The 'Worlds'

It's not the tournament's official nickname, but it's not bad, is it? The basketball world is all set and excited about the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship that kicked off yesterday in Japan. And this nickname best describes what has been happening to the sport in the past decade. While the NBA will always be the top league in the world, the international scene is totally different where the world has caught up with the people who invented the sport.

Through the history of basketball, the Worlds has never been as popular as the NBA Finals, the other "world championship" of basketball. But times have surely changed, and attention on the Worlds in Japan has reached record levels in the international basketball family.

The trigger? Go back to the 2002 version of the tournament that was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, a place known as a hotbed of basketball. And it's right in the middle of the nation that invented the sport. And what was so special about it?

It was at this tournament where Team USA, the national team composed of NBA players, was only good for a sixth place behind champion Yugoslavia and runner-up Argentina, Germany, New Zealand and Spain. Team USA was humiliated in losses to Yugoslavia and Spain in the playoff stage of the tournament, and international basketball has never been the same ever since.

And to prove that "the rest" of the world was ready to pounce on USA's dominance of the sport, Team USA was only good for third place at the 2004 Athens Olympics after finishing the elims with a poor 3-2 record, losing to the likes of Puerto Rico and Lithuania. A loss to Argentina in the semifinals doused any hopes for an Olympic gold, a feat that had been monopolized by the Americans eve since basketball was part of the Olympics.

And so the question continues to be asked. How will Team USA do at The Worlds? Will they finally wake up to the fact that they're no longer up there with the likes of Argentina and Spain? Have they finally given importance to the international basketball scene? Or are they just going to stick to the theory that the NBA is still the most important activity in basketball?

For starters, it looks like USA Basketball, the USA's governing body of the sport, seems to be making a good start in creating a pool of players and getting their commitment to carry the country's colors at The Worlds and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is a far cry from the old style of organizing a team at the last-minute and still expect the team to run away with the gold medal. But that's only a start. There's more to be done, especially in the area of having members of a national team learn how to play together as a team and not as individual stars.

Team USA's team will still possess the tournament's most athletic and talented players. No doubt about that. But the big question is if they can play together as a team with a common goal. The development of the other teams has been phenomenal in the sense that while their teams aren't as talented as that of the US, they've learned the basic and most fundamental lesson that it takes a team to win ballgames. A collection of superstars who play with egos and price tags on their shoulders has been proven to be ineffective when matched up against a bunch of no-names who play flawless team basketball, just the way the game was invented.

While Team USA will always be a pre-tournament favorite to win the championship, Spain and Argentina are now considered as other favorites to win it all. Darkhorses include Greece, France (before Tony Parker's injury) and even Germany.

For those who want to know how the other teams are better than the USA, keep a close eye at the way they play basketball. Look for the patient ball rotation on their offense, players moving when away from the ball, and playing team defense. Look for a lot of screens or picks, help defense and on-court coaching among the players. Chemistry among these players is solid since they've been playing together as a national team for at least four years.

The only way for Team USA to win the championship is if they play this way. Play the way the world plays. Play The Worlds style.

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Time-out: If our present leaders will remember what Ninoy Aquino stood for in his pursuit for democracy, wouldn't we be in much better shape today? Are our leaders ready to say with Ninoy, "The Filipino is worth dying for."

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