US, Nalalapit Sa Disgrasya

"It should come as no surprise to anyone that the United States basketball team, which was made up of star players from the NBA, lost not one but two games en route to finishing a very disappointing fifth in the World Basketball Championship held in Indiana. Hopefully, those two losses will serve as a wake-up call not only to the NBA but also to all levels of organized basketball in the U.S."

Ito ang bungad ng isang mahabang pagpapaliwanag ni Kirk Collier, Amerikanong trainer ng Red Bull Barako sa PBA, kung bakit humihina ang Amerika (at maging ang Pilipinas) sa mga international competition. Una, sabi niya, mali-mali ang mga nakakagawian ng dalawang bansa. Habang bata, nasasanay ang mga manlalaro na daanin sa bilis at lakas ng talon ang paglalaro ng basketbol, hindi sa pagtutulungan. Pag-akyat nila sa kolehiyo o sa pro, natatapat sila sa mga manla-larong kasing-husay na nila, at di na umuubra ang dati nilang ginagawa.

"The Europeans, South Americans and South Koreans have five players playing as one," dagdag ng 40-taong gulang na coach. "Their utilization of team concepts gives them a distinct and significant advantage over the US teams that have five players playing as five separate individuals relying mainly on one or two individuals' efforts, talents and skills."

Ayon kay Collier, halimbawa na lamang si Allen Iverson, na kahit sino ang itambal sa kanya na iskorer, ay hindi makasundo. Ito'y dahil nasanay na siya sa mga di-magagan-dang asal sa court. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit naniniwala si Collier na matitisod ang Dream Team sa darating na Olympics sa Athens.

Lima sa sampung pinakamataas ang iskor sa NBA ay kasama rito.

"Great one-on-one players collectively rarely make for a good team. Using this past NBA season as a reference, all the great one on one players: Kobe, Vince, T-Mac, Marbury, A.I. and Steve Francis either didn’t make the playoffs or lost in the first or second round," pagsasalarawan ni Collier.

"The Portland Trail Blazers, the team with arguably the most talent from top to bottom for the past five years, did not make it past the first round this year and have not been past the second round in the preceding four years."

Ayon pa kay Collier, mas magagaling tumira sa labas ang mga European at Korean at Chinese teams. Dito sa Pilipinas, parang ang hirap maghanap ng magaling tumira sa labas. Kabaliktaran ang nangyayari.

"The most widely asked question by NBA scouts when evaluating prospective draftees are: 1. Can he create his own shot? and 2. Can he break down the defense? The problem with this mode of questioning being used to evaluate pros-pective basketball talent is it places to much emphasis on one-on-one skills and it does not take into consideration that basketball is first and foremost a team sport," tuldok ni Collier.

Naniniwala ako sa kanya. Kitang-kita ang ebidensya.