The final in a group of four EuroBasket previews. This time Os Davis and I take a look at the wild world of Group D. Then once you’re done listening to that one, scroll down and check out the first three. At your leisure, of course.
Here’s what you’ll hear:
-Chris Kaman on Germany. Bo McCalebb on Macedonia. Serge Ibaka on Spain. Are naturalized players bad for the game?
-Can Zaza lead Georgia into the next round?
-Find out why one of us thinks Steven Burtt is the most important player in this group.
-Is Russia the team to beat in Group D, and might they have a shot at the Gold medal?
-Is Goran Dragic ready to lead Slovenia consistently and forcefully?
-Is Mike Fratello in over his head?
-Find out which team(s) we think will leave Group D without a win.
Now, to the group previews you might have missed:
Group A: The Champs, the Hosts, and the Turks.
Group B: Bearded, Blonde and Beastly.
Group C: Bojan, Bo and Bourousis.
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About naturalized players:
I don´t really agree with your point in this subject.
In the first place, you´re saying that it is better the naturalization of -for example- Bo McCalebb is better than the one of Sege Ibaka. I see it differently. From my point of view, Macedonia´s coach or whoever was watching some game of McCalebb and was like: “hey, this guy is pretty good, let´s naturalize him so he can play with us”. That´s not cool. Only because they aren´t a good team doesn´t give them the right to sign random americans. I see Ibaka and Mirotic’s cases different. Spain is the country who brought Ibaka from the Congo and actually showed him how to play the game. Ibaka wanted to be naturalized -as he says- to give back the support that “Spain” showed to him when he was just a 16 year old kid from the Congo. Same thing with Niko. Niko Mirotic came to Spain when he was just 14, he´s almost as Spanish as from Montenegro. My point is that the guys showed interest in playing with Spain, because they´re attached to the country (same thing with Holden or Olajuwon for example). I see that better than random signings of americans such as Cook or Domercant. You see it fair or unfair based on the talent of a team, and I don´t really agree. I´m from Spain but I don´t really think that´s what makes me see this like I do, I was the first to say that it was wrong when Spanish NT naturalized Chuck Kornegay.
I also wanted to say that it isn´t too bad because FIBA has a rule that only one naturalized player can play for a team. That´s something you didn´t mention and it is quite important. For example Spain won´t be able to play with Serge and Niko in the same squad unless they change that rule. Which I think it´s pretty cool, because if not, we would be seeing teams with 12 americans, and that would be awful. For example in indoor soccer, Italian NT played with all brazilians some years ago (Don´t know if they still do), they did not have one italian player, I would hate to see that in basketball. As long as this rule exists, I don´t see naturalized players being that big of a problem.
Hope you get my point.
Congrats on the podcasts by the way, great stuff.