Scene from 2008

Nevertheless, just as certain is the fact that entering the American media environment is the communication equivalent of diving into a tub of alligators. A common fear is of speaking in public? Imagine doing it in another language. Spontaneously. Scrutinized, analyzed and tittered about by tens of millions of rabid fans milliseconds after a tough loss. And all of it done under the glare of those tens of millions’ high expectations – which, essentially, every European basketballer in the NBA faces.

(Yes, BallinEurope knows that some readers must do this kinda stuff all the time – particularly those first two bits. But still. It does boggle this expatriate American’s mind, even after 15 years on The Continent.)

So guess what: The Human YouTube Highlight Clip has produced another moment for the virtual archives, showing good game in the intensely difficult off-court field of trash-talking – against no less an opponent than Kobe Bryant, a pretty fair verbal wrangler himself.

While Kobe has peppered swipes regarding a Team USA-Team Spain showdown in the 2012 Olympic Games to his teammate Pau Gasol, he was recently able to conversate with Rubio briefly when the two teams met last Sunday. Things went down as follows.

The transcript (warning: R-rated language included) runs thusly.

Bryant: (to Rubio) Good job, brother. You talking about London?
Gasol: Oh yeah.
Rubio: You’re gonna be there?
Bryant: Fuck yeah, I’m gonna be there.
Rubio: You know you’re getting the silver medal, right?
Bryant: Shiiiiiiit!
Rubio: You know that.
Bryant: I’m taking bets. I’m taking bets.
Rubio: I’ll bet what you want.
Bryant: If I win, I get the keys to Barcelona.
Rubio: I’ll bet what you want.
Bryant: I’ll take it! I’ll take it!

God, BiE loves how the table is being set for The Games already – and as of this writing, opening ceremonies are still 177½ days away … they can’t come soon enough, says BiE.

This year sees the London Olympic games, a shortened NBA season, another year of Euroleague basketball and the NCAA Final Four – what more could we possibly ask for? Happy new year…

• NCAA Final Four winner: University of North Carolina
Why: I know they have lost, and I can see they have some tough opposition in Kentucky, Ohio, Baylor, Indiana, and a lot of other strong NCAA sides across the States. My reason for picking UNC is experience: This team was stronger than expected in March last year when they surprised a lot of people; this year the Tar Heels were no surprise, ranked no. 1 in the preseason. This line-up has determination written all over it, every single player on this team does not want to lose.

• NCAA Final Four runner-up: University of Kentucky
Why: Sitting at 14-1, the Wildcats are one of the NCAA’s strongest and most well-coached sides. Guys like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Doro Lamb and Marquis Teague are all massively talented players who should lead this side to yet another final four appearance – add potential top five NBA draft pick Anthony Davis atop all this and this team screams NCAA Finals and possibly even NCAA champions.

• NCAA third-place finishers: Baylor
Why: Still yet to lose a game, Baylor with Quincy Acy, Quincy Miller and top-five draft pick Perry Jones III could go all the way to the Final Four in Atlanta. Their use of athleticism, speed and conditioning make this team formidable, and we all know what Jones can do when the game is on the line. It was hard to pick the Bears over the likes of Ohio State but I couldn’t leave them out.

• NCAA fourth-place finishers: Indiana
Why: This team has beaten some pretty tough opposition such as Ohio State and Kentucky. Cody Zeller has been phenomenal, leading the team in both scoring and rebounding, while teammates Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls have helped the Hoosiers to a solid record so far. It’s safe to say that this team has turned it around after a few years of scandal and mediocrity.

• NCAA Most Outstanding Player: Harrison Barnes
Why: If Barnes manages to carry his team to the Final Four and another championship, if he lives up to his potential, if he avoids injury, his determination alone will not let his team lose … Let’s see if his body will do the same.

• Euroleague Champion: CSKA Moscow
Why: Have you seen this team? And you still need to know why? Andrei Kirilenko is playing with pride, passion and energy, doing everything for this team willing to do everything for him. Kirilenko is a leader, a veteran and possibly the best player in Europe (cue angry fans of La Bomba in the comments section). Serbian guard Milos Teodosic has played superbly, while big men Sasha Kaun and Nenad Krstic form a formidable front court which could score against anybody. In addition Alexey Shved is one of Europe’s top young point guards, who spent this summer on international duty with the Russian national team. An overall excellent roster.

• Euroleague runner-up: FC Barcelona
Why: Juan Carlos Navarro is the Euroleague’s all-time leading scorer and continues to increase his gap at the top of the list; he’s alongside a point guard who has been capable of filling the gap left by Ricky Rubio in Marcelinho Huertas, who is averaging 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while hitting 42% of his three-point attempts.

• Euroleague third-place finishers: Montepaschi Siena
Why: We all know that Bo McCalebb can do some magical things, things like guide Macedonia deep into Eurobasket: This year he’ll carry his side to the Euroleague Final Four thanks to his injury not being as severe as first thought. A battle for third place between Siena and Panathinaikos should be an interesting watch.

• Euroleague fourth-place finishers: Panathinaikos
Why: Last year’s reigning Euroleague champs look to reach the final fours yet again; I don’t see them being as strong as CSKA or Barcelona, but a third- or fourth-place finish is always a positive. Nick Calathes is a born winner and will look to add more silverware for this team.

• Euroleague MVP: Andrei Kirilenko
Why: Andrei Kirilenko is dominating European basketball once more. His return to the EL was a 17-point, 15-rebound, five-assist beatdown of Žalgiris Kaunas; since then, he has gone on to average 13.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per Euroleague game while hitting 57% from the field and 60% on threes. Even his free throws are going in at an 81% rate. While these numbers are impressive, if he can lead his side to a victory in the Euroleague finals, I’m sure he will be a more than deserving MVP.

• NBA champions: Miami Heat
Why: The strongest team in the NBA, as much as I hate to say it: Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, James Jones, Shane Battier … This team is literally insane, undefeated until narrowly losing to the Atlanta Hawks, in a game they probably shouldn’t have. This team is just too talented to lose it for the second straight year.

• NBA runner-up: Oklahoma City Thunder
Why: The West got a new bandwagon this off-season in the Los Angeles Clippers, but there is no denying the strongest squad in the Western Conference is still the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder may be young but, for their age, their experience is second to none, including a conference finals appearance last season. Kevin Durant is back better than ever; add that to an ever improving James Harden and Russell Westbrook, and the Heat may struggle come finals time.

• NBA finals MVP: Lebron James
Why: He wants to silence the haters, all those people that said he lost it in the finals last year against the Dallas Mavericks. He wants revenge, he doesn’t care who he plays he’s going to go after it, whether its carrying his team’s scoring load, grabbing rebounds or dishing assists. Lebron can do it all.

• NBA regular-season MVP: Ask again later
Why: I honestly can’t decide … my top three (in no particular order) run below.

Why Derrick Rose: Rose continues to lead the Bulls to one of the best records in the Eastern Conference; he has been a scoring force but has not forced his shot as much as last season. Thus far, his assist numbers are solid, and he outplayed Chris Paul in L.A. in a big way, scoring with ease while also dishing when needed. Rose’s teammates are stepping up, whether it be Luol Deng hitting game winners or new addition Rip Hamilton. If Rose can keep it up while leading the Bulls to another first- or second-place finish in the East, the votes may go his way for the second straight year.

Why Lebron James: Have you seen his numbers? Once you have, you’ll understand why I don’t need to justify Lebron as a consideration.

Why Kevin Durant: This season, K.D. will probably lead the league in scoring again, will hopefully improve both his rebounding and assist numbers, and will drive his team to the no. 1 seed in the Western Conference faster than anyone (including myself) expected. Durant has been in the running for MVP the past few years, but 2011-12 could be the season in which his team does some *serious* damage.

• NBA Rookie of the Year: Ricky Rubio or Kyrie Irving

Why Rubio: He is the best guard on one of the West Coast’s rising young teams, a team that has beaten the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks while taking their 4 losses by an average of 3 points per game, including a 4 point loss to the Thunder, a 2 point loss to the Heat and a 4 point loss to the Grizzlies. Rubio has been phenomenal, yes he isn’t scoring like Blake Griffin did last year, but his assists come with such beauty and pinpoint accuracy it’s hard not to drop your jaw … his behind-the-back passes, his alley-oops to fellow rookie Derrick Williams, it’s all just too perfect. Other rookies may score more but Rubio does it all with style. As of this writing, Ricky is averaging 9.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game while his team stands at 2-4.

Why Irving: Honestly, not many rookies have impressed me so far in this very young NBA season; the incoming draft class has a lot fewer stars than that of John Wall and Blake Griffin last year. Kyrie is one of the few who have just done what’s needed of him. Playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have a pretty bad lineup but have yet to go on some kind of ridiculously long losing streak *but* wins against bottom-dwellers such as the Charlotte Bobcats and New Jersey Nets. So far this season, Kyrie is averaging 14.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while his team stands at 3-3.

• 2012 Olympics, gold-medal winner: United States of America
Why: Team USA won the last Olympic games with the ‘Redeem Team’ back at Beijing 2008, while a young but solid USA side won the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey behind the likes of Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. This summer the team will be even more talented with the likes of Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Blake Griffin all improving since the last Games. Together with a few key names, the London Olympic basketball finals may be one of the best to ever take place in an international tournament, so make sure you tune in and watch.

• 2012 Olympics, silver-medal winner: Spain
Why: I wish I could say “Great Britain, home-court, everyone involved, Luol Deng, Joel Freeland, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, maybe Ben Gordon, Devon Van Oostrum, Ryan Richards…” the talent is there, but the experience is not. Teams like Spain and Russia should be able to get by us and into the quarterfinals and finals. My choice for runner-up is Spain: their dominant performance at Eurobasket 2011 with Serge Ibaka aboard; plus potentially Nikola Mirotic to make this team even better than it currently is; the existing front line of Marc and Pau Gasol is already a formidable force; the improvement of Rubio; and veteran talent Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez … thinking about it, these players might even surprise for gold…

• Player to Watch: Ricky Rubio
Why: A season of playing in the NBA against the world’s best opposition while being able to continue to work on his jump shot will work wonders for the Spanish point guard. His confidence had dropped after being removed from the national team’s starting lineup, but with the added confidence the NBA season brings him, look for Rubio to be one of the best players to watch in London.

That just about sums up my predictions for 2012. I’m hoping it will be a great year for all of you and don’t forget to continue reading BallinEurope; this year is going to be even more exciting than last!

Sam Chadwick is the co-head coach of the Solent Kestrels U14 basketball team, along with dividing the remainder of his time among an assistant quantity surveyor job, university studies and sportswriting. Chadwick is now a contributor at BBLfans.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @chadwick9.

We’ll see you in London, guys!

Baumann touches on the latest prerequisites for British basketball to win a bid in the Olympics, including the crucial merger of English, Scottish and Welsh organizations to take the place of what FIBA calls the “shadow organization” which builds a British team for international competition.

Video runs below the break.

Oh boy, does Britain need Ben in 2011

Despite the fact that Team Britain has managed to qualify for 2010 Eurobasket tournaments on both men’s and women’s sides, FIBA secretary-general/International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann has placed yet another condition to be met in exchange for bids at the 2012 Olympic Games.

According to today’s Scotsman newspaper via a letter sent from Baumann to Basketball Scotland vice-chairman Bill McInnes, Baumann now demands as prerequisite to Olympic entry “that a single governing body in Britain is established for basketball” uniting programs from England, Scotland and Wales.

While the three bodies agreed on an informal structure to create united teams at the national and U20 levels back in 2005, Baumann “wants a radical overhaul of the way the sport is organised in order to translate its oft-cited grassroots popularity into sustainable success at club and international level” and the current way of fielding FIBA basketball teams “cannot be continued after the Games in 2012.”

Baumann’s letter went on to state that “There needs to be one boss, one organisation that leads. I don’t think that means the three federations as such need to disappear. They have their role, but it must be under one umbrella, with clearly defined responsibilities on developing basketball. We need to have one partner that has the clear vision so that when it comes to the table with FIBA or the British Olympic Association, they have the credibility to say what is good for basketball in England, Scotland and Wales.”

Despite the fact that Baumann himself is “relatively confident” the British powers-that-be can live up to this latest round of expectations, the timeframe does seem a bit tight: The IOC will be voting in March to decide whether or not to give Team Britain an automatic bid for the London Olympics.

If the IOC decides not to grant the official bid, Team Britain would then presumably have to at very least qualify out of pool play in Eurobasket 2011 or even grab a wild-card entry to the Olympics, two scenarios with varying degrees of possibility from next-to-none to darn unlikely at best.

Baumann’s latest idea is the most recent of a flow of demands put on Team Britain in the buildup to the 2012 Games. Before the recent Eurobasket qualifying rounds, it was essentially implied that Britain needed to make a respectable showing in an upcoming international tournament.

When both the men’s and women’s sides got through on the same day, the official FIBA website itself proclaimed that “Looking to make statements about the potential of the national teams to compete at the Olympics should they both be allowed by basketball’s world governing body, FIBA, to take up spots normally reserved for host nations for the London Games, the Brits were loud and clear.”

Prior to this, in what Back British Basketball’s Sam Neter is calling a “constant moving of the goalposts” by FIBA, Team Britain had been informally promised an Olympic spot if they qualified for Eurobasket 2009; prior to *that*, rising to Division A level in FIBA play was thought to have been enough.

Baumann fittingly said that the “radical overhaul” will “require some creative thinking.”

One wonders if the creative thinking will also be enough to anticipate Baumann’s next move…

Great Britain held on for their fifth consecutive victory in Division A of the Eurobasket Qualifying Rounds last night, though nearly snatching the proverbial “defeat from the jaws of victory” against the frankly &^(&%#%-ing disappointing Hungary, official home team of BallinEurope.com headquarters. With the 66-64 win, Team Great Britain improved their record to 5-0 in the tournament and brightened their hopes of appearing in the 2012 Olympic Games.

The problem – and the extra onus on the British national team – is that the International Olympic Committee has made a special exception to a longstanding rule, namely the host nation receives automatic entry into the basketball tournament at the ‘Games. However, at the time Olympic-hosting privileges were granted to Great Britain, it was one of the few European nations *without a national team whatsoever.*

Last seen on the international stage in the 1980s, Team Britain was reconstituted in 2005 when governing bodies for English, Scottish and Welsh basketball enacted the new foundation for a national team. Since then, it’s been a bit of a rocky road for the Brits. Though quality, exciting talent like Luol Deng, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Ben Gordon has represented the team (or at least been listed on the roster), injuries or NBA concerns have typically forced Britain to play with a less-than ideal squad.

On the other hand, Great Britain played one hell of a game against Team Spain in Eurobasket 2009 to definitely give Pau Gasol some gray hairs when Britain took a 73-71 lead late and was 3½ minutes from The Greatest International Tournament Upset of All-Time.

The problem-within-the-problem for Team Britain is that, well, nobody back home seems to care – or barely even know of its existence.

Think BiE is exaggerating? British national team fan (yes, Virginia, they do exist and their legion is growing) Sam Neter noticed this apathy/ignorance among his peers informally and so decided to put his suspicions to a greater test. This is what he found:

Incredible, thought Neter. And, to make a long story story short, he embarked upon a full-fledged online/real-life multi-media campaign called “Back British Basketball.” Sometimes featuring Silky Slim, sometimes not, the Back British Basketball campaign is a coordinated barrage of requisite website, YouTubes, Twitter, social networking from Facebook on down, and game-day presence that only a British fan could pull off – seriously, whatever football club lost this guy’s full-time allegiance is hurting right now. It’s all in response to what Neter (justifiably) sees as a lack of press coverage in the kingdom.

How’s the campaign going? BiE got a brief interview with the Man Who Would Save British Basketball himself, Sam Neter.

A personal question first: Why did you take this on? What is it about British basketball that moved you to do something like this when no one else really had?
It needed to be done. Simple as that. You look at Great Britain’s attendance figures since their inception, and the general atmosphere at games and it’s obvious something is going wrong somewhere. Contrary to popular belief, we have a great team who are entertaining to watch yet no one even knows they exist! Mix that in with the fact that as a host nation at London 2012 we don’t even have a place, it’s ridiculous. The British public/the world need to know about Great Britain basketball and start taking us a little more seriously!

One question any North American who pays attention to European basketball wants to know is, quite simply, what’s wrong with British basketball? For example, why are there no British clubs in any major European competition?
You know, that’s a question I probably couldn’t pinpoint an answer to. It’s a multitude of things; the sport is thriving at a grassroots level in terms of participation rates, so why not at a professional and international level? Money, structure, coaching, media attention, public awareness, access to facilities all contribute…the list is endless. There needs to be some huge fundamental changes to make a difference.

I see that you’ve managed to complete three of your 10 commandments for BackBritishBasketball. [For the reader, those 10 Commandments are:

1. Create a chant for Team GB.
2. Get Beckham to wear GB vest.
3. Get a special edition shoe made.
4. Get an MC to create a GB tune.
5. Dress a monument in GB vest.
6. Get crowd noise above 122 DB.
7. Get games broadcast on TV.
8. Commentate at GB games.
9. Get 100,000 views on YouTube.
10. Get in the papers.]

How are the other unfulfilled six coming along? Have you managed to get in touch with Becks yet?
Since you sent this interview, we are now up to four completed after the Deng chant we created and got going at the game yesterday. We have a custom shoe being designed, we have an MC track pretty much ready to go, and we will be commentating at the game on the 17th August. [Achieving all ten goals is] well under way.

Beckham is definitely proving the trickiest, but we’re trying! David, if you’re reading this-look me up!

Is FIBA/the IOC giving Britain a fair shake, in your opinion, with regarding to qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games?
No! I think it’s evident for anyone to see from the outside that there has been constant moving of the goalposts. We were told we needed to get promoted to Division A, we did it. Then we had to qualify for Eurobasket 2009 in Poland which we did. Yet still no place.

In the interview done with the BBC just the other day, he asks how we are going to be competitive with other nations-we already are! Look at what we (almost) did to Spain at last year’s Eurobasket-that was without our best player (s).

You put our full healthy roster against any team in the world and they can compete. I’m not saying we would win, but we’d compete which is what FIBA/the IOC have requested.

There is talk in that BBC article asking when a domestic club will enter European competitions-what has that got to do with the Olympics?

It’s bullshit in my opinion, they talk about legacy but isn’t it obvious you’re doing a lot more damage to the basketball legacy of Great Britain not including us in our own games.

What do you feel your efforts at publicity could be deemed a success? In other words, what’s your ultimate goal?
There are many smaller goals, but right now the ultimate goal is to get qualification for London 2012 through bringing out huge crowds to back the team. In my opinion, based on what FIBA has said before, our 2012 place will be achieved if we qualify from our group to Eurobasket 2011.

Though a lot is down to the team, the effect public support and a big sellout crowd can have on a team’s performance is insurmountable and that’s what we’re trying to take care of. We want to sell as many tickets as possible to these home games, and once we’re there create an atmosphere that rivals some of the biggest European crowds. It’s no small task, and we’re realistic about it, but I already think the campaign is making an impact.

Along the same lines, what level of performance would you deem as a success for the national team?
For me, progression from previous years will be considered a success. Nothing less than qualifying for Eurobasket 2011 and improving on our finish in 2009. I don’t think that is unrealistic at all, and going in as underdogs is always a nice thing. I think we could surprise some people.

If Luol Deng, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Ben Gordon and this team see great success right through to 2012, do you believe that a great national team can be sustained in Britain?
Totally. There is no reason why it can’t. Success of a national team in a country can be a turning point for the sport at domestic levels, it can be momentum shifting. It will lead to more media coverage, more funding and changes at all levels of the sport. You look at every big basketball nation in Europe and they have a successful national team-it changes the face of the sport in a country. If we are successful through to 2012 there is no reason why the team can’t be sustained in to the future.

Even if the national team captures the imagination of the British public in Eurobasket 2011 and/or the 2012 Olympic Games, what if anything can sustain the interest?
There needs to be year around information on the team and the players. I think one of the problems at the moment is the British public only hear about the team for 4-5 weeks of the year (if at all) then during the regular season when they all go back to their clubs there isn’t a peep.

Their personalities and stories need to be put out there. People need to know who the team is; 90% of the British public couldn’t name one member of the team right now. Make sure they are at the forefront of the public’s mind year round. I understand that is a lot easier said than done though.

…the only two teams … who *might* possibly give the Dream Team a series [were] Dream Team III, with much of Dream Team I plus Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal, who probably should have been on the roster in lieu of the more politically-correctly chosen Christian Laettner in ‘92; and the Redeem Team of 2008, Generation Y’s own Dream Team.

So through the magic of number-crunching, we can kinda sorta know who wins in a battle of 1992 Team USA vs. 2008 Team USA. Who wins in a best-of-seven series? Click here to find out.

(Truth is, you can probably guess as to the final result, but BiE was a bit surprised at the specifics.)

What the Dream Team gave to the international game, aside from the showcasing of quite simply the best side ever assembled by a long shot,* was a new measuring stick for talent, a definition of what national basketball pictures should aspire to produce. In Croatia and Lithuania, however, the national teams in some senses had already won before the Olympic torch was lit.

Both teams represented a regeneration of national programs, as both had contributed mightily to the greatest communist era teams ever: USSR and Yugoslavian national squads in 1988 – ultimately probably the peak year for “Iron Curtain” basketball – were populated with names like Marciulionis, Kurtinaitis and Sabonis, Petrovic, Radja and Kukoc.

But 1992 changed all that.

Yugoslavia as an entity had effectively dissolved with the crumbling communist power structures and by 1991, Croatia was at war with Serbia – a war which would divide the team both figuratively and literally.

As film director Michael Tolajian told Serbian media earlier this year, the Team Yugoslavia players, who had been very close, “stopped talking [...] and the nationalistic rhetorics in both countries must have influenced them, just like many other friends and colleagues at the time, even family members”: A reality that affects Vlade Divac to this day. Though Divac has “managed to set things straight with former teammates [like] Croatians Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja, he was too late to make peace with Drazen [Petrovic].”

(Tolajian’s documentary on the Team Yugoslavia breakup is entitled “Jednom braća” or “Once Brothers.” Though confirmed as part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary film series, the air date for “Jednom braća” maddeningly remains unscheduled thus far.

All nationalism and rhetoric aside, the formation of Team Croatia was a way for the “new” country (the European Union and United Nations chose to recognize Croatia as an independent nation on January 15, just six-and-a-half months before the commencement of the Olympics) to use basketball to carve out its very place on world maps.

And carve they did. With a roster of Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Dino Radja, Žan Tabak, Velimir Perasović, Stojan Vranković, Arijan Komazec, Danko Cvjetičanin, Franjo Arapović, Aramis Naglić, Vladan Alanović, and Alan Gregov, Croatia – along with Lithuania and the “Unified Team” of loosely affiliated former Soviet republics – proved itself to be the class of the second class at these Olympics. BiE would dare say that the 1992 team remains Croatia’s finest to date, in fact.

Those old guys like BiE who were around Back In The Day will easily recall the storylines of the two Croatia-USA meetings. Game one was Team USA’s second in the tournament after the feasting on of Angola for openers. This one of course was all about Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s dissecting Kukoc, a Chicago Bulls draft pick who was rumored to be contending for impending free-agent Pippen’s job on the wing. The result was a 103-70 steamrolling by the Dreams as Toni went for four points and seven turnovers against stifling D.

Though we didn’t realize it at the time, the gold-medal game would also be the last time Petrovic would play in a championship game. This clip – one of BiE’s all-time favorite YouTubes – is definitely worth a rerun. History has forgotten what words were exchanged between His Airness and Drazen during the memorable one-on-one contests on the court, but BiE likes to imagine that, rather than trash-talking, some discussion on the game’s finer points is going down.

The most brilliant part in that gold medal game, however, starts at about 7:40 in the YouTube below. For a nanosecond or two, if you squinted, you could imagine Croatia pulling off the inconceivable upset…

Meanwhile, finishing third that season was Team Lithuania, playing as such in its first Olympics since 1936. Even before this team became fully assembled – we knew Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis would be there, for sure – through an amazing fusion of pop cultural zeitgeist, Marciulionis managed to drum up financial support for the would-be Olympic Team by means of the Grateful Dead and two generations of San Francisco hippies.

Today, we can look back on the campaign as genius in marketing and representative of NBA basketball’s brand new internationalism in the post-communist 1990s. Back then, it made for some bitchin’ tie dye shirts, clearly one of the dopest wardrobe items of ’92. The relationship between the ‘Dead and Team Lithuania would continue into the 1996 Games, even taking up countercultural Bay Area hoopsters Bill Walton and Chris Mullin along the way.

But in 1992, the main thing was just for this basketball-mad culture to see their boys playing under their own colors, rather than those of an unwanted oppressor which would never properly acknowledge the contribution by the “republic” to Soviet sport.

If the USA’s ’92 squad was a fantasy team, Lithuania’s first modern roster was a dream-come-true team, as will hopefully be captured in fittingly-named documentary “The Other Dream Team.” This film is scheduled for 2011 release, surely in parallel with the Eurobasket tournament hosted by Lithuania for a truly prescient reminder of how far this national program has come.

The 1992 edition of Team Lithuania included Arvydas Sabonis, Šarunas Marčiulionis, Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Sergėjus Jovaiša, Artūras Karnišovas, Gintaras Einikis, Arūnas Visockas, Darius Dimavičius, Romanas Brazdauskis, Gintaras Krapikas, and Alvydas Pazdrazdis.

In conclusion, may BallinEurope again wish 1992 Team USA congratulations on their reception of this great honor. And though Dream Team Croatia and Dream Team Lithuania might never receive official accolades in Springfield, they can rest assured that they will always hold a special place in the hearts and minds of those who were lucky enough to have seen them play in the time of The Greatest Team Ever.

* The only two teams in BiE’s opinion who can even enter the discussion, i.e. who *might* possibly give the Dream Team a series: Dream Team III, with much of Dream Team I plus Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal, who probably should have been on the roster in lieu of the more politically-correctly chosen Christian Laettner in ’92; and the Redeem Team of 2008, Generation Y’s own Dream Team.

When i was coming of age in the Cold War 1980s, there wasn’t one basketball universe but rather two developing in parallel. While we were thrilling to the likes of Bird ‘n’ Magic and Pat Riley’s coaching, Eastern European hoops were witness to studs such as Valdis Valters, the immortal Arvydas Sabonis and mighty mastermind Alexander Gomelsky.

Of course, over there in the ‘States, we knew basically nothing about such things: In the Ronald Reagan Era crazy stuff like the “Euroleague” and “Eurobasket” was all but utterly unknown, just another item filed by America’s Cold War propagandists under “forbidden communist culture” and thus kept neatly off the pop culture radar. (Yes, Virginia, we had our propaganda, too.)

Instead, to the eyes of an American child, the Soviet Union and its allies were a dread force wearing red uniforms bearing that fearsome anagram CCCP which sought to humiliate our valiant athletes once every four years in Olympic gymnastics, hockey, track-and-field, weightlifting, volleyball, etc. (We’d also occasionally get the USSR-USA matchup in the FIBA World Championship, but USA Basketball never seemed to take that tournament very seriously.)

The news cycle went something like this: the American public would grumble about the unfairness of our young amateurs having to go against essentially paid professionals; the Games would be played to a steady background in the public consciousness of jokes about steroids, hormones and cheating; finally, directly following the snuffing of the torch and just before collectively forgetting that socialists even played sports for another four years, mass media would crank out the horror stories about communist-nations’ teams being jailing or otherwise punished for their egregious losses. (Amazingly, this last tradition was recently exhumed for *international* “reportage” of the North Korean football team post-World Cup 2010.)

Today, if you ask any American over the age of 50 (no, i’m not quite that old) for the two most memorable Olympic events, he/she is virtually guaranteed to name the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey match and the 1972 gold-medal basketball game between those two towering rivals from the USA and the USSR.

But here’s the thing: What the great majority of American basketball fans remember/are taught about that game is simply its controversial ending – a conclusion that many now believe was set up by someone, somehow, to end Team USA’s 71-0 run.

As a result, over there in the ‘States – and thus because of the pervasiveness of American pop culture and information dissemination online, much of the world – little beyond the final re-replayed three seconds of the game is remembered. In what otherwise would be remembered as the last great meeting between USA and USSR for ultimate international basketball glory, the 1972 battle for Olympic gold has become known as Team USA vs. The Communist Referees. Indeed, it seems that what most folks know about this match today was the unfairness of it all and the continued petulance of Doug Collins and his teammates regarding the silver medal.

Gone are memories of the sweet play of Ivan Edeshko; of the evolutionary Soviet defense that held a Team USA who’d been averaging over 76 points a game to just 50; and most of all the dominance of Alexander Belov, one of the greatest never to play in the NBA.

Gone, that is, until YouTube.

This YouTube video, entitled simply “Munich 1972 Final USA-USSR” was created “as a tribute to Alexander Belov [who] made a lay-up as time expired for the final margin of 51-50.” Were it not for the politics and history behind it, we might be able to admire this clip as an excellent compilation of some great basketball from the 1970s.

Nevertheless, even with the established history of the game in place, this YouTube takes the game back, removing it from the realm of rhetoric and bombast to re-present Belov’s greatness for younger folks who don’t even remember the Soviet Union. With this video (and others like it), the basketball teams from “behind the Iron Curtain” nations might finally attain the historical importance they deserve. Such a video reminds us that basketball is supposed to be discussed in terms of, you know, basketball, and not geopolitics.

Most of all, YouTube user Apofteso demonstrates in this clip that there are always (at least) two sides to every story deserving to be heard – and isn’t that what democracy is really about?

Incidentally, if you’re interested in checking out the entire 1972 USA-USSR Olympic gold-medal game, YouTube’s got that as well. Part one may be viewed by clicking here.

Playoff tells the story of Ralph Klein, a.k.a. the commonly-held “Father of Israeli Basketball.” Though as a child Klein was spared from life in a concentration camp, his father died at Auschwitz. In his youth, Klein played pro basketball in Hungary and for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He would go on to win eight Israeli League championships as a player and a crazy 14 more – plus the 1977 European Cup – as a coach, but it was Klein’s work guiding a Continental team to an eighth-place finish in an international tournament that most captured the people’s imagination and kicked up controversy: To heaps of criticism, Klein accepted a job as head coach of Team West Germany in time for the 1984 Olympics.

Director Eran Riklis has explained that “the film follows his first two months coping with” the decision to coach West Germany. Slightly more abstractly, actor Huston sees Playoff as “really about childhood and how the stories and memories of your past are often lies.”

Playoff begins shooting in Frankfurt on June 29.