DIVIDE & CONQUER: HOW THE NBA QUIETLY KILLED AAU BASKETBALL - ALL-MET ELITE

DIVIDE & CONQUER

 HOW THE NBA QUIETLY

KILLED

AAU BASKETBALL 

 ALL-MET ELITE

 

Divide & Conquer

How the NBA Quietly Killed AAU basketball

Current NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently announced the 2018 Jr. NBA World Championship. A televised 14U basketball tournament at the Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. The tournament will expand in the future to potentially include older age groups of 15U, 16U & 17U. The registration fee for the Jr. NBA 14U World Championship will be $300 per team. Registration will be open to teams of ten (10) players.

Before we begin it must be firmly understood that there is no tennis shoe sponsored or independent AAU organization more powerful than the NBA. The NBA allows it's own players to wear the tennis shoe brand of their choice despite the NBA's established athletic merchandise or uniform deals. Secondly "world championship" realistically means USA world domination on the youth basketball level just as it does on the Olympic level & the United States use of NBA players to achieve world domination. Lastly the NBA is not going to outright tell you or anyone else they are going to strategically remove AAU basketball. As a global business entity they simply don't have the time for the low-level pettiness, drama or public backlash for their actions.  

 

1. Divide & Conquer
Eight 14U regional tournaments will be held across the U.S. in 2018, with the winning boys teams from each region advancing to the Jr. NBA World Championship.

 

The Regions

Central: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

 

Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia

 

Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

 

Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont

 

Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming

 

South: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

 

Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee

 

West: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah

 

Now take sometime to think of the most influential AAU powerbroker in your city, state or region which is often debatable to say the lest. How much influence does he have upon coaches, players, schools in your region? Does he coach currently or does he have a history of coaching? How much influence does he have upon college coaches in & outside of your region? Is he able to attract top talent to his organization year after year? How much influence does he have within the tennis shoe company he is affiliated with? Is his organization "branded" & synonymous with that tennis shoe company? Does his AAU organization have a track record of success on the tennis shoe circuit? Has he had several high school All-American's, successful D1 athletes & professional basketball players? Now imagine him recruiting in your region players from other competing AAU organizations & independent teams to form a regional super team of the best players that would be capable of winning the region & advancing to the "super regionals". Or imagine him attempting to use his own AAU players in an attempt to win the region & advance to the "super regionals". This is the clever divide & conquer strategy of the NBA which will kill AAU basketball. No AAU organization can survive at the highest level without high level players and with the regional format of the Jr. NBA World Championship it will create a recruiting wild, wild, west more cut throat than what currently exists or an isolated selfish divide created by coaches to hang onto players & risk them potentially not playing in the Jr. NBA World Championship on the biggest stage. There will be no more AAU organizations at that point the organization will be the Jr. NBA. All participating coaches will be required to be trained and licensed by USA Basketball (U.S.-based coaches). Meaning the NBA will eliminate the previous AAU coaches who are not able to be licensed. Which also means the NBA has the full right under the guise of the Jr. NBA to be selective of its coaches & pick & choose who can & cannot coach Jr. NBA youth teams. Think back to the most influential AAU powerbroker or coach in your region, will he be able to be licensed to coach by USA basketball standards. Those who are trained & licensed can coach & also recruit players, those who cannot be trained or licensed will be excused & potentially lose their top players. This will further the basketball divide & outright allows the AAU organizations to be conquered.

 

2. The Biggest Stage
By many accounts the 17U Nike EYBL Peach Jam is the pinnacle of the AAU tennis shoe circuit tournament championships. Once implemented the Jr. NBA 17U World Championship will quickly & easily exceed the EYBL Peach Jam. Reason being the NBA has the resources to do so. The NBA has the capital, business relationships with the established tennis shoe brands & upstart tennis shoe companies, global exposure, star power of the NBA players, media coverage, access to the NCAA/college coaches to sit & plan the most effective way to showcase the players involved for recruitment, & the venue. In the very near future NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will most certainly change the 1&done rule. Allowing players to again enter the NBA draft after high school which will provide even more incentive for high school age players to play in the Jr. NBA 17U World Championship in front of NBA scouts. What 5star high level player or their parents will be loyal enough to stay with a sub-par regional team instead of playing with a regional super team to potentially play on the biggest stage? If the player's ultimate goal is the NBA why would he not want to play on the platform created by the NBA? Many of the top players in the Jr. NBA 17U World Championship will be considered future lottery picks under the age old theory that only the strong survive.

 

3. Tennis Shoe Companies
The NBA has business ties with all the established tennis shoe brands & are very open to upstart companies that their players wear. The tennis shoe companies will gladly dissolve their current dealings with the many AAU organizations across the country to streamline the process of reaching high level talent and deal exclusively with the NBA/Jr. NBA teams. They will no longer technically have a need for the AAU organizations anymore. The tennis shoe companies only need access to the talent to establish potential endorsement relationships & for marketing purposes on the college/ high school level. The NBA will surely allow them to outfit the Jr. NBA regional teams that advance to the "super regionals" leading upto a potential Nike vs. Adidas 17U World Championship or Adidas Vs. Under Armour 17U World Championship etc. Which is great exposure for all brands involved.

 

4. World Dominance
If you believe the regional team representing the United States which advances to the Jr. NBA 17U World Championship will lose year after year to the international team you have so much to learn. The Jr. NBA World Championship is about USA basketball world dominance at the youth level & secondly about identifying the best domestic & international players for the NBA draft. Take for instance what Europe is doing to select its regional team to compete.  

 

The European regional champion will consist of the top players from Jr. NBA League programs across 17 countries in Europe (Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey). Each program is invited to nominate their best Jr. NBA League players to compete at a selection camp in Slovenia for the 10 available spots on the boys and girls teams that will represent Europe in the Jr. NBA World Championship. The selection camp will take place in April 2018.

 

Imagine the USA not sending their absolute best regional team & repeatedly losing to the international team on the biggest stage created by the NBA. Those embarrassing losses will lead to increased pressure by the NBA regionally within the states & changes will be made to assure the United States can secure Jr. NBA World Championship victories & subsequently world youth basketball domination. With the NCAA, college basketball & AAU all wrapped up in the negativity of an ongoing scandal which contradicts the Jr. NBA core values of teamwork, respect, determination & effort. It is hard to argue against turning over the countries top youth players to the people who handle the business of basketball at the highest level. It is a safe assumption that once the first wave of 14U players of the 2018 Jr. NBA World Championship graduate high school, AAU basketball as we know it today will no longer exist. High school basketball coaches will become even more irrelevant, helicopter parents, handlers, street agents & trainers will dig their claws even deeper into top prospects but always remember big brother is watching.

 

Written by Robert Whittaker 

2-20-17