varsity.roanoke.com

J.J. Redick is not a big fan of AAU basketball.

The Orlando Magic guard spent three summers playing for one of the best AAU teams in the country, the Boo Williams squad in Hampton. But the Cave Spring and Duke graduate said summer basketball has gotten "a little bit out of control."

"There's maybe too much emphasis on AAU basketball," Redick said. "I would like kids to play maybe one or two tournaments and maybe one camp a summer and the rest of the time, they should be working on their game.

"For your average kid that goes and plays AAU, he's really not getting much playing time. He's traveling here and there, but when is he working on his game? When is he developing the fundamentals and the skills to get to the next level? It places the onus on the high school coach, then, to improve his fundamentals from November to March -- it's difficult to do."

Redick said he played for Boo Williams because he wanted to be exposed to coaches of programs the caliber of Duke, Florida and Arizona. But he remembers missing a few team camps that the rest of the Knights attended because he was busy with Boo Williams -- even going with Boo Williams to Brazil.

"I shouldn't have played as much AAU," he said. "I should've spent more time with my teammates. It's great for exposure and it is needed, but not to the level that it's hyped."

Redick said he tried to find a balance. He not only played for Boo Williams to gain a better understanding of the team game, but he would also grab a few of his Cave Spring teammates and take them to the gym with him to hone their skills.

"Any time I was home, I was either at the [Roanoke Athletic Club] or at Cave Spring, working on my game," he said.

Playing AAU ball did help his game, said Redick, because he got to test himself against the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.

Hidden Valley's Ben Boggs has spent the spring and summer playing for the East Coast Fusion of Charlottesville. Boggs said AAU features a "run-and-gun style" of basketball.

"You don't really come across an AAU team that plays like a high school team, where they'll run a lot of plays and have a half-court offense," Boggs said. "In high school, you have your game plan and you work on it in practice. ... In AAU, you get maybe 10 minutes before the game to really talk about it and then you just play."

Boggs' team practices twice a week, although he attends only one practice a week because of the distance.

"We're really trying to help the kids get better ... through skill development," East Coast Fusion coach Cade Lemcke said. "It's so important for somebody like Ben to be working on his skills.

"That player that's playing for Boo Williams, how much better is he getting from March through July? ... He might be getting a ton of exposure and playing on a very successful team, ... but is he really getting better?"

Redick's sister Abby has played for Boo Williams this summer. Her team hasn't practiced since the spring.

"With our kind of talent, I don't think we really need it," she said.