hey all
hey all
This is my first post here, cause I thought I'd put in my two cents.
I think the Dominican Republic should get it over Lebanon. Basically, it comes down to two factors
Impact on the court:
FIBA recently mentioned how they wanted a team that will produce an impact at the tournament, and you can bet that with the talent we have (Horford, Villanueva, Garcia + Sosa, under the management of Puerto Rican Julio Toro), we will LIKELY have a greater impact than Lebanon. We qualified from a much stronger zone and put up good fights against Argentina, Brazil, and Puerto Rico, who no one can deny are damn good teams. Remember that the Americas tournament was the first time that our NBA players played together, and poor management meant that they practiced together very little beforehand. That, and we also did not have a PG. I don't say this to make excuses, I say it to show that the problems that we had in the Americas tournament will definitely be corrected by the time we get to Turkey. Taking into account the changes that will come should we get a wild card and given the extra time to prepare, the Dominican Republic would compete with any team (not necessarily beat them, but not get blown away 94-54).
Potential for development:
People keep bringing up our failure to qualify since 1978. Well, to tell you the truth, that qualification itself was probably a fluke too. Basketball has only recently started to become popular in this country (though it will never beat our first love, baseball). I'm talking like the last ten years. (We have failed to qualify partly because we are in a very strong zone, second only to Europe.)
That is why this wild card is so important: basketball has a legit shot at establishing itself as the second sport of the Dominican Republic, which would help the global mission of developing the sport. If we get to Turkey, you can bet that Dominicans that have never even watched pro-basketball will follow the team and all its games, and many will become basketball fans afterward. This will be ESPECIALLY true if we do well in the tournament, which, given what is stated above, is a very real possibility. If more Dominicans started playing basketball now, it could be the beginning of a more steady stream of talent production on our part. With a population of over 10 million, in the next 20 years we could overtake Uruguay (3 million) and, with all respect to our close brothers, Puerto Rico (4 million) in basketball talent production.
FIBA is more focused on the future than it is the past and it knows that it would miss this crucial WINDOW to possibly produce another basketball country in the Americas. I'm not saying that if we don't get it our entire basketball infrastructure will collapse, but rather that Turkey 2010 is our best shot ever at this.
If Lebanon fails to get the wild card, basketball will not suffer much in Lebanon. You guys are great fans, and there will always be more tournaments. If the DR doesn't get it, an opportunity will have been missed. Remember that the Dominican market is not only bigger than Lebanon (larger GDP, population), it is also has much more potential in basketball growth, basically because Lebanon is already crazy about their basketball
Know that I say this trying to be as impartial as possible. If it were up to me, Lebanon would also get a wild card (I am 1/4 Lebanese, they were one of my teams in the past WBCs
). But not over the Dominican Republic.
Let me know what you think.
)
I have a strong feeling DR will be picked over leb 
