Working to fix USA Basketball
What needs to be done?
Our pal Henry Abbott over at True Hoop has undertaken a pretty cool project, which addresses a very important issue for basketball fans everywhere. He has polled a number of basketball minds–people ranging from Hall of Famer Rick Barry, high school and college coaches, trainers, and a bunch of writers–to get their thoughts on what needs to be done to fix the problems currently plaguing USA Basketball.
For some reason, he even asked yours truly. Below is my contribution to the discussion. Make sure to keep checking True Hoop over the next several days for more installments of this multi-part series.
Do you agree that American basketball development could be better? In a nutshell–what should we do differently?
I don’t think the problem with Team U.S.A. has as much to do with development, as it does with planning. Everyone knows these European teams play together for years and are only getting better, so the question becomes, Why isn’t Team USA doing the same thing? Well, there are a number of reasons, but these two are the easiest to understand: 1)They’re professional basketball players whose loyalty lies with the people who sign their checks (not Team USA); 2)It’s not nearly as important for Team USA to be successful in these international tourneys as it is for say, Team Croatia. Just look at the uproar (or lack thereof) after yet another bronze medal at the World Championships this past summer.
Chuck Klosterman wrote a column for ESPN.com that introduced some great ideas about fixing Team USA, and though I didn’t agree with absolutely everything he wrote, I think it would be enlightening to take a look at a couple of his proposals: a)”Pick 15 players who would rather die in an Iraqi dungeon than lose to the likes of Puerto Rico”; b)”Have this national team play barnstorming games around the world. During NBA All-Star weekend, they could serve as the opponents for the Rookie Game; on Sunday night during the Final Four, they could play a nationally televised exhibition against whoever won the NIT championship.”
The U.S. losing to Greece in the world championships–was that a sign that we need to do a better job developing American basketball players, or was that just a good team having a bad day?
Neither. That was a sign of a team/country too arrogant to put together a competitive international basketball program. For a very long time, the US had been able get away with putting together a team in less than 2 months and sending them across the sea to destroy other nations (there’s no better example of this than the original Dream Team). That’s impossible now. We’ve got foreigners winning MVPs (Nash), three point contests (Dirk), and getting major time on Sportscenter’s highlight reel (Ginobili); the world has caught up. The greatest talent remains (and will continue to do so for a very long time) in the U.S., but that’s not what this is about. Just look at the 2004 NBA Finals when the Pistons beat the Lakers. The most talented team didn’t win; the team that had the best chemistry, cohesion, teamwork, and was best prepared to compete won the title. The best TEAM. Until USA Basketball starts taking these other countries seriously, and starts putting a real effort into building a team whose main focus is winning in international competition, they will continue to face humiliation on the international stage.
What role should shoe companies play in basketball development?
Look, everyone knows shoe companies only care about the bottom line, and really, I don’t think it’s fair to ask them to care about anything else. Their dollars pay for these tournaments all over the US; they pay for the uniforms; they pay for the shoes and other apparel; and in many cases, they pay for the players’ travel. In return, they get their logos plastered all over the gyms, attached to the tourney’s name and it’s a great way to hawk products and get media exposure. In the end, I don’t think it’s the shoe companies’ job to play a role in basketball development. That’s the job of the coaches, parents, mentors, and other people who care (or should care) about the kids’ well-being. In my opinion, they’re the ones who are accountable for the basketball development, not the shoe companies.
If you had 15 minutes alone with O.J. Mayo, what would you say to him?
Can I borrow $10? I’ll give it back next week, promise! Oh, and watch out for the snakes in the grass…
16 Responses to “Working to fix USA Basketball”
Nov.13 at 10:19 am
ziad says:
team usa lost for one reason, it is not sending the best team out there that the us has! for example argentina, has all their best, the creme of the creme to play, usa send a team of some great players and a bunch of 2nd class! think of that, kobe, lebron at guard, tim duncan and kevin as forwards, and shaq in the middle, as bench, tmac, carter, wade, brand,webber, stoudamire and dhoward! now tell me who can beat them? the problem for team usa in this year world cup was simple, if melo and lebron were out, that is it, no play inside and out, no system that can tell you that this is a team! if you want to play alwyas one on one, all your players should be better than the opposite! when dream team went to barcalona, they crashed all not because europe or the world were inferior, not true, because the guys knew who to co-exist, they were all as a team, and ever since team usa is moving down! never they assambeled the best out there! since 2000 there were never a true americain team! it is a curse for team usa, well yes! since you let lamar odom be a center in an olympic games! shit! and since when marbury is an allstar to be a dream teamer? and this year…… bosh? battier? brad miller?even carmelo is not an allstar yet! where is a true base line player, a low post player!? why webber even at his age was not selected! he still got some juice! then he can give team usa a 10-10-5-2 per game!why not? he can score jumper to brake the zone, play a bit of post against any center in the world, and can dish out, rebound and play some d! what brand was better? and plz let some one tell wade he is not jordan! how many times did he take bad shoots! it was a chalenge between wade and lebron! 3 captains my ass…..the captain should be by seniority…brand should have been the captain! for me i see that jj should have had more playing time, he is the right stuff for such games,a snipper! in the end, unless the team usa has missmatches in all positions no way they will redominate the world in the game they used to rule!
Nov.13 at 3:45 pm
Chris says:
wait… Ziad, are you saying that the reason team usa didn’t get the gold was because they didn’t have Chris Webber?! Have you seen Chris Webber play the last 3 years?
Nov.13 at 10:39 pm
Simon says:
Can someone fix Australian basketball? please!
Nov.14 at 3:06 am
kingstuffs says:
cumon ziad…webber…stat…ya shur they were
good befor but webber isold and amare isnt half of what he was. and o ya bosh was a allstar this year
Nov.14 at 4:10 am
ziad says:
webber is old i know, but the team needed leadership in the game against greece!i know bosh is an allstar, but what was his value to the team in the world cup? nothing! man when i remeber wade how he was ballin that night, i get stomach cramps! they needed some one bigg in size and in value! some one that can play the post! who was playing high post or low post? none! it was driving only! any way, if you can find someone that could score 10, grap 10 an dish 5, while blockig at least twice and have the maturity to stay calm and play for the team other than cwebb tell me! i know kg tim duncan, but they did not want to go there any more!for team usa to beat the world again, i say, they have to have a bigg fela, i mean a bigg fela!look at that greeko nega, in the greece team, fucklapoulous or something, can u tell me if he is old or young, that wont matter he is bigg! spain had pau, argentina are argentina!so you see…….they need a bigg guy! not that if cwebb was there they would have won, no, it needs more than one person to do it! it needs a team charechter! what was this year team charechter!? give the ball to flash and get the hell out of his way? get the ball to melo let him shoot the three? what? man comon!enough! they need to establish team spirit, the system in the usa is alwyas one on one, individuality, ok, so in case you want to win, send in the best at every post, the reseve should be better than the 1st 5 in any other team, the us have enough players to send 3 teams that can go to the final 4! how come they can not win over crappy greece?what did greece do to win? team! they were better than the us in every position! especialy in the paint! they were shooting wild shots and having a bigg man in the paint to grab all the boards.bosh, dwoh, even brand were helpless against him!i guess cwebb or some one as bigg, could have isoleted him, and the thing that killed the us, the three point shooting, will be controled too! that my freinds, is why i mentioned cwebb!peace out!
Nov.14 at 4:21 am
ziad says:
regarding the aussies, simon, no one can fix any thing daawn unda, forget swimming and rugby, + that kricket shit, the aussies are inferior! no bogut neither any one can save the green and yellow, cose they are yellow! keep on surfing dude! i say that only regarding sports! not that australia are not civilzed people or any shit, but true, sports in australia are lame! can you see a rugby game? nuh! a criket game?fuck do i want to stay all night to see a small action! i hate basball so how come cricket man!? and the socceroes were owfull in world cup, they play 11 players in defence dude!
simon……maybe if you do as we do here in lebanon, nationlize some us players, and try to be good, then u can say that team australia are good! now we can say that we are a good basketball country here in lebanon, we defeated venzuala and france! heh! but for no reason we faded against nigeria! heh! welcome to lebanon, where we can amze u by wining and loosing!
peace out!
Nov.14 at 6:48 am
Darksaber says:
Interesting article, really. Team USA is on a good path back to winning international tournaments in my opinion. Obviously teams that have played with the same formations for 8 years and counting (Argentina, Spain etc) have that small but all important ingredient to the mix: chemistry. Look at what Serbia did this summer, mixed up their team, and added Darko in the middle, their talent got them to the elimination round, where they lost against the world champs. It is no longer enough to just roll out the big guns, especially when the most talented frontcourt players of the US seem tired of Fiba. I saw lots of promise in this incarnation of Team USA and Colangelo did the right thing by having people try out, brings back the competitor in those spoiled zillionaires. Now, about Coach K… keep him at Duke, okay? roll out Phil Jax or some other high roller (Riley? Van Grumpy?) who knows the X’s and O’s, then stand back and watch the boys dominate.
Nov.14 at 1:30 pm
oliver says:
Ziad im British and i hate Australia (they hate us too dont worry)- but to call Aussies inferior athletes just proves ur dumber than a bag full of paris hilton
Rugby is like the worlds toughest sport- League especially seeing as they can hit like football but dont wear pads(thers your proof)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETqP11JG4F8
(yeah there are two different kinds- union and league- but seeing as your so well read on it you would know that right?)and CRICKET- (not kricket you idiot) is a interesting game - like baseball but with a lot more strategy- you actually have to watch and pay attention to understand it-
And as unlike you i will provide proof rather than just spout off like a dumbass about stuff u have no clue about- Australia came fourth in the olympics with 49 total medals and 17 golds-Impressive already but then even more impressive when you consider that the country has 30 million people!! thats half of Britain- and we are tiny- to put that in perspective the USA (first in the count) has 300 million Russia (2nd) has 140 million and china has an obscene 1.3 billion…
So for a country that is so inferior there not doing too badly-
basically if ur wanna come up with such dumb statements without having a clue what your talking about talk into a mirror cos i dont want to hear such utter crap
And once again this is written by someone who doesn’t like Australian sports one bit- but i do have respect because the athletes and the products they put out are amongst the best in the world-
As for the USA i dont see why placing a team with US players in the Euroleague isn’t such a bad idea- these guys are stars in Europe and know how to play the euro game- Parker just won 2 straight MVP’s b4 headin back to Toronto
Nov.15 at 3:56 am
ziad says:
yea oliver, i know what union rugby is, and league rugby,you have australian football too…. i know cricket is writen like that,but those who rule the game (pakies) wright it like that! i know it needs strategy, i know your english team sucks in both, even if you are the running world champs in rugby,that was all luck in the final against the, well, all blacks! the thing is, the sports that the australian are good at, i just don t like them, it is just i wonder how they rule in rugby, them and the all blacks(that new zealand, encarta wonder boy olive) keep on kicking any one ass in a tough sport yet they can not produce a couple of decent basketball players! ok!a country that has ian thorpe who ruled the world in swimming and kicked the friking ass out of the us, can not have another mj?or lj?
enough said mr olive, i know far more than you think you do, it is just i am having fun with simon over there, he looked desperat to help his basketball team! so back off, lad, and go have some root beer in the island you think you own, oh yea, you rule the world too! let me tell you something mr olive, in what sport do the english excell in? hum? soccer? yea right…..maybe dart! that is a sport! really! a tough and demanding sport!listen man, stop reading and stop dreaming, go have a life!you prik!
Nov.15 at 9:12 am
matt says:
australia has only 20 mil people 2 btw… n at least we dont play pussy american sports… thank god u hav hockey… get rid of ya pads in ya ‘football’ nd make tunneling legal in basketaball n well see whose inferior then.. n lay off tha poms they alrite
Nov.15 at 10:48 am
olly says:
good man matt- this racist, dull prick Ziad needs to first learn to spell- and B) quit with the dull sterotyping-
Oh yeah and im not English either im welsh- theres more than one country in Britain…and we have the best rugby team in Europe- and guess how many ppl we got….2 million- so way to go on jumping to conclusions….again
Its the USA which plays the sports that only they play…baseball, American football, basketball- now the world is catchin up and beatin them at baketball and baseball they will probably switch and start playin something new.. (im not bashing the US- just proving a point to this idiot Ziad) both britain and Australia have dominant athletes at sports played by more far more countries Britain has freddy Flintoff(proof that the game as u so eloquently put it isn’t ran by ‘pakis’), Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Gavin Henson, Jonny Wilkinson and ballers like Ben Gordon and Luol Deng while Australia has Andrew Johns, Shane Warne, Matt Lockyer and oh yeah that guy who went kinda high in the draft what was his name- oh yeah Andrew Bogut-
So Ziad stop talking garbage, swearing and cut down on the racism- last time i checked Lebanon was hardly a sporting power and i dont see anyone bashing your third world hole of a country…..whoops- looks like i just did-
But seriously if u dont have anything to say except hate spewing bull go somewhere else-
this site is for basketball (or football/soccer- word to jake) not racist debates on whose country is the best-
im done with u- i hope u wake up and stop acting like a jackass
Peace
Nov.15 at 10:51 am
olly says:
oh yeah and England beat the Aussies in the world cup final not New Zealand-
Nov.15 at 11:42 am
ziad says:
again, i know that, the isle you call britain ,and i know that you welsh are a part of it! i aint talking about wales! i am talking about england! only! the white flag with the big red cross! ok! regarding the fact that you have the best rugby team, well that aint true! i see france and all balck as better, but still all respect to ryan giggs! he is like an idole to me as we share the same date of birth and year of birth! and again, i am not against any one, me too i come from a samll country,it is just i am having fun with the fella from dawn unda, simon it is, ok! i am not jumping to hurt any one, not scots, neither irish, nor welsh! to whome all i respect cose they have the same pride and honor! i was just picking on the ausies cose they like that!and you know it! they take that with good spirit not like that damn english, laddy olive! he toke it as i am attacking! well i am just having fun! i just wonder if any of you know where is lebanon! and the fact we know better then you!again, all respect to giggs and to the welsh soccer team, amazing that a team like yours with all the talent you have, you can not go to W.C. really a petty! it is a shame that guys like savage and giggs never toke their game to the gr8 show!
regarding my spelling, well i am free to write as i like! it is a free column no!?
as long as you understand me ………..i am ok with that! and now end the issue regarding the ausie, and return to usa! ok! again, as i said before, team usa needs to have only the best out there! and they have to know how to co-exist! i rest my case! i rest my chest! lads!
Nov.15 at 7:25 pm
Criz_Millz says:
ok here’s the real reason USA lost if u look at through a basketball microscope, the star in the NBA are young, the face of the NBA (Lebron,Melo,D-Wade,D-Howard,C.P.3,Chris Bosh,Amare,Gilbert and Captain Kirk) are all young. Look if they would have went to school or stayed in school the min. years they would have in the NBA right now is avg. of 1 year. They couldn’t guard the pick and roll…. the pick and roll!!!! if u put the all stars (Kobe, Vince, T-Mac,Duncan,K.G., Billups,J-Kidd, A.I., Francis, Starbury, Shaq, J.O., Matrix, Ray Allen, and Elton) on the team its not enough balls unless you have the right coach. So the only way to do it let me pick LOL… no really give me TayShaun,Big Ben, and Artest there go my defensive stoppers, jump shooters give me Ray,Rip and Redd, point guards give me C.P.3, J-Kidd, TJ Ford and Luke Ridnour, Captain Kirk or even Deron Williams, Big Men Shaq (of Course),Duncan,K.G., D. Howard or Amare, Swing and Shooting Guards Melo,LeBron,D-Wade, Vince,Kobe,T-Mac (no Doubt), and then throw in like a Carlos Boozer or Elton Brand,Shane Battier,J.O., or even Grant Hill or Sheed, you can cover every weakness the USA had, its not that we are not talented but not well trained like oversea, and change NBA rule to international rules, and the coach could be Phil,Don Nelson,Pop, Riley or Avery, tell me what u think…..
Nov.16 at 9:18 pm
BETCATS says:
You know what we need a greater help. Call Dr.Phil and see what the bald man with a plan has to say on something besides his everyday ‘youhave a problem u are overweight and your kids are starving’ stuff. The only way i know dat is because my grandma comes over to my crib to watch it.
Nov.21 at 1:12 am
Addison T. says:
1)More Bruce Bowen type players 2)more team chemistry , let them mesh like the Spurs 3)We need Bubba AkA The Answer AKA ALLEN IVERSON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!