I don’t like NBA player participation in international competition – Epilogue
Sep 1st, 2007 by Answerman
Since writing my four part piece on the inanity, insanity, and absurdity of NBA players participating in FIBA tournaments, some news has transpired supporting my position. I figured I’d share:
Lets start with my personal hero, Canada’s coach Leo Rautins, who was forced to watch his son’s future disappear after he tore up his knee during FIBA competition. The junior Rautins was on his way to Syracuse to play college ball — but that’s not happening now.
What did Coach Rautins have to say:
“We had an eight-minute warm-up (the normal minimum is 12)…If you’re going to do eight-minute warm-ups then let’s do eight minutes. Don’t have player intros, don’t have exchanges of the pins. Nobody cares about that and certainly we don’t need to have the anthems at this point.”
He went on to discuss the atrocious schedule…
” There’s no where you play four games, take a day off and then play four more. Some of these teams will play eight straight. To me it’s illogical. I think people have to sit down and realize there’s a reason people don’t play. There’s a reason NBA teams don’t want their guys to play. And if you want to continue to have the best guys play in this tournament, you might want to do some things like not cut the warmups, have extra bodies available and you may want to space (the schedule out) or change the format so you don’t kill people in order to play.”
http://torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2007/08/24/4442963-sun.html
Preach Coach Rautins. Its terrible. Why are they playing every night? Can they stretch this thing out over 4 weeks, so maybe some guys can rest their bodies? 8 minute warm-ups? Is less warm-up time and condensed schedule part of the “real basketball” of FIBA — or is it just an easier way to sell their tourney to TV?
How about the best GM in basketball, Bryan Colangelo. He’s had enough of this garbage:
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/247838
Injuries to both Bosh and Delfino? He has an Atlantic Division crown to protect and now he’s got Garnett in his division. What’s a reasonable GM to do? So he put his foot down:
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/249272
That’s right….Garbojosa may look healthy, may seem healthy, but the Raptors want to keep him that way. Not cleared to play. Toronto Raptors are very very lucky to have a GM that smart (me thinks he put his foot down on Bosh too – everyone has got some plantar).
Here’s to you Anderson Varejao. Here’s a guy smart enough not to compete without someone paying his way:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/22/sports/NA-SPT-BKB-Americas-Unbeaten-US.php
Too bad for Brazil that the Cavaliers won’t fund their team. See Cavs already have one player playing 8 games in 9 nights, they’re not going to pay another one. And Andy, well he’s too smart to risk injury unless he has guaranteed money.
Why doesn’t Brazil offer him some cash or some insurance? I know, its because the tournament isn’t worth it if it actually costs the home country something…its only important if only the NBA team has risk.
…and here’s one for all those still disagree with me – especially Denver fans.
http://www.9news.com/sports/article.aspx?storyid=76375
…add the fact that since they are only half-way done and the team isn’t allowed to bring spare players, so ‘Melo is forced to play on that injury. I’m sure its good for a bruised right heel to keep running and jumping on it.
–and for my friends in Detroit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601554.html
Don’t worry, Tayshaun did rest that sprained ankle one day. NBA players don’t really need their ankles anyway.
Anyone else think it will cause further injury for the ACTUAL NBA SEASON. FIBA will be fine – only the players’ teams and fans will suffer.
A shame that FIBA won’t let teams bring a few extra guys — sort of an inactive list — so players aren’t compelled to play hurt. Bruce Bowen could’ve given Prince the rest he needed.
Oh well, who cares if Rautins loses a year of play, or Prince and Carmelo have to rest on Detroit/Denver time. Its not like Denver or Detroit are teams that’ll be battling for an NBA title — oh wait, they probably will be there. So really, its only the NBA, the teams, the players and the players’ fans that suffer.
But, we gotta send NBA players to the FIBA tournaments…right?
Why think the NBA is better than FIBA? In every sport the high point of the sport is the international play, see the Olympics, the World Cup of soccer or Rugby. All players want to play this tournament, its this tournament that makes heroes, its when they are playing for their country, for their sport and not for money. The NBA is a big business, its fun, its exciting but its a business, FIBA is about represent your country.
The problem is not in FIBA, the problem is with injuries is with the NBA, why 82 games if the championship is decided in the playoffs? 2 games (one home and one away) with every team would be fine. This tournament have 8 games in 9 nights but just because there are tournaments starting soon, if give fiba some more time the torunaments would be longer. And in the NBA the players play 3 games in a week, travel and some times play games in consecutive days in different cities, why that?
And at the same time no one is obligating the players to play for their country, if they really think that the only thing that happens in international play is injuries why they would go? Maybe they like to play for their country and like to take that risk to play for the great honor in the sports that is play at the olympic games and win an olympic medal.
I’d be interested to know if the writer of these articles is still convinced that NBA players struggle with the FIBA 3 point line?
What is the team percentage for the tournament so far?
46.7% is the answer
Michael Redd is obviously also struggling shooting just 47.5% from the arc despite only training to shoot NBA threes.
Obviously this is not against the best teams they will face, but clearly the distance of the three point line is not an issue.
“Maybe they like to play for their country and like to take that risk to play for the great honor in the sports that is play at the olympic games and win an olympic medal.”
Its not their risk – and that’s the point. Its the NBA team’s risk.
We’re seriously gonna go round and round with this because it’s cool that u feel the way u do but dont half-ass your info when pointing stuff out-Andy Rautin’s injury truly was bad but his dad had something like 13 knee surgeries.I know injuries occur because of accidents but also injuries occur due to genetic abnormalities on one’s body.And while those abnormalities my not cause injury they can make you more prone to it.Now I have no clue of Leo Rautin’s medical history but 13 knee surgeries is a giant red flag simply saying the guy has a weak knee.While yes the chances are small that if Leo had some type of small hereditary abnormality in his knee that made it just a little bit weaker and prone to injury theres a chance his kid would have the same problem.Whats the difference between Andy tearing up his knee versus “some where out in the boonies state” or playing for the canadian national team?Either way he’s out.I watched that game he got injured and it really wasnt anything spectacular.He was simply moving laterally trying to keep up with Barbosa,planted and went down.There are perhaps thousands of instances where he could have been injured making the same motion..It just serves your case cause he did it for his country.He isnt in the NBA so who do you want to play for your respective country??Should we get you a tryout right away?Garbajosa isnt even fully healed and the doctors didnt clear him.Insurance wouldnt cover him due to his shaky injury situation so he couldnt play.Team USA players averaged less than 20 mins a game.The play more pickup ball/working out every day throughout the summer for more than 20 mins.Do you want to ban them from working out during the summer too?As for Anderson Varejao, he had one good season in a contract year a bad showing at the fiba tournament can cost him millions.Its like having bad credit-most people would rather you have no credit than bad credit.No games mean no bad games and people can only judge you for what you did well. And get paid accordingly.I agree that the rosters should be expanded to 14 players and injury considerations should be allowed to fill a team’s roster so there isnt too much strain on the remaining players to play overcompensated minutes.And why arent you complaining for all the euroleague players who are playing in the tournament.They make up a greater percentage of players who make up rosters for all of the other teams in the tournament.Lets ban them too cause someone is investing money in them too.In the end you can blog all you want over why nba players shouldnt go and represent your country but after ultimately its about sending the best to represent their country not some 3rd or 4th tier athlete when every other country is sending their best.Tell russia or canada to send their reject hockey team to their world championship.I hope you write a “I loathe nba players doing dumb stuff” article because nba players have lost a little bit more time due to “slipping on ice”oops I mean snowboarding,getting caught up in court cases,slashing people after goin to the bar,and any number activities that nba players like to partake in that cause them to be fined,suspended or injured.
This blog is truly selfish and ignorant to say the least, just like the owners of the business. The NBA is a business, but is only going to be 2nd in importance to a player that values honor and integrity. The best gauge of how good a player is, is when they compete against the best players in the world. And no, the USA isn’t the best team in the world anymore, they were 8 years ago, and it’s what itches them to play so good now to prove a point to the whole world. Not everything that makes a person happy is money, but getting back your pride or just simply being nationalistic. Most people think that if you become rich and all that, you think you have everything in the world already that you can do whatever you want or say whatever you want, but they are completely wrong. They have a responsibility. The NBA is their job, but how many players really do live in their NBA native cities? That’s why, players like , Tracy McGrady, J. O’neal, Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton and other NBA playeys that didn’t want to represent the country are such whimps and pussies that they would pass up on their opportunities to help the country, not thinking about their countrymen lying their lives, fighting in other countries for their own freedom, freedom to play in the NBA and live their luxurious lives. So please, spare me your rants and let the big boys play. It’s not their right, it is their obligation to play against the best players in the world. The NBA should not put in their trophy “WORLD CHAMPIONS” when they do not even own that right to call themselves. This could be arguable, but I’d bet that the best team from Spain or Argentina can beat the NBA “WORLD CHAMPIONS” anytime of the day. And, last time I checked, it was still Spain that brags that honor WORLD CHAMPIONS. FYI.
“The best gauge of how good a player is, is when they compete against the best players in the world. ”
The best players in the world compete in the NBA — and they are put together based on skill and not country of origin. That’s why its the world champs. Everyone in the world over 19 is eligible, and the teams will pick the best ones. That is how you make the best team in the world.
Skills? last time I checked, the “skilled” players were on the USA team, and they lost to teams that had 1 NBA player (see Puerto Rico) in the past world championships, almost lost to the 2000 Sydney Olympics to a European team and couldn’t even beat a Manu led-Argentine team with a complete line-up of supporting NBA player cast. A “TEAM” is all about TEAMWORK, not about getting Iverson to play with Kobe and all the other egos in 1 team, it’s about chemistry, fundamentals of basketball which the USA completely forgot. The NBA dream team 1 was the best team ever because they had pride, honor and were truly skilled but knew their roles exactly. The NBA is a show, a business to sell, they make you believe that you are seeing the best. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but you are 100% wrong. Basketball will never be about skills alone. It will take gelling, bonding and more than just “skilled” players to compete. Now that the world has more than caught up with the NBA through NBA TV, team USA is like in a microscope being observed by the top teams in the world to their disadvantage. I’d like to see the same core of players be there in the 2008 Olympics. Let’s see something that Americans simply don’t have, COMMITMENT and HONOR, which will prove all they care about is their Millions of dollars in contract. (See NBA players giving lousy excuses not to be in the 2004 olympics. Terrorism attacks my ass. Pussies!) I’ll say I’m wrong, together with the majority that believe I am right too, when Team USA commits to winning and not just qualifying. Americans used to toy around with their opponents way back, now a basketball superpower that they are with 12 NBA stars/superstars, they would have to sweat out a victory over a smaller country such as a 3rd option Spurs star Manu-led Argentina team, 3rd string point guard Carlos Arroyo led Puerto Rico team or even a Dirk-led team Germany. Skilled? The real question is, do they have team skills?
“Let’s see something that Americans simply don’t have, COMMITMENT and HONOR, which will prove all they care about is their Millions of dollars in contract.”
You do know that NBA player contracts are guaranteed – so they can play in these competitions with little or no financial risk.
Give me a break. Some NBA players don’t even value their contracts when they get frustrated (see Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer or other NBA stars). They asks for trades like they want to change clothes. The NBA is a players league, period. Coaches nor GMs $don’t run NBA teams, players do. So give it up answerman, we all know that your blog about not liking NBA players in int’l competition is not going to sell at all. Let them play and see who really has the best team in the world. Case closed.
“Give me a break. Some NBA players don’t even value their contracts when they get frustrated (see Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer or other NBA stars). They asks for trades like they want to change clothes. The NBA is a players league, period. Coaches nor GMs $don’t run NBA teams, players do.”
I think there is a disconnect between what I am arguing and what you are responding to…I’m not saying that FIBA basketball is bad, or that either FIBA or NBA is better or worse than the other. I just think that FIBA should have its own players and the NBA should have its own players. It is unfair to the NBA and it owners to ask them to risk their investments in players to participate in a competition for which the NBA and its owners are not compensated.
“Let them play and see who really has the best team in the world. Case closed.”
I cannot stop them from playing — but the best team in the world will be determined when the best players compete against each other based on skill (NBA) and not country of origin (FIBA).
“I just think that FIBA should have its own players and the NBA should have its own players. It is unfair to the NBA and it owners to ask them to risk their investments in players to participate in a competition for which the NBA and its owners are not compensated.”
You want FIBA to have players that play like 10-15 games in a year? What do they do on their idle time? Watch the NBA games on TV? come on… anyone can get injured anytime, not by just playing what their body is supposed to be used for. These are men, not kids that can’t take care of themselves. Just let them play. FIBA is something out of the owner’s hands already, and it is a dream for a basketball player to represent their country. I am a competitor for my country too in a different kind of sport (Jiu-jitsu) and it feels really good to wear my country’s flag and carry it with honor. You probably won’t understand how good that feels, but I’m sure that’s how LeBron, Carmelo or anyone else feels everytime they wear the RW&B. You cannot stop someone from chasing their dream nor their responsibility. So stop taking defense of NBA owners and stop talking about unfair or money or insurance here. Life is not fair.
“I cannot stop them from playing — but the best team in the world will be determined when the best players compete against each other based on skill (NBA) and not country of origin (FIBA).”
Skill? Skill did not win the Spurs or the Pistons championships. IT IS MORE THAN JUST SKILLS. It was team work that won them a championship, if you really did know how to play the game at all and know what you are talking about. It takes more than just “Skill” to win championships. (See past USA teams that had mad “Skills” with big contracts but huge egos lose to teams with puny NBA contracts get their ass kicked in international play).
I believe all bloggers, even Eddie would agree with me here anytime of the day. Your blog is all wrong and you will never have your point right, for so many obvious reasons nobody here will agree with. Do more research and post more news links.
“FIBA is something out of the owner’s hands already”
It should not be out of the owners hands. The owner takes a HUGE risk without compensation. So, you are 100% correct it is ouf the owner’s hands — and that is the injustice.
The quality of play or dream of the players don’t reduce the owner’s risk and don’t provide the owner with any protection when he $100 million investments wears himself out or risks injury.
FIBA-lovers will never agree with me. They want the best players playing in FIBA – regardless of anything else. That’s fine. Doesn’t make it fair to the team owners, whose players are under contract go play in other league
What’s injustice is if an owner does not let a player respresent his own country. The player willfully agreed to join the FIBA team on their own, with or without consent from their teams. In an NBA contract, it does state that they cannot engage in extreme sports or same kind of activities during their contract but may continue playing basketball elsewhere, just as long as it doesn’t have the same contract as theirs. Basketball is not an extreme sport, and it is just lawful to let them play say, football or baseball during the summer should they choose to. FYI, FIBA lovers are NBA fans to, and it is just a treat to see the “Dream Team” (if they are still called that now, which I doubt) play against the rest of the world during the NBA summer. And don’t you think star players playing in tune-up games or summer leagues won’t get them injured too? It’s just the same thing. These people live and breathe basketball. It gives them greater exposure and a larger market as well, that’s why the David Stern lets them play too. Lastly, Kobe needs to lift up his bad and selfish image, that’s why he’s playing his hear out now, not just because he wants to redeem himself or he enjoys playing besides Jason Kidd wondering how good it must be, but because he knows that with him on that team, they have someone to give the ball to during clutch time. Need I say more? You can go on and on giving back weaker and weaker answers, but I can give you better and better answers. It’s so obvious that your basketball knowledge is far less than mine and your grammar needs more practice too.
PS. Nobody in that team has a $100M contract. Some dumb GM from the Orlando Magic paid a player from the Sonics $125M for a player that’s a one dimensional player with no defense. (R. Lewis).