2014 FIBA World Cup

[carey]

Yeah, that was out of line and makes a lot of accusations. If you read the comments, the readers are about 100 to 1 against his opinion.

It's a cynical take for sure. Not sure it is wrong.

[SDC]

Woj loves going after sacred cows.

or, he has anger issues.

[SDC]

"And yes, it'd be good to make it be under-23 or somesuch, so that we just send our young players. So okay, do that. But that is not a scandal or anything that merits trashing USA basketball."

That's just stupid of Woj, IMO. Other countries have been sending their pros for years, that's why we quit sending college players and started the Dream Team in '92.

make the olympics under 23.

[Shabazz]

"And yes, it'd be good to make it be under-23 or somesuch, so that we just send our young players. So okay, do that. But that is not a scandal or anything that merits trashing USA basketball."

That's just stupid of Woj, IMO. Other countries have been sending their pros for years, that's why we quit sending college players and started the Dream Team in '92.

make the olympics under 23.

I wouldn't mind seeing the worlds as an under 23 tourney and the Olympics as the "everyone plays" event.

[SDC]

I wouldn't mind seeing the worlds as an under 23 tourney and the Olympics as the "everyone plays" event.

and if i were a team owner like mark cuban or a coach like greg pop, i'd make the olympics u23 and fiba open to all players. FIFA (soccer) already has a similar arrangement.

[SDC]

wont work though if only the NBA imposes a unilateral u23 restriction on olympic basketball for american players while rest of the world continue to send grown men to both fiba and olympics.

[Cap]

Laws of the Cap regime:

To the FIBA World Cup, send the best 12 players willing to participate.

To the Olympics, send the best 12 players, period. Anyone who refuses will be burned at the stake.

[SDC]

top performers.

[carey]

Koponen? I remember that guy. He lead the world cup w/ a paltry 5.8 assists?

[Ring_Wanted]

Assists in Fiba are way more scarce than in the NBA. An elite floor general and passer like Sergio Rodriguez won't crack 6 per game be cause in order to log an assist the receiving guy can't do anything else but executing a basket. No dribbling, no post stuff or basically any form of own creation.

[INFORMER]

Also, the offenses are run differently; the point guards don't dominate the ball as they do in the NBA. More emphasis is put on the entire team moving the ball and each individual being capable of creating for another.

[Mori Chu]

Assists in Fiba are way more scarce than in the NBA. An elite floor general and passer like Sergio Rodriguez won't crack 6 per game be cause in order to log an assist the receiving guy can't do anything else but executing a basket. No dribbling, no post stuff or basically any form of own creation.

It seems like that's how it should be. The player receiving the pass should have to go straight into his shot. No dribble or shake-n-bake crap. The over-generous accounting of assists (a la John Stockton in Utah) is misleading and doesn't reflect the true number of points the one player generated for the other.

[In2ition]

Assists in Fiba are way more scarce than in the NBA. An elite floor general and passer like Sergio Rodriguez won't crack 6 per game be cause in order to log an assist the receiving guy can't do anything else but executing a basket. No dribbling, no post stuff or basically any form of own creation.

It seems like that's how it should be. The player receiving the pass should have to go straight into his shot. No dribble or shake-n-bake crap. The over-generous accounting of assists (a la John Stockton in Utah) is misleading and doesn't reflect the true number of points the one player generated for the other.

I agree with part of this(John Stockton got a very generous account in Utah), but it seems that the FIBA assist is too limiting. If you get the pass for a near straight line drive, that should be an assist, even if the ball goes to the ground for one dribble.

[Shabazz]

IMO, as long as everything is in one motion, it should be an assist. If you throw an outlet pass to midcourt to a wide open teammate who has to take two dribbles and two steps to score unimpeded, it should be an assist. If you swing a pass to a teammate in the corner who ball-fakes, takes a dribble in and pulls up for a mid-range J, no assist.

[Mori Chu]

Yeah, I could see a middle ground where if the recipient of the pass is "wide open" with a clear and direct path to the basket and goes straight to it and scores, it's an assist. But as you guys said, no assist if the recipient does a pump fake + dribble + shot. I also think it's funny that homer scorekeepers get to decide assist totals and can just pump up the counts for "their" guys.

[Ring_Wanted]

Yeah, I agree. Driving is not the same as dribbling. KLove to Brewer is an assist in Fiba too, but if you need to 'create' it shouldn't count.