Would that be a problem if all the talk of Australia's rising talent is coming from younger players?

Well.. No I don't think its good. it would mean Mills/Ingles/newley only get one more shot. I don't like it at all. if USA basketball no longer want to send their best, good for them, they shouldnt have say over the world.

I could understand one maybe but not both.
Make the world cup for all ages and the olympics as an under 23 with 2 mature players similar to soccer. Just a thought.

What a stupid suggestion, so that would mean all Olympians had to be 22 and under and with every 4 yrs waiting for the next so many athletes in all disciplines would miss that opportunity that many work their whole lives to get.

Can't see that getting passed no matter how much America want it. What ever happened though to purely amateur status for Olympic participants , wasn't their a rule you could not be a full time paid athlete, didn't America jack up about that many many many years ago to get their superstars into the games,
Sorry just because they think they are a super power does not give them the right to flaunt it over every other country.

Stupid. If you're among the best 12 players in your country, you should be able to represent it. Even if you are 38 years old.
The Olympics is a celebration of the best athletic talents in the world. There are junior tournaments up to U18s, you can get by on raw athleticism and ability up to that point, after that, you should have to be the best to make the team.
There's High School basketball. There's NCAA and other college basketball. Then there's professional leagues, NBA, Europe, NBL etc. Olympics should always be the equivalent of the professional leagues. Best of the best. That's what it's for, that's what it should always be.
The Olympics are once every 4 years. So kids get one chance to make the team. Some kids will be 18 when they get their one and only chance and likely will get beaten out by people 4 years their senior, then they'd never get another chance. Imagine if you are an enormous talent, LeBron James level talent, but you just happen to be injured for that one Olympics that you get a chance for. You'll never get another shot to represent your country on the world stage.

The talk has been more focused on only keeping one of these competitions open to all ages, and keeping the other one to u23 or whatever.

Wouldn't be a huge problem for us anyway because we tend to do much better on the younger levels for whatever reason, and then that success doesn't transfer to the senior men's program.

I don't care if its "the Woj" this is still just an opinion piece.

Interested parties other the NBA will continue to want this to be the biggest event it can be. If the USA want to send only younger players, that's their prerogative, but don't expect other countries to meekly fall into line. They'll continue to request that their best players (who yes, often play in the NBA) to try and grow the game of basketball in their home countries by doing well at tournaments like this.

America can choose to bring, or not to bring, whoever they like. Don't force it on everyone else, and if its important enough to an Australian, or Spanish, or French player - let them do it. Simple as that.

If you want to some how make money from the world cup or olympics, find a way to heavily involve yourself in the promotion side of things. Maybe even sponsor a team? Its a way to promote your sport internationally. Sure, NBA is already well enough promoted but I am sure they could make money off this too.

They definitely need to find a way to make the World Cup a bigger spectacle then the Olympics because at the moment it's the other way around. Not sure how else to do it without making the Olympics some sort of modified comp. works with soccer but FIFA is the biggest player in soccer where as FIBA is way smaller than the NBA.

I think if the sport really wants to grow FIBA and the NBA need to merge or have a partnership. If the NBA controls the world game it would most likely boost the excitement and entertainment factors and raise the popularity.

i also think the only way for basketball on a world scale is to shorten the NBA season and try and make basketball the same in each country in terms of rules.

If fiba or nba somehow controlled all pro seasons to some extent so all seasons run simultaneously, with scheduled season breaks at the same times etc. again much like how soccer is ran

Basketball will never be a massive deal at the cup or olympics because if the americans want to send the personnel and put in the effort they are going to win every time, so there's no excitement. They just sent their C team and won gold without breaking a sweat.

NBA or the Euroleague are always going to trump that.

This is something that the NBA owners have been pushing for a while now. They want to protect the big $$ they invest in their players. I can understand why they want to but I really hope it doesn't happen.

FIBA don't make money from the Olympics even though it is the 'premier' tournament for Basketball.

Accordingly, they undertook a conscious effort to rebrand their 'World Championship' into a World Cup. They are also in discussions with the IOC and NBA to turn the Olympics into an U-23 tournament ala Football.

I wouldn't put it past it happening. Patrick Baumann is one of the most influential sports administrators within the IOC. He knows how to work the system.

"They were the ones who had the possession arrow and everyone fell meekly into line etc etc."
The NBA had, and still has, the jump ball. FIBA moved AWAY from what the NBA was doing on that one.

You guys are still missing the point. Basketball doesn't make anything from the Olympics. All the risk is with the players and their host clubs. If the Olympics were an U23 event, then the biggest stars would suit for the World Cup making that a bigger drawing event and giving more power to basketball rather than the Olympics.

It's good for more than the US.

Did Dusty Rhychart play for the Boomers at the thing in Spain? He's an Aussie now, yeah?

Isaac, from now on the World Cup is the major qualifying tournament for the Olympics, so that aspect has already been addressed.

It is untrue to say FIBA do not make money from the Olympics. The IOC distribute quite a deal of money to participating International federations.

The issue for FIBA with this whole concept, which was first raised years ago, is what happens with the women. Its actually quite an easy decision for the men, but to have a differently structured Olympic competition for the women, is an issue of how much value is placed on the medal. IE, the women are worthy of a full age medal but the men are not.

Then there is the issue for the IOC. Basketball is a very good drawing event at the Olympics. Football draws well because it is held in Satellite cities normally but basketball is normally always staged in the host city for 16 days straight. Take away open age and you impact that.

It would make more sense to be an over 28s contest, that way if people get serious injuries during the tournament they've probably already made their millions.

And if they make WC the open comp for qualifiers for Olympics then cut that to un23 only for the Olympics that would make no sense at all, as WC teams would fill them with all the superstars of NBA and euro league, then the kids would be left to fight it out at the Olympics.

They should be two totally separate events, WC should be just that , the best in the world. Not a qualifier for anything.

Pretty sure the age restriction came up last Olympics and USA was firmly against it as it meant they had no guarantee of a medal like they do now.

There are definitely some issues for NBA owners, who take all the risk of injury to their star player, whilst FIBA benefits commercially from having said star play in their tournament.

If FIBA is making a bunch of money off the World Cup, then I think its reasonable that they compensate NBA and other teams for the risk to their players. Hopefully the powers that be will see some sense and negotiate something fair.

In the end, though, I can't see the NBA owners objections somehow forcing FIBA to revert to a 22 and under competition. Worst case scenario, the NBA owners refuse to allow their players to play and the rest of the world shrugs and keeps playing!

HO, the distributions to the International Federations by the IOC are minimal compared to the money that could be made by organising, hosting, and staging the premier international basketball tournament.

This is purely about revenue and FIBA taking ownership of the premier basketball "event", ala FIFA.

Libertine, i think you overestimate FIBA's current revenue base as well as the short to medium term revenue opportunities afforded by a world cup, especially as long as Team USA continue to rate poorly on US TV.

If the World Cup becomes a qualification tournament for the Olympics, does that mean failure to qualify for the World Cup means failure to qualify for the Olympics too?

The Olympics is an overall event that you cannot even begin to compare to worlds as far as spectator value is concerned, it's a whole different ball game hense why it gets prime time media coverage unlike world who got a halfarsed job by abc late into the night!