Draw for the FIBA World Cup [Manila, Philippines, Apr 29]

[usagre2]

like I said, it's an ego thing.

Yeah I agree with that. And rightfully so. We aren’t having varsity team high school tryouts here to evaluate. Like I said it’s pretty demeaning. If I am a star you know who I am and what I can do. If you want me then select me if not then pick someone else. It’s common sense and the alternative is dumb as well.

 

[Ridirkulous2]

Yeah I agree with that. And rightfully so. We aren’t having varsity team high school tryouts here to evaluate. Like I said it’s pretty demeaning. If I am a star you know who I am and what I can do. If you want me then select me if not then pick someone else. It’s common sense and the alternative is dumb as well.

Your arguments are ridiculous. All other teams have a training camp to see what works and who is unfit. NBA players are the cream of the crop, we all agree. But when you have literally hundreds of them eligible for a roster spot, fair competition is the way to go. It's a team sport.

EDIT: To further motivate, by your reasoning, isn't not getting called at all pretty demeaning too?

 

[usagre2]

Actually what is ridiculous is comparing the US team to every other team and the way they do things. That’s actually borderline moronic. Considering that any rotation player and every member when it comes to US Olympic rosters would make every single other national team on the planet. Therefore it’s apples and bowling balls to compare.
NBA superstars are accustomed to having others being selected over each other such as for all star selections, all nba teams and generally all awards. It is not demeaning in anyway. What is to be asked to try out in a couple of practice sessions and fake games in order to make some sort of determination. Ridiculous. And finally that’s is why that was the process of determining these teams for many many years and tournaments. They got sidetracked in their thinking for a while but it’s great that they regained their senses.

 

[DenverJokic2]

I think USA choosing their team before training camp is mostly to avoid the same roster disaster that was 2019. They don’t want guys leaving in the middle of training camp on the road, like Trae Young and DeAaron Fox did in 2019. Having your 12 players chosen going into training gives the team more time develop roles and chemistry.

 

[usagre2]

Although probably destined to be part of the US select team that will scrimmage against the World Cup team I would love to see rookie Keegan Murray of the Kings make the team. He opened my eyes with his performance against Golden State in the playoffs and I think would be a nice 10-12th man on the team.

Celtics big man Rob Williams would also be a realistic and somewhat ideal 10-12th man as well.

 

[FilWelsh2]

Depth chart will be:

PG - Brunson
SG - Reaves , Haliburton
SF - Edwards , Bridge
PF - Ingram , Portis
C - JJJ

Still need another big man, another PG and veteran player for this roster

I can foresee there will be upsets against USA this time…

 

[Giannis34GOD2]

I don't know if many here at IBN knows this... This is the reason why NBA players who will participate in the FIBA WC this summer can't join their national teams yet until 28 days of tip off... It means, NBA players who will participate can join in their respective national teams starting July 28 (or 28 days before the WC) due to FIBA - NBA agreement... NBA only give their players in that restrictive allowed days... Other national teams who have their NBA players can't join their national teams either... KP and Bertans can't join Latvia too... same as Vucevic, Luka, Giddey, Mills, etc....

Regarding NBA players, it should be added that there are certain league rules if they go to help their teams. As mentioned above, this was also one of the main reasons why the official training camp starts on July 28, or 28 days before the start of the final tournament. As Emil Toms discovered, there are certain restrictions for NBA players, as, for example, the mentioned 28 days cannot be divided between several periods in the summer. Similarly, previously one of the recommendations was to conduct one training session per day .


https://sportacentrs.com/.../09062023-apdrosinasanas...​

 

[usagre2]

Makes a lot of sense. Players are under contract and this was collectively bargained. I mean one month of preparation is not enough for a 8 or 9 game tournament ? How long do you need 2 months ? It’s all fun and games for us fans and spectators but these players are employed and have responsibilities that go along with getting those handsome paychecks.

 

[Giannis34GOD2]

Makes a lot of sense. Players are under contract and this was collectively bargained. I mean one month of preparation is not enough for a 8 or 9 game tournament ? How long do you need 2 months ? It’s all fun and games for us fans and spectators but these players are employed and have responsibilities that go along with getting those handsome paychecks.

For other countries... Max of 3 months is a ideal set up... unlike USA and some countries, Most of teams who are heavy underdogs badly needed more training to keep up against giants of basketball... Markannen of Finland, KP of Latvia, JC of Philippines, and others needed to be longer w/ their national teams to get more prepared come FIBA... But since FIBA and NBA has that agreement... It makes sense... And also to have a good long term relationships between NBA and FIBA.. since both organizations have their target that the sport basketball will be atleast cope up w/ football (soccer in USA) as most popular sport... As Mark Tatum (NBA executive) says that he hopes that basketball will be no.1 sport worldwide someday.... So having a FIBA WC is a good alternate off season tuning before next NBA season.... Unlike MLB and World Series that has only limited viewers only in Some of Asia and American continent, NBA and FIBA has bigger fanbase... FIBA sec gen. Zagkris wants to break the 2019 version of WC that has 1.5 billion viewers worldwide and break all time attendance did last 1994 FIBA WC in Canada....

 

[usagre2]

3 months ? Lol. Maybe they can quit their day jobs and devout 12 months instead. You do realize these are actual human beings with lives outside of basketball right ? Again it’s easy when we just look at players as pawns in the sole purpose of entertaining us.

That 1.5 billion 2019 viewership is not impressive at all when examined, That’s an aggregate amount of all 92 tournament games, When averaged out its not a very impressive number at all when it comes to the entire planet, For example the championship game had 160 million viewers worldwide. That’s even less then the championship game of American football did worldwide. Lol.

This tournament has a low ceiling of growth mainly because the US the overwhelmingly dominant basketball playing nation in the world sees it as a secondary inferior competition and it always will. It will never compare in prestige to winning an Olympic Gold medal to Americans therefore it is destined to be a second tier event no matter how delusional the FIBA heads get.

 

[Ridirkulous2]

The German 18 player provisional squad is out:

https://www.basketball-bund.de/herbert-nominiert-18-spieler-fuer-world-cup-vorbereitung/

Depth chart:

PG: Dennis Schroeder, Maodo Lo, Justus Hollatz
SG: Andreas Obst, Nick Weiler-Babb, David Kraemer,
SF: Franz Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Niels Giffey, Christian Sengfelder,
PF: Maximilian Kleber, Moritz Wagner, Oscar da Silva, Johannes Thiemann.
C: Daniel Theis, Johannes Voigtmann, Leon Kratzer, Johannes Wohlfarth-Bottermann

I put in bold the probable 12 which will make the final roster, although I am torn about Nick Weiler-Babb taking Justus Hollatz's place, since the latter will be a leader of the team in the future and Weiler-Babb's contribution will not be really so massive...

All in all a very strong team: Maxi, Moe Swag and Bonga are back from injury and Oscar da Silva finally decided to show up.

The only big omission seems to be Isaiah Hartenstein, but the front-court is already a logjam and I am sure he will be part of the group in the next olympic 4 year cycle, after age and further injuries will probably catch up with the trio Kleber, Theis (which had knee surgery after Eurobasket and played only 7 games with the Pacers this season...) Voigtmann.

On the other hand Austin Reaves was enthusiastic about joining the team... until he wasn't! USAB called so good riddance obviously.​​

 

[usagre2]

Potentially a very good German team that can contend and show that last years accomplishment was not solely based on home court.

Off topic. Detlef Schrempf is one of the most underrated players in my 40 years of watching basketball. He is never mentioned when it comes to All time European greats but is better than most of them that are.

 

[Giannis34GOD2]

3 months ? Lol. Maybe they can quit their day jobs and devout 12 months instead. You do realize these are actual human beings with lives outside of basketball right ? Again it’s easy when we just look at players as pawns in the sole purpose of entertaining us.

That 1.5 billion 2019 viewership is not impressive at all when examined, That’s an aggregate amount of all 92 tournament games, When averaged out its not a very impressive number at all when it comes to the entire planet, For example the championship game had 160 million viewers worldwide. That’s even less then the championship game of American football did worldwide. Lol.

This tournament has a low ceiling of growth mainly because the US the overwhelmingly dominant basketball playing nation in the world sees it as a secondary inferior competition and it always will. It will never compare in prestige to winning an Olympic Gold medal to Americans therefore it is destined to be a second tier event no matter how delusional the FIBA heads get.

For USA, 1 month is ideal... But not for other countries... Latvia, Finland, Angola, Philippines, Lebanon already start their training camp, Those countries can't afford to have only 1 month full training because their talent still below compare to powerhouse countries such as Spain, USA or France... They have to train early to be competitive when the tournament starts, they will bank on chemistry to cover the weaknesses of being less inferior talent against powerhouse teams... By the way, almost all of PRO leagues all over the world already finished their schedule, That means PRO players overseas outside NBA can join now to their national teams to start their trainings....

For viewership, 1.5 billion is already impressive if you compare the ratio of interest to the sport worldwide in the past two decades... 2006 FIBA WC only gathered 400 million viewers, 2010 FIBA WC only gathered 600 million and 2014 FIBA WC gathered 800 million... That means the interest of the fans watching the tournament is getting bigger and bigger, since the superstars of today's era are internationals, And i'm sure it will be increase this year, since the awareness of the basketball fans worldwide already known thru social media, most of NBA followers will also watch their idols' participation in the WC and also bettors and gamblers are there too ... By the way, American football or NFL is not popular overseas, When it comes to overseas popularity of American PRO leagues, Only NBA is recognizable by foreign fans... For sure, Serbian followers in Jokic's town in Somber and in Belgrade are now getting ready to parade once Denver finish their series today vs Miami... No other American pro leagues have huge foreign fans that NBA has...

For Americans, Olympic Gold in basketball still more valuable for them than FIBA, But not for foreign teams, especially Europeans... And with FIBA change the ranking system that FIBA WC has more ranking points than Olympics, Another medal less performance for team USA this summer will further drop their rankings lower than 2nd.. With 2.5 pts cumulative gathered by winning FIBA WC trophy while only 2.0 winning Olympic Gold... even USA gets another gold medal in Olympics, getting top spot in the rankings thru only Olympic Gold is not guarantee anymore...

 

[usagre2]

Yeah you speaking for the entire European continent I take with a grain of salt. I am pretty sure if you ask a Lithuanian what is more valuable when it comes to an Olympic Gold medal or a Fiba Worlds Gold medal you’ll probably be shocked to find out.

 

[usagre2]

You are also missing or not understanding the point when it comes to the training off season period.
ideally 6 months would be great but again you are looking at these players as chess pieces for your entertainment and not actual human beings.

 

[usagre2]

Yeah my obvious point about the NFL championship game beating the Fiba Worlds Gold medal game in worldwide viewership is bolstered exactly by the fact that the NFL interest outside the US is nonexistent.
Thats my entire point and it still beat the Fiba final.
So you pointing out to me that the NFL is not popular outside of US is confusing.

 

[usagre2]

It might make sense for a Greek fan to value the FIBA worlds more than since their history in the Olympic event is very minimal as opposed to the worlds so I get that but I would bet for the continent as a whole the Olympic Gold medal is more prestigious.

We also have evidence that it’s more important to European players as well judging historically by players who have skipped the event as opposed to the Olympics.

As for the US I really don’t think you grasp the concept of how irrelevant this tournament really is domestically. Cartoons and cooking shows routinely destroy in the ratings.

 

[usagre2]

But like it or not the truth is no matter how a fan or even a player values a tournament, common sense and reality dictates how valuable and the importance it has.
With the top American players in the world always skipping it, it can never reach the status it desires.
That’s just a fact.

It’s like deja vu for me every 4 years when this event comes around I feel like I have to keep making the same arguments.
lol. People are trying to manufacture importance for this tournament that just isn’t there despite name changes or whatever.
I mean it’s hard to argue it when an alternate competition exists that has better quality player representation across the board. I just don’t get it. I mean the Worlds actually acts a preliminary qualifying tournament for the main event Olympic tournament that follows. Not the other way around.

 

[usagre2]

Just to put a ribbon on this argument comparing the Worlds and Olympics which I find ridiculous for all the obvious reasons I stated, consider this analogy.

Let’s imagine an alternative world tournament existed that alternated with the FIFA World Cup. And then imagine that in that other tournament Brazil and Argentina sent secondary stars. Therefore no PELE, Maradona and Messi in one but yes in the other with their best possible talent. Meanwhile the other nations treated the two tournaments as equals when it comes to team talent. (Even though that isn’t true if you look at historically player skips in Worlds as opposed to Olympics), which tournament would have more prestige and value.
i rest my case.

 

[usagre2]

The Cleveland Cavaliers have 3 young players that would historically fit the USA Fiba Worlds type of player profile. I would be very surprised if one or more between Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland we’re not on the team.