FIBA: Has the rest of the world caught up to Team USA?

By ALAN WALLS

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After back-to-back exhibition game loses to Nigeria and Australia, respectively, and losing four of their last five games dating back to the 2019 FIBA World Cup - where the US finished an embarrassing 7^th place - many in the international basketball community began to question again: 

“Has the rest of the world caught up to the US in basketball?” 

Sports talking heads Dan Patrick and Michael Wilbon certainly think so. 

Heck, even the late great Kobe Bryant said so back in 2019.

And they are not the only ones with this opinion around the world.

Slow your roll…

Let’s not forget, the US has won Gold in the last three Olympic Games. I know they fell flat on their faces at the 2019 World Cup, but the US players put much more importance on the OG than the WC and the US WC teams are a level below.

Plus, the US still ranks #1 in the FIBA rankings for men, women, boys and girls.

NIGERIA???

Did Team USA, with its 12 NBA players really lose to the Nigerian National Team? Out of nowhere, Nigeria has caught up to the USA?

Not really… more like the Nigerian-American National Team. Much more on that below.

Team USA did however bounce back in their last two exhibition games before heading off to Japan with a 28-point blowout of # 4 (FIBA rankings) Argentina (108-80) and another hard-fought battle with #2 Spain (83-76).

There is NO DOUBT that the game has grown exponentially around the globe since the 1992 Dream Team Olympics, and that is GREAT! That is what we want. Blowouts and total domination are no fun to watch at all.

During the 1991-92 NBA season 23 international players from 18 countries could be found on NBA rosters. Those numbers ballooned to 107 players from 41 countries (down from a high of 42) in the 2020-21 season. On top of that, the last three NBA MVPs are foreigners; Giannis Antetokounmpo (x2, Greece) and Nikola Jokić (Serbia). The Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Dončić (Slovenia) is arguably the league’s brightest young star (American Trae Young would have something to say about that for sure).

Also, for the first time EVER, three of the five 2020-21 1^st Team All-NBA awardees are foreigners; Antetokounmpo, Jokić and Dončić. Joel Embiid (Cameroon) and Rudy Gobert (France) were also named to the All-NBA 2^nd and 3^rd Teams, respectively.

Very impressive global growth for sure!

SO… THE QUESTION BEGS, HAS THE REST OF THE WORLD CAUGHT UP TO TEAM USA?

THE REST OF THE WORLD?

Like all the other 212 members of FIBA? Mozambique? Portugal? Bahamas? Sri Lanka?

No…

A handful of countries at the top of the world rankings? Possibly. Let’s take a look…

NIGERIA?

NO! Don’t be fooled by the name on the front of the jersey.

• Beat the US 90-87 in a shocker last week!
• Ranked #22 in the world
• #1 in Africa 

However, their national federation is a mess:

• Filled with incompetency
• Poor organization
• Bureaucracy
• Political infighting
• The worst of all, corruption 

Don’t believe me? Check out this scathing article from Leadership News published just last week:

NBBF: Group Wants Kida-led Committee Probe Over Alleged Corruption

So how did this federation in shambles build up a national team through the youth ranks (ranked 10^th in Africa for youth, go figure) to then beat the mighty Team USA on their home soil?

Simple, they didn’t.

The Nigerian 15-man pre-Olympic roster had:

• 10 (yes TEN) players born, raised and developed in the US
• One that moved to the US at the age of three where he was raised and developed
• One born, raised and developed in Canada
• One that moved to Australia at a very young age where he was raised and developed

Only two of the 15 were born AND raised in Nigeria, though even they two moved to the US to play high school and college ball.

Detroit Piston Jahlil Okafor was born in Arkansas and played on numerous USA youth national teams before switching alliances.

Their head coach is also American, long-time NBA head and assistant coach Mike Brown.

In all, the Nigerian team had 13 American, Canadian and Australian citizens, of which seven are current, and two are former, NBA players.

Their win over the US was essentially the Orlando Magic beating the Milwaukee Bucks in a preseason game when the Magic had a month of practice and the Bucks just four days.

This is, unfortunately, by no means a reflection of the growth of basketball WITHIN Nigeria. If you don’t believe me, just look at the poor results of Nigeria’s entry, the Rivers Hoopers, in the inaugural NBA/FIBA Basketball Africa League.

SERBIA?

NO.

• FIBA #5
• Beat the US 94-89 in the 2019 FIBA World Cup consolation round (when Team USA was ripe for the picking after having lost to France in the quarterfinals and therefore eliminated from contending for gold)
• Serbia is 1-3 versus the US since 2014 in the OG and the WC
• Failed to qualify for this year’s OG.

ARGENTINA?

NO.

• FIBA #4
• Three current NBA players plus Luis Scola
• Since stunning the basketball world and winning gold at the 2004 Athens OG (I was in Argentina at the time, pandemonium), Argentina has:
• finished 3^rd in 2008 OG
• 4^th in 2012 OG
• 11^th in 2014 WC
• 8^th in 2016 OG
• Bounced back BIG-TIME by taking silver in the 2019 WC

 Since 2004:

• ARG is 0-4 vs. the US in the OG
• 0-2 in WC play
• In the 2016 OG the US beat up on ARG 105-78
• In the 2019 WC ARG almost got the US losing by the minimum, 83-84, before going on to the final
• Just last week the US routed ARG by 28 in an exhibition game, 108-80.

Is ARG, with their three current NBAers and the never-aging Luis Scola, capable of beating Team USA on the right night with the stars aligned? Sure. Have the “Suns” caught up to the Red, White and Blue? NO.

FRANCE?

MAYBE.

• FIBA #7
• Five players currently on NBA rosters and three others that have played in the NBA
• Lost by just three (97-100) to Team USA in the 2016 OG
• The Stifle Tower (Gobert) and his boys beat the US in the quarterfinals of the 2019 WC, 89-79, on their way to finishing 3^rd

With their total of eight players with current and past NBA experience and another win over the US in their opening game of the OG, I will then say YES, France has caught up.

However, France just lost an OG tune-up to FIBA #42 Japan, 81-75. Add this loss to the two they suffered to Spain earlier this month and that is not a good sendoff heading into the Games.

 AUSTRALIA? 

NO (officially) and YES (unofficially). Hear me out here.

• FIBA #3
• Six current NBA players and one very recent former player
• Australia no doubt has the talent to beat the US. In fact, they have done just that the last two times they have played… in exhibition games.
• Got blown out by 16 points (86-102) in a 2019 WC tune-up
• Came back two days later to beat the US in front of 50,000 home fans 98-94
• The Boomers did it again last week, beating Team USA 91-83 in a Las Vegas friendly

With this second win in a row, the Boomer improved to, wait for it:

• 2-28 all-time against the US senior team
• AUS is 0-8 in OG play, including a loss in each of the last four OG
• 0-7 all-time in WC games
• last one being a 73-113 loss in 2006.

Exhibition games are just that, exhibition games. Until the Aussies beat the Yankees in an official game the answer is NO.

If they pull it off at these OG, the answer will be YES. Hard to argue with three wins in a row, exhibition games or not.

SPAIN?

VERY close…

FIBA #2

2019 FIBA World Cup champions

• Bronze medalists at the 2016 OG
• lost 76-82 to the US in the semifinals
• Only four current NBA players
• Four additional former NBAers, including Pau Gasol
• Six that play on the two best teams not in the NBA, Barcelona and Real Madrid

Spain has a stacked and veteran-laced roster that can compete with the US on any given day.

Compete. Yes. Beat? They have not done so since 2002.

Facts:

• Spain is 4-26 all-time vs. the US senior team
• 0-12 in OG play including losses in:
• Twice in 2008 (1^st round: 82-119, final: 107-118)
• 2012 (final: 100-107)
• 2016 (semifinals: 76-82)

Spain’s last win vs. Team USA (official or unofficial) was at the disastrous 2002 WC in Indianapolis in the 5^th place game, 81-75.

Spain is 0-2 in their last two exhibition games vs. Los Estado Unidos (Spanish for the United States), 81-90 in 2019 and 76-83 just last week in Las Vegas.

I would hardly call that “catching up.”

However, Spain has pushed the US the most in the last 13 years going toe-to-toe with them in epic battles in two of the last three OG gold medal games, 2008 and 2012, as well in the semifinals in 2016.

They are close for sure and have provided the biggest threat to the US in official competitions. If they get a W in these OG, the answer is YES.

Extra Credit:

CANADA?

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.

Unfortunately for Canada Basketball the Canadian National Anthem does not ring true for all Canadian NBA players.

• Canada’s women’s senior team is ranked #4 in the world
• Boy’s youth program is ranked #2
• Won the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup over Italy
• Girl’s youth program is ranked #4.

Yet the men are ranked 21 behind the Dominican Republic and Venezuela… SMH!

Canada has more than enough talent to compete with and beat the US. Heck, it should be a top three program globally, but for some reason not enough Canadian NBA players have enough national pride to consistently represent Canada on the international stage. They couldn’t even qualify for the Olympics on home soil…

Could, but won’t. And they invented the game…

MY PREDICTION

Australia, Spain and the US will win their respective groups. Australia and Team USA will face off in the finals for GOLD. The winner?

IF the US players stop treating the games like an NBA All-Star game – jacking up 3’s on every possession and playing no D – and play like they did in the second half of their last tune-up game vs. Spain – manning up on D and attacking the cup with aggression – they will be an unstoppable force.

The winner will have the letters A-S-U in their abbreviation for sure… Or E-S-P… I-D-K… L-O-L.

Whatever happens, it will certainly be fun to watch!

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Author Alan Walls is an American international basketball coach and administrator with over 27 years of experience on the youth, high school, NCAA, professional and national team levels in 16 countries and on five continents. Walls has worked with the national federations of Turkey, Romania, Palestine, Mongolia, Kenya and El Salvador as well as coached or conducted camps and clinics throughout the United States – including his native Hawai’i – Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, China, Hong Kong and Israel. Walls is the founder and Secretary-General of the United Nations of Basketball (2020 launch) and founder and President of the International Basketball Union (2021 launch).