The FIBA World Cup Should Matter
As I was listening to Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe talk about the FIBA World Cup this morning, and its lack of popularity in the United States, it got me thinking as to why nobody seems to care about this event over here in the good ol’ US of A. Other teams such as Spain, Argentina, Greece etc. take this tournament very seriously while having way less to work with; and we are over here complaining because our starting five potentially “only” consists of Durant, Curry, Harden, Davis and possibly Paul George.
Is the U.S.A. just so spoiled with great basketball events throughout the year that they don’t even want to waste their time with simple things such as international competition? It’s not as if the competition is terrible, there have been many good games in FIBA World Cup (previously just the FIBA World Championship) history, and it isn’t as if the United States just breezes through each game by 30+ points (the US has actually only won the event 4 times since it started in 1950).
The international game has a completely different style, only 5 fouls are allowed, and they are called much differently. FIBA did finally move the 3-pt line back to somewhere around 22 feet, so right in between NCAA and NBA distance. While there are some differences, it is still the game of basketball, and it’s not as if the rules are so ridiculous that it would be unwatchable such as only allowing one dunk a game, or 4 minute quarters, if it was I would completely understand the lack of interest, but it’s not, the differences are very minor; so why are United States basketball fans seemingly reduced by about 90 % when it comes to the FIBA World Cup? I obviously don’t know a definitive reason, but I do know many reasons why these fans need to wake up out of their international funk and realize the many great things about this tournament.
First off, the winner of the FIBA World Cup will automatically qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil. It’s not as if this is the only way for the United States to qualify, they would almost certainly qualify even if they didn’t win the tournament, but it does create an incentive for the teams to go out and compete at their highest level, and theoretically should make some of the underdog teams play with even more fire under them; because for some teams this may be their best/only chance at making the 2016 Olympics. This may not be a factor that makes any given fan change their ways immediately, but it obviously has to be factored into the discussion.
The FIBA World Cup, just like the Olympics, gives every country a chance to stop worrying about politics, religion, gun control or whatever we may be disagreeing over on any given day, and allows us to unify as one towards a common goal. Although this unification may be towards something as simple as winning a basketball tournament, nonetheless, it still provides people a brief stint to stop their bickering and arguing and find a common interest; because hey, who doesn’t want their country to be the best at any given sport? Quite honestly, sports are one of the only events where this unification by country seems to genuinely happen. I’m sadly having a hard time thinking of other circumstances where everyone in their respective country is rooting for the same goal, common interests are few and far between now a days, and this is seemingly so in the United States, so we should grasp every opportunity where we can come together as one, even if it is for something as simple as a basketball tournament.
Finally, what I find to be the most exciting thing about the FIBA World Cup is the rare chance at getting to see the best of the best go head to head. Every country theoretically has the opportunity to put their best players on the court, now obviously people such as Lebron and Chris Paul aren’t playing in this tournament, but the USA is so loaded with basketball talent that even if we lose a couple of elite players there will still be plenty of star power to go around. This is one of the only times that the Gasol brothers get to play together in Spain, which by the way, are a legitimate threat to the United States in this years tournament. The only other time we really get to see all of the best players play on the same team competitively is the Olympics, which only come around every 4 years (don’t tell me the All-Star game is another instance, to say that is competitive basketball would be a disgrace to the game). I don’t know about all of these non-FIBA watchers out there, but I’ll jump on any opportunity to see the likes of Durant, Harden, Curry, George, Lillard etc. all play on the same team together. Watching the best in the world play together makes for such an exciting brand of basketball, that it is hard to grasp why anyone would look away from this tournament.
The whole point of this column is basically to say, wake up people, this is a gift, a few weeks of competitive basketball during the offseason that features some of the worlds best competitors should have any good basketball fan jumping for joy, and the fact that it doesn’t makes me question some of these so called “fans”. A chance for a guaranteed Olympic berth, unifying of a nation, and the opportunity to get to see some of the best competitors in the world play together seems like three extremely good reasons as to why I’ll have my sights focused on the FIBA World Cup. With that being said, I would love to hear a counter argument as to why not to watch the World Cup, maybe I’m simply one of the few over the top, diehard basketball fans out there; maybe Bill Simmons and Joe House were right, maybe there are only a very small amount of fans that are so obsessed with the sport that they will take any opportunity to watch it. This is the joy of sports, differences in opinions are not hard to find, and I want to know what yours is on this phenomenon that we call the FIBA World Cup.
