Eddie Johnson is a 17-year NBA veteran and current analyst and radio host for NBA Radio on SiriusXM. Johnson, who scored over 19,000 points in his career, joined the “Coach JB Show With Big Smitty” on X to discuss some hot NBA topics. But the former shooting guard and international star, was very passionate about the way America is failing its basketball players at the grassroots level.
“The grass roots, guys, are the problem,” Johnson said. “The grass roots are the problem. You think about it. You’re hiring guys to coach high school teams and they’re math teachers. What the heck do they know about basketball? They’re just taking the job because they make some extra money. Maybe a couple thousand dollars extra.”
Johnson Says Youth Basketball Programs Need Real Hoops Coaches
“You got to find coaches,” Johnson continued. “People that’s in basketball. Basketball is a class, and you can major in that and if you major in that, you can make $50M a year. Name me a curriculum in High School and college where you can go within three years out of college or less and make $30-$40-$50M? Not doctors, pilots none of that.
“So why would you have a subservient person teaching these kids?” Johnson asked. “That’s the issue”.
International Hoops Programs Focus On Fundamentals Not Miracle Drills Is Why Last Seven NBA MVPs Are Foreign-Born
In the midst of a stellar NBA career that spanned 1981-1999, Johnson was also a Greek League Champion and Greek League MVP in 1995, so he is familiar with the work ethic and culture of the international game.
Johnson noted a stark difference between how he trained in Greece and how they train in America. He says they spent more time on the fundamentals and then let the players scrimmage and work on everything they practiced in the morning. He says he had two-a-days every day, even at 35 years old, when he played in Greece. Johnson says Americans waste time on drills and dribbling exercises that don’t make them better basketball players.
Johnson says look no further than the fact that the last seven NBA MVPs have been international-born players to support his criticism of grass roots basketball and coaching in the USA.
“(Canadian) Shai Gilgeous Alexander,” said Johnson, pointing out the simplistic yet deadly game that the 2025 MVP is displaying in these NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers. “Is he out there trying to cross people over? He going left, he going right, he giving you up fakes and all that… averaging 30!
“Then (in America) they’re teaching these kids all this other stuff and all it’s doing is wasting their time and ticking their teammates off,” said Johnson, referring to the proliferation of “specialized” training and trainers and the money grab that has infested youth sports in this country and put us behind the eight ball as a sports culture.
Eddie Johnson Says Money-Grab Specialized Training Has Destroyed Grass Roots Basketball In America
Johnson said the NBA is investing money in American products who still have to be taught the basic fundamentals of basketball once they get to the pro level, which hinders development.
“Then you have guys creating all of these freakin’ spaceman drills for these kids and all these dribbling classes and all this junk and they’re not teaching them the nuances of the game,” Johnson said. “Getting from A-B, C-D. they’re not doing it. So, the kids come into the league and have to be retaught. The colleges can’t teach them because they only get them for one year. Now the NBA has to calibrate them and take a chance on them and they’re raw. They can do this, but they can’t shoot. They can do this but can’t defend. And all of a sudden, they have to teach them and yet they are paying them a ton of money when they could have gotten taught this at the grassroots.”
The hustle has turned on us and international players who are learning the proper way to play basketball and be great teammates are, in Johnson’s opinion, taking over basketball culture and its showing at the NBA level. It’s not a talent thing. It’s a culture problem.
“They are stealing money from their parents. They’re charging them $50-100 per hour and they aren’t teaching them kids jack squat,” Johnson concluded.
