I just saw this article by Jay Busby and was unable to post it. He is advocating for limiting the team to a certain age and only using rookie NBA, college and high school stars. I think that’s a great idea. I remember the days when our college stars were playing against other countries pros and it was exciting to see. Now if we don’t win every game by 50 it’s like a loss.

The ship sailed on amateurism in the Olympics decades ago. Let it go.

And anyone who pays any attention to international basketball should not be surprised that it's a game that the U.S. can just dominate anymore - no matter who's playing. Gregg Popovich has articulated this very well, but some people seem to choose to see that as him making excuses.

Rather than pining for the myth of scrappy college kids (who can get paid now anyway) or longing for the days of American hegemony, why don't you just enjoy a really balanced and competitive international landscape?

Right, but that's their choice. Ideally, Jerami Grant and Keldon Johnson wouldn't sniff this roster.

I think this year was the perfect storm for non-participation though. So many of the big stars were injured by the end of the year after coming off a season where there was virtually no offseason.

Why would we intentionally handicap ourselves? The rest of the world is sending their best.

I have to say if I’m a 28 year old NBA player with a future of making millions, I likely wouldn’t play for fear of injury. I would also say if I’m an owner or general manager of a pro team I wouldn’t want my guys to play for the same reason.

I'll admit I don't follow hockey at all so I'm way out of the loop but I do know that the NHL is full of international players, actually only 27% of the entire league is from the US.

Now if you look at the NBA, its a whole different story. About 77% of the league is from the US.

That tells me that the competition in international play is much greater in hockey than it would be for basketball (if the most talented players opted in). I would conclude from this data that there is much more talent in basketball within the United States than globally and would go on to conclude that the competition level in international basketball would drastically be reduced if the top players in the US opted in.

Makes sense to me

Speaking of Canada, Team USA hoops would have France-like competition out of them as well but they had some notable opt-outs. Former PAC-12 MVP Dillon Brooks comes to mind right off the bat. (17ppg in the NBA last season).

Is the real issue here that some players opt out due to their negativity towards our country? Lack of pride and patriotic spirit?
The 1992 "DREAM TEAM" did not voice any negativity towards our country. It was all about winning and pride and being a patriot.




GO BOBCATS

Non-intelligensia, here. If you go back 20 or 25 years probably 90-95% of the NBA was home grown. Just shows that players from other countries are getting better and better.

Back when pros were first allowed on the US Olympic teams, one reason was that some players -- especially those who drafted early -- wouldn't get a shot at the Olympics simply because of the timing of the Olympics every four years. They might be a freshman in one Olympic year and gone by the next. And then there are people like LeBron who turn pro right out of HS. For them, money became secondary to personal achievement.

Intelligentsia level! You and Upsan are in!

It's unclear to me how anybody paying attention would suggest this.

Yes, the US just won the gold medal. By 5 points. The team included one of the 3 best players alive in Kevin Durant, and if it didn't, there's a very good chance they lose that game.

We're 2 years removed from a 7th place finish at the FIBA World Cup, which included losses to Serbia and a double digit loss to France.

The team assembled was young and lacked any continuity from the prior Olympic team. The notion that international basketball will only be interesting if the US rolls out a team of college, high schoolers, and NBA rookies seems to completely ignore the fact that a team of 7 NBA all stars and a bunch of solid career NBA guys got beat soundly two years earlier.

We're not too far off from a world where the two best players in the world are European (Giannis and Luka). The world's best prospect is a teenager from France. The talent gap's closing, and a team of the best college and high school players would get straight up destroyed at the Olympic level. Our under 21 team just won the gold medal of the U21 FIBA World Cup by 2 points against France. None of the members of France's under 21 team made their Olympic roster. I think people vastly over-estimate how far ahead of the rest of the world we are.

France and Slovenia have almost no high level pro hockey players. While soccer is huge almost everywhere outside of the U.S. - places that are not hockey-centric make sense for basketball to be their dominant winter sport.

Obviously, no NHL player ever has been born in Greece.