So this was interesting, from USA Today:
Could three-on-three basketball be coming to the Olympics?
It will if FIBA, the international governing body, has its way. Secretary-general Patrick Baumann said Saturday that his group planned to propose it to be played as early as the 2016 Rio Games.
Loyalists of this page are all-too-familiar with my preference: I like half-court one-on-one superstar basketball. A 3-on-3 style tournament encapsulates this style perfectly. Naturally, that this addition might be possible is music to my eyes. (Might it perhaps encourage the league office to introduce a similar event to its now embarrassingly mundane All-Star Weekend? One can only hope.)
The first question would be whether the “in-crowd” would be allowed, or even desire, to participate. A half-court setup of say, Kobe, Lebron, and Chris Paul makes Dr. Naismith smile down from above. The likely answer is ‘no’ and you’d probably see ‘up and comers’ get their shot. (Hey, as long as the NBA is restricted from its time-honored custom of throwing WNBA players in our faces at every turn, I’m fine with anything.)
Who would you send? For starters, you’d need a big to counter some of those European teams. (It’s telling of our sorry state of affairs that when contemplating a non-Dwight selection, my mind naturally shifted to foreign-born NBAers in Marc Gasol and Pekovic.) How about Cousins? How about Cousins, John Wall, and Patrick Patterson? Okay, I’m kidding.
Here’s another question: will we ever again see a Houston Rocket represent the United states at the Olympics? (Hell, will we ever again see a Houston Rocket represent the Houston Rockets at the All-Star game….)
As you can clearly tell, it’s a slow news day, but I’m trying.
