FIBA World Championship 2006

[waly.mg]

Here is another Summer League, the Real World Championship in 40 days and counting

http://www.fiba.com/pages/en/events/...p?RoundID=3507

Japan (Sapporo, Sendai, Hamamatsu, Hiroshima, Saitama)
19 August - 3 September 2006

Japan will be the host for the most important basketball event on the globe. It’s the first time that the country of the rising sun is hosting a championship of this magnitude.

The number of teams has been increased from 16 to 24. With this decision, FIBA reacted to the improved level of play on a global level and the fact that basketball is the most widespread indoor team sport around the world.

Most countries have qualified through the 5 continental championships in summer 2005, but 4 countries had received a wild card from FIBA.

For one team, there will be a special task: after the disappointing sixth place in Indianapolis, and a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the USA will try everything the regain the position as the dominating basketball power over the past 5 decades. But it needs their best to fulfill that mission….

FIBA World Championship - One World - One le: Event Outline

The FIBA World Championship is played every 4 years and determines the best basketball nation of the world. The first World Championship was played in 1950 in Argentina and has since then been organised 14 times.

The 2006 edition will be played in Japan from 19th August until 3rd September in five different cities.

The following 24 teams will compete in the event:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
China
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Japan
Lebanon
Lithuania
New Zealand
Nigeria
Panama
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Senegal
Serbia & Montenegro
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
Venezuela
USA

The teams will play against each other in the preliminary phase in four groups of 6 teams. The 4 top teams from each group will then qualify directly for the Eighth-Finals, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals.

All the games from the Eighth-Finals to the Finals will be played on a one-game elimination basis.

[waly.mg]

News:

USA - Fitness concerns for Team USA's Re

::WIN a trip to the FIBA World Championship Finals weekend ::

ORLANDO (FIBA World Championship) - JJ Re 's availability for the FIBA World Championship is in doubt after the Orlando Magic announced they will keep their first-round draft pick out of summer-league action.

The Orlando Sentinel reports the Magic are still concerned about a herniated disc suffered by the former Duke All-American selection a week before the draft, and will hold Re out as a precaution.

Re , who was the 11th overall pick by the Magic, was one of two then-college players selected in Team USA's 23-man provisional squad earlier this year.

Gonzaga's Adam Morrison - drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats - was the other.

Re played for Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

[waly.mg]

Other News

* NBA duo Nenad Krstic and Aleksandar Pavlovic will not play for Serbia & Montenegro at the FIBA World Championship, but coach Dragan Sakota insists his team remains in good shape ahead of the tournament.

* Emerging Spanish star Sergio Rodriguez is full of optimism ahead of the FIBA World Championship in Japan.

The 20-year-old, who was recently picked in the first round of the NBA draft and will play for Portland next season, is already preparing for his rookie season in the United States but on July 10 will link up with the national team.

* USA Basketball finalized its 2006 Men's Senior National Team pre-World Championship training schedule and announced it would train and play two exhibition games in Guangzhou, China, from Aug. 6-8, including a historic game versus China in China.

The USA will train in Guangzhou on Aug. 6, then take part in the 2006 China Basketball Challenge and play games against China on Aug. 7 and Brazil on Aug. 8.

* France coach Claude Bergeaud is backing the youthful exuberance of NBA stars Ronny Turiaf and Johan Petro to boost his side's chances at the FIBA World Championship in Japan.

Petro and Turiaf's inclusion in the France squad increases the number of NBA players to five after Mickael Pietrus (Golden State Warriors), Boris Diaw (Phoenix Suns) and San Antonio Spurs' star Tony Parker.

Petro, a Seattle SuperSonics center, has also made a good impression on the French boss who selected him ahead of Ian Mahinmi.

"He (Ian Mahinmi) did good things with the 'A' team but Turiaf and Petro are largely above him in terms of level," said Bergeaud.

"Ian needs to work harder before applying to the national team."

[coz]

FIBA sucks

[waly.mg]

Sucks since the USA don´t won the Championship since Sydney 2000

That´s Basketball, NBA is a Business

[boutons_]

France seems to have a good squad, but it will be up to Tony to get results.
Tony was terrible in the Olympic qualifying a couple year ago, as France failed to qualify.

[coz]

the FIBA refs suck.

the FIBA rules suck.

the FIBA anti-US bias sucks

and if you are under the impression that FIBA isn't big business, you suck.

[angel_luv]

Whoosh! Go Slovenia.

Good luck to Argentina, Turkey, France, and Bruce.

[furry_spurry]

France seems to have a good squad, but it will be up to Tony to get results.
Tony was terrible in the Olympic qualifying a couple year ago, as France failed to qualify.

Tony was unbelievably awful last summer in the EC!! Don't know what the deal was.

Did people gloss over this:
"He (Ian Mahinmi) did good things with the 'A' team but Turiaf and Petro are largely above him in terms of level," said Bergeaud.

"Ian needs to work harder before applying to the national team."

Go Slovenia.
Good luck to Argentina, Turkey, France, and Bruce.

I'm confused. You wish good luck to the TEAMS that have players that have been Spurs- but then only to Bruce and not to the USA team?

[velik_m]

I posted this some 2 weeks ago:

i saw this on FIBA website:

Every week FIBA World Basketball spectators and fiba.com users can participate in the FIBA World Basketball Compe ion Draw to have a chance to win fantastic FIBA prizes and to be included in the Grand Draw which will offer an all expenses paid trip for two to the Final days of the FIBA World Championship in Japan.

The Grand Draw will take place few weeks before the tip off of the FIBA World Championship. All participant will be informed by email.

more here

it may interest some people here.

[angel_luv]

I'm confused. You wish good luck to the TEAMS that have players that have been Spurs- but then only to Bruce and not to the USA team?

The U.S. squad will likely be made up of people I dislike(Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett etc)- guys that I won't be rooting for then or ever.
How much I like/ support team USA will depend on their roster and whom they are playing against.

Bruce will always have my support. I hope at least he does really well.

As for the foreign teams, I like several of the players on each from previous compe ions and have nothing against the rest. That is why I can root for the whole team.

[Bruno]

Did people gloss over this:
"Ian needs to work harder before applying to the national team."

Yes in another thread but in fact it's a bad translation from french. The french coach has just said that Mahinmi wasn't ready to play with the NT because he was too young and raw. He hasn't said that Mahinmi was lazy or not a hard worker.

[furry_spurry]

^Thanks for the clarification.

[velik_m]

The U.S. squad will likely be made up of people I dislike(Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett etc)- guys that I won't be rooting for then or ever.
How much I like/ support team USA will depend on their roster and whom they are playing against.

Bruce will always have my support. I hope at least he does really well.

As for the foreign teams, I like several of the players on each from previous compe ions and have nothing against the rest. That is why I can root for the whole team.

you should support your national team. they represent you.

[angel_luv]

you should support your national team. they represent you.

Yea I knew I was going to get bad American points for that.

But it seems hypocritical to me to pretend to root for people whom I don't respect simply because they are in a tournament and live in the same place as me.

It is the same kind of silliness as someone saying I should vote for George Bush simply because he is a fellow Texan.

I root for the people I like regardless of geographical location.

[furry_spurry]

I think, though, that if you knew about the international teams' players all that you know about the American players that you would find players to dislike on every team. People really are not all that different and all teams have some guys who are not "angels." You just don't know enough about them to know who they are.

The preliminary US roster has some good guys- like Bowen, Battier, Bosh, Dwight Howard, and Dwyane Wade. KG is not even playing.

2006-08 USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Roster

Carmelo Anthony
Gilbert Arenas
Shane Battier
Chauncey Billups
Chris Bosh
Bruce Bowen
Elton Brand
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Antawn Jamison
Joe Johnson
Shawn Marion
Brad Miller
Adam Morrison
Lamar Odom
Chris Paul
Paul Pierce
Michael Redd
J.J. Re
Luke Ridnour
Amare Stoudemire
Dwyane Wade

There are not many players on this list who would seem to be ones for which someone would have develpoed deep-seeded disrespect, and again I wonder how much you know about some of the other teams' players for you to have devleoped such respect for them.

[angel_luv]

I think, though, that if you knew about the international teams' players all that you know about the American players that you would find players to dislike on every team. People really are not all that different and all teams have some guys who are not "angels." You just don't know enough about them to know who they are.

The preliminary US roster has some good guys- like Bowen, Battier, Bosh, Dwight Howard, and Dwyane Wade. KG is not even playing.

2006-08 USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Roster

Carmelo Anthony
Gilbert Arenas
Shane Battier
Chauncey Billups
Chris Bosh
Bruce Bowen
Elton Brand
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Antawn Jamison
Joe Johnson
Shawn Marion
Brad Miller
Adam Morrison
Lamar Odom
Chris Paul
Paul Pierce
Michael Redd
J.J. Re
Luke Ridnour
Amare Stoudemire
Dwyane Wade

Of course no team is perfect.

Thanks for the roster. The only one I wouldn't root for is Kobe. And I like the guys that are bolded.

My point, and I guess I did not express it well, is that to me sports is about preference. I want to see the people I like best out of everyone, regardless of nationality, finish the best.
That is the way I approach these tournaments.

[Lady M]

Other News



Petro and Turiaf's inclusion in the France squad increases the number of NBA players to five after Mickael Pietrus (Golden State Warriors), Boris Diaw (Phoenix Suns) and San Antonio Spurs' star Tony Parker.

now with Gelabale who will play for Seattle i can say 6

[Pistons < Spurs]

go USA!

[spurschick]

After going to the U18 tournament, I'm really excited for the WCs. I just really miss good basketball. Now that the World Cup is over, there isn't much to watch in terms of sports. That's IMO of course... I'm not a big baseball fan.

[spurschick]

Nothing new, but an update from the FIBA site.

ARG - Argentina begins preparing for 2006 FIBA World Championship
7/23/2006

BUENOS AIRES - Led by Emanuel Ginobili and Luis Scola, the Argentinean National team will begin preparations today for the 2006 FIBA World Championship that begins on August 19.

The 15 players called are: Juan Ignacio Sánchez, Daniel Farabello and Pablo Prigioni (PG), Carlos Delfino, Emmanuel Ginóbili and Paolo Quinteros (SG), Walter Herrmann, Hernán Jasen and Andrés Nocioni (SF) and Rubén Wolkowyski, Fabricio Oberto, Leonardo Gutiérrez, Luis Scola, Gabriel Fernández and Juan Gutiérrez (C).

Sergio Hernandez will be the coach and assisted by Gonzalo Garcia and Enrique Tolcachier.

"The start of the trials will generate expectations and for this tournaments the expectations will be big because of the past results. We will prepare with the highest intensity, with attention to detail and convinced of the challenge that lays ahead. Most of the players are rested but eager to begin the trials", said Hernandez.

Argentina will start the trials in Mar del Plata and then they will move to Santa Fe for the Super 4 tournament along with Brazil, New Zealand and Venezuela from July 30-31. Then they will travel to Spain on August 3 where they take on Lithuania two days later and wait for the result of the Spain-Poland game.

Then they will fly to Singapore to take on Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia and Spain from August 11-13.

http://www.fibaamericas.com/noticias...p?r=FGPQDTMYIX

[Spurologist]

"He (Ian Mahinmi) did good things with the 'A' team but Turiaf and Petro are largely above him in terms of level," said Bergeaud.

"Ian needs to work harder before applying to the national team."

Quoi???

Repetez en Anglais s'il vous plait.

I'm sensing it's either because of youth or player preference.

[Sway]

The U.S. squad will likely be made up of people I dislike(Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett etc)- guys that I won't be rooting for then or ever.
How much I like/ support team USA will depend on their roster and whom they are playing against.

Bruce will always have my support. I hope at least he does really well.

As for the foreign teams, I like several of the players on each from previous compe ions and have nothing against the rest. That is why I can root for the whole team.

That’s not cool at all. I’ve always thought it weird how in the US many fans are more loyal to individual players over their supposed teams. This loyalty towards players instead of the team is totally misguided. The national team represents the USA. You should support your team regardless of who is on the squad.

[renu]

Of course no team is perfect.

Thanks for the roster. The only one I wouldn't root for is Kobe. And I like the guys that are bolded.

My point, and I guess I did not express it well, is that to me sports is about preference. I want to see the people I like best out of everyone, regardless of nationality, finish the best.
That is the way I approach these tournaments.

Yeah tell 'em angel

I wonder how many Argentinians would cheer for their team if Manu wasn't playing (because of the coach's decision for instance). Rooting for your national team just because they represent your country?? This is a battle lost from the start.. If you don't feel "YOUR" team is on the court then how can you cheer at all??

[angel_luv]

Yeah tell 'em angel

I wonder how many Argentinians would cheer for their team if Manu wasn't playing (because of the coach's decision for instance). Rooting for your national team just because they represent your country?? This is a battle lost from the start.. If you don't feel "YOUR" team is on the court then how can you cheer at all??

About that particular opinion... it is a work in progress. I have been thinking about what everyone has said and it's occured to me that maybe I am not as patriotic as I could (should?) be.

I guess I never equated patrioism with sports, which is kind of dumb considering how proud all my favorites are to play for their national team.


Regarding my other posts in this thread:
While I was being honest, I think I overcompensated in my effort to outwardly support my favorites and ended up being unecessarily callous about Team USA.
I'm trying to be nicer about team USA. I may want other people to win more, but I appreciate the fact that all the American guys have dreams and are working hard.

You should support your team regardless of who is on the squad.

I have rooted for people before organizations. I am not arguing that it is right, just stating the way I am.
Like I said, my opinions are (as always) a work in progress.