Who is to be blamed for USA failure in FIBA world cup?

[Nate505]

it is. olympics arent. keep telling yourself that. olympics are an all sports event, basketball is just a tiny bit of it. so the tournament is also tiny... easier to win.

It isn't. The US cares about the Olympics more, so therefore it is the more important event. That's just the reality behind the situation.

If all the European teams stopped sending their best players to the World Cup and focused more on the Euro Cup, the World Cup would lose a ton of prestige. The US in basketball is equivalent to basically all of Europe in soccer.

it is. the world would still play basketball if usa stopped, so usa not caring is irrelevant. the reality you try to portay is just in your head.
european teams still focus on euro cup and world cup equaly.
what im trying to say is... you send "a team" players to olympics which are a lot easier to win and then claim "this is the premium tournament." it isnt.

It is relevant though. The US is far and away the best basketball country in the world, both currently and historically. The tournament they value does matter for the prestige of it. If Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and France stopped sending their best players to the World Cup, the prestige of that tournament would go down as well.

[Mirotic12]

Just not realistic to expect the top American players to play in a tournament like this 11 months before the olympics with a full nba season in between.

The U23 (or U25 or whatever) for the WC is an interesting angle. Eliminates the need to ask guys to commit two straight summers.

The opposite is what is going to happen. The Olympics is going to become the under 23 tournament, and the World Cup is going to be the only world tournament for senior men. The NBA and FIBA have been planning that for a long time, and even people associated to FIBA have said it is happening soon.

The latest talk is that the 2028 Olympics basketball will be an under-23 only tournament.

To the US players though it isn't. The Olympics is the major tournament they care about, as and as they are the best players in the world, it makes that tournament the most prestigious.

FIBA is going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament. This has been known for several years now. So the USA players will have to get with the rest of the world, whether they like it or not.

[Nate505]

FIBA is going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament. This has been known for several years now. So the USA players will have to get with the rest of the world, whether they like it or not.

If/When that happens fine. Until then most US players consider the Olympics the pinnacle tournament.

[Mirotic12]

The Olympics is the most prestigious tournament in basketball for everyone. Pretty much every basketball player in the world would rather have an Olympic gold than a Eurobasket or World Cup gold.

The claim is "the best tournament"....it's not. The most prestigious and the best are not necessarily the same thing.

Clearly, The Olympics is much worse than EuroBasket and World Cup in terms of the level of competition. If you want to claim prestige, then fine. But claiming it is the best competition is definitely incorrect.

Half of the teams at the Olympics wouldn't win a single game at EuroBasket. So saying it has the most prestige is one thing, but the argument goes to "the Olympics is the best international tournament", which is most certainly not true. It's the 3rd best, and it's noticeably worse than the 2nd best, which is the World Cup.

In terms of world tournaments only, The FIBA World Cup is without any question a much higher level competition than Olympics basketball is.

If/When that happens fine. Until then most US players consider the Olympics the pinnacle tournament.

It's not the pinnacle tournament basketball wise. The USA's opinion isn't the world's opinion. The USA is not the only country in the world. In fact, it makes up a very small percentage of the world's population.

As said above, if you want to claim the Olympics is the most prestigious tournament, that's different. But to claim it as the best tournament, the highest competition, or the pinnacle of international basketball - that is most definitely not true. And it doesn't matter at all what USA opinion is on that. Because it simply isn't true.

[Stillwater]

I watched 4-5 minutes of one game and couldn't care less about it tbh. odd game times etc

[Lalouie]

the reason the superstars didn't play is because,,,,,,
NO ONE CARES

[Sedale Threatt]

FIBA is going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament. This has been known for several years now. So the USA players will have to get with the rest of the world, whether they like it or not.

If/When that happens fine. Until then most US players consider the Olympics the pinnacle tournament.

If that happens, US participation will drop dramatically, to the point you just saw with this team. Personally, I think it would be cool if the World Cup was bigger; I've always enjoyed these competitions. But the Olympics just dwarf it on every level not just in our players' minds but the general public as well, particularly from the standpoint of pride/prestige. The fact that it's an immensely bigger marketing opportunity doesn't hurt either. I don't see anything changing that. I mean, it should tell you all you need to know about the collective status of the WC that none of these games were even televised stateside.

[sunsbg]

the reason the superstars didn't play is because,,,,,,
NO ONE CARES

Until they start caring good that team USA lost.

[maradro]

1) lack of playmaking and rebounding killed this team
2) roster construction isn't just a matter of amassing talent. Brazil is to soccer what the US is to basketball, Brazil doesn't just put all their stars together because sports don't work like that. Stars tend to mostly play offense and be divas, that's a recipe for a team that doesn't play together and doesn't defend.
3) single elimination tournaments, **** happens.

[lonzo_pelota]

how did the celtics lose to France

[TheNewEra]

Why did USA play Harrison Barnes as their center against Gobert for so long?

That was so disrespectful lol

[Mirotic12]

Again, the USA does not equal the world.

The last 2 FIBA World Cups had over 1 billion TV viewers each. In fact, the last two FIBA World Cups had more TV viewers than the last three Olympic men's basketball tournaments did.

FIBA already predicted this world cup will have over a billion viewers and also surpass the last 3 Olympics in viewers.

Where does this idea come from that what the USA thinks or does, or watches, is the same exact thing as what the entire world thinks or watches? USA is one country, and it's population is a tiny part of the world. Just because American NBA players evidently think the Olympics basketball tournament has more TV viewers does not make it so. The fact is it has less.

It has more in the USA, but LESS worldwide. All we hear about is how the NBA is a global league, and its stars are global stars. Well apparently that is also untrue, if they are unaware that globally the FIBA World Cup has more TV viewers than the Olympics basketball tournament has.

So OK, "no one cares or watches". That's great. More than 1 billion people worldwide, and more people than watch the Olympics basketball tournament, are watching.

USA's entire population is around 330 million. So if NBA players really believe that "no one is watching and no one cares", they should all fire their marketing departments and managers immediately. Even ESPN which is extremely USA-centric said that this world cup would get over 1 billion TV viewers.

1 billion plus people (FIBA World Cup viewers) > 330 million people (USA population)

"No one is watching or cares"...........these NBA players must be getting horrific advice from their managers, if they believe that 1 billion plus TV viewers = "no one cares" and "no one is watching".

[Jabroni Lames]

[TheNewEra]

Turner 10 minutes, Lopez 4 min, Plumlee 1 min vs Gobert 34 minutes.

Genius pop and kerr, coaches of the century.

after Turner struggled he had no hope for the other two

[Sedale Threatt]

If/When that happens fine. Until then most US players consider the Olympics the pinnacle tournament.

If that happens, US participation will drop dramatically, to the point you just saw with this team. Personally, I think it would be cool if the World Cup was bigger; I've always enjoyed these competitions. But the Olympics just dwarf it on every level not just in our players' minds but the general public as well, particularly from the standpoint of pride/prestige. The fact that it's an immensely bigger marketing opportunity doesn't hurt either. I don't see anything changing that. I mean, it should tell you all you need to know about the collective status of the WC that none of these games were even televised stateside.

Again, the USA does not equal the world.

Where did I say it did? I'm strictly talking about the attitudes of our players, and the overwhelming majority our fans.

[Mirotic12]

If that happens, US participation will drop dramatically, to the point you just saw with this team. Personally, I think it would be cool if the World Cup was bigger; I've always enjoyed these competitions. But the Olympics just dwarf it on every level not just in our players' minds but the general public as well, particularly from the standpoint of pride/prestige. The fact that it's an immensely bigger marketing opportunity doesn't hurt either. I don't see anything changing that. I mean, it should tell you all you need to know about the collective status of the WC that none of these games were even televised stateside.

Again, the USA does not equal the world.

Where did I say it did? I'm strictly talking about the attitudes of our players, and the overwhelming majority our fans.

I know, I edited the post. I accidentally hit the quote button and didn't realize it.

[Imon]

I really can't blame the US superstars for not wanting to spend their summer playing FIBA ball but at the same time find it irritating that they're just going to expect to be shoo-ins for the Olympic team.
I did believe this US team was talented enough to win the FIBA world cup but I think ultimately a lack of chemistry and no talented bigs did this team in.
The frustrating thing about all this is there's going to be a push to recruit bigger talent for the next FIBA world cup for another "redeem team" then if that's a success the US national mens team will just become complacent the next cycle around.

[thomchatt3rton]

I blame mirotic12


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[BVB24]

US basketball won't ever be the same. There's too much money in NBA deals and these athletes probably don't have the highest sense of nationalism. If NBA guys even think close to how some NFL guys think, why would you risk 100 million to "honor your country"?

This. Our generation of athletes don’t seem to have the same national pride of past generations. Call it entitlement, call it laziness, call it whatever you want, but it’s a different time.

[Catchall]

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