Thirteen named by Scariolo for Team Spain roster

June 19, 2012

Be afraid, be very afraid … Sergio Scariolo has released a list of 13 players from which he’ll craft his Team Spain for the 2012 Olympic Games. To no one’s surprise, the prospective gold-medal game side will choose from a baker’s dozen which includes five who played NBA ball, six Euroleaguers and two guys from Valencia who played in the Eurocup.

The list includes: Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors); Juan Carlos Navarro, Victor Sada (FC Barcelona); Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull, Felipe Reyes (Real Madrid); Rudy Fernandez (Denver Nuggets); Rafa Martinez, Victor Claver (Valencia BC); Fernando San Emeterio (Caja Laboral Baskonia); Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers); Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzles) and Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder).

Not bad, eh? And now we can speculate as to who might be the odd man out. This might be the toughest decision Scariolo has to face until met with the challenge as to how to cover Kevin Durant and Lebron James when both are on the floor for Team USA…

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This post was published on June 19, 2012
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Comments: 47
  1. John
    12 years ago

    Navarro and Pau had really bad seasons this year for their standards. Spain will not win a medal unless those two really pick up their play by a lot.

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  2. 12 years ago

    Well, an article just came out in Yahoo Sports. It seems the NBA will no longer allow it’s players to participate in the Olympics beyond 2012. Stern and the other NBA owners are pushing for a under 23 tournament for basketball in the Olympics, and a World Cup of basketball every 4 years like in football. NBA players will participate in the World Cup.

    The NBA itself will partner with FIBA in organizing the World Cup, and will presumably share in the profits. Major changes are in the horizon for international basketball as we know it.

    Many NBA owners led by Dallas’ Mark Cuban have said it is unfair for their best and priciest players to play internationally without compensating the NBA or it’s teams. Many players come back in the regular season with injuries perhaps related to their international stints.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      This has been in the news a while. It’s not about “NBA players being not allowed to play”. It’s about turning Olympic basketball into a 23 and under tournament like Olympic soccer. So for example if it started this summer players like Durant, Westbrook and Love would be still able to play. Stern wants basketball to be like soccer where the biggest event is the World Cup. As we could see from comparing the the rosters from 2010 to 2012 right now the preeminent tournament for basketball is the Olympics but Stern and the powers that be want to try and change this.

      But the real issue is for the players. In soccer the best only play every four years but in basketball every two. As a fan I love to have senior level global tournaments every two years but for the players it is too much (at least from the owners perspective) And this is especially true for non-American players. The US is so deep and automatically qualifies for tournaments by winning 2/3’s of the time that, for example Kobe, James, Bosh, Paul and Wade have not played an international game in four years, but if an international star like Nowitzki, Gasol or Ginobli wants to sit out a tournament their teams can go from being contenders to pretenders. This is especially true for European players where sitting out a zone competition might mean not qualifying for the global event, especially the Olympics. So with a global tournament every two years if you add the qualifiers it means every summer they have to play and if not their character and patriotism are questioned. This is unfair when soccer players only have a global tournament every four years so even with qualifiers it is only two summers every four years.

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  3. Miguel
    12 years ago

    The NBA itself will partner with FIBA in organizing the World Cup, and will presumably share in the profits. Major changes are in the horizon for international basketball as we know it.

    Many NBA owners led by Dallas’ Mark Cuban have said it is unfair for their best and priciest players to play internationally without compensating the NBA or it’s teams. Many players come back in the regular season with injuries perhaps related to their international

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    Anyone that believes that the other national federations will agree to this is an absolute retard. Stern and Cuban are insane. Literally insane.

    There is absolutely zero chance that the other federations ever agree to that.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      What do other federations have to agree to? Will they refuse to allow their players to take part? Yeah right.

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  4. Miguel
    12 years ago

    As we could see from comparing the the rosters from 2010 to 2012 right now the preeminent tournament for basketball is the Olympics

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    Only to the USA. That’s never been true for the rest of the world. That’s just something the USA claims.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      That might have been true before 2010 but look at 2010, it wasn’t just the American players who passed on the WC. Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Joakim Noah to name a few top non American ballers who passed on the WC but played in the 2011 zone qualifying event to be able to play in the Olympics.

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  5. 12 years ago

    This NBA proposal could become reality, I believe. The NBA has an extraordinary amount of clout since most of the best players in the world play in the NBA. If the NBA banned it’s players contractually from competing in international events, then these tournaments lose it’s meaning, and revert back to pre-dream team days in ’92.

    Money talks too, and a world cup with the best players participating every for 4 years backed by the NBA could be too tempting for Fiba or any organizer to resist.

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  6. Jack
    12 years ago

    The NBA does not control the world basketball tournaments. Neither does FIBA. The individual federations have to vote to agree to whatever they do.

    There will never be agreement from European federations to allow the NBA to own these tournaments and anyone that considers that possible is suffering from Ugly American syndrome.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      I’m not sure about the business aspect of this. I’m just commenting that the NBA and Stern are discussing only sending 23 and under players to the Olympics after this year. I think that’s how it works in football at the Olympics with maybe each team allowed three players over 23. I don’t know if this will be the official FIBA rules or only the NBA not allowing players over 23 to play in the Olympics but either way it will diminish the Olympics as being the (one of two) premient basketball tournaments in the world.

      Because of this the NBA will focus on the FIBA World Championship or World Cup or whatever it would be called. I’m not sure of the politics or business aspect of it I am just commenting that this sadly might be the last Olympics where the best players compete.

      But as I mentioned above this would be more fair to the players and really, in the long run, be better for basketball itself by having a “World Cup” every four years that is really seen as the top tournament in the world. Right now, because of marketing and exposure, the Olympics is bigger, as we saw from all the NBA stars (not just Americans any more) who skipped the WC but want to have a chance to play in the Olympics.

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  7. John L.
    12 years ago

    This would never be accepted by European basketball federations. Cuban is a freaking MORON.

    He is so stupid that he does not even know that FIFA does not run things in football (soccer) in various federation zones.

    For example, UEFA runs things in Europe.

    Cuban is absolutely nuts if he thinks that the European basketball federations would let the NBA own their own world tournament. The second they even try something like that, their will be a European federation that is solely under it’s own power and control, just like UEFA in football.

    This stuff is clearly coming from the minds of egomaniacs that greatly overrate their own power, if they think an NBA owner or owners is going to be allowed to own a world tournament and the world’s other federations are going to let them.

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  8. John L.
    12 years ago

    And it’s already called the FIBA World Cup. The fact that Cuban and Stern apparently didn’t even know that is quite revealing.

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  9. John L.
    12 years ago

    And this argument about “all the big stars (non-Americans) skipping the world tournament” two years ago………..

    please do not inject personal opinion into what really happened and change history. Those players didn’t play because the NBA owners ordered them not to. The same ones that now evidently think they can own the tournament.

    The players were forbidden by their NBA owners from playing.

    It has NOTHING to do with them not considering the tournament “prestigious”.

    So please stop making up false claims like that here.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      First off that’s not true. Owners cannot forbid players to play in FIBA tournaments, unless they have injuries and it is put in the contract or if it is for insurance reasons as what happened with A’mare Stoudemire. If owners could forbid players do you think Cuban would have allowed Dirk to play in any tournament? Owners don’t want their million dolloar players to play in any tournament so the players prefer to play in the Olympics. This is the whole reason why Stern wants to make the Olympics 23 and under and promote the FIBA World Cup as the top competition.

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  10. 12 years ago

    It is absolutely a fact that Americans do not care for the Worlds. Only the Olympics. And more and more of the best non-Americans didn’t compete in the 2010 Worlds for a variety of reason.

    I’m not sure the NBA is seeking to control any international body necessarily, but just go on a joint venture with them. Another possibility is for the NBA to make it’s own “Worlds”, inviting other national teams to play once every 4 years. If you were a Spanoulis in the Greek team, and the NBA asked you to compete against the USA’s best and other national teams with their respective NBA players, where would you rather play, in this NBA sponsored tournament with the prestige of playing against the best or the watered down FIBA version?

    You see the NBA holds a lot of sway since they can ban most of the world’s best players from competing in any tournament, and that speaks a lot. It’s not France without Parker. It’s not Germany without Nowitski. It’s not Spain without the Gasols, and so on and so on.

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  11. 12 years ago

    Also, the NBA could attract these national teams with better pay since revenue would exceed the FIBA event with all the best players playing in the tournament.

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  12. Gabe
    12 years ago

    Very informative article from the New York Times about the globalization of the game:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/sports/basketball/twenty-years-later-dream-teams-legacy-endures.html

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  13. 12 years ago

    Yup, good article. This NBA-FIBA “Worlds” is so going to happen. It just makes too much sense.

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  14. Rt
    12 years ago

    It is absolutely a fact that Americans do not care for the Worlds. Only the Olympics. And more and more of the best non-Americans didn’t compete in the 2010 Worlds for a variety of reason.

    I’m not sure the NBA is seeking to control any international body necessarily, but just go on a joint venture with them. Another possibility is for the NBA to make it’s own “Worlds”, inviting other national teams to play once every 4 years. If you were a Spanoulis in the Greek team, and the NBA asked you to compete against the USA’s best and other national teams with their respective NBA players, where would you rather play, in this NBA sponsored tournament with the prestige of playing against the best or the watered down FIBA version?

    You see the NBA holds a lot of sway since they can ban most of the world’s best players from competing in any tournament, and that speaks a lot. It’s not France without Parker. It’s not Germany without Nowitski. It’s not Spain without the Gasols, and so on and so on.

    —————————————————————————————————-

    You are a complete moron. There is no way in freaking hell that the European federations are ever giving a majority vote of approval for the NBA to own the world tournament.

    Just STOP

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  15. Greg
    12 years ago

    First off that’s not true. Owners cannot forbid players to play in FIBA tournaments, unless they have injuries and it is put in the contract or if it is for insurance reasons as what happened with A’mare Stoudemire. If owners could forbid players do you think Cuban would have allowed Dirk to play in any tournament? Owners don’t want their million dolloar players to play in any tournament so the players prefer to play in the Olympics. This is the whole reason why Stern wants to make the Olympics 23 and under and promote the FIBA World Cup as the top competition.

    What? Mark Cuban forbids his players from playing ALL THE TIME.

    FIBA World Cup always has been the top competition. The USA’s own opinion does not decide things for the rest of the world. You sound like a total xenophobe.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      Mark Cuban forbids his players from playing all the time? So how come Dirk played in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011? How come Kidd played in 2008? And I’m sure there are other examples as well. So if Cuban could really forbid his players from playing then how can this be? He puts presure on them not to play but he is not legally allowed to prevent them from playing.

      As for FIBA Cup being the top competition in the world that is your opinion. The fact is that for the US, which is the best national team in the world by far, it has not been the top competition, and as we see when comparing the 2010 World Cup rosters to the 2008 and 2012 Olympic rosters of other national teams we can see that the Olympics have overcome the World Cup in importance for them as well.

      But why argue? The whole point is that now Stern wants the World Cup to be the most important tournament in the world for the US included which means this might be the last Olympics that is the top competition so in essence this last time when an Olympic gold medal means the best in the world in basketball. Which makes it even more meaningful and exciting!

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      • Phileus
        12 years ago

        What? Mark Cuban forbids his players from playing ALL THE TIME.
        —

        Yeah! Just like the time he forbid Dirk from playing in EuroBasket last year, or that time he forbid Jason Kidd from playing in the last Olympics! I know so much about basketball!

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  16. 12 years ago

    Rt, stop going catatonic, and listen to reason. Gabe, I don’t know too much about the legalities of NBA contracts, but it seems to me that Stern and the NBA COULD put in place a policy that no future NBA contract will allow players 23 and up to play in any non-NBA sanctioned international event.

    When Stern says this will be the last Olympics NBA players play in, what do you think he means? I believe he will no longer allow NBA contracts allowing international ball for NBA players. That’s seems like what he means.

    If NBA players can decide for their own what tournaments to play in, then Stern’s pronouncements are worthless. Stern is not stupid. He knows exactly what he is talking about.

    If this is true, and Stern is allowed contractually in the future to do this, then this is a game changer. This will change the nature of international ball , and will give more power to the NBA, and less power to FIBA. Since without most of the best players in the world from the NBA, FIBA tournaments lose it’s relevance.

    The other day in Yahoo, there was a follow up article about this. Stern is working with FIBA, but Cuban said that he will push for a 100% NBA owned international event. I’m telling you guys ,this is where it is headed.

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  17. RT
    12 years ago

    http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/221668/Parker_Questionable_For_Olympics

    Parker Questionable For Olympics
    Jun 24, 2012 5:25 PM EDT

    Tony Parker could miss the Olympics because he has not fully recovered from an injury to his left eye.

    “As required by the Spurs, I will go back to the U.S. on July 5… I will visit a specialist in New York, hoping he will give the green light to compete at the Games,” Parker said.

    Parker will defer the decision to the Spurs.

    “The Spurs are very worried,” he said. “Depending on the (examination) results, a withdrawal is possible. The decision is not mine anymore, it is up to the doctor and the Spurs.”

    ———————————————————————————————-

    Don’t try to come here and spout off this BS that NBA teams can’t block NBA players from playing fro their national teams.

    GET REAL and stop trolling.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      I said unless in case of injury. And is it possible to have a discussion without being called a troll? A troll does not mean someone who just posts something you don’t agree with 100%.

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  18. RT
    12 years ago

    Also, Cuban almost every summer blocks his players from playing. He blocked Beaubois every summer and Mahinmi this summer.

    Dirk has said on numerous occasions that Cuban threatened him if he played for Germany and that he had to call his bluff.

    Cuban just recently blocked two of his players from playing according to ESPN and you TROLLS are claiming here that he never does this.

    PISS OFF

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      It’s funny that you are even agreeing with what I am saying and still calling me a troll. Have you reached puberty yet? Dirk called his bluff. Which means owners like Cuban can not legally prevent their players from playing in said tournaments. They can ask, they can even threaten but as you yourself mentioned with Dirk calling his bluff, they are not legally able to prevent it, unless in a case of the player being injured or injury prone which is the case now with Parker and his eye.

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  19. RT
    12 years ago

    BTW, there are a lot of reports in Europe already about this, where European players are saying that if the NBA does this, they will NEVER consider playing in the NBA.

    A lot of NBA draft picks have been asked to, and said they would never sign with an NBA team if this happens.

    Not to mention some of the best European players 9that NBA teams are always after) have been asked and they have all said they would never consider signing with an NBA team if such a rule was put into place.

    In other words, both Stern and Cuban are nuts.

    They want to go back to the days when some of the greatest international players that ever lived, like Oscar Schmidt, Arvydas Sabonis, Nikos Galis – could not play in the NBA due to the rules that the NBA didn’t allow their players to play in FIBA competitions or in the Olympics.

    Yes, Stern and Cuban want to take the game back 25-30 years…….

    Dirk, Rubio, Pau, Parker, etc. I bet none of them would have even considered signing with an NBA team if NBA players were barred from playing for their national teams at the time they were drafted.

    Stern and Cuban are some seriously retarded fools.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      Really? Okay. Post a link to prove this is not just bs which I think it is because from your posts it seems that you are a pre-teen.

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  20. 12 years ago

    Rt, you are full of it. Right now, there is no way Cuban can LEGALLY block one of his players from playing international ball. What we are talking about is a FUTURE NBA policy that might ban this . MIGHT, but not certain.

    Before the 92 dream team, it was FIBA rules, and not NBA rules, that barred NBA players from participating in the international games. You are so misinformed, RT. FIBA finally allowed the NBA to send their players in 1989 or 1990, I forgot when. This gave birth to the “Dream Team”.

    On whether European players will sign with an NBA team that doesn’t allow them to play in the Olympics, we shall see. If the NBA works it out with FIBA using it’s clout, or threatens to organize it’s own tournament, NBA players will still be able to play international basketball one way or another in a future “World Cup” with the NBA a full time partner, or perhaps even fully in control.

    Sorry Rt, that’s the reality. You’ll just have to deal with the fact that the NBA is the most powerful basketball organization in the world.

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  21. 12 years ago

    One more thing, the NBA could sign any international player even before 1990. There were no rules to that effect, except in the case of Sabonis, who was a player for the Soviet Union. The former communist country would ,of course, have opposed Sabonis joining the NBA. After the USSR fell in 1991, this paved the way for Sabonis to join the NBA.

    For Schmidt and Galis, I’m not sure any NBA scout believed at the time they were capable of playing in the NBA. There was not much regard for international talent at the time. There were many accounts of elderly and supposedly retired NBA ballers still scoring points in European ball. Perhaps this was wrongheaded.

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  22. RT
    12 years ago

    Mike stop being a douche bag.

    Schmidt and Galis didn’t play in the NBA because of the rules that NBA players could not play for their national teams.

    They said this NUMEROUS times.

    My point is that if the NBA makes this rule that from then on, European players will NOT sign with an NBA team.

    If you can’t grasp this, then you are one of those people that thinks the whole world revolves around the USA.

    If Stern does this, the only thing he will accomplish is eliminating international players in the NBA.

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  23. RT
    12 years ago

    And about “reality” I talked to all my friends in Europe about this idea of the NBA “owning their own world cup” and every single one of them could not stop laughing.

    NO ONE IN EUROPE WILL EVER ACCEPT THAT AS A LEGIT TOURNAMENT

    And I seriously doubt your intelligence if you can’t figure out why.

    Everyone of my friends that likes basket agreed that would be the biggest joke tournament ever.

    You are living in a delusional fantasy if you think such a tournament would ever be accepted outside the USA, as anything other than a joke.

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  24. RT
    12 years ago

    For Schmidt and Galis, I’m not sure any NBA scout believed at the time they were capable of playing in the NBA. There was not much regard for international talent at the time. There were many accounts of elderly and supposedly retired NBA ballers still scoring points in European ball. Perhaps this was wrongheaded.

    ______________________________________________________

    How many times do you have to be asked to stop trolling here? I am losing my patience with you.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      How many times do you have to be asked to stop trolling here? I am losing my patience with you.

      ________________________________________________________________________

      It takes one to know one RT. And as you friends laughing about the NBA “owning their own world cup” since the champions of both senior level global competitions, the Olympics and World Championships, is Team USA with is made up completely of NBA players it would be laughable to have a legit tournament without NBA players.

      Even the champions of Europe, Spain, is composed mainly of NBA players.

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  25. 12 years ago

    RT, you are about to be seriously disappointed because Stern is working with FIBA as we speak to make these things a reality. I don’t know what kind of fantasy world you live in.
    Gabe is absolutely correct . A FIBA tournament without NBA players would not be taken seriously by anyone including Europeans. Everyone knows, except you perhaps, that the best basketball players in the world play in the NBA giving the NBA a lot of leverage vs FIBA.

    RT, search your history. It was always FIBA that barred NBA players in the FIIBA tournaments before 1992. The NBA was allowed to sign international players even players in national teams, but most NBA scouts believed the better Euros were playing in Soviet dominated countries like Lithuania or Yugoslavia which barred players from associating with capitalist countries like the US.

    Wow RT, are you even a high school graduate?

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      Really want it come done to is the NBA wants to make the World Championship a bigger event. One way is by making the Olympics 23 and under but another way is by giving NBA owner’s a piece of the pie so they do not want to restrict their players from playing. Considering Cuban pays Dirk $19 million a year you could see why he gets upset when Dirk plays in, and risks getting hurt, in a competition that brings nothing to Cuban. Maybe other clubs would be able to get a piece of the pie as well. Not just in Europe but in Australia, China, Africa, etc… Perhaps every team will get a percentage depending on the salaries of their players who participate? Just an idea.

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  26. mike
    12 years ago

    Gabe, I think the primary interest of the NBA for this World cup thing is financial. Stern sees an opportunity, and he is grabbing it by the horn. I’ve been searching the web for articles on this World cup thing. Some have speculated they are envious of the World Baseball classic in which MLB garners 66% of revenue. Check with the Bleacher report.

    Already, many articles have said there is little chance NBA players will be allowed to play in the Olympics ever again. It makes sense. As you say, the NBA is sending their superstars at great risk, and with no financial benefit to the league. I say FIBA will bow to the all-powerful NBA. Uh oh, I can see the Euro nuts in this site going catatonic again. LOL

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      You mean NBA players over 23 will not be allowed to play in the Olympics ever again.

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  27. mike
    12 years ago

    Besides, in soccer(football to the rest of the world), it’s 23 and under for the Olympics. In the World cup, all players can then play. Correct me if I’m wrong.

    I’ve also heard that many NBA Euros and international players really don’t like to play, at times, in international competition. Many are pressured to play, and it is hard to say no to your country. When you are already in the NBA making your millions, American or European, sometimes after the end of a grueling season, your body wants to take a rest. The problem for the other countries is that they have fewer talented players, and the very few in the NBA or even the European leagues, have a ton of pressure on them to play.
    The US, for instance, could conceivably win the gold again on a C team or even a D team.
    The point is, the US is that deep in basketball talent.

    Besides ,a 23 and under Olympics could make Olympic basketball gain a more amateur flavor to it again. Some actually prefer this.The US can send their best college players like Anthony Davis, and reinforce it with young NBA players. Why not? This way the World Cup thing (what Stern is proposing for now is a FIBA-NBA partnership unless Cuban gets his way or FIBA plays hardball) will be an event that will be highly anticipated since all players will be qualified to play. The excitement and hype generated by the NBA marketing experts should send Asian, European, and the American fans hyperventilating with excitement. LOL

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      Yeah the real benefit is for the non-American players. As I said before Kobe, Lebron, D-Wade, Carmelo, etc…have not played for USA basketball in four years and the US is still the World Champions and have qualified for the the Olympics. The big challenge will to get American fans to care about a World Cup of basketball. About 90% of American basketball fans did not even know that the 2010 FIBA WC took place.

      Many Euros think fans like you and me are arrogant Americans who think the basketball world revolves around the US. Although we state the obvious, that Team USA is the best national team and the NBA is the best league at least we care about international basketball, that is why we are on this site.

      The majority of American basketball fans don’t even know/care about international basketball because they just assume that the USA is the best so why bother watching. It is these fans that Stern has to get.

      People here say there is a conspiracy to make NBA teams and the US win. I think it is the opposite. Stern should really want the US to lose so American fans will realize that international ball is not such a cakewalk and it actually means something to win. I didn’t start watching international basketball until 2000 and didn’t really become a fan until 2004, in the middle of the US’s losing streak. That is what made it so exciting. The US has already one the past two global competitions, if they go on and win four or five in a row, fans, especially American fans, would not be so eager to watch.

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  28. mike
    12 years ago

    I think you’re right about American fans and the World Cup. Until the US loses with their best players, American fans might not care about international basketball. You and me care because we know it is no longer a given that the US will win automatically. The US today actually has to send a real team that is cohesive, or no matter how much talent they have, they could lose in the single elimination set up of an international tournament.

    All American fans remember was the dream team of the 90’s, and those lopsided victories. In fact, international teams have dramatically improved since then and have learned to maximize their advantages with the FIBA rules. Most American didn’t know that the 2008 US team actually had to overcome this, battling the zone, rules on screens, physical play on the perimeter, etc..

    This is why the 2010 team’s easy win in the Worlds was a bit surprising for me, I have to admit. It seems like the US was really beginning to hone in on the FIBA rules, and the right kind of NBA players who can thrive with these rules. I suspect this is why FIBA has changed it’s rules again with the longer 3 point shot, and the NBA style lane to promote more inside play. Notice that the US stopped sending post up players since 2008,and have completely abandoned that NBA style of play.

    The US basically won with Bosh at center in 2008, and Odom in 2010. We both know that you cannot get away playing these two in an 82 game regular season, or in a playoff series with strong “bigs”

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      Yeah Mike but the changed rules are going to make it even more easier for USA. I think one thing USA learned is the physicality of FIBA play. Yes in the paint the NBA is just as physical but FIBA allows more contact on the perimeter. Players like Baron Davis, Iverson, Marbury, Chris Paul, etc…were not used to being held and grabbed like that and it lessons their athletic advantage. So Coach K realized that more contact is allowed and has told his players to grab and slap their opponents which lead to fast break. Many of the Euro fans have complained that Team USA fouls and, this is a funny one, “uses their hands”. But that is just USA adapted to FIBA play.

      Also in 2008 the USA had Howard, the best center in the world, as their starting center. Yes in crunch time in the gold medal game against Spain they put in Bosh but that was because of free throws.

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  29. zahos
    12 years ago

    I really hope olympic u23 never happens.
    And honestly i don`t think it will happen again.
    I agree with what i read that is going to bring the sport 20 years back.
    Since 1992 and the dream team see how the rest of the world has grabed the opportunity and become so much better in basketball.
    I think that with u23 the only one that will be happy is the NBA teams-companies.
    A country`s organisation should be above a company in a fair world.
    Honestly i don`t know if Nowitski would continue play in the NBA if that guy that owns the Dallas should have forbiden him in any way to (legal or illegal).
    Screw companies, basketball is the players and the people watching it. NBA , Euroleague and other profiting companies are just using them to make money.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      You have missed the discussion. Who else would be happy would be the players themselves, especially the non-American ones. In football the best players play only once every four years. In basketball right now it is every two. Combine that with qualifying tournaments and it means playing almost every summer. Combine that with full seasons for club teams and the players never get to rest and break down, which is what I think happened to Yao Ming. And if players skip a summer, especially non-American players, they are called selfish and unpatriotic.

      For fans like us it sucks and I am very disappointed but I understand it from a players/club perspective. Why should football players have to play only every other summer while basket players have to play basically ever summer? That’s not fair.

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  30. mike
    12 years ago

    True about Howard and Bosh, but USA hardly posted Howard, and they ran dunk plays for him almost exclusively.

    I think maybe FIBA thinks that by reverting back to the NBA style lane, they will force the US to defend bigger post up Euros making less effective US lineups that feature Carmelo at PF or Durant at PF, Bosh at center. Offensively, these three can be very effective from the perimeter(Euro style), but on defense they may have a problem defending a stronger Euro PF or center

    FIBA with it’s rules in the past forced the US to send perimeter type “bigs”, and when the US mastered this style, FIBA is again changing the rules. Just a theory of mine.

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    • Gabe
      12 years ago

      They will just be playing into the US strength then.

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ballineurope
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