Stern: age limit on Olympics basketball

[rikhardur]

NBA sets target date for changes at 2020, acknowledging 2016 is unrealistic.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap..._Under_23_Rule

I can already see USA losing games and titles and reverting the whole thing. Can you picture the current team with such a rule?
We'll see...

[LTbotd]

Like David Blatt said, who the fuck are they, to tell all of the world what to do?

[Pleasant]

I can already see USA losing games and titles and reverting the whole thing. Can you picture the current team with such a rule?
We'll see...

Just for fun, let's try

PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: James Harden
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: Blake Griffin (though he was born late 1989)
C: DeMarcus Cousins
Bench: Anthony Davis, John Wall, Tyreke Evans, Greg Monroe, Jrue Holiday, Kenneth Faried, Derrick Williams and Avery Bradley.

Hmm, not an overwhelming team, but it could be an interesting combination of role players and firepower. With a great coach maximizing the team's potential, I could see this team taking bronze and being a long shot gold contender. On the other hand, Durant, Westbrook, Love, and Rose would have highlighted a pretty darn good U-23 team in Turkey, and let's not forget that Durant was only 21 when he dominated that tournament.

If the whole tournament went U-23, then US Olympic dominance would continue. The US just has the deepest talent pool to draw from, and unlike U17 tournaments and such, by age 23 they would have had some years of good coaching at NCAA and NBA levels.

[NorCal]

Just for fun, let's try

PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: James Harden
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: Blake Griffin (though he was born late 1989)
C: DeMarcus Cousins
Bench: Anthony Davis, John Wall, Tyreke Evans, Greg Monroe, Jrue Holiday, Kenneth Faried, Derrick Williams and Avery Bradley.

Hmm, not an overwhelming team, but it could be an interesting combination of role players and firepower. With a great coach maximizing the team's potential, I could see this team taking bronze and being a long shot gold contender. On the other hand, Durant, Westbrook, Love, and Rose would have highlighted a pretty darn good U-23 team in Turkey, and let's not forget that Durant was only 21 when he dominated that tournament.

If the whole tournament went U-23, then US Olympic dominance would continue. The US just has the deepest talent pool to draw from, and unlike U17 tournaments and such, by age 23 they would have had some years of good coaching at NCAA and NBA levels.

As for the age limit in Olympics thing- I just don't see it happening. Frankly, I say to Cuban and all the other owners- if you didn't want your multimillion dollar assets playing in such a tournament then you shouldn't have invested in an NBA basketball team. Its part of what players do and I'm convinced that all the players, USA team included, love representing their nation and have a deep rooted desire to add an Olympic medal to their achievements. NOw, changing the World Cup to something that owners and leagues can profit from- I see that as more realistic.

As for our fake-Under 23 team if we had one this year- we definitely wouldn't be favored but I agree with you we would be one of the stronger teams. The 2010 team, as you mentioned was led by U23 guys.

One other related note- if the U23 cutoff were January 1st 1988 instead of 1989 we could field a great team as that would make Durant, Westbrook, Love, Rose, Gordon all eligible- all of those guys were born in late 1988 which is a great generation for us.

[durden_tyler]

Like David Blatt said, who the fuck are they, to tell all of the world what to do?

The world will follow eventually. Just like how FIBA bows down to the NBA and Stern the past years.

It will happen.

[Pleasant]

The world will follow eventually. Just like how FIBA bows down to the NBA and Stern the past years.

It will happen.

How has FIBA bowed down to the NBA and Stern the past years? Do you mean the rule changes? If so, then why do other countries tolerate it?

[Dtown]

The thing is FIBA have been trying to make the World Championship (Now World Cup) the undisputed biggest basketball event for awhile now, Stern is just handing them the means to do so. So he's going to have support, the question is how much?

On the flip side, even fans on here have complained about yearly schedule format, and I've heard many say they would prefer Eurobasket be once every four years like its football counterpart. So it's not like the ideas are entirely abhorrent, it's just where those ideas are coming from.

[Victorious]

As for the age limit in Olympics thing- I just don't see it happening. Frankly, I say to Cuban and all the other owners- if you didn't want your multimillion dollar assets playing in such a tournament then you shouldn't have invested in an NBA basketball team. Its part of what players do and I'm convinced that all the players, USA team included, love representing their nation and have a deep rooted desire to add an Olympic medal to their achievements. NOw, changing the World Cup to something that owners and leagues can profit from- I see that as more realistic.

As for our fake-Under 23 team if we had one this year- we definitely wouldn't be favored but I agree with you we would be one of the stronger teams. The 2010 team, as you mentioned was led by U23 guys.

One other related note- if the U23 cutoff were January 1st 1988 instead of 1989 we could field a great team as that would make Durant, Westbrook, Love, Rose, Gordon all eligible- all of those guys were born in late 1988 which is a great generation for us.

The US has problems winning WC U21 titles, so I find it hard to believe that the US U23 can beat the worlds best international teams.

[usagre]

The US has problems winning WC U21 titles, so I find it hard to believe that the US U23 can beat the worlds best international teams.

Are you serious? The u 23 team that the USA would send would be nba players, think before you post

[CHBB]

Just for fun, let's try

PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: James Harden
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: Blake Griffin (though he was born late 1989)
C: DeMarcus Cousins
Bench: Anthony Davis, John Wall, Tyreke Evans, Greg Monroe, Jrue Holiday, Kenneth Faried, Derrick Williams and Avery Bradley.

Hmm, not an overwhelming team, but it could be an interesting combination of role players and firepower. With a great coach maximizing the team's potential, I could see this team taking bronze and being a long shot gold contender. On the other hand, Durant, Westbrook, Love, and Rose would have highlighted a pretty darn good U-23 team in Turkey, and let's not forget that Durant was only 21 when he dominated that tournament.

If the whole tournament went U-23, then US Olympic dominance would continue. The US just has the deepest talent pool to draw from, and unlike U17 tournaments and such, by age 23 they would have had some years of good coaching at NCAA and NBA levels.

Role players? Are you serious?

Tyreke Evans is one of the best players in the league. Harden is the most underrated young player in the league. Those two combined alone would easily give you 30-40 a night. No way Kyrie plays PG over Jrue or that Kawhi plays SF over Tyreke or Derrick Williams. You're talking about some of the future and current superstars in the NBA and you're saying it's a team full of role players? I count a handful of role players and a bunch of young superstars or potential superstars. This team would easily dominate.

[CHBB]

Making the Olympics U-23 is a dumb idea. This isn't soccer/football. There are only a handful of teams with key players who are under 25, let alone under 23. This wouldn't hurt the US at all but it would officially kill the globalization of basketball on the current scale it's been growing. Forget that. The USA dominates the Olympics even more in this scenario because the other teams have irreplaceable players who are over 25, let alone over 23. Goodbye Argentina. Goodbye Spain. Goodbye France. Goodbye pretty much everybody except a handful of teams. Goodbye passionate fans of all of the countries Stern and his cronies just screwed over.

I won't even dignify the NBA/FIBA World Cup where the owners benefit from it with an answer. Who the hell do they think they are?

The majority of NBA owners are spoiled kids who come from money. They should not have ever been allowed to be a part of basketball. Mark Cuban is a disgrace to sport in general, let alone basketball. David Stern is both the best and the worst thing to ever happen to basketball. He's the best thing because he understands business better than most and he grew the business side of the NBA exponentially by using players like Magic, Larry, and MJ and then players like AI, Kobe, etc. He is a major reason why the NBA has expanded all over the globe because he used his business sense to capitalize on what the Dream Team started. He is the worst thing to ever happen to the NBA because everything he has done has come at the cost of the integrity of the game and of its players.

They need to be stopped. They need to keep their hands out of everything except for the NBA.

[usagre]

In theory I agree with the concept. They are trying to elevate the prestige of the world championships. Let's face it to most people in the USA that tournament flies under the radar. The world cup of soccer gets more coverage for christ's sake.

[Pleasant]

Role players? Are you serious?

Tyreke Evans is one of the best players in the league. Harden is the most underrated young player in the league. Those two combined alone would easily give you 30-40 a night. No way Kyrie plays PG over Jrue or that Kawhi plays SF over Tyreke or Derrick Williams. You're talking about some of the future and current superstars in the NBA and you're saying it's a team full of role players? I count a handful of role players and a bunch of young superstars or potential superstars. This team would easily dominate.

Calm down. I said "role players and firepower." Who do you think the firepower is?

I could see taking Holiday over Irving, but I simply think Irving is a better facilitating PG for maximizing Griffin's potential. Tyreke is one of the best scorers in the NBA, not one of the best players (he's almost the exact same player he was as a rookie), and he's not yet proven he can guard SFs well, unlike Leonard, who's obviously not as good overall but is in there as an effective defensive stopper and a secondary offensive weapon (think Prince). Evans would be perfect as the focus of the second rotation offense, but he needs the ball in his hands first to do work, and unlike Durant/James/Kobe/Melo, he's not yet a good enough player for that to be a viable first strategy.

You're thinking in terms of a USA NT that tries to mimic the 10 superstar model of the Olympic teams we are used to, but I was just giving a few minutes' thought to a lineup that would make the most sense.

Anyway, it was just a bit of fun, and this has gotten a off topic. Too many words wasted on an imaginary team

[CHBB]

In theory I agree with the concept. They are trying to elevate the prestige of the world championships. Let's face it to most people in the USA that tournament flies under the radar. The world cup of soccer gets more coverage for christ's sake.

That's only because the USA has been the unquestioned dominant basketball power since 1992. We only lose when we don't play the right way or bring in the right players. Because of this, a gold medal in an event that has the best athletes in every sport is more important to both our nation and our athletes than proving we're the best at a sport that we already know we're the best at. More parity would change that but even without it, any true basketball fan and any basketball player or coach should see the FIBA Championships as being as big and important an event as the Olympics when it comes to basketball. Unfortunately, the focus is on the NBA and winning a ring, and everything else except the Olympics is way below that in their eyes, with even the Olympics being much lesser than the goal of the Finals.

The fact that ESPN shoved the World Cup down our throats as well as soccer/football in general yet didn't even put FIBA on their most important networks or even show ONE advertisement for FIBA WC compared to the FIFA World Cup, which they showed advertisement after advertisement for months in advance didn't help the FIBA World Championship either. The fact that the US put it in INDIANA instead of a city like New York, Philly, DC, or even Chicago or LA, just anywhere except Indiana, in 2002 didn't help either. Everything has been done to make FIBA WC out to be lesser than even the MLS All Star Game, which got more coverage and hype than the 2010 FIBA WC.

Calm down. I said "role players and firepower." Who do you think the firepower is?

I could see taking Holiday over Irving, but I simply think Irving is a better facilitating PG for maximizing Griffin's potential. Tyreke is one of the best scorers in the NBA, not one of the best players (he's almost the exact same player he was as a rookie), and he's not yet proven he can guard SFs well, unlike Leonard, who's obviously not as good overall but is in there as an effective defensive stopper and a secondary offensive weapon (think Prince). Evans would be perfect as the focus of the second rotation offense, but he needs the ball in his hands first to do work, and unlike Durant/James/Kobe/Melo, he's not yet a good enough player for that to be a viable first strategy.

You're thinking in terms of a USA NT that tries to mimic the 10 superstar model of the Olympic teams we are used to, but I was just giving a few minutes' thought to a lineup that would make the most sense.

Anyway, it was just a bit of fun, and this has gotten a off topic. Too many words wasted on an imaginary team

Your making it out to be a team that would "have a shot at Bronze" is what I took exception to. People in the US are so unbelievably spoiled when it comes to basketball players that many of us have no clue just how good many of the players people in our media and elsewhere say "aren't superstars" really are. I could name you 20 potential superstars when they got drafted who are riding the bench, haven't been developed, or haven't been put into the best situation for them to succeed. The talent level of the HS classes of 06, 07, and 08 alone is insane.

Jrue is a better point guard than Kyrie but he has been put into an awful situation in Philly. I know because I've watched every game of his career. He stands around half the game watching Lou Williams dribble the air out of the ball and pretend he's AI. Now that Lou is finally gone, you'll see what Jrue can really do. Tyreke is one of the best players. He's not just a scorer but a complete combo-forward, and besides, what do you think Melo does for Team USA? He can't do anything except score and get easy rebounds. Same deal with Durant. He can't do anything except score, pass, and get easy rebounds and blocks. I hear you about defense though. Kawhi would definitely be better defensively than Tyreke but what about Derrick Williams? At 6'9 and as skilled and athletic as he is, you need to start him at the 3 over Kawhi. Melo's probably the most overrated player in the league or at least one of them, and his play in New York shows that. Honestly, I wasn't happy that he or Blake Griffin made the Olympics because I didn't think they deserved to. Also, how is a guy who can do nothing but dunk (Blake) supposed to help a team in the Olympics? But I digress.

I'm thinking of how good a team like that would be. You're seriously underrating them. I get that it's hypothetical but every single one of these players except a handful are either superstars or potential superstars and you're making it out to be a B squad.

[NorCal]

The US has problems winning WC U21 titles, so I find it hard to believe that the US U23 can beat the worlds best international teams.

That hypothetical team that was listed wouldn't be favorites to win a WC or Olympics unless the other teams were missing lots of key players, I admit that. But I still think they'd be one of the top teams and a medal contender/long-shot for gold like Pleasant (I think it was Pleasant) stated.

Plus, wasn't the U21 WC discontinued a long time ago? Do you mean the U19 WC? If so, it is true that is our weakest of the major tournaments (U16 Americas, U17 WC, U18 Americas, U19 WC, Men's WC and Olympics), we simply don't get the best players to play in that tournament for whatever reason. I think its because our top players in that age group are more interested in making the NBA at that time instead of playing for the U19 national team.