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

[SK21209]

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).

No one cares about the world championships. The best player we sent in 2002 was Paul Pierce lol. Raef LaFrentz and Antonio Davis were on the team. As if winning anything against that version of a U.S. team means anything.

[Tor_Raps]

I just used Giannis as one example. You can say the same about almost ANY international player. Their teams are based in the US so it's obvious they'll spend most of their time there. You don't see others running to switch their allegiances. Like I said, weak move from a weak dude.

Giannis didn't go to high school or college here. Plenty of Americans play for other countries, nice to see someone turn around and do the same for us

I don't think the US needs Embiid but I honestly don't get the hate he's getting for that commitment. It wouldn't bother me any way. It's his choice and I think there's arguments for all

It's kind of like when Durant when to Golden State. Sure he's allowed to go wherever he wants but f u loll.

He patches up the only real weakness you could have pointed out with Team USA.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Giannis didn't go to high school or college here. Plenty of Americans play for other countries, nice to see someone turn around and do the same for us

I don't think the US needs Embiid but I honestly don't get the hate he's getting for that commitment. It wouldn't bother me any way. It's his choice and I think there's arguments for all

It's kind of like when Durant when to Golden State. Sure he's allowed to go wherever he wants but f u loll.

He patches up the only real weakness you could have pointed out with Team USA.

At least you're honest, most people here are complaining because they know an Embiid/AD frontcourt rotation is nasty business and will make it difficult to beat the US.

[dhsilv2]

Define heritage? Like my great grandfather is from Italy. I have 0% connection to italy. If I claimed that "connection" I'd be laughable.

You and the other thousand idiots on this forum need to open your eyes past the nba.

Fiba has a rule that allows one naturalised player per team.

Yet you and the other idiots always come in and spout the same crap, not knowing about anything beyond your own backyard.

Nobody gives a damn about FIBA rules.

[Effigy]

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.

Pitching isn't begging. France begged, I wouldn't say we did You're also talking about the guy who pitched the second best player in the world to come join his team that had just set the all time record for most wins in a regular season. Just because you have the best players doesn't mean you don't want more.

And sure, each of those teams you mentioned is missing one or two guys. We were missing a LOT more than that. And we'd have to put together at least 4 teams of our best players before someone like Austin Reeves or Bobby Portis or Walker Kessler made it. Hence D team.

Realgm just did our ranking of the 25 best players, and Edwards is the only one who made that team. Most of the rest of that team wasn't even nominated. D team.

[dhsilv2]

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.

Yes, the US would give you a passport just like that. Of course I CLEARLY stated that it takes WORK! I don't agree with that, but that is the unfortunate reality. And Embiid living in the states full time would make him claiming Cameroon pretty wild imo. He's not Jokic leaving here the second the season is over to go home.

[dhsilv2]

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.

of course...

[DrPampiloni]

Realgm just did our ranking of the 25 best players, and Edwards is the only one who made that team. Most of the rest of that team wasn't even nominated. D team.

Could it be that there are a lot of international players in the top 25? There is no D team, there is an A team and a bunch of possible B teams with similar talents and better or worse chemistry...

Also the Tokyo team with Booker, KD, Tatum, Dame, Bam, Jrue, etc.. had to sweat it out and even lost games to Nigeria, Australia and France. There is no USA team roster which is blowing past everybody.

[Wingy]

Giannis didn't go to high school or college here. Plenty of Americans play for other countries, nice to see someone turn around and do the same for us

I don't think the US needs Embiid but I honestly don't get the hate he's getting for that commitment. It wouldn't bother me any way. It's his choice and I think there's arguments for all

It's kind of like when Durant when to Golden State. Sure he's allowed to go wherever he wants but f u loll.

He patches up the only real weakness you could have pointed out with Team USA.

Great analogy.

As an American that’s basically why it feels lame to me. Where’s the spirit of competition? I’d rather see him play for Cameroon (or not at all) since a US win while not surprising without Embiid, feels a little more hollow and cheesy with him.

End of the day though, he didn’t break any rules and is doing what he wants to do. Nothing to freak out about.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

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.

look, at the end of the day he can do whatever he wants for his career and his life. The same way Durant could.
But that's not going to shield them from criticism that they're totally free di ignore.

I think here there's a combination of two things:
1) I think americans don't have a real affinity with NT competitions and hence you guys don't see why others see this as a travesty. There's also the distinction of nationality and citizenship, but that's a slippery one.
2) this is an incredibly weak move, he basically gave up on his origins to join the richer nation and the easier path to a meaningless medal. He could have used his success to help the growth of basketball in his country inspiring numerous young men there but he went for the business decision.

Again, he can do what he wants. But to everyone who cares about NT competitions this is a joke and I really hope FIBA, CIO or whoever will finally put an end to this athlete's market, this is not what these competitions are for.

[JayMKE]

Its just sour grapes from people who want to see Team USA lose for whatever reason, Embiid not wanting to build the Cameroonian national team from the ground up doesn't make him a traitor anymore than Siakam. Embiid was MVP last year and Team USA could really use him, why wouldn't they want him?

Nikola Mirotic isn't Spanish altho he's been there since he was a teenager but by your guys "blood and soil" logic shouldn't he be playing for Montenegro or even Serbia before Spain? I'm sure there are other examples of this too that's just off the top of my head, I think the criticism of naturalized players rings pretty hollow all considered and is pretty easy to read between the lines on. My only issue with naturalized players is when they're only naturalized for the express purposes of basketball, if they live and built their life there or at least have some enduring connection then don't see the problem.

[zimpy27]

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.

Cool, so just wanted to make it clear that Embiid has less rights because he has more talent.

[DC_Melo]

An American citizen chooses to play basketball for Team USA… scandal.

[Effigy]

Realgm just did our ranking of the 25 best players, and Edwards is the only one who made that team. Most of the rest of that team wasn't even nominated. D team.

Could it be that there are a lot of international players in the top 25? There is no D team, there is an A team and a bunch of possible B teams with similar talents and better or worse chemistry...

Also the Tokyo team with Booker, KD, Tatum, Dame, Bam, Jrue, etc.. had to sweat it out and even lost games to Nigeria, Australia and France. There is no USA team roster which is blowing past everybody.

Lol. No D team just a lot of B teams? That doesn't make sense.

And yes, of course there were international players on there, but it's a 12 man roster, there were more than 12 american players on the list. You know perfectly well that if we put together rosters of our best possible players, there are guys on that team would wouldn't even make the third best team. Come on and let's be real now.

[RB34]

It’s incredible how people discount the things they don’t win and only count things they do win.

[azcatz11]

Define heritage? Like my great grandfather is from Italy. I have 0% connection to italy. If I claimed that "connection" I'd be laughable.

You and the other thousand idiots on this forum need to open your eyes past the nba.

Fiba has a rule that allows one naturalised player per team.

Yet you and the other idiots always come in and spout the same crap, not knowing about anything beyond your own backyard.

Nobody gives a damn about FIBA rules.

I may put this in my signature...

[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.

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...

We talkin' about practice.

[mikejames23]

US just lost, so everyone's taking this seriously so we don't lose the Olympics as well. Frankly, the world's catching up fast. I wouldn't be surprised if we bring in Embiid, play some lower tier ball, and get upset. Embiid's good but not gold level great. US is really banking on Lebron, Durant and Curry teaming up.

[DoctorX]

US just lost, so everyone's taking this seriously so we don't lose the Olympics as well. Frankly, the world's catching up fast. I wouldn't be surprised if we bring in Embiid, play some lower tier ball, and get upset. Embiid's good but not gold level great. US is really banking on Lebron, Durant and Curry teaming up.

It's definitely a sign of how the talent level in the US is dropping off that they need to somehow cheat to get guys who are not originally from the US to play for them.

[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.

look, at the end of the day he can do whatever he wants for his career and his life. The same way Durant could.
But that's not going to shield them from criticism that they're totally free di ignore.

I think here there's a combination of two things:
1) I think americans don't have a real affinity with NT competitions and hence you guys don't see why others see this as a travesty. There's also the distinction of nationality and citizenship, but that's a slippery one.
2) this is an incredibly weak move, he basically gave up on his origins to join the richer nation and the easier path to a meaningless medal. He could have used his success to help the growth of basketball in his country inspiring numerous young men there but he went for the business decision.

Again, he can do what he wants. But to everyone who cares about NT competitions this is a joke and I really hope FIBA, CIO or whoever will finally put an end to this athlete's market, this is not what these competitions are for.

I think you make good points. I certainly respect a player who makes a point to pay it forward to the nation of his birth.

I will draw a distinction though:

Durant was someone with no roots in the Bay Area who chose to go to play in the Bay Area for reasons that had nothing to with the Bay Area.

Embiid lives in the US, and his son was born in the USA, and chose to play for the nation where he lives and his son was born.