Strong words from Woj on Coach K and Team U.S.A.

[Moranis]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-needs-to-pull-stars-from-usa-basketball--which-is-showcasing-only-duke-s-coach-044717393.html

[Roy H.]

That's Woj being Woj.  Before he became the most reliable insider in the business, his bread and butter was doing hatchet jobs on those who had his disdain, for whatever reason.  I don't see this as a particularly fair article, especially since it was USA Basketball that begged Coach K to come back.

[indeedproceed]

Was coming here to post the same article. Something else crossed my mind too; if it were any other writer than WOJ, I bet my first inclination is to think, 'man what's this guy got against coach K?'

[fairweatherfan]

It seems like Woj is describing two separate sets of problems - the irrelevance of the World Championships and the messed-up nature of NCAA recruiting that gives international coaches disproportionate access to the best players - and treating them like they have the same root cause.  They don't.

[D.o.s.]

That's Woj being Woj.  Before he became the most reliable insider in the business, his bread and butter was doing hatchet jobs on those who had his disdain, for whatever reason.  I don't see this as a particularly fair article, especially since it was USA Basketball that begged Coach K to come back.

Yup.

[indeedproceed]

It seems like Woj is describing two separate sets of problems - the irrelevance of the World Championships and the messed-up nature of NCAA recruiting that gives international coaches disproportionate access to the best players - and treating them like they have the same root cause.  They don't.

I did have a moment of , 'Huh?' at the end there when a writer usually ties up the article with a potential solution to the problem or a highlight of why other potential solutions haven't worked. He's like , 'under 23 is the only answer....and Coach K can suck it!'

[chambers]

I agree that NBA owners should be able to prevent players from attending. It's so bogus how much risk they're taking with this.
'The televised pick up game on the Vegas strip in which Paul George snapped his leg is an example of this' is the sticking point.

It really serves no purpose and it's hurting the NBA.
Leave it to the college kids who want a real serious tournament where everyone's skills/coaching ability are judged.

I would never send my best racehorse out for a hard run on the mud track, especially not after a bit of overnight rain.

[D.o.s.]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

[indeedproceed]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

Is it a cop-out if the US continues to win?

[D.o.s.]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

Is it a cop-out if the US continues to win?

That's a good question -- and it's a hard one to answer since there's no good way to measure it against the relative importance of the FIBA tournaments for the average NBA player. If you're a member of a FIBA international team, you want to play against the best the US has to offer, because if you beat them, you didn't beat their best players, and if you lose, you still didn't get to play against the best competition in the world.

If you're someone that's good enough to play in the NBA, like, uh, Rudy Fernandez or Luol Deng, something, it would kind of suck playing against USA rookies and sophomores year in and year out. Not to mention the message it sends from the NBA to the rest of the world.

[chambers]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

Is it a cop-out if the US continues to win?

That's a good question -- and it's a hard one to answer since there's no good way to measure it against the relative importance of the FIBA tournaments for the average NBA player. If you're a member of a FIBA international team, you want to play against the best the US has to offer, because if you beat them, you didn't beat their best players, and if you lose, you still didn't get to play against the best competition in the world.

If you're someone that's good enough to play in the NBA, like, uh, Rudy Fernandez or Luol Deng, something, it would kind of suck playing against USA rookies and sophomores year in and year out. Not to mention the message it sends from the NBA to the rest of the world.

That's true, but they could still pull out of the world cup and keep it just to the Olympics or something.
Imagine if the NBA lost 3 or 4 Paul Georges for a season. How much money would the league lose and how angry would we be as fans? Imagine Kevin Durant turning into Grant Hill in a 40 point lead vs New Zealand last week.... Or Marcus Smart had what happened to Paul George to him? God I'd want someone's skull haha.

[sed522002]

I like Woj's insider scoops, but when he writes an editorial it always comes across as personal disdain. I don't care for it really and because it's Woj,and he's considered trustworthy, his words carry more weight with some audiences.

[D.o.s.]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

Is it a cop-out if the US continues to win?

That's a good question -- and it's a hard one to answer since there's no good way to measure it against the relative importance of the FIBA tournaments for the average NBA player. If you're a member of a FIBA international team, you want to play against the best the US has to offer, because if you beat them, you didn't beat their best players, and if you lose, you still didn't get to play against the best competition in the world.

If you're someone that's good enough to play in the NBA, like, uh, Rudy Fernandez or Luol Deng, something, it would kind of suck playing against USA rookies and sophomores year in and year out. Not to mention the message it sends from the NBA to the rest of the world.

That's true, but they could still pull out of the world cup and keep it just to the Olympics or something.
Imagine if the NBA lost 3 or 4 Paul Georges for a season. How much money would the league lose and how angry would we be as fans? Imagine Kevin Durant turning into Grant Hill in a 40 point lead vs New Zealand last week.... Or Marcus Smart had what happened to Paul George to him? God I'd want someone's skull haha.

Agreed, but at the same time I don't think teams should be able to tell players whether or not they can participate in international competitions, though.

[chambers]

There's also the fact that keeping the stars home for the FIBA tournament is a cop out when it comes to the US's vested involvement in international basketball doesn't get brought up often enough.

Is it a cop-out if the US continues to win?

That's a good question -- and it's a hard one to answer since there's no good way to measure it against the relative importance of the FIBA tournaments for the average NBA player. If you're a member of a FIBA international team, you want to play against the best the US has to offer, because if you beat them, you didn't beat their best players, and if you lose, you still didn't get to play against the best competition in the world.

If you're someone that's good enough to play in the NBA, like, uh, Rudy Fernandez or Luol Deng, something, it would kind of suck playing against USA rookies and sophomores year in and year out. Not to mention the message it sends from the NBA to the rest of the world.

That's true, but they could still pull out of the world cup and keep it just to the Olympics or something.
Imagine if the NBA lost 3 or 4 Paul Georges for a season. How much money would the league lose and how angry would we be as fans? Imagine Kevin Durant turning into Grant Hill in a 40 point lead vs New Zealand last week.... Or Marcus Smart had what happened to Paul George to him? God I'd want someone's skull haha.

Agreed, but at the same time I don't think teams should be able to tell players whether or not they can participate in international competitions, though.

yeah and then it becomes an 'ownership' debate. Do the owners have a right to make 'permission only' clauses of playing/practicing for any other team than their NBA team when they pay that much money and need that much luck/time to land a player of Team USA's ability?
I can see both sides but I can see which one the NBA powerheads will lean towards, and the owners too- and there ain't much the player will be able to do about it.

Perhaps those players who will play in international and get injured should have to waive their NBA money if they're injured in International competition or Pro Am games. Then where do you draw the line there?! aaaahhhhhh

[fairweatherfan]

The Paul George injury was obviously a pretty terrible event, but I can't get past the fact that we've been sending pros to international ball for 22 years and this is the first major injury I can recall.  And it's not like having amateurs risking major injury and wrecking their career incomes instead is a clearly better solution, unless you're an owner.