Few things have humiliated American sports fans more than the continued failure of NBA all star teams to compete effectively in international competition. We have grown tired of the NBA's increasingly desperate explanations for each new failure. Any knowledgeable basketball person knew the real reason. Our players sorely lack fundamental skills. They can do a wicked monster jam, they can break your ankles with a crossover dribble and the alley oop is a thing of beauty in their hands. What they can't do is play team defense, move effectively without the ball, hit open shots and make free throws. So when they come up against teams that can, they tend to lose unless they have such a physical advantage that they can overcome their lack of skill. The Washington Post is doing a series of articles that explore how european players are being trained. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600712.html Typically in basketball-mad countries like Russia, Serbia or Lithuania, promising players either attend basketball academies or sign with pro teams in their early teens. The pro teams run intense programs for junior players, somewhat similar to Major League baseball's farm system. A team might have 200 junior players under contract, hoping that a few could make their senior team or be sold to the NBA for a big profit. The coaching at these academies and junior programs is intense and highly trained. The Post article contrasts that with this country, where AAU teams are typically coached by poorly trained guys as a sideline. Reading these articles, it's hard not to believe that the NBA will become increasingly dominated by European players and that the US will find it very hard to win in international competition.
I think NBA players can play team defense when they are together as a team. But the international competition is a pick of all-stars thrown together at the last minute for practice and they do not play anything near as well as team defense. All isolation and me-first and that always losses against good European-team players who play a lot together in international competition. When you have the single showboating offense, a good zone, which is what Europe can do, shuts down those drive that Kobe and Iverson are used to. I bet if you sent the Detroit Pistons or Miami Heat only as a team, they would win the whole thing
I used to think so. Now I'm not so sure. International refs will call the game by the rules. That means shaq is not nearly as effective since he will not be allowed to bull his way to the basket. I watch the NBA, and I don't see any great team defense. You see it in college, which I suppose was the point of appointing Coach K to coach the international team.
There, that article looks better now. Just needed to condense it into a few short but truthful sentences.
In contrast, NBA players grow up learning the fundementals on the playground where passing, defense and playing team ball is a distant second to schooling your opponent one-on-one. (Seen the "Street Ball" compettitions, where you receive points for making a fool of your opponent?) The Dennis Rodmanns of the world turned American basketball into what it is ... a carnival act. Who can blame them, the money followed. On second thought, College basketball is much more fundamentally sound and is not want for dinero. I stopped watching the NBA years ago. Far too much histrionics for my tastes.
and certainly over a 7 game series...I agree and perhaps have to disagree....look at MJ's dream team of the past...either we are taking international play less serious or they are taking it more serious...but overall we are the dominant force when it comes to hoops...we just have to instill some motivation to a player already making 20million a year with or without international play.....some guys dont even want to go much less play...
I think this was correct in the past. Not now though. The team they assembled this past summer for the internatinal competition was handpicked to be a "team" and not a collection of bored all stars. Even with weeks of preparation under Coach K, they still lost. We have to face facts. European players are far better schooled in fundamentals and in team play. As the Post articles make clear, it is only going to get worse. It is only a matter of time before an NBA team starts all foreign players. San Antonio is not far from that now.
Wouldn't you like to see a true basketball world championship, with the champion teams of europe, the US, south america and asia competing? I doubt the NBA would go for it. Too big a possibility for more embarrassment.