Top 5 nations all time in FIBA

[Dtown]

Inspired by a soccer thread asking something similar. Who are the top five nations all time in FIBA? the US in my opinion has a lock on number one with about half the friggen major championships since FIBA started, but who are the other four?

Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union would be the obvious choices for two and three, the only problem is neither nation exists anymore. So do you just proclaim Russia and Serbia two and three? Then it's utter chaos from there, and with my admitted lack of knowledge on intricacy of Eurobasket I leave it up to others, so who do you have for the top five nations all time in FIBA?

Dtown's
1. USA
2: Russia (Descendant of the Soviet Union) while they're equal in gold medals in the Olympics and world championships, the Soviet Union nabbed more silver in th olympics and more gold in Eurobasket)
3 Serbia (Descendant of Yugoslavia)

Honestly from here it's a crap shoot but...

4aSpan (2006 Gold with either a gold or silver this year, plus a silver in 84 oly,

4b: Argentina (won gold not only in 2004 but 1950...yeah I'm reaching):

[kololoco]

I'm afraid that you can't just give Serbia and Russia prps for Yugoslavia and SSSR. I would like to say you could because I am from Serbia, but honestly you would be doing a great injustice to Croatia and Lithuania. I think that Spain and Argentina didn't play such a high role in int basketball before the 21st century. So in historical terms, looking at how many great players in in the history they have left and with how many players in great titles they have been represented I would go with: US, Serbia, Croatia, Russia and Lithua. Greece is a step behind, and Argentina and Spain have just come into the spotlight in the last 8 years.

[Ilya]

I don't think you could put Russia, Croatia and Serbia there, since the countries, as they are right now, each one of them on its own, doesn't really deserve the spot on its own. I think we should stick to the USSR and Yugoslavia team, because those two, combining forces from the now independent countries were the ones who got all that tradition going.
So, I would say
1) USA
2) USSR (I think it's sort of ridiculous to put Russia there, in light of what Russia on its own has accomplished)
3) Yugoslavia (Oh man, the talent of those players combined)

After them, it's chaos. I would put Argentina and Spain, their accomplishments in the last years have been exceptional and I don't see how Greece could precede them. If you insist on choosing from the now existing countries, i would prefer Lithuania over Russia and well, Serbia and Croatia... I don't really know.

[zombie000777]

1) USA
2) URSS
3) Yugolslavia

4) Italy
5) Spain
6) Greece
7) Argentina

To my mind this four teams are tied in the importance of basketball, maybe only I get the edge to Italy because this country have been a powerhouse for many years in clubs competition and also in selections.

8) Australia
9) Brasil
10) France
11) Puerto rico
12) Canada

The same reasonig can be aplied here for this teams with a little advantage of Australia and Brazil.

Honorable mention:
Angola
China
Turkey
Germany

[Victorious]

1) USA
2) URSS
3) Yugolslavia

4) Italy
5) Spain
6) Greece
7) Argentina

To my mind this four teams are tied in the importance of basketball, maybe only I get the edge to Italy because this country have been a powerhouse for many years in clubs competition and also in selections.

8) Australia
9) Brasil
10) France
11) Puerto rico
12) Canada

The same reasonig can be aplied here for this teams with a little advantage of Australia and Brazil.

Honorable mention:
Angola
China
Turkey
Germany

Good analysis. Although I don't think you should put Australia before France.

[Afraid]

1) USA
2) URSS
3) Yugolslavia

4) Italy
5) Spain
6) Greece
7) Argentina

To my mind this four teams are tied in the importance of basketball, maybe only I get the edge to Italy because this country have been a powerhouse for many years in clubs competition and also in selections.

8) Australia
9) Brasil
10) France
11) Puerto rico
12) Canada

The same reasonig can be aplied here for this teams with a little advantage of Australia and Brazil.

Honorable mention:
Angola
China
Turkey
Germany

Lithuania is not even mentioned honorable?

well, i think first one would be USA. then id say yugoslavia or USSR, but i wont put them on my list because they not egsist anymore. Putting Russia among the best is also doubtfull, since they own NT won sth only last year, and players from USSR were mostly not russians, but lithuanians, ukrainians, gorgeans, latvians, estonians.Kirilenko is probably theyr best player ever with no competition (well, holden maybe ) so for me, next four teams are equal: Lithuania, Croatia, Serbia, Italy. Spain, Greece, Argentina fallowing them.

[Ilya]

Lithuania is not even mentioned honorable?

Mate, who do you think the USSR consists of?

[Afraid]

Mate, who do you think the USSR consists of?

mate, it was half a Europe, why dont we all take two best nations of all time?
1 USA
2 EU

hah??

[Buducnost PG]

Serbia has won 7 medals since 1995. 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. 3x EC, 2x WC, 1 silver at Olympic games and 1 bronze at the EC 99 in France.

Thats enough to be the best country after the USA. Or if we will take also USSR and SFRJ, then Serbia is 4th. It is one thing to win medals, but it is also a whole different thing to dominate the basketball world for almost a decade and win back to back titels on EC and WC. If we could have played from 92-94, then we would have even more medals.

And some people here underrate Russia big time. Let´s take a look at Russsia after the breakdown of USSR.

1993 - 2nd at EC
1994 - 2nd at WC
1997 - 3rd at EC
1998 - 2nd at WC
2007 - 1st at EC

That´s not bad. Bad for them that they never get it going on the Olympics.

IMO the basketball world get a whole new structure with the breakdown of USSR and SFRJ. So it is not that easy.

[Buducnost PG]

mate, it was half a Europe, why dont we all take two best nations of all time?
1 USA
2 EU

hah??

The best would be to make two lists, or to make only one, but without USSR and SFRJ. I mean there is not much to talk about. The USA is 1st, USSR 2nd and SFRJ 3rd.

So to rank the teams better we should take a look at some results from 1992 to now, if we talk about Russia, Serbia, Lithuania and Croatia.

[Afraid]

Serbia has won 7 medals since 1995. 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. 3x EC, 2x WC, 1 silver at Olympic games and 1 bronze at the EC 99 in France.

wasn't it Yugoslavia who won it?

[Buducnost PG]

wasn't it Yugoslavia who won it?

It was Serbia under the name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The name wasn´t changed because of politics. But this was not the "old" Yugoslavia as in 1991 for example. The Social Federal Republic Yugoslavia was that for a time what was the UDSSR. A mix of few states. But the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia not.

[Afraid]

It was Serbia under the name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The name wasn´t changed because of politics. But this was not the "old" Yugoslavia as in 1991 for example. The Social Federal Republic Yugoslavia was that for a time what was the UDSSR. A mix of few states. But the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia not.

all clear then.
Anyway we cant put USSR as one country, it was 15 countries under name of it.

[Lietuvis]

No, never associate Lithuania with Russia. We are ashamed and hating this occupancy and we had fought many years to remove them. Remember Lithuania has more than 1000 year history and these russians invaded us for only short period.

Russian team was made up of Lithuanian players starting 5 so to me they dont even get a mention as they have not performed since our independence.

My list:

1. USA
2. Argentina
3. Spain
4. Lithuania
5. Greece/Serbia

[Buducnost PG]

No, never associate Lithuania with Russia. We are ashamed and hating this occupancy and we had fought many years to remove them. Remember Lithuania has more than 1000 year history and these russians invaded us for only short period.

Russian team was made up of Lithuanian players starting 5 so to me they dont even get a mention as they have not performed since our independence.

My list:

1. USA
2. Argentina
3. Spain
4. Lithuania
5. Greece

1st of all you should put your hate by side. We all know that Lithuanians were a important part of the USSR basketball, but that the Russians were bad and had no big influence is a joke.

You don´t need to like the Russians, put please try to stay realistic or better stay quiet.