*Update: Embiid commits to Team USA* (France gives Embiid til Oct 10th to commit)

[Decipher]

This is seriously weak stuff from Embiid

Had an opportunity to give something back to kids in his impoverished homeland and went with the commercial option

Compare Embiid to this guy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Weah

George Weah was every bit as good at football as Embiid is at basketball

He could have played international football for one of the superpowers but stayed loyal to the country of his birth

Used his fame to raise millions for his country, UN Ambassador & now President of Liberia

Now that’s a legacy

[durden_tyler]

it's a pity because it makes Olympics even a worst product. At this point I might prefer FIBA WC.
another word I would use is: pathetic

Of course non-Americans prefer WC, since the Americans usually send the Team B to D teams there. Let’s see if they change it after another WC embarrasment, maybe Embiid shows some pride and try to lead a lesser US team there since he has commited already.

[Sgt Major]

I think the issue in the commenta I read is that americans seem to have a different relationship with being a citizen of a country than for instance europeans might have.
To me *your* country is where you grew up and/or where you're parents are from. That means you have a native knoweldge of the language and you've always been immersed into its culture. You might have mutiple passports, but that's not an acquired taste, not where you belong to.
Here it seems that deciding what country to represent is just a business decision, and in my view it completely ruins the whole point of having this kind of competitions.

Absolutely. He was 16 when he left Cameroon, he grew up there and that's his country.

What kinda sick stuff is this? Your country is where you CHOOSE IT TO BE! If you want to change you get to change! You don't choose where you're born. You're just suck there and it takes work to make the choice to leave. Those choices should be respected. Now you can obviously choose to work a job outside your country while still choosing to remain a citizen with plans to return. But you can just as easily make the choice that you've moved and you'll never move back.

Sick stuff? Are you sure that was the right word for my comment?

You need to understand that some nations view the national teams differently. For example, Serbia and Lithuania, naturalizing a player would be an immense travesty and we are extremely against that.

And your country is not where you choose to be. If I chose to live in the States, would they grant me a passport just like that? Would Giannis get a Greek passport if he didn't excel at basketball? You know the answers to those questions.

Embiid had a great chance to promote basketball in his native country of Cameroon, to make his countrymen happy and proud, to influence other kids to follow his path... Instead, he took the easier path and joined the team USA, like a soft ass bitch he is. Many legendary athletes are praised because they played for their national teams even though they had opportunities to switch to play for other, far more successful and rich countries. Djokovic was offered British citizenship as a kid, Ryan Giggs played for Wales, refusing England's citizenship and so on. Among everything else, that made those athletes true legends as well and Embiid will never sniff such heights.

[rapstarter]

Kyle Anderson playing for China and no one cares.


People only care because Embiid is great. If he was middling then no one cares right now.

Wow, who would have thought that people talk more about players that are more worth talking about? Doesn't mean people don't think Anderson playing for China is weird.

[DrPampiloni]

it's a pity because it makes Olympics even a worst product. At this point I might prefer FIBA WC.
another word I would use is: pathetic

Exactly the same rules.

You have no clue.

The German Second league also has exactly the same rules. Does not mean it cannot be a worse product. You have no clue, and are also pretty arrogant at it.

[Jabroni Lames]

Embiid is a product of the American basketball system. Glad he chose right.

Now to read this thread full of anger from the people who obsess over the downfall of American basketball

Almost all American basketball players have African heritage. Team Africa is the real winner, if we're being honest.

[Saints14]

Us Americans hate ourselves too much. This is great! I love that Embiid considers himself an American (he’s lived close to half of his life here) and it’s exactly what we need basketball wise. Despite our flaws America is still the best country in the world for nationalizing immigrants

[JayMKE]

Why aren't you guys getting on Siakam for not playing for Cameroon?

[AleksandarN]

2nd round exit.

[DrPampiloni]

Why aren't you guys getting on Siakam for not playing for Cameroon?

I am sure there is plenty of Cameroonians who resent him too for not showing up yet. He is not betraying them though.

[Lakers In 5]

Why aren't you guys getting on Siakam for not playing for Cameroon?

So what country is he playing for instead?

[Bum Adebayo]

Why aren't you guys getting on Siakam for not playing for Cameroon?

People don't care about Siakam that much, Embiid however is maybe the most hated player in the NBA (Top 3 at least). There is nothing more to it really.

[fuller4379]

[KGtabake]

Lol the guy left Cameroon for a better life in America, he’s American. The internationals are just mad that they won’t get to do this silly thing where we pretend the U.S. isn’t far and away the best at basketball because someone else won a non-Olympic tournament no one cares about.

The fact that the US is the best at basketball cannot be doubted by anyone.
It would be insane not to be with a population of 330 millions though.

What should trouble you is how Serbia, a nation of 4 millions has the same amount of golds as you in world championships.
Safe to say that if Serbia had the same population as yours(which means a far greater pool to pick players) they would have been the far and away best.

But not the Olympic, when the best US players play. By your logic, India and China should have the best basketball players right? If Serbia has a population of 330 million, the country would have developed differently. Basketball may not even be that popular.

Also, countries like Serbia hides behind single-elimination tournaments. How many times is Serbia going to beat USA in a seven game series?

China and India don't have basketball tradition like US and Serbia. So why bring them up?
Secondly, what do you mean 7 game series?
The Olympics are also a single elimination tournament.
Do you want the Olympics and FIBA tournaments to be series? It cannot happen because it will take 2 months.
Serbia has beaten the US twice in world championships in the last 20 years and one of them was in the United States in 2002.
It ain't a small thing for such a new nation (created in 1991).

[Effigy]

Non USA fans should be overjoyed. Now they can use the "well they stole Embiid!!" excuse when Team USA wins gold. They were going to win gold anyway, but now people can point to stealing Embiid as the reason!

Now wait just a minute! Team USA just lost a tournament that nobody in the US cares about playing scrubs like Austin Reeves. Clearly the rest of the world has caught up!

Its not the rest of the world faults that US was not able to gather and send the better players to the tournament. You sent the best you had at that moment. Other countries were missing their stars too. It was the official World Cup and USA was the 4th medal less and have to pluck other countries talent to bolster their squad for the next tournament. The USA basketball is pathetic Your junior NT also got their butts kicked last summer. The top players in the NBA are international players.

It's not anyone else's fault that we sent our D squad out there, but it does mean that trying to say 'well the rest of the world has surpassed us' is laughable. And yes, the best players are international, but none of them come from the same country. No country can assemble a team 1-12 that is as good as ours.

[KGtabake]

I think the issue in the commenta I read is that americans seem to have a different relationship with being a citizen of a country than for instance europeans might have.
To me *your* country is where you grew up and/or where you're parents are from. That means you have a native knoweldge of the language and you've always been immersed into its culture. You might have mutiple passports, but that's not an acquired taste, not where you belong to.
Here it seems that deciding what country to represent is just a business decision, and in my view it completely ruins the whole point of having this kind of competitions.

Absolutely. He was 16 when he left Cameroon, he grew up there and that's his country.

What kinda sick stuff is this? Your country is where you CHOOSE IT TO BE! If you want to change you get to change! You don't choose where you're born. You're just suck there and it takes work to make the choice to leave. Those choices should be respected. Now you can obviously choose to work a job outside your country while still choosing to remain a citizen with plans to return. But you can just as easily make the choice that you've moved and you'll never move back.

So if half Mexico decides to cross the borders and live in the US because that's what they choose, then they are all americans and should be allowed to live at they country they want to. Got it.

[Doctor MJ]

Reading the thread I feel compelled to say:

The idea that it's a character flaw to choose to play for the nation that:

1. You've lived in your entire adult life.
2. You've become a citizen of - and not because the nation is bribing you to play for their national team.
3. The only country your son has ever lived in.

Just seems a bit absurd to me.

I completely understand being frustrated if you're from Cameroon, but the idea that Embiid should have to uproot his life to go play for a nation that he doesn't actually live in or raise his child in, just doesn't seem human-realistic.

[DrPampiloni]

Now wait just a minute! Team USA just lost a tournament that nobody in the US cares about playing scrubs like Austin Reeves. Clearly the rest of the world has caught up!

Its not the rest of the world faults that US was not able to gather and send the better players to the tournament. You sent the best you had at that moment. Other countries were missing their stars too. It was the official World Cup and USA was the 4th medal less and have to pluck other countries talent to bolster their squad for the next tournament. The USA basketball is pathetic Your junior NT also got their butts kicked last summer. The top players in the NBA are international players.

It's not anyone else's fault that we sent our D squad out there, but it does mean that trying to say 'well the rest of the world has surpassed us' is laughable. And yes, the best players are international, but none of them come from the same country. No country can assemble a team 1-12 that is as good as ours.

The bold sentence is obviously true on paper, but is also kind of negated by Kerr begging Embiid to play for you. Lots of insecurity for a program that should field an unbeatable team.

Read on Twitter

Also stop saying this year's was your D team when probably 2-3 players of this team will suit up also next year. This was your B team.

Serbia and Greece were missing (finals and RS) MVPs. Lithuania was missing Sabonis, France was missing Wemby, Canada was missing Murray. Latvia (2 million people) claimed a historic 5th place without Kristaps Porzingis. Australia could have had Ben Simmons and Jock Landale. Heck even the champions Germany could claim sending a suboptimal team with Hartenstein and Kleber not on the roster.

Of course, apart from Giannis and Joker, I am not comparing all those guys to KD, Lebron and Embiid. But in the economy of a limited talent pool they are huge losses.

[DrPampiloni]

Reading the thread I feel compelled to say:

The idea that it's a character flaw to choose to play for the nation that:

1. You've lived in your entire adult life.
2. You've become a citizen of - and not because the nation is bribing you to play for their national team.
3. The only country your son has ever lived in.

Just seems a bit absurd to me.

I completely understand being frustrated if you're from Cameroon, but the idea that Embiid should have to uproot his life to go play for a nation that he doesn't actually live in or raise his child in, just doesn't seem human-realistic.

What do you mean uproot his life? He can in principle play for Cameroon without ever even setting foot on the country. Probably two weeks a year tops which I guess he spends there anyway. He is not travelling by boat or anything...

[Pachinko_]

I didn't even like this guy before so I'm not gonna comment.