Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
OK, not a defender of Euroleague, since I'm mostly an NBA fan, but:
[QUOTE=gabepizza]Euroleague all star team? You're joking right? A good match up would be a European all-star team vs Team USA but as we have seen a Euroleague all star team would have difficulty beating Nigeria![/QUOTE]
Please, point out the "Euroleague all star team" that had any difficulty beating Nigeria.
[QUOTE]What "great" Euroleague players even made the Olympics? Only Juan Carlos Navarro and he was on a team with two NBA stars and a couple of other NBA players. I guess if you include AK-47 but he only played one year in Euroleague (winning league MVP and DPOY) before going back to being a role player in the NBA.[/QUOTE]
If the only logic applying for a player's value was how well a player performs in the NBA, team USA would have no business beating any opponent by less than 30 points. I mean, come on, any other NT consisted of Euroleague/other Euro/Afro/Asian "mediocrities" and a few NBA scrubs/role players, with only a few exceptions, like the Gasols, Scola, Manu, etc.
[QUOTE]And yes the US is all lot better then the rest of the world. You mention their close games this summer. The point is they have gone through the past three global tournament without losing a game. Yes on a bad day they beat Lithuania by 5 and Spain by 7 but on a good day they beat France by 27, Argentina by 29 and Nigeria by 83! On a bad day Spain loses to Brazil and Greece loses to Nigeria...NIGERIA!!!!![/QUOTE]
No problem with calling the USA the best team in the world (hell, they [B]should [/B]be, no other country respects basketball as much, with a few exceptions, like Lithuania, whose population is not bigger than the population of a small USA state or Serbia, also pretty small, or the Philippines, a country lacking big bodies). Now, using analogies like "USA beat Nigeria by 83, Nigeria beat Greece, so imagine how bad the USA would beat Greece" can only bring laughter to a reasonable person. Just as a reminder, the same Lithuania that the USA struggled to beat, ALSO lost to Nigeria in the same tournament with Greece, but later on easily beat the Nigerians to avenge the loss. According to the stupid logic that some people here use, such a thing should not happen. Another fun example: Greece in 2006 beats USA by 6, then loses to Spain by 24. This would mean that Spain would beat the USA by 30, right?
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
Its easy really. In Europe, we don't dream about becoming basketball players. There is no interest which basically means that you don't get to watch basketball which leaves you with no basketball idols. Kids idolize Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and the other soccer stars, not basketball players. We're daily reminded of soccer with news, games, sites and we grow up with knowing everything about it.
Kids don't even know who Lebron James or Kobe are and they get to know about their existence when they get older and can start looking for information themselves.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
I'm reading posts here that say the US isn't better than the rest of the world because it only beats individual countries. Well I have news for you. The US is an individual country as well! Yes it is the 3rd most populous and that is one reason why it is so good. The only countries that have more people (India and China) aren't good at basketball. Well India sucks but China is not great.
And I think that brings to genetics too. India doesn't care about basketball but China, like for lots of the world, basketball is the 2nd biggest team sport after soccer. So why aren't they better considering the have 4X the population? One reason is that although many cities and parts of China are 1st world most of China is still third world. They do not have the resources to find and nurture young talent.
And I think the next is genetic. China is good at sports, I mean in the Olympics they are only 2nd to the US in medals but they do not excel in sports that require pure athleticism. Track and field, swimming, soccer basketball. No Asian countries excel in these sports (at least the men's teams) Unlike Africa which is the 3rd world, some Asian countries have the resources of 1st world countries. Because of this can we say Asians as a whole don't have the genetic make-up for those sports? Then can we say that Africans or African-Americans or African-Jamaicans have the genetic make-up to excel in these sports?
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=Psileas]OK, not a defender of Euroleague, since I'm mostly an NBA fan, but:
Please, point out the "Euroleague all star team" that had any difficulty beating Nigeria.
If the only logic applying for a player's value was how well a player performs in the NBA, team USA would have no business beating any opponent by less than 30 points. I mean, come on, any other NT consisted of Euroleague/other Euro/Afro/Asian "mediocrities" and a few NBA scrubs/role players, with only a few exceptions, like the Gasols, Scola, Manu, etc.
No problem with calling the USA the best team in the world (hell, they [B]should [/B]be, no other country respects basketball as much, with a few exceptions, like Lithuania, whose population is not bigger than the population of a small USA state or Serbia, also pretty small, or the Philippines, a country lacking big bodies). Now, using analogies like "USA beat Nigeria by 83, Nigeria beat Greece, so imagine how bad the USA would beat Greece" can only bring laughter to a reasonable person. Just as a reminder, the same Lithuania that the USA struggled to beat, ALSO lost to Nigeria in the same tournament with Greece, but later on easily beat the Nigerians to avenge the loss. According to the stupid logic that some people here use, such a thing should not happen. Another fun example: Greece in 2006 beats USA by 6, then loses to Spain by 24. This would mean that Spain would beat the USA by 30, right?[/QUOTE]
Well the Greek team that just lost to Nigeria had the Euroleague Final Four MVP (Spanoulis) and the player that the poster "Euroleague" claims is the best Euroleague center who was selected to all-Euroleague 1st team three years ago (Bourousis) plus 3 other members of the Euroleague champions. I know Euroleague champions are different from a Euroleague all-star team but still. So since a team with two all-star Euroleague players would lose to Nigeria it is not so far fetched to think a few more wouldn't make a difference. Krstic and Teodosic? They couldn't even reach the top 7 in Eurobasket together. McCalebb? Couldn't even lead his team past Dominican Republic. Who else? Lorbek? Batiste? Please. Diamantidis? Schortsanitis? Last time they played together with Spanoulis and Bourousis (hell that's almost a Euroleague all-star team there) they finished 11th in the World Championship behind Australia and Slovenia!
And I never made the comparisons saying since the US beat Nigeria by 83 and Greece lost to Nigeria by 1 the US would beat Greece by 84. I was simply replying to people who were pointing to the US only beating Lithuania by 5 and Spain by 7 by saying that was a bad day by them and they still won. Yet on a good say they beat the top teams by 25+ and can destroy lessor teams by 80+. While on a bad day by the other top national teams they could lose to teams as bad as Nigeria and even Spain, the 2nd best team in the world, lost to Russia and Brazil.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=Sakkreth]Barely better with over 300million population than a country with under 3millions ? Wouldn't be proud...[/QUOTE]
Los Angeles metro area alone has produced better players than Lithuania. :no:
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=Euroleague]Exactly. USA 99 - Lithuania 94...........
I fail to see how this thread makes sense.
Yes, the US is better than every other country of the world individually in basketball.
However, they are not "oh so very much better" as is implied here. Hell, they were losing to Spain in the gold medal game deep into the second half of the game.
Also, again, the "better than the rest of the world" thing isn't realistic or true.
USA never plays against a unified European team, or a unified world team. It's only against single individual countries that USA plays.
The people that think USA can really beat a unified European or world team are morons. So they are not actually "better than the rest of the world". That's WRONG.
They are better than any other single individual country.
And no, I don't think the 2012 Team USA Olympic team would be favored to beat a Euroleague all star team.[/QUOTE]
Euroleague all star team.:oldlol:
What kind of joke is that.:facepalm
Especially when a definite scrub is so called the best player.:facepalm
It only took NBA has beens like the twilight version of Kirilenko and Krstic. :oldlol:
To expose what a sh1tty league that is.:cheers:
Nate Huffman Euroleague MVP
Joseph Blair MVP
Anthony Parker 2 MVPs 3 Euroleague title
33 Americans has been named to All Euroleague team
Obscure players ranging from scrubs to NBA rejects.
Sh1tty league indeed
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=SourPatchKids]Our youth system is part of it.[/QUOTE]
Just this.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=swi7ch]We have black people who are driven to play either basketball or football. End of story. It is scientifically proven (and common sense, really) that black people have the superior athletic genes.
Imagine if soccer in the US became as big as basketball and football... we'll be taking over that sport, too! :bowdown:[/QUOTE]
not sure about that......in soccer it is better to be small and fast, and dribbling the ball is easier with short legs....
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
the answer is really ncaa division 1 sports......
a full ride to college for being dominant in a sport is partially the United States dominates so many sports.
it's essentially a "farm" league that attracts the greatest american (and some international) athletes in many sports.... play against each other and develop their talent..and then the creme of the crop is selected to try out for pro teams
anybody paying attention during the olympics would have noted how many International world class athletes trained, developed and got free education at AMERICAN universities
half baked racist theories aside, ncaa scholarship system is the real answer
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
African Americans are genetically more athletic than ANY other race... there is simply no denying this fact! Basketball requires more athleticism than most sports, similar to football. We have the most athletic players in the world... the combination of speed, height, length, all these traits... this is why we consistently have the best basketball players. Add to the fact the we have the best basketball youth system all the way to college, and then the best pro league... it's a no brainer we have the best basketball played here in the states.
As to why African Americans in the US are athletically similar, after hearing several theories, I would have to agree that genetics played the most part. Its simply about the survival of the fittest... only the strongest people survived the brutal journey across the Atlantic. The weak starved and died off, while the strong made the journey. Even during the slave auctions, only the strong were selected and sold. With this cycle continuing, we have a group of genetically stronger people. Is it also true that Blacks have a higher testosterone level than other races? I'm not sure where I read that...
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
Those theories used to be skewed the other way...sportswriters used to write that whites were naturally superior to other races physically...then Jack Johnson was allowed to fight for the belt....and then it got flipped into Blacks being "naturally" better athletes.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=gabepizza]Well the Greek team that just lost to Nigeria had the Euroleague Final Four MVP (Spanoulis) and the player that the poster "Euroleague" claims is the best Euroleague center who was selected to all-Euroleague 1st team three years ago (Bourousis) plus 3 other members of the Euroleague champions. I know Euroleague champions are different from a Euroleague all-star team but still. [B]So since a team with two all-star Euroleague players would lose to Nigeria it is not so far fetched to think a few more wouldn't make a difference.[/B] Krstic and Teodosic? They couldn't even reach the top 7 in Eurobasket together. McCalebb? Couldn't even lead his team past Dominican Republic. Who else? Lorbek? Batiste? Please. Diamantidis? Schortsanitis? Last time they played together with Spanoulis and Bourousis (hell that's almost a Euroleague all-star team there) they finished 11th in the World Championship behind Australia and Slovenia![/QUOTE]
Knowing that a team with 2 Euroleague "All Stars" lost by a total of 1 point, while having epically choked in the last minutes (they led throughout most of the game), I'd say "few more" would make quite a bit of difference. Let's be real. Nigeria had a few surprising results and is a very improved team, but, since you want to nitpick, they still finished 10th, below freaking UK and Australia.
[QUOTE]And I never made the comparisons saying since the US beat Nigeria by 83 and Greece lost to Nigeria by 1 the US would beat Greece by 84. I was simply replying to people who were pointing to the US only beating Lithuania by 5 and Spain by 7 by saying that was a bad day by them and they still won. Yet on a good say they beat the top teams by 25+ and can destroy lessor teams by 80+. While on a bad day by the other top national teams they could lose to teams as bad as Nigeria and even Spain, the 2nd best team in the world, lost to Russia and Brazil.[/QUOTE]
It wasn't a post directed specifically to you, but I do remember a few people making this "point", although they probably tried to troll.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=tomtucker]not sure about that......in soccer it is better to be small and fast, and dribbling the ball is easier with short legs....[/QUOTE]
Not necessarily true. Look at C. Ronaldo and Messi. One is 6'1 and one is 5'7 yet they are very close at the skills you point out.
It's the same thing as it is with Bolt, years ago people would tell you that you have to be small to be the fastest cuz taller people are clumsy. Look at Bolt now...
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=tomtucker][B]oh really ?[/B].
[IMG]http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0812/08_12olympicmedalcount/13441320-2-eng-US/08_12OlympicMedalCount_full_600.jpg[/IMG]
.
:biggums:[/QUOTE]
Apparently you didn't bother to take a look at the breakdown of those medals. Of those 88 medals, 41 were in either badminton, pingpong, women's swimming, women's weightlifting, or diving.
Re: Why is the United States so much better at basketball than the rest of the world?
[QUOTE=Psileas]Knowing that a team with 2 Euroleague "All Stars" lost by a total of 1 point, while having epically choked in the last minutes (they led throughout most of the game), I'd say "few more" would make quite a bit of difference. Let's be real. Nigeria had a few surprising results and is a very improved team, but, since you want to nitpick, they still finished 10th, below freaking UK and Australia.
It wasn't a post directed specifically to you, but I do remember a few people making this "point", although they probably tried to troll.[/QUOTE]
Okay but Greece actually lost to Nigeria. A team with a few more Euroleague all-stars would probably beat Nigeria but might still have trouble. They definitely would struggle against teams like Croatia and Angola and would not be even a top ten FIBA team. To think that they would actually pose a challenge to Team USA or even Team Spain is delusional beyond words.
But of course this would never happen because a Euroleague All-Star team would never play a national team. The closest to a Euroleague all-star team we got was team Greece with two Euroleague "all-stars" and 3 other Euroleague champions and they lost to Nigeria. I mean can you imagine a team with Lebron James, Dwight Howard and three other players who got significant playing time on the Miami Heat lose to Nigeria! lol
