Growing up I was not a big basketball fan. When Michael Jordan came to the Bulls and they started to get into the playoffs, I became a bandwagon fan. It wasn't hard to watch MJ, Pippen and the rest dominate the league.
I remember watching a game during the Championship years when they trailed during most of the game by 8 or 9 points. Suddenly after a time out they picked up the Defense and were ahead about ten points. This was within about 5 game minutes. It was incredible.
Those days are long gone. The past few years, every time I turn on a game, all I see are passes not going to the intended player and going out of bounds. I see missed free throws and missed layups. My mom has always said that a professional basketball player should not miss a free throw. While I don't completely agree, they should be a lot better than some of them are.
Layups are a different story. A layup is the most basic shot a basketball player learns when they begin to play basketball. The past several years every time I watch a game I see Kirk Hinrich missing layups in games. How does this happen to a pro basketball player? I understand that once in awhile it will happen but it seems to happen at least once a game to this guy!! I believe the lack of fundamentals that players are not learning growing up are the reason why they have such a problem when they get to college and the pros.
Around the league there are a lot of great players that are fundamentally sound. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are two that come to mind. But there are a lot of players that will not play defense or do not shoot well.
Until I turn on a game consistently and do not watch bad play, I will not be a watcher of the NBA much less the Chicago Bulls on a consistent basis. Hopefully younger players can learn the fundamentals of the games and the future of basketball will be a lot brighter for the league.
