The recent loss this week by the United States Basketball Team in the semifinals of the World Basketball Championship hits a grim reality. We are no longer the best country at basketball. [related article]
Greece bumped the US Team (filled with NBA players) out of gold medal contention… Greece having only a single NBA player on its roster. This feels just like the 2004 Summer Olympics where the US got bumped from the gold medal round by Spain (I think). Geez… in the 2004 Summer Olympics we couldn’t even beat Puerto Rico, one of our own territories?!
Face it… United States basketball, embodied by the NBA, has become a spectacle… a spectacular exposition of attitude and showiness performed by grown, whiny children. We care more about dunks and 3-pointers than any of the fundamentals of the sport. Our fast-food entertainment culture desires the flash and sizzle of hard drives to the hoop and aerial acrobatics… not the mundane execution of 12-foot pullup jumpers and dependable foul shots. The NBA suits, knowing flash equals cash, restrain their own refs from calling the two-step rule on the big “playmakers” as they take 3-and-a-half steps to the hoop. Hey, if the crowds sing then the registers ring - somebody show me the money.
But alas… this perverted form of basketball encounters the truly objective challenge in the face of international competition. Are the NBA tricksters the best? Are the US court magicians superior? Nope. It turns out that a basket made from a 15-foot jump shot is worth the same as one made in a spectacular alley-oop. Without the Figure Skating judges giving points for “Artistic impression” the US style of flash over substance gives no advantage… and is possibly a disadvantage.
Things weren’t always like this. Remember the 1992 Summer Olympics? Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and the rest. We utterly cremed the opposition. But these players listed were the best. They had the fundamentals of the sport down cold. They knew (even and especially Jordan) that flash was great, but it was SECONDARY to getting the basketball in the basket. People like to say that today’s players are the best there ever were. *cough* What?! I think not… just look at how they do against other countries whose teams aren’t filled with cash-pumped players and whose people would rather watch soccer.
Now you may also say, “Hey, this is all because so many of today’s NBA All-stars refuse to play in non-cash events.” It is true that today some all-stars duck out of representing their country in international competition (which is a blog post for another time), but that is only a further testament to their selfish, glitzy mentality… and probably reveals a deep fear of being embarassed by teams they outwardly perceive to be inferior. Do you really think that these results would be any different if there were different US players there? Not in today’s NBA. We’d be better off using our college team all-stars.
Here’s an excerpt from the article linked at the top:
As they warmed up before Friday’s semifinal against Greece, the U.S. players put on a jam session for the fans.
Dwight Howard dunked emphatically. Dwyane Wade bounced the ball off the backboard, caught it and stuffed. Elton Brand jammed an alley-oop pass. Finally, LeBron James flew down the lane for a tomahawk.
As the crowd roared, the Greeks lined up at the other end and shot free throws. The moment foretold Greece’s 101-95 victory in the semifinals of the world championships.
The U.S. has dazzling skill; the Greeks are a dazzling team.
“We have to learn the international game better,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We learned a lot today because we played a team that plays amazing basketball and plays together.”
[emphasis added by Negative99.com]
You have to learn the international game better?!? If that means you have to learn how to score more points than the other team, then YES, you’re right. Bless my soul, though, but I thought scoring more points was the key to American basketball as well.
This is why myself, and a growing number of others, don’t watch the NBA. How long until March Madness 2007?
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I couldn’t have said it any better. The same applies to the NFL and many other pro sports.
Yeah… once money gets involved then those who control the money (people) start dictating standards. And when the standards we’re dictating are spectacular dunks at the consequent cost of point-scoring-ability… then that’s bad.
Steve, it took me awhile to getting around to reading this post. But, that was well said and spot on. Man, you and I could have some good talks in the pub over this one. I rarely watch the NBA these days and I am a huge hoops fan. But, next to college, it’s just painful to watch.
I totally disagree with the notion that ALL NBA players lack the basic fundamentals to win in international play. I feel that the selection process needs some work. Choose NBA players that posess the ability to pass, rebound and play defence and worry about getting 3 or 4 players that can score the ball. Saying the entrie NBA can’t compete with the NCAA is rediculous and just plain ignorant. I do agree that more college players should be allowed to join the team.
Kevin :: Umm… the NBA already chooses its best players. What selection process are you saying that they currently used? The whole point is that once money gets involved the organization turn to glitz rather than fundamentals.
The 1992 Olympic team beat everybody else on the planet to a bloody pulp. By 2004 we were losing to Puerto Rico.
The NCAA suggestion is almost like if I had to put real college wrestlers against “professional” wrestlers in a real wrestling match. I have to go with the college wrestlers since the professional variant is quite a deviation from the actual sport. That’s a stretch in terms of basketball… but by what I’ve seen in international play it’s not much of a stretch.
It’s not that the NBA players are not athletically equal too the international players; they are. Infact, I would say in most cases they are athletically superior to the competition. But, once you make someone an uber millionaire, it would appear that representing your country is too trivial of matter to be worth your time or effort.
In addition, the NBA is full of isolation and 1 on 1 play. It creates a lot of standing around. This is easily noticed when you watch college then NBA. So the NBA came doesn’t translate to the international arena. This is apparent by our continued loosing over that last four years.
oh, I think this pretty much sums it up: http://whatasavage.com/2006/08/18/practice/
Wow! Very well said. I too think that the players that they selected to represent the country are mostly the “me first” players. However, I tend to disagree in the notion that ALL of the current NBA players lack the basic fundamentals of the game. I think (and hope) that there are still NBA players these days that are quite good in terms of fundamentals and teamwork. Anyways, Thanks for posting this, I very much enjoyed reading this post.
i think that’s the part of the game. “losing”
i’ll watch how the USA basketball team play on olympics, btw, you can check here for beijing olympics medal tally
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