it's nice to see guys w/ old school hard work and 100% effort every night. Many of these guys think they've arrived once they hit college and can't be told their game has areas that need improvement. AAU Basketball seems to let the fundamentals and Defense slide and the Coaching is much more lax than regular HS BB according to many in the BB world. Well rounded and complete players are becoming the minority in the NBA. It's good to see guys like Lillard and Jimmer who never rest on current skill level and are highly motivated to keep progressing all the time.

I find it very frustrating to the watch the current NBA product and see guys that make millions a year give partial effort and stagnate skill-wise. The playoffs are the only NBA I care to invest time in. A player will dribble all over the place then throw up a bad shot, or leave their feet and fly into the lane outta control and throw up a shot why everyone watches. Fuhgeddabout free throws. Defense is terrible and lazy, and the half court offense and moving w/o the ball is ugly. Isolation offense is entertaining sometimes when the scorer is great, but overall it's messy and sorely lacking in BB I.Q. Am I just one of those dudes looking back at the glory days and how much better the NBA was, or has the NBA really gone downhill in the last 20 years? Maybe some of you that like the current NBA can set me straight and tell me why I'm wrong. Wow, that was quite a rant.