LukaMagic wrote:Saying "this isn't 1992 anymore" has two points in it:
1. Yes, "the world" progressed a lot in terms of talent and overall bball knowledge, but:
2. it also means that USA talent regressed big time compared to the dream team, even if USA would send all of their best players today.
And that 2nd point should be concerning to americans.. It shows that development of young players (pre-pro career) and even nba player development is severely lacking. Why is that?
And please stop with the "we don't care about FIBA" - american talent in the NBA is arguably at an all time low, do you care about that?
This is quite a stretch in logic. Not sure how such a claim can be made as other nations have been getting better and fielding more competitive teams while the US has made zero to no attempt at re-creating a Dream Team ever since.
Even if it was true… why should Americans be concerned?
David Stern’s publicly stated objective for creating a Dream Team was to roll out a superstar exhibition team that would shine on the world stage and attract more nations to competitive basketball. And that plan has worked out even better than Stern could have anticipated, something he happily acknowledged in his later years as commissioner.
Americans want to see the global game get more competitive. Nobody is scared or worried we might lose. Better international competition means better quality international players entering the league, which is exactly what we really want.
Some people are so jaded against America, they can’t see that most of us are rooting for international play to continue improving.