USA Men’s Basketball, will they do it this time?

Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian, on American soil in 1891, invented basketball. Soon, basketball would be played across the globe and would be governed by the International Basketball Federation or FIBA, which stands for Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur formed in 1932. The A for Amateur was later on dropped (1989) due to the entry of professional NBA players, although FIBA is still in use but not as an acronym.

The US Men’s Basketball Team would dominate international competitions whether FIBA sanctioned tournaments or the Olympics through the years. Basketball was incorporated in the Olympics in the 1936 Berlin Games and the USA since then has won 12 gold medals followed by the Soviet Union with 2, Yugoslavia with 1 and Argentina with 1. Having beaten by the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Summer Games, the US formed a new team composed of professionals from the NBA for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games and was dubbed as the “Dream Team.” Great stars such as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan lead the team and would be followed by other professional players for the 1996, 2000 games and onwards. Looking at the records from the FIBA website (1950~2006), USA shares the top spot with the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in terms of gold medal count but leads in the total medal count with 10. The first ever appearance of NBA players from the US in the FIBA World Championships was in 1994 when Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dominique Wilkins, Dan Majerle, Reggie Miller, Shawn Kemp and others suit up to form the successful “Dream Team II.”

The dominance of US Men’s Basketball has declined and it started in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when they managed to win against Lithuania just by two points in the semifinals and a ten-point margin to win the gold against France. Now, it’s a big question mark having failed to conquer the 2004 Athens Olympics, 2005 FIBA Americas and 2006 FIBA World Championships even though they have fielded NBA players. The world has finally caught up with the Americans as many would say. To some more technically incline with the game, it’s due to difference in styles or game play where there’s the European, American and even Asian brand of basketball. Over the years, the European style has evolved or matured into a team-based pass the ball game play having mastered the amateur rules. In the defense side, they have mastered the zone defense as opposed to Americans one-on-one defense. Some would argue however that the poor performance of the team in international games is due to non-fielding of players that are considered the best of the crop and the fact that other nations teams have played together longer.

The Americans are no longer in the number one spot of the sport worldwide but they have remained to be a team to watch. Such is the case of the new team that is competing in the on-going FIBA Americas, which is considered to be the youngest NBA sponsored team to ever compete internationally. For the first time, Kobe Bryant would be playing in his much-awaited international debut. They definitely have a lot to prove especially under Mike Krzyzewski whose best record in the FIBA World Championships are two “bronze medals” (1990 and 2006). I happened to watch their first game against Venezuela (a young team) which they won by a big margin and I was a little intrigued on how would they fair with other teams especially Argentina (Manu Ginobili is not in the roster). The team exudes quickness, agility and tremendous athleticism and looking at the roster, everything seems to be in place. They have centers that are quick that I think is capable of guarding the rim and the shooting department that is not evident from previous teams is filled up well this time. They pass the ball more and their defense is much better now. I am not a fan of Kobe Bryant but his debut is turning out to be way better than expected, he shares the ball more and provides leadership on the floor. LeBron is explosive as ever and Michael Redd delivers from outside as expected. I just hope they won’t choke in the finals, and their second stringers perform at par with the first.

Although some big stars are in the injured list, my favorite Dwayne Wade, the team for me is solid enough. It may be early to say that this team will go all the way but I hope they continue to play together not just in the FIBA Americas but also in the Olympics and FIBA World Championships. They are already showing greatness at this point probably a little less than the first Dream Team. But the question in my mind still linger… will they make it this time?