Sunday, September 08, 2002
Team USA missing that team part
Analysis: Team USA's loss, team play's gain
Enquirer staff and news services
PHILADELPHIA - NBA? Try Nothing But Attitude! That's an apt way to refer to supposedly the best basketball players in the world after the way the United States team embarrassed itself at the World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis.
Critics are questioning the United States' lack of superiority, which is to say they believe the gap between this country and the rest of the world has closed, and they have pointed out the team's arrogance and lack of commitment.
The result - Team USA was knocked out of medal contention Thursday - has brought shame to the players. It has brought humiliation to the league that employs them, along with a sense of urgency in the need for marquee NBA players to participate. When international players saunter into your backyard, pounce on you, beat you decisively while exposing one deficiency after another, there is nothing else the U.S. basketball should feel.
Aside from gratitude, that is.
Once we are able to shove aside our fury over witnessing consecutive losses to Argentina and Yugoslavia -- losses that sent USA Basketball home without any medal, let alone the gold, for the first time since NBA players began participating in 1992 -- we should be thankful. There should be no doubt that a wake-up call, overdue for years, has arrived.
What can Team USA say when all Vlade Divac needed to do to outplay centers Antonio Davis, Jermaine O'Neal and Ben Wallace was to stop smoking cigars for a couple of days to keep his wind? What can they say when they lost to Yugoslavia after leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter?
Not a word. Especially when someone like Divac is left to explain the obvious.
“It's really not fair to (Team USA),” Divac said after the upset Thursday. “They had all the pressure on them. They were playing with international rules. They had just 10 days to prepare.”
While it would be easy to blame those 10 days of preparation on Team USA, since that's all the players would forfeit from their summer vacations, the bigger issue being ignored involves the NBA's ultimate agenda, and how last week's debacle could actually fit neatly into its plan to globalize the league.
In 1946-47, the league's inaugural season, five players from four countries and territories were in the NBA. In 1988-89, 20 from 15 countries and territories existed. By the 1991-92 season, those numbers had increased to 23 players from 18 countries and territories. It escalated to a league-record 52 international players on opening day of the 2001-02 season before finishing at 51 from 30 countries and territories at the end of the regular season.
Since 17 of the top 57 picks in June's NBA draft were European players, their number is expected to eclipse 60 for the first time in league history when the season opens Oct.29.
One league executive has said, “Those boys can play, man. They don't rely on their individual abilities to get them by. They play a team brand of basketball. That's why they're no longer scared of us at all. Take Shaquille O'Neal out of the equation, and they believe they can hang with anyone we throw their way.”
For those who think the NBA is appalled by such a notion, remember how much it likes money. Remember that the more European players continue to develop and compete, the more possible expansion becomes.
That could mean three or four more teams, revenue from those cities that could reach billions, and an opportunity for corporate sponsors to sit at courtside and watch players who emphasize team instead of individuality.
At every turn, when called upon to flex their muscle and show that none is better, NBA players have showcased themselves, rising to the challenge to ward off all contenders. Well, the time has arrived again, albeit differently.
Players like Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Dirk Nowitzki and others are not interested in flash - just winning. If you want to beat one of them, you'll have to beat all of them. And for Team USA to do that today, a collective effort will be needed.
From everyone, not just the ones who elect to participate. A team effort.
Exactly what the NBA wanted. Americans, too.
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Team USA missing that team part
