I wanted to DIVE into why America has been a SUPER POWER of Basketball. What you maybe did NOT know as well is that basketball is directly related to soccer (football) and futsal. In my research, I found that there were four(4) primary reasons for the success of American basketball. 

1) SSGs - ALWAYS under 5v5

2) Accessability to play in the STREET

3) Competitive Drive

4) FUNDAMENTALS

The first 3 lead to the LOVE of the game. American basketball players LOVE the game. They spend time every day playing, training and pickup games. Basketball has that culture that football needs for us to reach the highest level of the game. Mike Dunlap - a former NBA Coach highlights this during a FIBA Basketball Course in Italy - https://youtu.be/Ljbq-yeEYFk - It is 1-hour long, but you can watch the first 5-10 minutes and really see the difference and why FUNDAMENTALS are so important. In this hour session, they did 30 minutes of fundamental training.