FIBA is missing out on Soccer's Success

The World Cup is over, whether you were a bandwagon fan or a big soccer fan, we just witnessed some amazing soccer. To think that there are 211 soccer national teams in the world and only the Top 32 got to Russia goes to show how hard it is just to get there.

In other words, its too bad that this event doesn't happen every year, but what about other sports? Baseball will never likely have best on best because the owners are too concerned of injury, we have seen what hockey puts on the ice when NHL players go to the Olympics but what about basketball?

We have seen NBA players lack of interest to play for their country as the years have gone on. Just last year, FIBA went to the soccer model where teams have home games every three months but the NBA refuses to release their players.

According to an article on NBA.com last fall, there are 108 international players from 42 different countries. This number has been rapidly growing and if FIBA World Cup Qualifying was best on best, we would have some amazing competition.

To put 42 different countries in prospective, there are only 32 teams that qualify for the World Cup. That would indicate that at least 10 countries wold not get in that believe that they are good enough too.

Here's a list that was current last fall. 

Country

	First Name	Last Name	Team
Argentina	Nicolas	Brussino	Atlanta Hawks
Argentina	Manu	Ginobili	San Antonio Spurs
Australia	Kyrie	Irving	Boston Celtics
Australia	Aron	Baynes	Boston Celtics
Australia	Andrew	Bogut	Los Angeles Lakers
Australia	Matthew	Dellavedova	Milwaukee Bucks
Australia	Ben	Simmons	Philadelphia 76ers
Australia	Patty	Mills	San Antonio Spurs
Australia	Dante	Exum	Utah Jazz
Australia	Joe	Ingles	Utah Jazz
Austria	Jakob	Poeltl	Toronto Raptors
Bahamas	Buddy	Hield	Sacramento Kings
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Ivica	Zubac	Los Angeles Lakers
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mirza	Teletovic	Milwaukee Bucks
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Jusuf	Nurkic	Portland Trail Blazers
Brazil	Cristiano	Felicio	Chicago Bulls
Brazil	Nene		Houston Rockets
Brazil	Bruno	Caboclo	Toronto Raptors
Brazil	Lucas	Nogueira	Toronto Raptors
Brazil	Raul	Neto	Utah Jazz
Cameroon	Luc	Mbah a Moute	Houston Rockets
Cameroon	Joel	Embiid	Philadelphia 76ers
Cameroon	Pascal	Siakam	Toronto Raptors
Canada	Tristan	Thompson	Cleveland Cavaliers
Canada	Dwight	Powell	Dallas Mavericks
Canada	Jamal	Murray	Denver Nuggets
Canada	Trey	Lyles	Denver Nuggets
Canada	Cory	Joseph	Indiana Pacers
Canada	Tyler	Ennis	Los Angeles Lakers
Canada	Dillon	Brooks	Memphis Grizzlies
Canada	Kelly	Olynyk	Miami Heat
Canada	Andrew	Wiggins	Minnesota Timberwolves
Canada	Khem	Birch	Orlando Magic
Canada	Nik	Stauskas	Philadelphia 76ers
China	Zhou	Qi	Houston Rockets
Croatia	Ante	Zizic	Cleveland Cavaliers
Croatia	Bojan	Bogdanovic	Indiana Pacers
Croatia	Mario	Hezonja	Orlando Magic
Croatia	Dario	Saric	Philadelphia 76ers
Croatia	Dragan	Bender	Phoenix Suns
Czech Republic	Tomas	Satoransky	Washington Wizards
Dem. Republic of the Congo	Emmanuel	Mudiay	Denver Nuggets
Dem. Republic of the Congo	Bismack	Biyombo	Orlando Magic
Dominican Republic	Al	Horford	Boston Celtics
Egypt	Abdel	Nader	Boston Celtics
Finland	Lauri	Markkanen	Chicago Bulls
France	Guerschon	Yabusele	Boston Celtics
France	Nicolas	Batum	Charlotte Hornets
France	Alexis	Ajinca	New Orleans Pelicans
France	Frank	Ntilikina	New York Knicks
France	Evan	Fournier	Orlando Magic
France	Timothe	Luwawu-Cabarrot	Philadelphia 76ers
France	Tony	Parker	San Antonio Spurs
France	Joffrey	Lauvergne	San Antonio Spurs
France	Rudy	Gobert	Utah Jazz
France	Ian	Mahinmi	Washington Wizards
Georgia	Zaza	Pachulia	Golden State Warriors
Germany	Dennis	Schroder	Atlanta Hawks
Germany	Daniel	Theis	Boston Celtics
Germany	Paul	Zipser	Chicago Bulls
Germany	Maxi	Kleber	Dallas Mavericks
Germany	Dirk	Nowitzki	Dallas Mavericks
Greece	Giannis	Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks
Greece	Georgios	Papagiannis	Sacramento Kings
Haiti	Skal	Labissiere	Sacramento Kings
Israel	Omri	Casspi	Golden State Warriors
Italy	Marco	Belinelli	Atlanta Hawks
Italy	Danilo	Gallinari	LA Clippers
Latvia	Kristaps	Porzingis	New York Knicks
Latvia	Davis	Bertans	San Antonio Spurs
Lithuania	Domantas	Sabonis	Indiana Pacers
Lithuania	Mindaugas	Kuzminskas	New York Knicks
Lithuania	Jonas	Valanciunas	Toronto Raptors
Mali	Cheick	Diallo	New Orleans Pelicans
Montenegro	Nikola	Mirotic	Chicago Bulls
Montenegro	Nikola	Vucevic	Orlando Magic
New Zealand	Steven	Adams	Oklahoma City Thunder
Poland	Marcin	Gortat	Washington Wizards
Puerto Rico	J.J.	Barea	Dallas Mavericks
Republic of the Congo	Serge	Ibaka	Toronto Raptors
Russia	Timofey	Mozgov	Brooklyn Nets
Senegal	Gorgui	Dieng	Minnesota Timberwolves
Serbia	Nikola	Jokic	Denver Nuggets
Serbia	Boban	Marjanovic	Detroit Pistons
Serbia	Milos	Teodosic	LA Clippers
Serbia	Nemanja	Bjelica	Minnesota Timberwolves
Serbia	Bogdan	Bogdanovic	Sacramento Kings
Slovenia	Goran	Dragic	Miami Heat
South Sudan	Luol	Deng	Los Angeles Lakers
South Sudan	Thon	Maker	Milwaukee Bucks
Spain	Jose	Calderon	Cleveland Cavaliers
Spain	Juancho	Hernangomez	Denver Nuggets
Spain	Marc	Gasol	Memphis Grizzlies
Spain	Willy	Hernangomez	New York Knicks
Spain	Alex	Abrines	Oklahoma City Thunder
Spain	Pau	Gasol	San Antonio Spurs
Spain	Ricky	Rubio	Utah Jazz
Sweden	Jonas	Jerebko	Utah Jazz
Switzerland	Clint	Capela	Houston Rockets
Switzerland	Thabo	Sefolosha	Utah Jazz
Tunisia	Salah	Mejri	Dallas Mavericks
Turkey	Ersan	Ilyasova	Atlanta Hawks
Turkey	Cedi	Osman	Cleveland Cavaliers
Turkey	Omer	Asik	New Orleans Pelicans
Turkey	Enes	Kanter	New York Knicks
Turkey	Furkan	Korkmaz	Philadelphia 76ers
Ukraine	Alex	Len	Phoenix Suns
United Kingdom	OG	Anunoby	Toronto Raptors

Below please find the full list of international two-way players:

Country	First Name	Last Name	Team
Canada	Chris	Boucher	Golden State Warriors
Dominican Republic	Luis	Montero	Detroit Pistons
France	Yakuba	Ouattara	Brooklyn Nets
Puerto Rico	Gian	Clavell	Dallas Mavericks
Sudan	Mangok	Mathiang	Charlotte Hornets

 

 

 

To me, it's safe to say that basketball is missing out. The Bahamas, which has a population of 391,000 would have to NBA Top 10 draft picks in the last few year. 

The lists go deeper than just the current NBA players as more countries would be added to the list if we looked at what countries have had someone drafted in the last decade. 

Basketball is truly a global game and we should embrace it. We need to have the same pride to play for our country as soccer players. I wish we had a Basketball World Cup that drew attention like the FIFA World Cup just had.