Tonight at 11pm ET the USA mens basketball squad will face off in their first game since last years dissapointing bronze medal finish. Many doubt the USA because they're cynical morons who say that the American team is nothing but a group of overpaid whiners.

Dumb.

First of all, this is America. If you think that the players are overpaid, your real beef is with capitalism, not the NBA, so go to Russia. There are only approzimately 400 people in the world capable of playing basketball at the level that NBA players do, and they are therefore paid alot.

Secondly, the American team has two players that I would call selfish; Kobe and Carmelo. Anthony proved last year that he can play at any level while still not taking away from others. Kobe is the wildcard. He has never liked playing second fiddle, and for those of you who watched him play with Shaq, you already know that in a choice between a championship and being top dog, he chose Kwame Brown and a first round exit.

Honestly, I have never liked Kobe. But to deny that the guy is a super-talent is just, well, denial. Nothing annoys me more than to hear about how much higher the talent level was in the 90's from people who don't know who's in the league now, and therefore assume that today's players lack of talent is the cause of the America woe in international play. Here's the real reason that team USA has struggled as of late.

FIBA basketball is not NBA basketball.

In the last several years, NBA commissioner David Stern has done a lot of things that are good for basketball as well as the basketball viewer. He has done away with the hard fouls, cracked down on fighting, and added a defensive three second rule to keep the game moving. After the 2002 playoffs, he also made the neccessary change allowing video replay for buzzer beaters.

The NBA in 1992 was a lot like the current FIBA play, where handchecking and shoving are more than widespread. FIBA also uses a different ball, a different key, different three point line, different rules regarding fouls, technicals, time-outs, and clock operation. Pretty much everything.

Jordan, Bird and Magic were special players-- no doubt. But the reasoning that todays team USA doesn't dominate has more to do with the fact that they don't get to play as similar a game as the 1992 game did.

Also ask yourself who were the NBA's MVP candidates last season?

A Canadian and a German.


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