Mark Cuban on WC-"the NBA is making a huge mistake"

[mktackabery]

You're right that the NBA doesn't owe anything to the international game. I don't make any association with player salaries and whether they should feel obligated to play for team U.S.A. The players should do it for national pride, nothing more.

The feelings that get hurt when the U.S. loses tend to be the folks who think the U.S. should be able to win every game. It is they who has to demand a different product from the NBA or they should stop watching. I don't see that happening though because too many folks still insist the NBA is by far the most superior league despite NBA players not winning the gold. As a form of denial it might even draw Americans closer to the NBA than before, you never know.

I agree with you on that, although I have no idea where the superior image comes from . . . the NBA bores me to tears most of the time, especially the first half of the year - so many games, the players don't even care until February. No wonder they have to do so much other stuff during the games to keep the fans awake.

[Billy]

And I don't believe the refs show deferential treatment, either. It's simplistic to the extreme.

So we have gone from not believeing the refs show preferential treament as its simplistic to extreme to...

oh come now, Billy, isn't that throwing the baby out with the bath water? I didn't say no preferential treatment or that they never got preferential treatment, just that it's simplistic to think that they just get away with whatever they want and that's the way it is.

I'm presuming (dangerous word) preferential treatment is 100% deferment to them; they couldn't possibly treat them all like emperors and always give them their way. Of course they sometimes get calls, so do coaches, and a lot of times refs just don't see them play dirty or get away with things, but they have to have some balance. and I know I've seen instances where refs pick on a player on purpose to knock him down a peg or two, which God knows, in the NBA a lot of players should have happen more often.

...admitting there is SOME preferential treament?

My argument is that it is so exceptionally clear that some players get away with palming/traveling/screen setting/pushing that it absolutely kills their abilities as basketball players when they have to face referees less likely to let them get away with rule violations. Like in the WC/Oly games.

What I wanted was for you to admit to this, perhaps I took it to the extreme when claiming your entire post as nonsense but something as obvious as preferential treament in the NBA needs to be aknowledged.
I feel its a plague and I believe it needs to be delt with so as to save the future of basketball in the USA from the highschool level and onwards.

[mktackabery]

What I wanted was for you to admit to this, perhaps I took it to the extreme when claiming your entire post as nonsense but something as obvious as preferential treament in the NBA needs to be aknowledged.
I feel its a plague and I believe it needs to be delt with so as to save the future of basketball in the USA from the highschool level and onwards.

ok, uncle!!! I admit it! There may be some preferential treatment and some deferential treatment (they do call him King James after all) of NBA players.

I guess I see your point . . . (I can't believe I'm prolonging this discussion with you. I think you and I will have to be separated at some point, me on one side of the room, you on the other ). For the past fifteen years the entire NBA has encouraged a punk/"gangsta" mentality. Now David Stern wants them all to stop wearing chains, cover up their tattoos and stop with the gang signs, and it is too late. It is not good basketball. There we agree, but I'll bet you won't admit it. Harumph.

LeBron is the real deal though, I'm telling you. . . wait until the Olympics, it is going to be something.

And now I will pull a gangsta on you and say "Peace out."

[YYY]

LeBron is the real deal though, I'm telling you. . . wait until the Olympics, it is going to be something.

Are you serious?

[mktackabery]

Are you serious?

not going there, not going there . . . I am in a Zen place and I cannot be disturbed by doubters and haters who continue to taunt me about the U.S. team.

[Kobe24]

The USA has problems because of the Zone defenses. If you played NBA style rules. Man to Man defense,it would be a whole different ball game,but you have to respect the international rules. Maybe they should play by the NBA rules for a olympics,and see what happens. Guy's like Wade,Lebron,Kobe,if you take away the Zone,now there able to get to the basket with consistency,and now its a whole different game.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

The USA has problems because of the Zone defenses. If you played NBA style rules. Man to Man defense,it would be a whole different ball game,but you have to respect the international rules. Maybe they should play by the NBA rules for a olympics,and see what happens. Guy's like Wade,Lebron,Kobe,if you take away the Zone,now there able to get to the basket with consistency,and now its a whole different game.

excuses... US strugelled against man to man defense as well quite often. and it's not the zone... it's fundamentals

playing by NBA rules? NBA is the only league that actually uses those rules, just to make the game more attractive, while the rest of the world is satisfied with the rules the way they are. And considering how fast Stern and co. can change the rules I don't think anyone will have even a slight dilema which rules to play with at the olympics

[Billy]

The USA has problems because of the Zone defenses. If you played NBA style rules. Man to Man defense,it would be a whole different ball game,but you have to respect the international rules. Maybe they should play by the NBA rules for a olympics,and see what happens. Guy's like Wade,Lebron,Kobe,if you take away the Zone,now there able to get to the basket with consistency,and now its a whole different game.

Why should the rest of the world have to give up smarts, teamwork and ten plus years of preparations for these tournaments for some under educated, over hyped ball hoggers?

What for -to drag the rest of the world down to the NBA level?

I think I speak for everyone when I say no thank you.

[Kobe24]

If you put NBA rules in,it would be a huge difference. Defensively,it would be a much bigger challenge. The zones allow you to cheat defensively,and not have to guard guys 1 on 1. You have to respect those rules,but it would be very interesting to see,them play by NBA rules. Just once. Dwayne Wade,and Lebron have struggled against the zones,but there is no way you guard these guys with Man to Man defense. NBA Rules,your big man are not allowed to just camp in the piant.

[Trener]

If you put NBA rules in,it would be a huge difference. Defensively,it would be a much bigger challenge. The zones allow you to cheat defensively,and not have to guard guys 1 on 1. You have to respect those rules,but it would be very interesting to see,them play by NBA rules. Just once. Dwayne Wade,and Lebron have struggled against the zones,but there is no way you guard these guys with Man to Man defense. NBA Rules,your big man are not allowed to just camp in the piant.

Maybe we should just have one player from each country and just play one on one then Lebron could jab step and pick up his pivot foot and step with it before even dribbling and put down a big 2point dunk like hedid when we wre down 6points in a 2 possession game against Greece .. Ha go Hellas
NBA stinks LeBron can t shoot

[mavs128]

It's shocking to me how little respect people seem to have for NBA basketball. Does no one watch the Mavericks, or the Spurs, or the Pistons, or the Suns? Beautiful basketball that would win at any level in any league.

The NBA clearly has built itself on individual talent. That is what's marketable....and the NBA is more about entertainment than anything else. There is preferential treatment, but it's not some conspiracy. The best players on a team rise to the top, and so they get the ball the most and the most shots. They in turn get the most face time on TV, become the biggest personalities, get the ball even more. When they are the total focul point of the offense and pretty much have free reign to do whatever they want to with the ball, it becomes easy at that point to expose the NBA's weakest area in the rules, which make one-on-one defending almost impossible.

The NBA is COMPLETELY different from international basketball. It's easy to tell just by watching the games. NBA games are wide-open, even in the half-court. Everything is more spread out. The 2-man game or the on-one-on game dominates. Zones are alot of the time seen as a sign of weakness...."real men play strait up man-to-man defense". NBA players don't have near the experience against zones as international teams. And when you face a zone, you HAVE to have good decision makers on the floor. The US team lacked that BIG time this year (Lebron is a talented passer, not a good decision maker).

IMO one of the biggest reasons why the US struggled in pick-and-roll situations against Greece is the different ways the moving pick rules are interpreted. in the WC, the greek players were pretty much bodily moving the players they were picking. In the NBA this is illegal...you must remain stationary at all times while setting a pick. I remember watching the US-Greece game and making a tally of pick after pick after pick that would've been illegal in an NBA game (I should know, I watch Erick Dampier of the mavericks on a nightly basis and he probably gets called for it more than anyone).

And I don't buy the whole lack of fundementals thing. Sarunas Jasikevicious was supposed to be the prototypical European player, fundementally sound, a great passer, decision maker, shooter, etc. Well he probably leads the NBA right now in ball-handling violations (double-dribbles, palming, travels), he's getting tons of wide-open jumpers and can't hardly hit anything, and his decision making has been mediocre at best. Now, what do you think is more likely. Sarunas is really just a terrible player? Or the leagues that he'd been playing in for the past 10 years were VASTLY different than what he was facing in the NBA? Different, not better or worse.


And by the way from what I've read Papaloukas and Navarro (if he can work out his buyout) could all be coming stateside for next year. Scola would've been here long ago if an NBA team wanted him. Europe's best young players all go to the NBA (ecxluding Vasquez, who it seemed has other personal factors that came into play). The NBA is still where the MAJORITY of players want to play. This should tell you all you need to know. And, BTW, the NBA is much better for it.

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

from what I've read Diamantidis, Papaloukas, (...) could all be coming stateside for next year.

Where exactly did you read that? Diamantidis has openly stated that he is not interested in the NBA, and Paps has just signed a new big contract with CSKA, rejecting offers from NBA teams as they did not satisfy him (thus extremely unlikely to move stateside).

As for Navarro.... Despite his good season so far, not many teams I think will be willing to pay his buy-out...

[mavs128]

Where exactly did you read that? Diamantidis has openly stated that he is not interested in the NBA, and Paps has just signed a new big contract with CSKA, rejecting offers from NBA teams as they did not satisfy him (thus extremely unlikely to move stateside).

As for Navarro.... Despite his good season so far, not many teams I think will be willing to pay his buy-out...

With Navarro, no one would be willing to pay the buyout, but Barcelona might be willing to negotiate it down if they got some perks out of it. He is the most important of the 3, because his game translates the best, he is the one that would definetely have NBA teams interested.

With Diamantidis and Papaloukas, the NBA interest hasn't been as strong, though speculation is with Diamantidis it could pick up this summer, and that could give a stronger indication of his feelings. I can understand not wanting to come to the NBA, make 800K and sit at the end of the bench. But, if someone steps in, offers him 4 million a year (like Toronto), then things could be different. The same thing could be said of Papaloukas, as his NBA door is probably quickly closing due to his age, and if he has another season success with CSKA then he might decide to spend a couple of years in the NBA while he still can ala Sarunas Jasikevicious, and the money he could get this year almost definetely would be higher than what he's been offered in the past (again, most likely minimum 1-year contracts).

[Ilya]

On Diamantidis.

He just signed a new contract with his team in Athens in which no buy-out clause is included. When they talked about the nba-related clause his reaction reportedly was: "What NBA? Are you kidding me? I don't care about NBA" or sth to that effect (I was not there).

So, he does not want to go. Crystal clear. Thank God, I would hate to watch him warm the bench.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Diama is just prooving his IQ offcourt as well...