Should Olympic basketball be for the U24 category ?

[usagre]

One can not know how the players would react to the WC if the players would not have to play in the Olympics. That said, it would be delusional to think that the WC would not even be more important than it is today. It would be the only tournament which will show which national team is the best on the planet. Frankly, the Olympics doesn't really show that since many potential medal contenders are not even present.

Also, the Olympic basketball qualifications tournaments are rather silly. Players have to team up twice during the summer in order to play for the Olympics, while the qualifying tournament itself starts one week after most competitions end. One can not seriously expect professional teams to be able to prepare themselves in a week. I think the IOC is very disrespectful to basketball players. I would say that the the U24 tournament would be a fitting alternative. Or let 3 X 3 be the basketball event of the Olympics.

I can't speak for other countries but I can almost guarantee you that for the USA its Olympics or nothing. So you would never see any great USA teams again. And how prestigious can an event be if the best team is not properly represented.
The World Championships even with Nba star participation draws no interest in this country. Reruns of cartoon beat it in n the viewer ratings.

[Victorious]

I can't speak for other countries but I can almost guarantee you that for the USA its Olympics or nothing. So you would never see any great USA teams again. And how prestigious can an event be if the best team is not properly represented.
The World Championships even with Nba star participation draws no interest in this country. Reruns of cartoon beat it in n the viewer ratings.

Americans have no national team tradition like the rest of the world has. Yes, they like to see heroes, Olympians, like swimmers etc. They had some competition with the Sovjet Union at the Olympics. So it's part of their DNA. But when it comes to team sports. It's all about NBA, NFL, etc. They don't really watch the national baseball team, or ice hokey team either. In fact, the national basketball team is probably the only American national team which receives some attention in the States.

Be it as it may, we have to think on a global basis. In my view it is all about how most countries perceive it, rather than one particular one. And most countries do not even participate at the Olympics basketball tournament. The fact that only 2 to 5 European countries can qualify for the Olympics is not representative for the most prestigious basketball event. As long as the US sends its NBA stars, it will be great for the rest of the globe.

[HeinrichMohr]

It's logical that the Americans prefer the Olympics but as for the rest of the world we don't make much of a difference between the Olympic Games and the World Championship. Olympics has glamour of its own but the main advantage of a FIBA World Cup is that you can see many more countries involved, more supporters and more colours.

[R1ou]

I think it'd be better to open a thread discussing about the current Olympic system,who deserves to play stuff etc.Would be nice to hear non-Europeans(actually my point would be Asians)I don't really know why some people insisted on the current system of qualification and found it fair and now it's even unknown if they'll manage it be at the WC.I mean,Asia sends automatically China,and Europe Lithuania and Spain.Like saying,that being gold at FIBA Asia is a better achievement than being bronze at Europe.

[usagre]

Americans have no national team tradition like the rest of the world has. Yes, they like to see heroes, Olympians, like swimmers etc. They had some competition with the Sovjet Union at the Olympics. So it's part of their DNA. But when it comes to team sports. It's all about NBA, NFL, etc. They don't really watch the national baseball team, or ice hokey team either. In fact, the national basketball team is probably American national team which receives some attention in the States.

Be it as it may, we have to think on a global basis. In my view it is all about how most countries view it, rather than one particular one. And most countries do not even participate at the Olympics basketball tournament. The fact that only 2 to 5 European countries can qualify for the Olympics is not representative for the most prestigious basketball event. As long as the US sends its NBA stars, it will be great for the rest of the globe.

But without a representative USA team is it really a world championship? It's basically a glorified Eurobasket sprinkled with a couple of South American teams and Australia.

[usagre]

I think it'd be better to open a thread discussing about the current Olympic system,who deserves to play stuff etc.Would be nice to hear non-Europeans(actually my point would be Asians)I don't really know why some people insisted on the current system of qualification and found it fair and now it's even unknown if they'll manage it be at the WC.I mean,Asia sends automatically China,and Europe Lithuania and Spain.Like saying,that being gold at FIBA Asia is a better achievement than being bronze at Europe.

But this isn't new. Top teams have always been left out. In 1988 Greece was probably the 4th best team in the world judging by their '87 and '89 Eurobasket results. A tight loss to Spain prevented them from qualifying. It has never been fair.
And as long as the field is limited to 12 participants it will always be that way.

[thegreekmeister]

LOL. You are using terrible logic. Just finding excuses for each sport. I said Olympics is NOT the pinnacle of most important sports in the world. Not what they mean to countries that participate, what is their interest etc. etc.

When u ask, what it means behind NBA and NHL. If it was more important than NHL or NBA, they would not keep cancelling They would make it a priority. Like I said in 2 out of top 10 sports in the world, Olympics are not the highest level of competition or the pinnacle of the sport. So yeah, if you are into fencing, archery, waterpolo and shit like that, yeah go Olympics.

Your logic is flawed because you compare national teams vs clubs (nba, nhl). The corect comparison in terms of basketball: Olympics, World cup and Eurobasket.

[CHBB]

Olympics is much more prestigious than World Championships.That's just the way it is.Tony Parker has never played a WC in his career(cause he chose not to).USA sends way better teams in Olympics than in WC.It's not even close.Eurobaskets before an olympic year are much more stronger than the ones before WC.And i'm not sure using u23 teams in olympics would make World Cup more prestigious.It would just leave Basketball with no major tournament.

First of all, that was entirely due to injuries and in the last WC due to wear and year, etc. They had just won the championship for Christ's sake. Second, there's a reason he's literally the only non-US player you can name. The World Championships are only seen as a joke by arrogant US players/owners/fans.

Also, literally all of those great old players are retiring after this Olympics. It's why we've been looking forward to it and were to 2014 for so long. And all of them with the exception of Parker not only played in the WC but embraced it.

[CHBB]

I can't speak for other countries but I can almost guarantee you that for the USA its Olympics or nothing. So you would never see any great USA teams again. And how prestigious can an event be if the best team is not properly represented.
The World Championships even with Nba star participation draws no interest in this country. Reruns of cartoon beat it in n the viewer ratings.

I completely disagree with this. Not getting into the fact that only arrogant Americans share his view, the fact is a US U-24 team would still be stacked. Unfortunately we can't really know who will be for example the point guard (I think this is the slot you use on an older player than 23 or younger) but year after year the draft is producing very good wing players and especially big men. The US could for sure still dominate.

Plus it puts the onus on us to actually develop our young players properly, something we desperately need.

[usagre]

I completely disagree with this. Not getting into the fact that only arrogant Americans share his view, the fact is a US U-24 team would still be stacked. Unfortunately we can't really know who will be for example the point guard (I think this is the slot you use on an older player than 23 or younger) but year after year the draft is producing very good wing players and especially big men. The US could for sure still dominate.

Plus it puts the onus on us to actually develop our young players properly, something we desperately need.

Yeah I agree. USA could definitely still compete at a high level, I just meant we wouldn't see the super teams like '08 '12 usa.

[usagre]

First of all, that was entirely due to injuries and in the last WC due to wear and year, etc. They had just won the championship for Christ's sake. Second, there's a reason he's literally the only non-US player you can name. The World Championships are only seen as a joke by arrogant US players/owners/fans.

Also, literally all of those great old players are retiring after this Olympics. It's why we've been looking forward to it and were to 2014 for so long. And all of them with the exception of Parker not only played in the WC but embraced it.

Although I agree that non us country players value the worlds a lot there have been some notable omissions.
Tony Parker '06, '10 as well as '14. Manu Ginobili '10 and '14. Pau Gasol '10 and Sarunas Jasikevicius '06 and '10.
And the quality of player at the '98 fiba worlds was probably the worst I can recall.

[CHBB]

Yeah I agree. USA could definitely still compete at a high level, I just meant we wouldn't see the super teams like '08 '12 usa.

I think we definitely can. With how young players get drafted these days, with correct development you can field a younger super team. But the idea is that he super teams go to WC instead. This would boost the event so much it's not even funny.

Although I agree that non us country players value the worlds a lot there have been some notable omissions.
Tony Parker '06, '10 as well as '14. Manu Ginobili '10 and '14. Pau Gasol '10 and Sarunas Jasikevicius '06 and '10.
And the quality of player at the '98 fiba worlds was probably the worst I can recall.

TP got injured in qualifiers in '06 and in '10 was coming off a really physically demanding season a year after getting injured. I think it's more a matter of bad timing than anything. Manu only thing I can say is he was getting up there at that point. I mean he came over way late.

But that also kind of proves my point. Without players like that, teams are seriously weakened. Imagine if two years before the WC those teams found out just who might be able to play where for them in the big games? That's exactly what soccer does in the Olympics. The kids playing there play in the WC in two years if they're good enough. As opposed to just sticking with the same handful of great players and praying it lasts.

[usagre]

Yeah good examples are 2006 and 2010 where USA worlds teams were dominated with under 24 players.
2010 Durant, Westbrook, Rose, Love, Curry, Eric Gordon.
2006 Lebron, Carmelo, Chris Paul, Bosh, D. Howard.

[Dtown]

I think it'd be better to open a thread discussing about the current Olympic system,who deserves to play stuff etc.Would be nice to hear non-Europeans(actually my point would be Asians)I don't really know why some people insisted on the current system of qualification and found it fair and now it's even unknown if they'll manage it be at the WC.I mean,Asia sends automatically China,and Europe Lithuania and Spain.Like saying,that being gold at FIBA Asia is a better achievement than being bronze at Europe.

The only change I would make is merge Oceania and Asia (which is happening after this year anyway), and give the extra spot that went to Oceania to Olympic qualifying. It is a global tournament so one guaranteed spot to Asia-Pacific and Africa is fine.

[CHBB]

Yeah good examples are 2006 and 2010 where USA worlds teams were dominated with under 24 players.
2010 Durant, Westbrook, Rose, Love, Curry, Eric Gordon.
2006 Lebron, Carmelo, Chris Paul, Bosh, D. Howard.

And in both cases, the players who participated and had to prove themselves on the world stage like that improved and became great players. 2010 especially showed what Durant, Gay, Love, Rose, and Westbrook could do. I remember EG and Steph didn't play great at times but yet both went on to really make that leap over the next two years. Durant especially has been on that level ever since he balled out in the Worlds. Which in turn strengthens both the NBA and then by extension the national team. And the more players get developed and get that opportunity, the more the talent pool grows for leagues around the world.