Wow, the consistent lack of patriotism here is pretty disturbing.
These guys are professional basketball players.
That means they are paid to play basketball. Basketball is actually their job, their team being the company they work for, and the team owner effectively being their employer. You play in a league that contains upwards of 300 other men in your country who are selected to participate in this league, you compete only against only those in your own home country. If you win, you're only representing the team owner who pays you. As an NBA player, you'll get to play 15-20 years in the NBA. That's 15-20 chances you have at winning a championship. Bill Russell has what - 13 of them?
The Olympics come once every four years. Over the duration of a man's NBA career (15-20 years if you are lucky) he may see three, four or at the absolute most five Olympic teams assembled. Each time only 12-15 of the very best players in the NBA are hand selected out of a pool of 300+ NBA players, to be on that team. That basically puts you in the top 5% of players in the best professional league in the world. Merely being SELECTED to the Olympic team is a huge, huge honor and an incredible achievement.
Just to put into perspective, lets say you are a 25 years old star entering your prime, and you only JUST miss out on making the Olympic squad. You won't get another chance until four years later, when you're 29 years old. Lets say you happen to have an untimely major injury (ACL, etc) and cannot play on that team. The next opportunity will be another four years later. By then you'll be 33 years old, you'll probably a shadow of your former self, and you're probably no longer good enough to make the team. Put yourself into that scenario. Think about just how hard it is to even PLAY on a USA Olympic squad. Think about how many great players there are in the league, and that YOU were selected above so many who are probably just as good as you are.
Now think about what you are playing for - your country! You're not playing to make some rick owner's pockets richer. You're playing for national pride. You're playing for the chance to help show the world that your country is still the best. As an NBA team if you win, you will make a lot of fans in your city happy. As an Olympian if you win, you'll make a lot of fans in your entire country happy.
Then think about the opportunity to spend months living, training and playing alongside some of the biggest stars in your country - guys you normally have the pain of having to play against. Suddenly you get to play WITH those guys to help battle for your country. The ability to get to know guys like this in ways that you normally never would - I can assure you that guys like MJ, Bird and Magic would have left the 1992 Olympics with so much more appreciation for each other then they would have had before they got there.
Somebody said it's like an All-Star game. Except in an all-star game you have nothing to play for, and nothing to lose. It's an exhibition game. Score 30 or score 10, nobody REALLY cares. Win or lose, nobody REALLY cares. All that matters is that you put on a big show, dunk whenever you can, do some flashy stuff for the fans, and collect your pay-cheque.
Imagine playing for a storied franchise like the Celtics, going deep in the playoffs, and eventually losing in the NBA finals in 7 games. It hurts, but you'll always look back with some sense of pride knowing you were one win away from a championship - that's quite an achievement.
Now imagine you are playing for Team USA, you go undefeated, and then you lose a nail-biter in the gold metal game, and walk home with the silver. Imagine the sense of embarrassment - going down in in history for being a member of the only Olympic team (since the pro era) to not bring home a gold. Your name would be etched into history for all the wrong reasons. For team USA, getting silver in basketball is just as embarrassing as not getting a medal at all - it's gold or nothing. The pressure is immense.
Yet if you look at the team during these Olympics, winning is far from a given. The USA has already had, what, three very near wins? Either one of those could have been a loss if things went the wrong way. So it's not like the old days where every game was a 20 point win - there is a real sense right now that Team USA has something to lose.
I'm not even American, and even "I" can understand why somebody like DJ would say that an Olympic gold means more then any championship. You guys are all Americans - I am disappointing and shocked that you aren't able to grasp that concept.
Last year Lebron James win a championship ring, but so did Tristan Thompson. The year before that Steph Curry won a championship ring, but so did Shaun Livingston. In 2008 Paul Pierce won a championship ring, but so did Eddie House.
As far as I'm ware Tristan Thompson, Shaun Livingston and Eddie house have never even been INVITED to play for Team USA.
Contrary to all your beliefs, winning a gold medal is a LOT harder then winning a championship.
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Topic: DeAndre Jordan on Olympic golds: "I think they're above NBA rings" (Read 9170 times)