A big area of concern in U.S. professional basketball is the very noticeable lack of recent victories when pitted against teams from around the world. In the quadrennial World Championship tournament, a United States team has not attained the top prize since 1994, and in the Olympics since 2000.
In the 2006 WC competition held in Saitama, Japan, the team only managed to come in third place, winning a bronze medal. The 2004 Athens Olympics produced the same result. The 2002 WC tournament held in Indianapolis, IN, did not end well for the U.S., as a team riven by internal discord stumbled to a sixth-place finish, the worst showing in history by an American squad in an international tournament.
This situation has engendered an orgy of hand wringing and harsh criticism as fans and commentators have taken turns ripping the "lazy" players for not destroying the foreign competition. Suffice it to say that there is no dearth of proposed "solutions" to address the problem. The 2007 WC tournament to qualify for the 2008 Olympics is scheduled to be hosted by Las Vegas, NV, Aug. 22 through Sept. 2. Time will tell what will happen.
There is a consistent theme here -- the world has caught up. Long gone are the days when a group of U.S. professional players could just show up and easily pummel international opponents. That era passed after the first Dream Team, led by Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, won the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics perhaps the greatest collection of talent on one team in any sport in history. Of late, the international teams, who feature a more pass-oriented, free-flowing version of the game, smell weakness and are ready and eager to heap more indignities on the heads of the American players.
This state of affairs causes many to speculate as to whether the finest basketball is actually played in the NBA. There are some prominent sports figures who have indicated their fondness for the European-style game. Given the fact that American teams have been soundly beaten in international competition for the better part of a decade, one would have to be very foolish to dismiss this notion.
Something that many have noted is the fact that the team that wins the NBA championship is known as the "World Champion." How appropriate is that title? Shouldn't the championship team have to prove that it's the best team in the world?
Would it not be worthwhile to put together a true World Championship series between the NBA and Euroleague champions? The entertainment value, along with international interest in such a event would be tremendous, and the games themselves would serve to settle for once and for all which side of the Atlantic the best basketball is played on.
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