St. Louis men's basketball coach Rick Majerus was talking about the influence that watching the pro game has had on young players.
"You walk in a gym in Southern California and, everywhere you look, there are kids shooting the Kobe Bryant fadeaway," Majerus said. "Even when it's an open shot, they are shooting the Kobe fadeaway.
"Or, you go to coaches' clinics, and they are talking about playing the fast-paced game -- like Phoenix was playing with Steve Nash a few years ago. The trouble with that is they don't have Steve Nash. Even the guy [Mike D'Antoni] who coached that style, he's in New York now, and he's finding out that without Steve Nash in his prime ... that style goes out the window."
Majerus has managed to find Ricky Rubio on TV often enough to be impressed with the Timberwolves rookie point guard.
"Rubio comes from a free-flowing game, and he's a special player in that style," Majerus said. "What's going to happen in Minnesota is you're going to have gyms full of kids throwing no-look passes, one-handed passes, because they want to be like Ricky.
"Rubio's throwing those passes for a reason, of course -- to look off a defender, to get a pass through a tight space. But those high school coaches and youth coaches up there ... they are going to have their work cut out, trying to convince all those kids that they aren't Ricky, and they shouldn't try to be Ricky."
![Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly speaks during a press conference to introduce the team's 2022 NBA draft selections Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at Target Center in Minneapolis. ]](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5TJRTEW45B4MW7WV6N7UJSXBU4.jpg?&w=436&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
