C
CHBB2
Guest
First of all, let me say that I love your message board. A place to discuss basketball with people from all over the world is like heaven to me and I look forward to doing so.
Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to share some things I've learned from this Olympic basketball tournament. Feel free to move this if you feel it's not in the right section of the forum.
I think the first thing I learned is that holding the men's and women's tournament at the same time is the best way to do things. The men and women can go to each other's games, everything is much bigger because there are double the potential countries that are in it and you have fans of both the male and female national teams there at the same time, and last but not least the women's games get a lot more exposure than they would otherwise. This is the way I think the World Championships should be. I think they should do them the year after the Olympics that way neither the FIFA World Cup nor the FIFA Women's World Cup is the same year, and the FIBA World Championship would be the biggest International event of the year. There'd be no Winter or Summer Olympics that year, no World Cups as mentioned before, no Euros, therefore the amount of potential viewers and attendees would be much higher, and ESPN would have no excuse not to show the entire thing the way they do for the World Cup and Women's World Cup. I say the World Championship of men and women's FIBA basketball be held the same time of the year that the World Cup is on the years that it is held, or maybe in July like the Olympics instead. Think of how huge the World Championships would be if we did it this way.
The other thing I learned is that the landscape of global basketball is about to change in a big way, and has already started doing so. France may have basically beaten themselves against Spain but they are coming on in a big way and I would expect them to be a team to look out for in 2014. They've got a bright future ahead of them. Russia is coming on strong, too, though it will be interesting to see how they do in 2014, when most of their key players will be around or above 30. Nigeria is a very talented team, though they have some key players who are older as well, and they need to become more disciplined and intelligent as players. Australia has some talented young players but I wonder if they will make the next step by 2014 and become a team that can challenge the likes of Spain, Argentina, etc? Brazil is another team that's talented and has some very athletic players but can they take that next step? Tunisia really impressed me with their fearlessness and the skill and athleticism of some of their players, and I would expect them to take the next step by 2014 and be one of the surprise teams. Great Britain I think is the team that impresses me the most, and they have players very similar to US players with their combination of athleticism, skill, and toughness. Deng will be pushing 30 by then but I think he'll still be an elite player at that age.
On the other side, Spain is coming to a cliff and it will be interesting to see what happens when the dropoff from guys like Pau Gasol, Calderon, JCNavarro, etc to the younger guys happens in the future, though Ibaka is a huge boost for their team. In 2014, Spain could be like this year's Argentina with the exception of Ibaka. The US is another team that's days could be numbered but the only way they can be beaten is by a team that's as athletic, as skilled, and somewhat as deep as they are. I think TeamGB will be the team who finally knocks them off, by 2016 if they keep growing their program and improving the way they should given their talent.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this. That's why I signed up here after all.
Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to share some things I've learned from this Olympic basketball tournament. Feel free to move this if you feel it's not in the right section of the forum.
I think the first thing I learned is that holding the men's and women's tournament at the same time is the best way to do things. The men and women can go to each other's games, everything is much bigger because there are double the potential countries that are in it and you have fans of both the male and female national teams there at the same time, and last but not least the women's games get a lot more exposure than they would otherwise. This is the way I think the World Championships should be. I think they should do them the year after the Olympics that way neither the FIFA World Cup nor the FIFA Women's World Cup is the same year, and the FIBA World Championship would be the biggest International event of the year. There'd be no Winter or Summer Olympics that year, no World Cups as mentioned before, no Euros, therefore the amount of potential viewers and attendees would be much higher, and ESPN would have no excuse not to show the entire thing the way they do for the World Cup and Women's World Cup. I say the World Championship of men and women's FIBA basketball be held the same time of the year that the World Cup is on the years that it is held, or maybe in July like the Olympics instead. Think of how huge the World Championships would be if we did it this way.
The other thing I learned is that the landscape of global basketball is about to change in a big way, and has already started doing so. France may have basically beaten themselves against Spain but they are coming on in a big way and I would expect them to be a team to look out for in 2014. They've got a bright future ahead of them. Russia is coming on strong, too, though it will be interesting to see how they do in 2014, when most of their key players will be around or above 30. Nigeria is a very talented team, though they have some key players who are older as well, and they need to become more disciplined and intelligent as players. Australia has some talented young players but I wonder if they will make the next step by 2014 and become a team that can challenge the likes of Spain, Argentina, etc? Brazil is another team that's talented and has some very athletic players but can they take that next step? Tunisia really impressed me with their fearlessness and the skill and athleticism of some of their players, and I would expect them to take the next step by 2014 and be one of the surprise teams. Great Britain I think is the team that impresses me the most, and they have players very similar to US players with their combination of athleticism, skill, and toughness. Deng will be pushing 30 by then but I think he'll still be an elite player at that age.
On the other side, Spain is coming to a cliff and it will be interesting to see what happens when the dropoff from guys like Pau Gasol, Calderon, JCNavarro, etc to the younger guys happens in the future, though Ibaka is a huge boost for their team. In 2014, Spain could be like this year's Argentina with the exception of Ibaka. The US is another team that's days could be numbered but the only way they can be beaten is by a team that's as athletic, as skilled, and somewhat as deep as they are. I think TeamGB will be the team who finally knocks them off, by 2016 if they keep growing their program and improving the way they should given their talent.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this. That's why I signed up here after all.
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