Should the NBA allow players to play international ball?

[temujin]

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

there aren't many Greek villages WITHOUT a basketball court.

[temujin]

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

Then, we should give back the passport to Kobe.

[temujin]

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.

So is baseball and "foot"ball.
Reassuring, compe ionless harbours.

[spurschick]

Basketball was invented in America by an American. So it is an American sport.

From about.com

James Naismith was the Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario and educated at McGill University and Presbyterian Cllege in Montreal. He was the physical education teacher at McGill University (1887 to 1890) and at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts (1890 to 1895). At Springfield College (which was then the Y.M.C.A. training school), James Naismith, under the direction of American phys-ed specialist Luther Halsey Gulick, invented the indoor sport of basketball.

The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored.

In 1959, James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (called the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.)

[temujin]

There are a few states in the EU whose team could be beating the out of any team made from SINGLE US states of comparable size.

Slovenia.
Serbia.
Croatia.
Lithania.
Greece.

Preciously little doubt about it.

[temujin]

As for the NBA, their team loosing to Divac's Serbia or Manu's Argentina is less of a problem than to a bunch of Greeks.
The point is gathering together the best players in the world.

There is another perspective: now that the overall level in Europe is so manifestly high, why can't we keep most of the good players here and not ending up like the Brazil and Argentina of soccer?

[Pero]

There is another perspective: now that the overall level in Europe is so manifestly high, why can't we keep most of the good players here and not ending up like the Brazil and Argentina of soccer?

One word: MONEY
....

[Renu_]

Naismith was Canadian.

[Renu_]

So yes, if we aren't kicking everyone elses asses then this team failed. We don't play for the bronze in basketball. We play for the gold because when this team finally starts to play to its ceiling, thats what they will win each and every time.

There is no such thing as sure win in sports. If you want sure win then join the US army.

p.s. o to all vietnamese on these forum

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

The only thing the NBA is concerned with is $$$, but if they are willing to look at this long term it makes good business sense. Anything that raises the fan base of basketball in general is good for the NBA. The better talent that gets sent to these international tourneys, the better the quality of the basketball, the more likely it is that the NBA can get new fans. Euros, yen, and pesos can buy a Lebron jersey just as easily as dollars can.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

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

PWNED!

[bdictjames]

PG LeBron
SG Kobe
SF Tracy
PF TD/KG
C Shaq

I think you better replace Shaq with Big Ben. KG will fill out the SF role and I'm sure we will win the gold if we play perfect teamball

[diego]

Bronze is a failure and there is no other way to look at it. The talent assembled should have completely run over the rest of the field. The world has gotten much better and there is no denying that, but the fact is that the US has also degenereated into an isolation style of basketball that is easily exploitable.

They did take a step in the right direction with this compe ion. We could have done much much better though. There are high standards in place for this team and there is a reason for that. When Brazil goes to the World Cup and they don't win it all, it is a failure. Why? Because of the way the culture of the sport is within that particular country. Basketball is ours, and we play it more than any other country in the world. Anything less than the best is a failure because this team should win the gold every time with the level of talent they have! Many other teams of the world play well, but none have the same capabilities that team USA had. No other country is able to reach a level of play that this country is capable of, but we failed.

The motivations that sprung from Athens and the previous WCs should have been more than enough to spur change and instill enough motivation to change the system into a winning one. It is very frustrating to see the same fundemental mistakes made in team mangement and coaching that were made in the previous Olympics. To watch the same isolation offense that results in charge after charge or to wait time and time again for a sign of a zone defense to combat the pic and roll and never see it is to witness the same errors in coaching that were made before.

So yes, if we aren't kicking everyone elses asses then this team failed. We don't play for the bronze in basketball. We play for the gold because when this team finally starts to play to its ceiling, thats what they will win each and every time.

you do realize brazil has only won 5 out of 18 world cups? (still 2 more than anyone else, though im not sure if italy has 4 now...)

ps: ive havent posted since arg lost to spain because of a little ski trip, work, and an anniversary, but in case anybody needed to hear it from me, congratulations to Spain, Greece, and USA for their good world cup. I still think had that nocioni 3 gone down we'd be champs, but we screwed up other possessions enough for it to come down to that. What is worrying is that Im becoming used to being eliminated by 1 ing point!

oh and for my fellow argies, unfortunately i was right about prigioni and delfino, no le llegaron ni a los tobillos de Montechia y Sconochini. Prigioni lo entiendo mas por que es un jugador distinto, pero Delfino las tenia todas para romperla y en el partido mas importante se cago solo.

finally, i didnt see any threads on the general board, but i understand scola had a good game against the US till he fouled out?? I was on the mountain for that game, Ill have to download it now...