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Team USA’s efforts in the 3×3 basketball competition at the Olympics left a fair amount to be desired, and Brian Windhorst suggested anyone who was disappointed by America’s showing should point the finger at FIBA for rules seemingly designed to handicap the country where the sport was invented.
All signs point to Team USA’s men’s and women’s teams taking home the gold medal in basketball by the time the traditional 5-on-5 tournament wraps up in Paris, but anyone who was hoping to see America do the same in the 3×3 event that debuted in Tokyo was left very disappointed.
On Monday, the women’s team—which bounced back after a worrying 0-3 start—had to settle for a bronze after falling to Spain in a semifinal game where Hailey Van Lith was understandably frustrated with some very questionable calls that went against the United States.
The men’s team, on the other hand, wasn’t even able to advance past the group stage, and the quartet comprised of Jimmer Fredette, Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox, and Dylan Travis went 2-5 in pool play after the former BYU star who helmed the squad was sidelined with an injury that forced him to miss the last five games.
There’s no telling how things would’ve played out if Fredette had managed to stay healthy, but Team USA still would’ve had its work cut out for it due to the nature of a qualification process that forced it to field a team of 30-somethings who peak in college as opposed to the NBA-caliber talent that defines its 5-on-5 squad.
During Monday’s installment of The Pat McAfee Show, veteran NBA reporter Brian Windhorst took aim at FIBA (the governing body that dictates the rules and regulations for 3×3 basketball in conjunction with the IOC) while asserting the United States is currently at an inherent disadvantage based on the current eligibility requirements for players who want to compete at the Olympics.
Windhorst suggested part of the reason 3×3 was added to the Olympics in the first place was to give other countries a chance to earn a medal in a sport where the United States has historically been the team to beat, saying:
“FIBA doesn’t really want the U.S. to do good in 3×3. They really want that to be for countries that can’t field 5-on-5 teams, and so they do all these things; they have all these layers and layers and layers of things you have to do to qualify.
I don’t just mean the team. Kyrie [Irving] can’t just show up and play. The only way you can play is if you play in like 15 qualifying events…They don’t want guys from America who are on the 5-on-5 team…
FIBA doesn’t care about ratings. They care about growing the game outside the U.S.”
It sounds like America needs to win it all in Los Angeles in 2028 just to prove a point.
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Publish date : 2024-08-05 09:49:00
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