How did you feel about the idea of Joel Embid playing for USA in the Olympics?

[AleksandarN]

we didn't need Joel Embiid to win

Joel Embiid needed to be American more than Americans wanted Joel Embiid

nothing more needs to be said than that

If you didn’t have Embiid they would have to lost to Serbia in the semis

nope, Javale Mcgee can get a Gold Medal with Team USA, Joel Embiid is definitely well above the minimum center that could've played his role for that series vs. Serbia.

Lol AD and Bam couldn’t do it but Javale could lmao

[Optms]

People don’t have to do that. Some people were born and raised in a country that no longer exists, like Hong Kong.

And those people get a pass. US still exists tho.

The whole idea of America is that it doesn’t matter where you were born; it’s a melting pot of people all over the world.

Albert Einstein was an American. Arnold Schwartzenegger, Salma Hayek, and Santana are Americans.

Not disputing that. America is the best, that's why those figures became American.

I'm talking about a game in which some people are choosing to directly compete against the nation they were born and raised in. Whether it's KAT choosing to compete against the US or Biid choosing to compete against Cameron, its shameless.

[Mirotic12]

The fact that so many non Team USA fans were so insecure about it was pretty hilarious.

Always concerned about what America has.

It would have been the same reaction if he had chosen to play for France.

Doubtful.

The same usual suspects around here that have an inferiority complex of the United States of America sadly. It is what it is.

I saw it during the Olympics with other topics too in relation to Team USA.

During the time that he was advertising himself as a free agent to USA and France, the forums here were full of the same people calling him out for it both ways.

While he does indeed have French ties, because he grew up in a country with a history of being part of France and some French culture and language, he was still being criticized for not playing with Cameroon.

Cameroon was in the Olympic qualifier tournament and Embiid and Pascal Siakam wouldn't help them get to the Olympics.

And yes, people were calling them out for that here.

[Mirotic12]

If American born players are able to get citizenship in other countries in order to play Olympic basketball, why wouldn't it go both ways?

In Europe, there is huge criticism about what teams like Spain, Poland, and Slovenia have done with trying to make national teams into free agent club teams.

The criticism is actually much more harsh against teams like Spain and Slovenia than it is with USA.

[Mirotic12]

Dude is the first international ring chaser.

Not really, Hakeem was literally ineligible to play for the USA at the Atlanta Olympics due to FIBA rules because he already played for Nigeria NT, and just got a special exemption from the federation to do so at that time. I've never seen anyone bringing that up against Hakeem, and it was much worse.

If American born players are able to get citizenship in other countries in order to play Olympic basketball, why wouldn't it go both ways?

Yeah, European teams compete all the time in naturalizing the best-4th tier Americans who have no connection with these countries besides playing there for few years at best, it's weird to pretend that there's anything scandalous in Embiid - who lives in the USA since he was 15 or 16, and was raised as a player there - playing for the USA.

The only realistic angle to criticize Embiid is if you're patriotic American (not saying being fine with Embiid playing for the NT is unpatriotic, but, you know), and that's it. And maybe if you're from Cameroon, although I guess it would be really difficult for Embiid to play there due to massive insurance needed / overall conditions, so I don't think he would've played there anyways tbh, considering Greek federation recently had problems in the summer in guaranteeing Gianins' insurance.

They did not have any issues with the insurance. FIBA pays the insurance, not the national federations.

It was a nonsense story. The federations don't have to pay anything.

Even the stupid media that didn't know that and thought it could be real that the federation pays something they don't actually pay, had to admit their mistake later, and say it was the FIBA-NBA player 28 day rule. That's the rule in question and it has absolutely nothing at all to do with insurance.

So that whole insurance thing was complete nonsense and untrue.

Cameroon's federation would not pay anything to insurance, as FIBA would pay all of it for them. So that would have absolutely nothing to do with Embiid or Pascal not playing for Cameroon.

[NZB2323]

Same way I felt about KAT playing for the Domincan team despite being a US born and raised player. Dude is more American than one third of this board. Even zesty like most Americans. Extra zesty.

Have some pride and play for the country you were born and raised on. Period.

People don’t have to do that. Some people were born and raised in a country that no longer exists, like Hong Kong.

And some people have pride in their ethnic culture/country.

And that’s fine also.

I’m not a big Embiid fan, and maybe he should have rested instead of playing in the Olympics, but players don’t get paid to play in the Olympics, it’s a way of bringing the world together, and there was a point in time where we were having a hard time getting players to play for the national team. I’m not going to criticize someone for choosing to volunteer their time to represent a country in a sport, provided the country isn’t horrible, and I’m especially not going to criticize players who volunteer to play for my national team.

[Mirotic12]

And that’s fine also.

I’m not a big Embiid fan, and maybe he should have rested instead of playing in the Olympics, but players don’t get paid to play in the Olympics, it’s a way of bringing the world together, and there was a point in time where we were having a hard time getting players to play for the national team. I’m not going to criticize someone for choosing to volunteer their time to represent a country in a sport, provided the country isn’t horrible, and I’m especially not going to criticize players who volunteer to play for my national team.

The free agent national team players are absolutely getting paid.

[BasketballAnon]

It's part of a much bigger conversation of what identity is and what it means to be a citizen. The Olympics and national sports have turned into a joke over it.

I do not agree with the current standards on what constitutes being eligible for an Olympic team.

[Effigy]

The same way I felt when Hakeem did it. I'm fine with it.

[BasketballAnon]

People don’t have to do that. Some people were born and raised in a country that no longer exists, like Hong Kong.

And some people have pride in their ethnic culture/country.

players don’t get paid to play in the Olympics

They 100% receive money from their sponsors for playing and meeting various goals.

[TMac Culloch]

Nobody cared when Hakeem did it

He was crucial to stopping Jokic and Serbia

As a sixers fan i wish he didnt play for injury

It meant a lot to him, as an Immigrant probably more grateful than Americans because it's so special

No problem