First of all, let me make one thing clear; I LOVE BASKETBALL. I am a Lakers fan, but I love to watch Golden State decimate larger, more physically gifted opponents with pure will and talent. I love to watch the Spurs wear teams down with constant changes of pace. But Olympic basketball is BORING, and for all practical purposes, about the same as watching the WWE, without the entertainment value. Let me tell you why.
The Olympics are about competition, about athletes rising to the occasion. It's about people pouring their heart and souls into technique and preparation, to become something more than human. And it's true that there will always be some countries that focus on a specific sport, and may win more medals for their focus. But the Olympics beg a sense of fairness, a chance at greatness, a Cinderella story waiting to happen. And THIS is why basketball is not a legitimate Olympic sport. For all practical purposes, The United States won the Gold before they ever laced up their beautifully customized shoes.
I actually enjoy European basketball. It is like watching through a time machine, fundamentals in their purest form, the NBA of the 70's all over gain. But in the 70's, Pistol Pete Maravich came along and taunted tradition, he used flash over form while still maintaining those fundamentals. He passed without a clear line of sight. He shot from impossible angles with multiple defenders on him. The NBA was forever changed, an other players started emulating his style.
The USA team is so dominant, so confidant, so imposing, that there is no real sense of competition in Olympic basketball. Let's take a look at a few of the players. If we took all the players that DIDN'T make the team, and sent them out there, they would have still easily won the Gold. If we were to forgo our best of the best, and just send a single team out there, would they lose? Can any international team beat the Warriors? The Spurs? The Cavs?
Other countries simply don't have a basketball culture like the United States. Children don't grow up wanting to be emulate Mike or Kobe. And until they do, international basketball is at best, a farm club. We watch and watch, and when the occasional diamond from the rough emerges, we draft him to the NBA. Is there a blueprint to beat Team USA? Yes there is. You have to have a well rounded team, with multiple NBA level players. And you have to have one player who's so dominant, so dynamic, so unguardable that he can force team USA out of their game plan. The only player to do that was Manu Ginobili, who's probably the most underrated NBA player of all time. And he had to have the right team, and be in his prime, to beat us. Sarunas Jasikevicius was another such player for Lithuania. But these players are few and far between. We may have lost in 2002, but this just assured the players that they had to give at least a little effort.
I love the United States, I love to see our athletes hoist those gold medals. But I want to see them sweat and bleed for them, not casually walk through the Olympics as if they were a preseason game with no meaning. Until other countries embrace basketball as a legitimate sport, and start to catch up with the United States, Olympic Basketball should be relegated to an unofficial even, with no medals awarded.