Participation of NBA Players in International Competition – The Solution
Aug 11th, 2007 by Answerman
What’s the sense of all that hatred if I didn’t have a solution?
See, I generally agree, there SHOULD be international basketball competition and America should participate. The games should be played under a mutually agreed upon set of rules. I am in favor of ALL of these things. In fact, I think it should be played year round.
“But” you ask “what about NBA players?”.
“Well” I respond “who needs them?”
Here’s the thing, there are a multitude of great basketball players in the world who don’t make the NBA. Either they are too small, didn’t have enough of a shot, too big, too redundant to the team that drafted them — any number of reasons.
One thing we’ve learned from international competition, sometimes players with marginal NBA skills are quite good in international competition (see Carlos Arroyo).
So these marginal players that just couldn’t make the cut should be used to create a national team. A team of players who would love to play pro-ball at a high level, but have been denied the opportunity. This team may even include some ex-NBA players who retired and want to make a come-back (Pippen), or are sick of the NBA and want to play their game elsewhere (Marbury), or couldn’t make it in the NBA (Toby Bailey) and may actually be playing international ball.
The players will be paid – not NBA levels, but the FIBA/Team USA money we discussed in my last entry. They will play together and practice together, year round. There will be “friendlies” where different national teams play each other.
Under my system, when international competition comes around, the team will already be assembeld. They will already know the rules and be used to them. They will know their roles and their teammates and be used to them. They will know their advesaries and be used to them. They will be in mid-season form, because their season will be based around these competitons.
As an added bonus, because its a team of NBA cast-offs and rejects, they can just play — without the pressure. They’ll win or lose…but they won’t win or lose as a statement on the status of the NBA, they’ll win or lose because another team was just better…
…and that’s “ok”. That’s sports.
I’d watch the games. I’d root for the teams. I’d follow the league…and if an NBA superstar wants to go join the team for a summer, he’d be more than welcome — as long as he’s not under contract.
as i predicted, you actually would avoid being embarrassed by not presenting your best team…and provide good excuses if they lose. Just because you lost the last several tournament, doesn’t mean you guys won’t win again…
What you’re suggesting is really ridiculous, you might as well compare the brazilian national football team without their top players in the world cup to avoid exhaustion – since all soccer club coaches have also demanded the same thing. You’ve wrote 4 articles, and the last one is really a disappointment ending, what answer?? man!!!
I know that this can be a very big stretch but what about tax write offs? they are representing the USA so would they not have something to do with the government?
You dont see Russia or China trotting out their “b” list athletes in gymnastics or any other country or sport for that matter.Basketball is a sport that USA should dominate because we have the best players in the world.That being said we may not have the best teams due to systems and styles of play and rule changes but nevertheless.USA should dominate.Period.The world has definitely caught up to the US and I think even the 92 dream team would have had some of it’s diffculties today.Not saying they would have the record th US has today but I doubt they would have been knockin teams out by 40+ points.Injuries are a part of every game and yes every nba player is basically an investment but mind you playing for team USA is voluntary.No one is holding a gun to these guy’s head telling them they have to play.If you need more motivation than representing your country then you got issues.If the players wanna play let them play and let it be what it is.The best players from every country come and see who is the best.None of this well lets pick up guys who are second/third tier players and if they get hurt or tired then no one will notice crap.Do you seriously think Gasol or Parker were dissapointed that they played for their respective countries and got hurt?I would like to believe they were more dissapointed in the fact that they got hurt and werent able to represent their countries.Seriously when you got Tony Parker WITH the french flag representing after he wins a NBA title theres something to be said about foreign players vs US players in terms of WANTING to represent their countries.I think as Americans we tend to take our flag for granted and believe we are the best in basketball and think people are gonna roll over on us because of what dream team 92 did.
“Do you seriously think Gasol or Parker were dissapointed that they played for their respective countries and got hurt”
No – their employers are.
” You’ve wrote 4 articles, and the last one is really a disappointment ending, what answer?? man!!!”
Sorry – I’ll try to wrote a better article next time
great considerations though, the U.S. has plenty of good basketball players, players who didn’t make the cut for NBA but still be a star player in other countries leagues..so as you’ve said, why not explore their availability – while they are also already accustomed to FIBA rules…
I guess I was coming too hard on you, I couldn’t agreed more with your point that injuries are something that GMs would want to avoid, and the intensity of a one game decider like FIBA tournaments makes those fouls that they made there are just really really frightening to watch. In the 2004 Olympic final that I watched, those fouls are probably worth flagrant 2 in the NBA, since so much are at stakes…
Another possibility is doing what national soccer federations do if a player is injured while playing for their national team, which is compensate to the club who own them.
So for this debate of whether or not NBA players should play for FIBA tournaments, my solution would be to field a combination of NBA and non-NBA players.
I still believe the US should easily dominate at international level, 5 starters of top NBA players and 10 other non-NBA players would be enough for the US to do just that.
Those NBA players would still be stars and different makers, and those 10 other guys would do whatever to support the team and to win.
Looking forward for your next writing, answerman…
What was the point of the series of articles about the nba players in the olympics?As stated by ptt no country holds back their best players in any sport for the sake of a league.It is every citizen’s right to represnt their country.While yes there is always going to be a possibility of injury playing in the olympics so is just getting in your car and driving down the street.The fact that you would “rather have them ride motorcycles” shows how incredibly sideways your view is on the situation.Most professional athletes have stipulations that would void the players contracts if injured while riding a motorcyle.Motorcycles have ended more careers than playing in the olympics.Injuries can happen at any time and anywhere.And we all act as if many of the guys dont play basketball during the summer.Maybe not to the intensity of playing in a olympic tournament but theyre still out there and can get injured.The grizzlies were hurt by paul gasol getting injured but I remember a bunch of other key players being hurt as well.As for the hawks even with joe johnson they werent doing anything spectacular and what is it for the 20 or so games he missed due to injury maybe 8-9 more wins?They still arent in the finals and theyre still not very good.Chris Bosh had a career year and Carmello Anthony used the olympics to springboard into the season.tony parker and his injury has another ring to go next to his broken finger.Maybe if Lebron didnt make so many promotional tours through asia to promote for nike and other companies to get ready for the 2008 olympics and focus on basketball for the 2007 NBA season maybe he wouldnt look like he was coasting through the season.If were gonna do things your way I nominate jason collins,dan dickau,smush parker,matt bonner,mark madsen,damon jones and the rest of the bench for the boston celtics for the next USA basketball team
How could a team of has beens and never weres compete with international teams that not only compete year round but also have NBA talent like Varejoa, Arroyo, Gasol, Okur, Yao, Parker, etc?
How bout we do what the international teams are doing and get a group of 8-10 guys that practice together all year long in friendlies and exhibition games and when Olympic time roles around throw in a couple NBA stars that are willing to dedicate their entire summer? None of this crap about lets week for a week long training camp and then break apart without getting anything done, then get back together a week before competition and try to get a team out of 20 something players.
Send 10 guys who are willing to play year round, throw in a scorer and a big man who can excel in the international game.
Anything wrong with that?
“It is every citizen’s right to represnt their country.”
Citizens have alot of rights. It is every citizen’s right to play basketball for any team they want and just like a citizen can work for any employer that will hire them …except for when they sign a contract. Then they are agreeing to accept certain limitations of their rights for cash. So, while I can try out for the Celtics, LeBron James cannot. The reason is that I don’t have a contract with the Cavs agreeing to play basketball for them.
Somehow, when FIBA comes calling, those contracts just don’t matter anymore.
“Send 10 guys who are willing to play year round, throw in a scorer and a big man who can excel in the international game.
Anything wrong with that?”
So use my idea and throw in two NBA players. I’m sure that the teams paying those two players salaries will be thrilled with this plan.
Were talking about team USA vs NBA .At this point team usa is run by a governing body and you need to be invited by the team but technically any us citizen can play they just need to be invited.Lebron can’t play for the celtics because he is contracted by the cav’s to play for them.Team usa is a completely different entity from the nba.
“So use my idea and throw in two NBA players. I’m sure that the teams paying those two players salaries will be thrilled with this plan.”
Just as thrilled as teams are when they let their foreign players go play intl ball.
Say Team USA does well in intl competition with the non-NBA guys, but they need a scorer and a shot blocker. They could get someone from the “NBA pool” like say Kobe and Camby to come play with them for the summer. The chemistry would be better than before, because the majority of the guys have played together and Kobe/Camby would have practiced with these guys before.
most guys here saying that the other teams bring out their best players so the US should do the same don’t take into account that other countries don’t have that many NBA players, and the teams with a significant number of NBA guys like Serbia & Montenegro and Argentina haven’t been bringing all their NBA players to international competition lately. The fact is that, at the moment it happened, Spain only had 2 guys in the NBA, Greece beat the US with no one there and Argentina won the olympic gold with only Ginobili playing in the NBA. Bringing the best guys in the NBA to play also means bringing a whole team of guys who play 40 minutes a night for 82+ games.