Should the NBA allow players to play international ball?

[MannyIsGod]

Because of the offense they ran. Because of the piss poor coaching and team selection. Because it doesn't take that much to impliment a better style of team play, and they should have learned their lesson in Athens.

They paid lip service to learning it, but they didn't.

[ALVAREZ6]

I see where Manny is coming from and I agree with him.

If I were an American, I would feel the same was as Manny, expecting the team to come in first, nothing less, for the reasons that he stated.
Considering all the players they have to select from, and all the talent, it's almost a waste that the Americans can't find a way to play like a team, and that's where the embarassment plays in. You should be able to expect a country like the US in basketball to be able to raise a team that wins gold everytime, but they fail because they can't learn how to play like a team, and that's what you should be mad at.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Because of the offense they ran. Because of the piss poor coaching and team selection. Because it doesn't take that much to impliment a better style of team play, and they should have learned their lesson in Athens.

They paid lip service to learning it, but they didn't.

oh... nevermind, missundertanding then

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Who gives a fvck about the perception of the "NBA brand"? That commentator is seriously wacko if he thinks that for some reason corporate interests should rule the individual personal decisions of players in their own time.

Seriously, why, outside of activities directly related to their NBA contracts, should players, or anyone else, care about how Corporation NBA is percieved?

Corporations look after the profits of their shareholders and little else, so why should they have any say in this?

[MannyIsGod]

What do you mean it's ours? And how do you know we play it more?

Basketball is without a doubt played far more in this country than in any other country in the world.

[ALVAREZ6]

Basketball is without a doubt played far more in this country than in any other country in the world.

+ the population of the US itself plays a huge role.


Think about it, roughly 300 million Americans.
50% roughly are male, so now we're down to 150.
Of those 150 million, I bet a large percentage of them played basketball in their youth, as it's one of the most popular sports here.


Argentina has roughly 40 million or so.
20 million males
Total basketball players???

Not many.

[mavs>spurs2]

I agree with Manny. Basketball was invented and made popular in this country. While kids in other countries want to grow up to be the next great soccer player, kids in the U.S. are trying to be like Mike. Basketball is our sport and we still have the superior talent. We just need to find a better way to combine that talent with team play.

[Lady M]

what can embarass the NBA?
- Team USA in the plane and noy on the podium
- NBA teams don't send internationnals players for international compe ions

play with wade lebron and Melo together on the ground is the problem
coach K never chose a captain but 3
Lebron at 4 is stupid
respect the game and team USA can win other compe ions

[Kibic]

+ the population of the US itself plays a huge role.


Think about it, roughly 300 million Americans.
50% roughly are male, so now we're down to 150.
Of those 150 million, I bet a large percentage of them played basketball in their youth, as it's one of the most popular sports here.


Argentina has roughly 40 million or so.
20 million males
Total basketball players???

Not many.

Well...I was born in ex-Jugoslavia (Serbia, Monte Negro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia) All together 20 mio...10 mio males.
Not a large procent of us......we all play BB in school from let say 11-12 years old. Yes, there is a BB gym in every school. Every.
From 1970 NT win's 5 WC...... just 20 mio. For me it is much more suitable to compare NTeams with their best players under 18 years or under 20 years old. This is where man can see what are the products of sistematic work on a national level.

[TOP_MODEL_M]

I agree with most of the posts. USA have always had the best talents in the world but they never seem to find a way to utilize their advantages, which is a pity. And while I've been a huge NBA and Spurs fan for more than 10 years, I found myself supporting other teams in the WC such as Argentina, Slovenia, Lithuania and Greece.I never saw that new perception of TEAM play that they were proclaiming, didn't notice much of a difference from Athens and Indi.And it was quite irritating watching LeBron, Wade and Melo shooting their lights out from the 3, playing little defence and not distributing the ball well on offense, just trying to beat the opponent with their individualities and talents ( which are undeniable ). It seemed like they haven't leant anything from their past mistakes and they seem bound to fail in the next Olympics too.
Coach K was outcoached most of the time.Team USA played a lot like Phoenix Suns rather than focussing on defence, and they found themselves hitting the wall of other teams zone defence,which was the only thing they should have avoided because they didn't have ( or actually didn't use ) their low post scorers, and in the same time didn't have enough pure shooters.
So basically I think this team wasn't built the right way.
Another thing I didn't like was the subs utions, they should have had a core of 6 or 7 players to play the majority of minutes and those constant subs didn't let them feel the float of the games.
They didn't exploit their biggest advantage - athleticism. They should have destroyed all other teams on rebounding had they played a legitimate center and a PF. I believe that had they played old school basketball and not shooting too much from the 3 point line but focusing on the low post they would have been unstoppable.

Having said this, I wouldn't want to offend any americans who love and supported their team.Seems like most of the people in this forum understand the conception of TEAM play better than the Team USA coaching staff.They never learnt from the past mistakes and if they don't change drastically I don't see the Olympics being a different story.

[spurschick]

Personally, I think that not winning Gold was the best thing that could have happened to Team USA. Since this was touted as a "rebuilding" of sorts, winning the Gold may have given the team a false sense of complete success, causing them to slip back into complacency. I think that winning the Bronze gave them a little bit of reward for embracing the so-called "new" team philosophy, but is also, I hope, keeping them grounded in realizing that they still have more to work on.

[Martin R]

Well...I was born in ex-Jugoslavia (Serbia, Monte Negro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia) All together 20 mio...10 mio males.
Not a large procent of us......we all play BB in school from let say 11-12 years old. Yes, there is a BB gym in every school. Every.
From 1970 NT win's 5 WC...... just 20 mio. For me it is much more suitable to compare NTeams with their best players under 18 years or under 20 years old. This is where man can see what are the products of sistematic work on a national level.

..but BB is your MAIN sport......not Argentina's which is soccer.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

..but BB is your MAIN sport......not Argentina's which is soccer.

what does Argentina have to do with anything? the point is wether or not the US is the nation in which basketball is played the most. He was just saying that in Slovenia a very high percentage of its population play basketball, more so than in Argentina

[Kibic]

..but BB is your MAIN sport......not Argentina's which is soccer.

Wrong! There is no main sport in ex-yu countries. It realy is funny. Former Yugoslavia was WC or Olympic C. in basketball, handball, waterpolo..

[sendman]

So, should the international allow players to play NBA ball?

[MaNuMaNiAc]

So, should the international allow players to play NBA ball?

yeah, like that is going to make such an amazing difference

[samikeyp]

If they want to play, yes.

[Kori Ellis]

Personally, I think that not winning Gold was the best thing that could have happened to Team USA. Since this was touted as a "rebuilding" of sorts, winning the Gold may have given the team a false sense of complete success, causing them to slip back into complacency. I think that winning the Bronze gave them a little bit of reward for embracing the so-called "new" team philosophy, but is also, I hope, keeping them grounded in realizing that they still have more to work on.

I wonder if all the players on this team will want to come back again next summer and try, or if they are bitter and uninterested now.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Kobe, Amare, Marion are added to the mix.

As for the question initially asked, I cringe constantly watching it worrying that someone will get hurt. But I'm of the philosophy that if they are good basketball players, they play all summer anyway and can get hurt anytime/anywhere. So yeah, they should play if they want to do so.

[THE SIXTH MAN]

But I'm of the philosophy that if they are good basketball players, they play all summer anyway and can get hurt anytime/anywhere. So yeah, they should play if they want to do so.

I think some people lose site of this. Ask anybody who has love for the game and they'll tell you that b-ball is year round. Id rather they play under a regulated game than street ball or any other way for that matter.

[BeerIsGood!]

+ the population of the US itself plays a huge role.


Think about it, roughly 300 million Americans.
50% roughly are male, so now we're down to 150.
Of those 150 million, I bet a large percentage of them played basketball in their youth, as it's one of the most popular sports here.


Argentina has roughly 40 million or so.
20 million males
Total basketball players???

Not many.

Girls and Women play basketball in America. A LOT of them do. Besides, how many people play the sport is irrelevant - Basketball was invented in America by an American. So it is an American sport.

Golf has pretty much been dominated by Americans for years and years (Tiger/Jack.... etc.) but the sport was invented and first played at St. Andrews in Scotland so it isn't an American sport. But we seem to love the out of it anyway.

[Kori Ellis]

Girls and Women play basketball in America. A LOT of them do. Besides, how many people play the sport is irrelevant - Basketball was invented in America by an American. So it is an American sport.

Naismith was Canadian.

[BeerIsGood!]

Naismith was Canadian.

Really? Wow, well I guess he was in Massachusetts at the time so we'll just overlook that...

[cheguevara]

I wonder if all the players on this team will want to come back again next summer and try, or if they are bitter and uninterested now.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Kobe, Amare, Marion are added to the mix.

Didn't those players Wade,Lebronze,Melo already commited to Team USA for years??? if they don't come back, they will forever be considered quitters in my book.

I beleive Marion will join them and help out. Amare will depend on how his recovery goes. But I will bet my money Kobe will never play for a team USA ever. He is all about himself, and if Team USA wants to have a shot at it, they need to play as a team. Now tell me Kobe will be a team player Kobe will have a sudden "surgery" again

[mabber]

I wonder if all the players on this team will want to come back again next summer and try, or if they are bitter and uninterested now.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Kobe, Amare, Marion are added to the mix.

As for the question initially asked, I cringe constantly watching it worrying that someone will get hurt. But I'm of the philosophy that if they are good basketball players, they play all summer anyway and can get hurt anytime/anywhere. So yeah, they should play if they want to do so.

I wonder this as well. No matter how interested in these world tournaments a lot of you are, there really isn't a lot of interest nationwide. Until the average fan actually cares about the results I don't see much changing. Yeah, the USA will make an effort to put together a decent team but I still don't see it being as important to our players as it is to the players of some of the other countries. Until USA fans demand a winner and voice their displeasure over not winning the gold, nothing is going to change IMO.

I visit several hoop forums and, for the most part, this is the only one still talking about this latest FIBA tournament.

[Kibic]

I wonder this as well. No matter how interested in these world tournaments a lot of you are, there really isn't a lot of interest nationwide. Until the average fan actually cares about the results I don't see much changing. Yeah, the USA will make an effort to put together a decent team but I still don't see it being as important to our players as it is to the players of some of the other countries. Until USA fans demand a winner and voice their displeasure over not winning the gold, nothing is going to change IMO.

I visit several hoop forums and, for the most part, this is the only one still talking about this latest FIBA tournament.

Who give a S... on this WC. But whay all those tears in Carmelo's eyes!!