Globalization of Basketball

The basketball world has finally caught up with the USA basketball of today. Today's global basketball economy consists of team basketball players who are able to dribble, run, handle, rebound, and defend. Over the past decade, the basketball world has shocked Americans with their style of basketball. No more has the star power that has wrecked havoc in international competitions and sports in the Olympics and the World Championships. No more Dream Team. No more putting together players with egos and painting a mosaic that has perfect harmony. In fact, the Dream Team is dead.

The modern Dream Team has been officially renamed the Redeem Team. Groups of players are taking the time out to spend time together for two-three years in preparation for the biggest event of their lives. To recapture basketball gold and claim it back for the United States. These are players who are sacrificing their bruised egos and playing for the team. This is a different USA basketball team. It was a long and hard journey for these twelve NBA stars, but they finally reclaimed their basketball gold in Beijing when they defeated Argentina in the gold medal match. No way were they realizing that their opponents were no pushovers anymore. No way. They played like a team and died like a team. These were players among the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Kobe Bryant.

Although a few of Team USA's star-studded roster players learned a few things over the summer, they lamented few individual accolades and added several new skills to their overall game. Carmelo Anthony added defensive intensity to his overall game. Kobe Bryant learned how to be a vocal leader for this squad. Dwayne Wade stepped up on his game and showed doubters that he is still a force to be reckoned with.

I'll tell you what has changed for the basketball game so far. Now, international basketball teams have the advantage of playing in international rules and that benefits them. They also have the advantage of having the personnel and the management to play with the same teammates that they have had for so long. They know their teammates and they have their teammates' backs because of the years that they have spent playing together. Last of all, it is the team game that is playing harmoniously, the passing, the shooting, the rebounding, the defending, all smoothly done in a fluid motion and straight line. That is the backbreaker of why international basketball teams are doing so much better than the Americans are. There is no ego in international basketball. Not in their book.

Which is why you see American players playing for European basketball leagues, because the competition is much more competitive than in the US. Although the NBA does not see eye-to-eye on a few issues, they think that the Euro league promotes basketball goodwill because Americans are playing basketball overseas. They actually think it's good for business for them. If I were the NBA commissioner, I would definitely see this globalization of basketball as a challenge. I would challenge every single NBA team to change their ways of putting together a team and try to shape their organization like the Europeans have. Orient a team-type player with other like-minded individuals.

Although the San Antonio Spurs organization comes close to matching the European basketball game, it is one of the few basketball models that have matched what truly playing team basketball is all about. I predict in the future that more basketball players will flock out over to Europe to play overseas because the competition will benefit them and make them better players. Just like the political economy nowadays, China and India have been dreamed of overtaking the US empire with its growing markets. They may not have the best basketball players, but they have copied the American-style way of doing business and incorporated it into their own behavior. The US will still be the dominant superpower of the 21st century, however, the fact remains that the world has caught up with them, economically, politically, and globally, especially basketball.

NBA Draft 2009 Part II: Why the Milwaukee Bucks Will Do Well if Brandon Jennings is in for the Long Run

The Milwaukee Bucks have a history of trading away big stars and keeping little. In a market as small as the basketball franchise in Wisconsin, there is no star that says that the Bucks are worth playing for. Such is the history of the hoops team that had stars in the likes of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson, Sam Cassell, Richard Jefferson, and Gary Payton. Let's start for example: the drafting of Dirk Nowitzki with the 9th pick in 1998. The Bucks traded him on Draft Day for Robert Traylor, the 10th pick by the Dallas Mavericks. Look at how great Nowitzki had turned out for the Mavs in his first and second NBA seasons in the league. As the Bucks had realized, they had gotten a player whose caliber was nowhere near than that of the player they drafted in Dirk Nowitzki.

If the Bucks hope to get better, they have signed Hakim Warrick to a one-year deal in the summer of 2009 and have hopes of signing a European import from overseas. Both players have sure signs of playing in the NBA and hope to play for a small market in Milwaukee.

Another bust in one of the Bucks' offseason moves is that they received in return by trading Richard Jefferson to San Antonio, three players with limited roles in Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas. With this move, the Bucks are helped by former Spurs players who are able to help Milwaukee defensively and by being able to rebound, block shots, and defend the opposing team's best perimeter scorer. These three players in Bowen, Oberto, and Thomas are equally no match for the player they gave away in Richard Jefferson.

The Bucks have garnered players they've signed on Draft Day, because of sheer luck. Knowing their college hoops stars such as one they picked on Michael Redd, a sharp-shooting guard from Ohio State. One can only hope that Brandon Jennings can help the Milwaukee Bucks revive its hoops franchise with his decision-making skills, and his upside to be a star player. Only a fan of the game and of the Bucks team can hope that Milwaukee officials do not trade away their star players to other NBA teams for nothing in return.

NBA Draft 2009: The Year of the Point Guard

This is the type of year for NBA rookies to rule the basketball court. When the youngsters come into the league, they have no idea that they will be tested by their sharp mentality and overall physical condition as soon as training camp begins. There is no way that college basketball will be any indication that NBA basketball will be as rigorous as before. No way. NBA basketball is much more physical and the contact is more hard-driven than NCAA basketball.

The 2009 NBA Draft, in my opinion, is the year of the point guard. The dinosaur that is the power forward or the pivot man, no longer exists in the NBA Draft. Sure, there are the Blake Griffins, the Michael Olowokandis, the Joe Smiths, etc. but the NBA rules suits the little guy. No longer can the big guys roam the paint and see that the lane is open for guards to put up easy shots. No way. Rules restrict big men to put their bodies in harm's way and put the smaller players out of commission. Hand-checking is no longer allowed. This is the draft that the guards will rule the basketball court.

I can tell that the traditional point guards are still available. The idea of the pass-first point guard is the most traditional position that head coaches still crave for. They want a floor general who is able to direct his teammates and can execute plays on a consistent night-by-night basis. In this year's draft, Ricky Rubio, Johnny Flynn, and Brandon Jennings are winners in my book, when it comes to analyzing traditional point guards. Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Eric Maynor, Darren Collison, and Rodrigue Beaubois all qualify for being traditional point guards, but none more than Flynn, Rubio, and Jennings. What the three guards can do is that they are able to make the extra pass to make their team look good on the stat sheet, and not on the score board. That is the difference between the great players and the ultimate winners. Rubio and probably Jennings too are going to be the cornerstones of their respective franchises, because their teams are going to expect a lot from these point guards to contribute. Pass-first and scoring second is the motto of the traditional point guard. Long gone are the days of the John Stockton-era when the basic pass ruled the basketball court. All the point guards want to do is score first and pass second. There are very few and very, very, rare point guards who are willing to sacrifice their game for the good of the team and be able to set up plays for their teammates and pass the ball like a traditional point guard always does. You don't want a shoot-first point guard on your team. You want a floor general who can execute plays for your head coach. That's why this draft is the year of the traditional point guard.

I don't see the top two draft picks, number one and number two respectively having an impact any time sooner than Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings in Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet. There is no way that Griffin and Thabeet have any basketball value more than Rubio and Jennings. Other than the fact, that the big guy has the ball in his hands to score, he needs the traditional point guard to set up the play. Otherwise, he'll have a ego boosting and shooting first point guard on his team and the head coach will not be 100% happy to see that happen.

If anything, the shooting guards or should I say the tweeners, will be happy to see traditional point guards on their teams. The 2-guards in this draft are James Harden, Tyreke Evans, and DeMar DeRozan. They seem to be the classic mold of the shooting guard and nothing more than that. They will be expected to do nothing, but shoot the lights out of the basketball into the rim.

The small forwards are no more impressive in my book, than the traditional point guard. There aren't any spectacular forwards in the draft, but Earl Clark and Israeli import Omri Casspl come to mind. They are decent forwards in the basketball bible, when it comes to acting like point guards and being able to do multiple skills at the 3-spot. They're not Scottie Pippen-type of small forwards, but they can get the job done.

I don't see the other positions, besides the point guard position rule the 2009 NBA Draft. What we can expect to see is that there will be lots of excitement in seeing the basic pass come to form again. No NBA-era has seen the exceptional passing skills better than John Stockton, the point man of the Utah Jazz who has retired and played with one of the best power forwards and power post players in the game in Karl Malone.