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

[Zeno]

There is nothing wrong with him playing for the US. The whole Lebron calling up everyone to assemble and save the basketball nation's honor narrative was way more annoying. Someone becomes a citizen after living in a country for over a decade. There is no reason why this should be controversial. That being said, US going out in 2nd round(quarter finals?) if he suits up.

It's not controversial - it's just a weak decision not to play for your home country. We're allowed to pan him for this. He's a front runner anyways and I've lost all respect for him

I am no fan of Embiid but I don't think I have any more problem with him playing on the US than I would any of the other players playing on countries other than their home ones. In fact Embiid has lived in the US and become a citizen very legitimately. The only difference is that as you say, Embiid is a kind of front runner/loser and is joining a stacked team. But this is a problem with Embiid not his choice.

[phanman]

I mean Giannis was grew up in Greece, discovered basketball there, and was playing at a professional level before being drafted. He was on the U20 team in 2012.

Not that it matters, but
1. Giannis was drafted 18 so basically came over the same age as embiid. He was on a super low tier in Greece that would be probably be equivalent to AAU over here.
2. I think it was 2013 right after he was drafted to the bucks? He wasn't even a Greek citizen until 2013, which is kind of ironic in this debate. Like the biggest difference between the 2 is that Giannis committed early to Greece. Embiid just never did that for Cameroon or France.

Like Giannis recently just said he tells people he is from Milwaukee, WI, not Greece. There's really no material difference between Embiid and Giannis except Giannis committed early. If he went back in time and said he wanted to play Team USA when he was drafted would people have thought that was right?

1) It was a low tiered second tier league but it was still against grown men making real paycheques. It is completely different than the much younger AAU scene.

2) Giannis committed to Greece as it became a mutually beneficial relationship on both sides, but yes that is the difference because Giannis embraced his roots as it had a bigger influence on his upbringing vs Embiid who took the more traditional immigrant route coming over to the US and embracing his new life.

3) I think it's all semantics when Giannis say's where is from. Obviously he is going to emphasize Milwaukee because that is where he is now but he represents Greece just as much as he does anywhere else. Plus he committed to play for their national team at the conclusion of his rookie season. He just wasn't good enough to be on the USA team then and I would argue that that experience only helped him develop into the player he is today.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I think the issue in the comments 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 your 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, it's 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.

[MarcusBrody]

I'm not a giant Embiid fan (I respect him and really like that he's in the league, I just enjoy rooting against him as he plays a good villain), but I have no problem with this. He came to the US at 16 and did HS and college here. Then obviously he's lived and worked here after for his NBA career. If you did your high school here and stayed, that's a proper resident for me. I'd also have had no problem if he played for Cameroon as living there up to 16 also makes that a strong connection. But he probably remembers at least as much of his life in the US (13 or 14 years) as he does in Cameroon (16 years, but his early youth) and almost all of his basketball life is associated with the US. I think it's a really different situation from countries naturalizing random Brazilians who've come as adults and played in their pro league for 3 years to play in the WC.

[durden_tyler]

So USA starting 5:

Embiid
Durant
Tatum
Brown? Butler?
Curry

i think this is why people are pissed, we’ll have another one-sided boring Olympics. LOL

He should have chosen France, for basketball parity reasons.

[EmpireFalls]

So USA starting 5:

Embiid
Durant
Tatum
Brown? Butler?
Curry

i think this is why people are pissed, we’ll have another one-sided boring Olympics. LOL

He should have chosen France, for basketball parity reasons.

Have to think that if LBJ is actually coming to the Olympics, ain't no way you're making him come off the bench.

[CBS7]

Do you guys trash Hakeem/Ewing for not playing for their birth countries?

[D.Brasco]

Do you guys trash Hakeem/Ewing for not playing for their birth countries?

Duncan too.

*Virgin Islands are technically US territory but have their own Olympic teams.

[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.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Do you guys trash Hakeem/Ewing for not playing for their birth countries?

yes

[MarcusBrody]

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.

The US has always been a nation of immigrants. There's definitely xenophobia and racism that effects things, but overall, there is the feeling that if you come here and set up your life here, you can be an American. If you come before you finish high school, that's doubly so. It doesn't make you not whatever else you were before, but you can still be considered legit "American".

[KokoKaizer]

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.

totally agree

[CBS7]

Do you guys trash Hakeem/Ewing for not playing for their birth countries?

yes

How about KAT? Do you trash him for playing for the Dominican Republic?

[KokoKaizer]

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.

The US has always been a nation of immigrants. There's definitely xenophobia and racism that effects things, but overall, there is the feeling that if you come here and set up your life here, you can be an American. If you come before you finish high school, that's doubly so. It doesn't make you not whatever else you were before, but you can still be considered legit "American".

What is a legit "American" ?

[dhsilv2]

A guy with his health issues playing in the stupid events should be a crime!

[dhsilv2]

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

The US has always been a nation of immigrants. There's definitely xenophobia and racism that effects things, but overall, there is the feeling that if you come here and set up your life here, you can be an American. If you come before you finish high school, that's doubly so. It doesn't make you not whatever else you were before, but you can still be considered legit "American".

What is a legit "American" ?

Anyone who chooses to live and/or call themselves an american is a legit american. Though I suppose the government kinda gotta make it official which is disgusting and gross that they can choose to decline someone.

[phanman]

So USA starting 5:

Embiid
Durant
Tatum
Brown? Butler?
Curry

i think this is why people are pissed, we’ll have another one-sided boring Olympics. LOL

He should have chosen France, for basketball parity reasons.

Someone usually ends up dropping out. Though since it is in Paris this year, you can see why so many stars are eager to join. At the SG slot, I would suspect it would be Booker. Although a massive unit with Bron there would be hilarious too.

[Heat3]

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

The US has always been a nation of immigrants. There's definitely xenophobia and racism that effects things, but overall, there is the feeling that if you come here and set up your life here, you can be an American. If you come before you finish high school, that's doubly so. It doesn't make you not whatever else you were before, but you can still be considered legit "American".

What is a legit "American" ?

An American citizen that wasn’t handed a citizenship for the sole purpose of playing on the national team.

[ATLTimekeeper]

There is nothing wrong with him playing for the US. The whole Lebron calling up everyone to assemble and save the basketball nation's honor narrative was way more annoying. Someone becomes a citizen after living in a country for over a decade. There is no reason why this should be controversial. That being said, US going out in 2nd round(quarter finals?) if he suits up.

It's not controversial - it's just a weak decision not to play for your home country. We're allowed to pan him for this. He's a front runner anyways and I've lost all respect for him

I am no fan of Embiid but I don't think I have any more problem with him playing on the US than I would any of the other players playing on countries other than their home ones. In fact Embiid has lived in the US and become a citizen very legitimately. The only difference is that as you say, Embiid is a kind of front runner/loser and is joining a stacked team. But this is a problem with Embiid not his choice.

He was choosing between France and USA, so to me this is just a calculated "I'll take 20 minutes for an easy gold" over "30 minutes and hope to get silver" decision.

[dhsilv2]

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.