstar, back in the day teams quickly benched dudes that couldn't catch the baseball and would certainly never play him at a key defensive position like SS given that he is a liability defensively.
The modern teams rely on the fact that most fans did not grow up playing baseball almost daily with neighborhood dudes and playing little league, those that did quickly recognize a guy that cannot track a fly ball or does not position himself properly to field a grounder, you also see this watching many girls sports where the girls only play the sport during organized practices/games and really do not enjoy playing for fun with friends, you quickly recognize the lack of mechanics, especially when you watch a JV girls softball outfielder.
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