exactly! If the US did send their best players, it'd be a massacre!
It would be nowhere near what it was in 92. I believe the US, with its best players, would win it all. But be mindful that the world has caught up. The Team USA that went to Athens was damn good. Its true that guys such as Garnet, Kobe and Shaq were not there, but a number of superstars, including TD, AI, LeBron, Wade, etc were there, and they still lost three games.exactly! If the US did send their best players, it'd be a massacre!
Exactly. The U.S. may very well still have an edge in basketball. I don't object so much to people thinking that.
But there is something wrong when you can't even acknowledge the acheivements of the compe ion.
Honestly, sometimes you guys sound like a parent who goes around saying everyone else's child is ugly as if that somehow proves their kid is attractive.
I just don't get that kind of thinking.
I've been arguing about this "world" championships of USA
Yes NBA is the best basketball product on earth and that's why it's so popular even in the (real) world. But to call it a world championship is just plain stupidity. Same goes with NFL, NHL, MLB.
I hope people won't become stupid enough to call "NBA world champions of southwest division" for a division le
MY two cents:
I have no problem acknowledging that the club that wins the NBA finals is the best basketball club in the world - even more so lately with most of the world's talent playing in the NBA.
In most sports World Champions are decided in a compe ion of national teams. I believe the US is the only country where a club compe ion crowns its champions witht the prefix "world" (So it's at least odd).
I would actually agree with LJ if a non-NBA non-US club was allowed to challenge the NBA champs in a 7 games series. I think the NBA champs would win but it could be fun to watch.
The Spurs are the most respectful organization in the NBA to foreigners. They're the only club that flies the flags of their player's countries as part of the pre-games ceremony at home. This latest banner thing is just the continuation of that. And because of their at ude they are among the most respected teams abroad. I've heard French, English and Slovenian journalist comments on that.
I don't see it as PC but as a poilite gesture from a smart organizations that knows a little gesture like that will go a long way in opening many doors that will remain closed to others.
Very well said Slomo.
Unfortunately YU fall to pieces in 1991 (one year too soon for basketball fans).
Even for the "real" Dream Team USA from 1992, game against Divac, Petrovic, Radja, Zdovc, Paspalj, Obradovic, Kukoc etc. (arguably the best generation ex-YU ever had), wouldn't be walk in the park!
@Slomo: word!
If the US sent Shaq, they would have won. Yeah we sent Lebron, Wade, and Melo. Who at the time avg. age was less than 22. Wlist the other teams had players who had been playing for longer. This team of "superstars" was thrown in just for the names. When all the US needed was a guy to make a jumpshot and free up Duncan. If Steve Kerr went they would have won.
The last three times that an American and Argentinian team played on the court, America lost. You want to kick the rest of the world ass? Then convince players like Shaq, Garnett, Kidd, etc, that they should be honoured to be selected to represent their country.
^This qualifies as everybody lost, even the US^
Why not should be the question. How much sense would it make to you if a bunch of Europeans who play American Football in a park on Sundays started calling themselves "World Champs"? The NBA is still the best league, but who did the Spurs beat in their way to the Championship? Denver, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit. What a small world we live in!
No, you are missing the point. If Serbia (World Champions) or Argentina (Olympic Champs), called "World Champs" the club who wins their national league it would be wrong too. The only way to measure World Champs is an international compe ion, where every country is represented. For club level, that compe ion does not exist.
Ah, you had to bring the voice of reason to the thread. Always so helpful, thanks. If by worst refs you mean "refs who don't give star treament and will call you for travelling" then you are right. If FIBA has the worst rules, how come the NBA changed its posture towards zone defenses?
Key word: Past tense. That was way back then, and even in the first international compe ion ever, the US didn't win. The First World Champion was Argentina (who even beat the US on its way to the le), back in 1950.
Oh, and...
Exactly.Start of NBA: 1946
Start of FIBA: 1931
Back to where we started. As far as I know, USA Basketball and the NBA would be more than glad to send Shaq, TD, Garnett, Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Stoudamire, Kidd, Carter, Iverson, McGrady, Pierce, Wallace, etc, to Japan (the next World Championships hosts), where they'd have the opportunity of openning a huge market. Now if those players refuse to play for their country, it's not Argentina's or Serbia's fault. And I wouldn't be so sure that just adding superstars would be enough, it's a team sport.exactly! If the US did send their best players, it'd be a massacre!
Boy you are good at making excuses.
Shaq did not play, Steve Kerr did not play either, so we will never know. The only hard fact is that the guys who did go, lost. The rest is speculation.
In any case, this is off topic. The reality is that the NBA champ is simply that. Not the World champ. The NBA champ is the best basketball team in the most compe ive league in the planet and, IMO, would beat the crap out off every other club team in the World. But to be named world champ they actually have to go out there and prove it, because there is always an outside chance, even if the probability is 0.0001%, that they lose.
An analogy would be that the champion of the UEFA Cup (European soccer tournament) proclaims they are the champions of the World given that the best soccer players play in Europe. Guess what? They still have to beat the LatAm soccer champ and, in the past, 1 out of 2 times, they were not able to do it (the European soccer champ and the LatAm soccer champ meet once a year in Japan to see who is the best soccer club in the World).
and even that has been taken a step further now, next year club champ from each continent will face off in a mini tourney to determine world club champ, as opposed to just south american club champ vs euro club champ.
i thought all of you people that were bored as during the off season would welcome more basketball games! (and the added bragging rights of having your team beat all comers wherever necessary!)
I guess if Argentina is happy winning the world championship against the US's "B team" then good for them, where's that asterisk....
*waits for Argentine Mafia....
You have a point there, but the fact of the matter is that all the international players on the Spurs have signed contracts which make them a part of the San Antonio Spurs. If it came down to the Spurs playing say the Argentine national team, I'm sure Fabri and Manu would have to play for the Spurs.
Not that Pop and the Spurs organization would hold them to that obligation, I'm sure they'd make an exception, but that's besides the point.
I have to concour, the San Antonio Spurs should be known as NBA Champions.
They didnt play any team outside the US or Canada (not that Canada is a country, but in this case it technically is)
If the Spurs beat the Antarctic national team on the road in the finals of the WORLD Basketball tournament, then yes they would be known as WORLD Champs!
but until then, they havent and they are NBA Champions!
If I could field a team of 12 Americans (my choice) against any 12 non-American players, in a 7 game series, I know where all the vBookie money would go.
How did I drop it???
Exactly. I like Americans, but that's why peoplea dislike them internationally, not only in sports, but in general. You go to any country around the world, mainly the poor ones, and you will see why...while Africans are dieing left and right from all kinds of ( huge list), we're spending resources and money on all kinds of useless bull .
Last edited by ALVAREZ6; 11-03-2005 at 06:32 PM.
Can you name number 14?
Photo courtesy of slayermin and HEB
Oh, I know that Zarko played in SA, in fact AFAIK he is member of this forum also.
You are sooooo funnyI guess if Argentina is happy winning the world championship against the US's "B team" then good for them, where's that asterisk....
*waits for Argentine Mafia....
Signed: The Argie Mafia
You may know better than I but I don't think the poster with the screen-name Zarko Paspalj, nor the poster named Zarko is THE Zarko.
Adding superstars isn't enough -- the team needs to be well constructed as well. See: 2004 Lakers.
But the other important factor is that the NBA rules and the FIBA rules are just ridiculously divergent. This is mainly only a significant disadvantage for the US right now, because most other countries' teams only have a few players in the NBA at this point. As the number of international players in the NBA continues to grow, it will impact other teams like Argentina to a larger degree.
Utlimately what needs to happen is that the NBA and FIBA need to sit down and hash out a compromise on a set of rules everyone can live with.
I agree, I would keep from the NBA:
-48 minutes per game, 12 per quarter
-6 personal fouls
-The play resumed at half court after a time out.
-The 3 point line distance.
From FIBA:
-The ability to "sweep" rebounds without getting a goal tending
-Stricter referees on travelling and double dribbling (unwritten rule).
-No star treatment from the refs (unwritten rule).
There are more. Those I can think of right now.
I think the NBA defensive 3 second rule is the best rule ever. It abolished the idiotic "illegal defense" rule without allowing teams to park a big slow dude in the lane for the whole game.
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