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Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's wrong.

Go ahead and try to put the 'fundamentally sound' Princeton Tigers in an offense as relatively braindead as Mike Brown's - they'd trip over their own feet. NBA offenses (and defenses) for that matter are miles ahead of the stuff they use in college.

The fundamentals in the NBA are actually exceptional. The passing is off the charts good, but the length of defenders is so incredible that they still tip some of them away. It's not a bad pass, it's just that they're playing on a court that was designed at a time when 6'6'' was a damn behemoth and now it's a shooting guard.

There's simply not a lot of room on an NBA court anymore. These guys are freakin' huge and they're fast. To be able to get a pass into the interior all is pretty impressive and it generally comes off some pretty nifty screens or exterior passing before the entry pass is even possible. These guys are able to control their dribble while they're getting mugged coming through the lane, they can switch hands in the air to finish and their court vision is remarkable.

An earlier post was right - you need to see a game in person to realize just how hard that game is. From up high it looks like there's plenty of space and it looks pretty easy. Get down courtside and listen to it. It's violent (like punching a side of beef), its crowded and its chaotic. The fact that these guys can even see across the court given the fact that they're throwing over guys with 8-9 ft wingspans is pretty incredible. What they're able to do in the passing game alone is amazing when seen at the level these guys actually play at.

Then to watch them receive a pass in a triple threat position, execute a great jab step and go straight up for a 15 footer (only to still be contested on a play that would've had a college defender falling on his ass) and sink it is just a thing of beauty. 80% of the plays in the NBA are built around the fundamentals; passing, screens, positioning and shooting technique. Sometimes the D blows your play up and an iso is necessary, but it's almost always a losing proposition anymore because these guys are just too athletic on defense.

The 'streetball' talk is just wrong. Oh there's probably an element of latent racism to it, but mostly it's just wildly uninformed. The fundamentals in the NBA are stronger than they've ever been. The quality of play is higher than its ever been. It took me a very long time to come back around on the league after the Riley-era Knicks/Heat drove it into the abyss. I damn near left again after the 2005 Finals where the officials gave Dwayne Wade a championship. But there's just no question that the league right now is absolutely incredible.

If you don't want to watch - don't. But I get really tired of people that clearly don't understand the intricacies of the game trying to speak to how awful it is.

Very good post. However, IMO way too much thought wasted on the NBA...