Sounds like this is shade towards the president or something I'm missing, but this isn't the D&D so I won't bother asking or getting into it. Plenty to be happy about representing the USA though. Our players are much, and mean MUCH, more concerned about an NBA title than anything the FIBA could ever offer. Well that's obvious of course. Boredom with international players/teams is just par for the course sadly.
He did this same thing with the redeem team and end up getting commitments from Kobe, Lebron, etc etc He's not turning away superstar players, that's a good way for him to get fired because what will happen is you'll see said superstar player tell the media "I wanted to play but they didn't want me." which isn't a good look for him. He's just doing his mind games thing that he did then and calling out guys who pulled out at the last moment. Last time it was about getting Kobe's commitment to the team and Kobe apparently challenged guys to join up to prove to the rest of the world that they aren't ready. Last time they asked for a commitment and I think this time they will too...for FIBA. I think FIBA re-making its entire tourney and changing its structure really threw a hiccup in his plans, the recruitment for this team was barely. The Redeem team was about FIBA too, a lot of people forget that, but I think he's going to tell the guys that if you play for the Olympics I need you to seriously consider being there for FIBA, like he did last time.
walker disappointed and his man scored big down the stretch repeatedly! actually his man scored over Mitchell,middleton, and walker on them threes!
I thought the 35 something players in the Team USA program had voluntarily signed up to play for the national team. They just backed out of their commitment. That should be the key issue they deserve fair criticisms for. Maybe patriotism is indeed a stupid outdated idea in the eyes of many, but America certainly values the virtue of sticking to your own promises.
They don't do it only out of the good of their hearts. National newspapers, the media and the public blame and accuse them if they refuse to come play and they can become public enemies and traitors. Even the national association itself can publicly condemn the ones who refuse to come. Of course after they have won medals, or championships then there isn't that much pressure anymore. Noone would blame Gasol if he refuses to play nowadays. The new Fiba schedule overwhelmingly favours USA and really screws over european teams. The Americans can even send G-leaguers and beat the other joke teams from the americas, but not only european teams don't have such depth they have to face against elite competition. It's incredibly stupid and a nightmare how to qualify.
Yep, they backed out and a lot of them for good reasons, the NBA season being right around the corner. Do we really want Harden to play for Team USA when right now he should be working with the Rockets and Westbrook and working on Chemistry? A lot of fans reactions to their players pulling out has been "Whew, glad he's not doing that!" Just look at the PJ Tucker thread about it FIBA should really consider moving the tourney up into the same July-August window like the Olympics. But you are right that there is a pride that foreign-born players or at least represent their countries more consistently. I think that's because those guys know they are leading their countries while the USA it's like an Avengers of Basketball where you know Spider-man can pull out but you still have all these other guys. The Redeem team was special because there was a real pride there and they wanted to show the world that the USA is still the best. I think there has been an over confidence since then, people still thought this team could win, many of us knew better. I think this humbling will get a lot of these guys chomping to redeem the USA. These are NBA superstars, they don't get to where they are at without being competitive and egotistical. ALSO too I think a lot of the best players are older so it is sort of like where Team Brazil is at sometimes in Soccer where the best players are just older and their younger generation isn't ready yet. I think Team USA is also at this point where all of our best players are either over 30, are 30, or knocking at the door of 30 and these guys are more likely to just retire from international play. I fully expect Trae Young, Zion, Booker, Kat, to carry the flag. They have to because you really can't rely on asking guys like Harden, Curry, Kawhi to be there past 2020. A lot of young guys should want to, NBA players care a lot about their brand and that factors into it too. There's money to be made for Nike Olympic commercials and being the face of Team USA.
You are completely right there about USA actually benefits because of the schedule and the Americas being really really bad and European teams can't, that is true. I just think with it being like a week before training camp it basically asks a lot of NBA players to choose between club and country and a lot of guys want a NBA championship more than anything. FIBA has a lot of issues, I love the idea of making it a 32 team tourney but the scheduling for it is silly.
This is a good point too because there isn't much pressure here if you decide to go. Most people realize that an NBA championship comes first for many players. The media today is like "Eh, maybe they should go next time? I dunno." Like for Yao he was pretty much forced to do it, although Yao always very proud of representing China it's not like he had much of a choice not to. I imagine there is a lot more pressure for international players but also too that winning an international competition makes that player a HOF player and a legend too. Marc Gasol will probably be known more for his gold for Spain than winning a championship for the Raptors. Scola and Ginobili and their golden generation will be forever remembered in Argentina and whoever wins this year... I think France or Australia, those guys will be immortalized forever and a guy like Gobert or Mills could go into the HOF based on the result of this tourney. Also, Americans complaining about USA should look at Canada lol. No one ever plays for Canada despite that they have so many NBA players, I have no idea whats going on up there.
Yes and except the pressure there are also government benefits in many countries apart from the usual form of sponsorships. For example as a national team player, even junior teams, you get huge number of bonus points to your SAT exams and even if you are a horrible student you can enter the best university to study whatever you want even medicine for free. You can get hired by the army as a high rank officer so even when you retire at 30, you can have a good salary and pension for the rest of your life. Of course this works more for sports where athletes don't make much money and are millionaires but even rich football players have taken advantage of these benefits here. I know that many french national team players have benefited from the french sports institute and all their childhood got the best education and basketball skills for free. When you get benefits, you feel more obliged to give more of your time back.
I hear where you're coming from, and we'll definitely see how 2020 unfolds. It's interesting. The competition is definitely improving. It's one thing to sign up for the Olympics when you know you're pretty sure you'll win the gold. But when you're going to have to scrape and claw and risk injury all to maybe not get gold?
I say it shows how soft a lot of these new players in the NBA are. There weren't any "superstar" calls and the refs did a pretty good job of officiating. We need to step up and toughen up next time, we have the talent so there's really no excuse.
The main difference between basketball's World Cup and soccer's World Cup (which is the biggest sporting event in the world besides the Olympics) is that there is still a huge talent gap between American basketball and the rest of the world. Everybody knows that if the USA fields its top team, nobody else will have a chance. So the competition is never really there. Soccer on the other hand has real parity. Even the favorite is not that much better than the rest of the field. And powers shift every few years. So winning the World Cup is a huge deal and being able to play in the World Cup is an honor nobody would refuse. It is a true world championship tournament.
When I lived in Germany, I liked to ask the fans whether the winner of Champions League could theoretically win the World Cup. As I recall, most said no. I'm not sure if I believe them. (what say you, @AroundTheWorld ) If you believe the Champions League winner is the best team in the World, better than any National Team, then that is the true world championship tournament...just like the NBA Playoffs is the true world championship bball tournament. I think it's pretty safe to say that the NBA Champion would beat Team USA. So, the true world championship tournament is most definitely the NBA Playoffs. I think pretty much all the NBA playoff teams could win the WC. Mainly because Playoff Defense is something no (absolutely no) international teams have experienced, and could handle. The chemistry of Team is most seen in the elevation of defensive play. The result of another question I asked Stuttgart natives that @AroundTheWorld and @Yung-T might like to hear, this was in 2011 before the 2014 win: Question: If you had to pick between Stuttgart winning Champions League versus Germany winning the WC, what win would you take. Spoiler It was 50/50. Pretty much everyone I asked outside of Stuttgart chose Germany. haha. I loved those guys.
No disrespect here and as you spent lots of time there but why just German fans and not other Euro fans? I guess you could travel easily within the EU and also ask foreigners in Germany as well. And I would like Spain, Argentina, Serbia, France to experience the Playoff D.....if you know what i mean. FYI in some of the interviews with futball managers who had some knowledge of Bball, they said they expect more underdog wins in soccer than bball. Also dragging a game into Overtime and penalty shootout, an underdog got a real chance. (The Italians have found a way of Catenaccio or Parking the Bus where they just kept a clean sheet by team effort and either won by scoring only one goal or going all the way to Penalty shootout without scoring in the flow of the game and then win.) I hate officiating in the NBA, in soccer referees make mistakes as well but there should be no such thing as 'Homecooking'. Or evidently multiple Superstar calls. If there were, then it is probably ref getting blackmailed or getting bribed. Could easily go to jail for that. Spoiler In Soccer (other name futball) you won't have the Fouling and the many Time Outs one has at disposal in the waning moments. They dun stop the clock in intervall of seconds. Rotation changes happen much more than in futball where you can only substitue on a 3 guy per game basis. All of the CL top teams got national team players, they easily balance out that relationship, there is no Club futball is way more important than NT duty. I would say NTeam and CL are equally important to many. And the NT won't budge to the club when there is a big tourney. Conclusion is there won't be a competition of CL teams vs National teams because if you count out the strongest formation of CL top teams who all have National team players, they are left with nothing much and vice versa the National Teams have to field B and C teams to compete, that way the results in the WC would be skewed. It is all about who can field the strongest squad either in terms of talent or overall team chemistry. So IMHO it is easier to say NBA playoff teams can win the FIBA WC than CL top teams can win the WC.
Great game Australia vs Spain! It is going down to the wire now. Patty Mills' mistake in the last seconds could cost Australia.
OT Wow Mills again cost Australia the win by missing the FT. The referees have been making many mistakes so far.