Headed for a fall?

The FIBA World Basketball Championships, held every four years, will always be fondly remembered by local hoop fans as the stage where the Philippines placed third – the loftiest finish ever by an Asian country – for the bronze medal in 1954.

But while Filipinos relish good memories of FIBA’s ultimate showcase, Americans don’t because the US appears to ascribe more importance to the Olympics. In 15 FIBA championships so far since 1950, the US has won only three gold medals with the last coming in 1994. In contrast, the US has won 13 gold medals in 17 Olympic basketball competitions, topping four of the last five, missing out in 2004.

When the US hosted the World Championships in Indianapolis in 2002, the hometowners finished a poor sixth despite coach George Karl showing up with Paul Pierce, Shawn Marion, Baron Davis, Reggie Miller and Elton Brand.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the US wouldn’t be denied the gold medal as coach Mike Krzyzewski leaned on a star-studded cast to run roughshod over the opposition, compiling a 7-0 record by an average winning margin of 28.6. Wearing the Stars and Stripes were Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard, Tayshaun Prince, Jason Kidd, Michael Redd and Deron Williams. Last cuts were Gilbert Arenas and Bruce Bowen. For the record, the US overpowered China by 31, Angola by 21, Spain by 37 and Germany by 49 in the preliminaries, Australia by 31 in the quarterfinals, Argentina by 20 in the semifinals and Spain by 11 in the finals.

For reasons unpatriotic or otherwise, none of the 2008 Olympians is in the US roster for the World Championships in Turkey on Aug. 28-Sept. 12. Coach K has announced a 15-man lineup – it will be reduced to 12 at the latest two days before the start of the joust. The players are Chauncey Billups, Tyson Chandler, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, Jeff Green, Andre Igoudala, Kevin Love, JaVale McGee, Lamar Odom, Rajan Rondo, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook.  

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Cut in tryouts were stars like O. J. Mayo, Tyreke Evans and Gerald Wallace while citing various reasons for withdrawing included Amare Stoudemire, David Lee, Al Jefferson, LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin and Brook Lopez. Durant, Green, Igoudala, Love and Rose were on the US select team that coach K used to spar with the 2008 Olympians.

Coach K’s cast may be talented but it doesn’t strike fear in the hearts of Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Argentina and others expected to contend seriously for the crown. The Americans won’t find it easy adjusting to the international game and the results could be as disastrous as in 2002.

Rondo and Curry will be bounced around by Europe’s physical guards while Chandler and McGee, the team’s only seven-footers, aren’t as skillful in the interior as the crisp-passing centers with long years of experience in FIBA wars. Durant and Granger will rely on kick-outs to load up on their outside bombs but if the defense does a solid job stifling the slashers and post players, they may end up hopelessly waiting.

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The good news for the US is Pau Gasol won’t suit up for Spain, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman are out of the German lineup and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili is resting. Also skipping the tournament are France’s Tony Parker, Russia’s Andrei Kirilenko and Australia’s Andrew Bogut. But defending titlist Spain returns five NBA veterans, including Gasol’s brother Marc, Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro. France is threatening with Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Ian Mahinmi and Alexis Ajinca – all with NBA credentials. Argentina is bringing back Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Fabricio Oberto.

Other notables are Canada’s Joel Anthony and Sam Dalembert, Lithuania’s Linas Kleiza, Turkey’s Hedo Turkoglu, Memo Okur and Ersan Ilyasova, Croatia’s Zoran Planinic, Puerto Rico’s Carlos Arroyo, Jose Juan Barea and Daniel Santiago, Slovenia’s Goran Dragic, Primoz Brezec and Bostjan Nachbar, Russia’s naturalized import Kelly McCarty, Brazil’s Anderson Varejao, Nene, Leandro Barbosa and Tiago Splitter, China’s Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi, Lebanon’s Jackson Vroman and Iran’s Hamed Haddadi.

The brackets in the World Championships are as follows: Group A – Argentina, Serbia, Australia, Germany, Angola, Jordan; Group B – USA, Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran, Tunisia; Group C – Greece, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Russia, China, Ivory Coast; Group D – Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania, New Zealand, Lebanon.

A darkhorse in the tournament is Greece now coached by Lithuania’s Jonas Kazlauskas who used to call the shots for China. The Greeks are hardened hardcourt warriors with Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fostis and half-Cameroonian Sofoklis (Baby Shaq) Schortsanitis at the forefront. The team has only one seven-footer but eight others are at least 6-8.