A recruiting competition?

Schroder was born and raised in Germany.

Of all the players who have played for their "adopted" countries at Olympic or world Champs/Cup competitions only Embiid, and perhaps Kyrie Irving, come to mind as being involved in anything resembling a recruiting competition (the latter being a long bow to draw)

Schröder plays for Germany because he is German. Whitcomb plays for Australia because she got her citizenship and is eligible as a naturalized citizen and the lots playing for South Sudan, thats because they are from South Sudan

Some countries take citizenship seriously, others are happy to hire a mercenary to fill the one naturalised citizen slot that FIBA permits. It's pretty much that simple, right?
I agree it would be better if there were universal limits on the definition rather than letting each country define it.

It's a fair question

You are allowed one naturalised player on your team

South Sudan only existed 12 years ago so people like Thon Maker can apply to transfer to their country of birth if they have played for another country. Thon needs ( and seems to have ) Basketball Australia's blessing to do that.

Bul Kuol never played for Australia so simply nominates to play for South Sudan.

If Kyrie had played for Australia before USA the same applies but USA claimed him first as he played for USA first. I dont think he can claim to be Australian simply because he was born here , but that is another story.

Embiid didnt represent any country previously ( to my knowledge) and so had the pick of who he played for.

There is a FIBA rule around receiving citizenship before the age of 16 eg Mattise and Duop for the Boomers.

You cant switch countries after the age of 17 if you have played in a FIBA comp as a rule.

By the rules, all countries are allowed one naturalised player - in case of Australia it is Thybulle, if Bryce became a citizen, one of them would miss out. South Sudanese players were all born there but some do have a dual citizenship with some other countries ie Australia. Some countries allow a multiple citizenships ie USA so Embid can have 3 but can play only for one country, in this case USA. FIBA is fairly strict about this.

Luuuc - it's in the FIBA rule book and you can't compete in their competition if you don't meet their requirements. Thon Maker opted to play for Sudan but wasn't cleared in time, so yes you can start playing for one country but end up playing for someone else but it all depends on the release, so not that simple to change the countries.

And the country you initially played for has to grant that release.

Also recently FIBA have allowed some players to switch nationalities if going from a developed nation down to a developing nation but not vice versa that's how guys like Mangok Mathiang a previous Boomer was able to switch to South Sudan and Eric Gordon a previous player for the USA was able to switch to the Bahamas.

Schroder, now that had me laughing, he's as German as they come. Now countries do try and get a player, Spain had a point guard, can’t remember name, Jerome Randle again a point guard played for a euro country, Japan normally try for bigs. One per nation is fine certainly if a player has played in that country for years, Serbian guard last against the opals.

Do they need ties to that country ?

In the case of Eric Gordon for example, parents/grandparents with lineage there ?

I strongly agree with the idea to the switch to a developing nation, but I prefer it done with a link there through heritage, as opposed to just someone randomly picking a country who offers big bucks to be their naturalized player.

Dunno, "Schröder" doesn't look like a German name to me.

Theres some dodgy ones that tend to be worse when an already good team is able to recruit them. Serge Ibaka and Embiid come to mind.

"Do they need ties to that country ?"

Yes I suppose I should've clarified that.

Again I should clarify that is for the recent FIBA rule allowing players with ties/heritage to a developing nation to switch from a developed nation like Mathiang and Gordon.

The Jerome Randle playing for Ukraine or Trey Kell playing for Syria stuff is a different thing and usually done in qualifying tournaments where a player is headhunted by the national body, paid usually for a one-off tournament to switch with eligibility being waived through by that nation's government. I assume that player then qualifies under the one naturalised player allowed for all national teams.

Not against guys naturalising but am against guys wanting to "use" a country to play international basketball and naturalising when have never been in the country.

There's a difference between that and qualifying by descent.

Different countries have different decent qualification rules, some countries it's hard, other countries you can go back generations and they still except you.

Forgot the s, descent.

Didn't France give some special consideration to grant Embiid citizenship, on the expectation that he would play for France? Isn't that supposedly why Embiid has been booed and heckled to hand back his passport?

If true, both Embiid and France with dodgy behaviour. Reason for neutrals to boo both.

Embid himself was born in Cameroon, probably decided to go with the winners.

Embiid with his immense talent is soft as butter so took the easy way out.

He us far less effective outside the NBA star making machine anyway.

We have had Grace, Fisher, Loggins as naturalised players for the Boomers. They all lived and played here for a long time.

Fisher is the only one of those who didn't remain in Australia. Anyone else I missed?

With Matisse it was just lucky that he was born here, was so far off getting a game for the USA and threw his hat in the ring when asked.

Other countries like Croatia with Dontaye Draper or Randle with Ukraine just push through a player who fits their weakness.

It would be the equivalent of Australia rushing through a citizenship for Garry Clark to fill our 4 man void. I don't think that type of situation should be allowed.

"We have had Grace, Fisher, Loggins as naturalised players for the Boomers."

Pretty sure D-mac also played for the Boomers in the goodwill games in 2001

Interesting selections in junior comps being made to lock-in players to Aust. I don't agree with the approach.

I remember Kenny Smith on commentary saying to Gaze how impressed he was with his playmaking etc

Shawn Redhage made an Olympic team one year, didn't he?

Dean Uthoff and Cal Bruton also played for Australia (and both still much very involved in their respective communities)

Matisse was born in Arizona but moved to Sydney and became a citizen before 16 through his Australian mother which qualifies him to play as Australian.

Manders it does not lock them in at all. They are being selected because currently they are the best in their age group and eligible. To suggest anything else is complete BS. Not every kid who plays for Australia in junior plays for the Boomers or Opals.

Thoughts on Cambage possibly joining nigeria after playing for aus for a decade?
Nigeria already tried to get ogunbowale and the ogwumike sisters.

If I'm BA I block that release as it is not in our federations best interest.

I wouldn't have thought that a program on the rise would want to do that to themselves

BA should block that from happening - for Nigeria's sake

BA are not going to approve any transfer for Cambage.

I would be quite surprised if they did block it. If you're not interested in picking a player you don't stand in their way to get a game elsewhere.

Why would you clear a player who will then dominate you when you play each other. It's not in BA's best interest to clear Cabbage to the have her play against Australia.

How to turn a basketball program on the rise to one on the downhill spiral - give them Cabbage.

She is a nut job but still a hell of a player. You can't teach size

Next Olympics Liz will be 36.
If she goes will it be because she suddenly wants to perform with excellence or will she go because she wants to party on in the village...
If she wants to go, let her go.
Either the Nigerian program will learn a hard lesson or she will learn something in her later career years.
But yeah
I don't see her suddenly getting serious after all these years, responsibly carrying or even complementing a program and being a threat to anyone.

None of these compare to Andray Blatche receiving Filipino citizenship a mere three months after being recruited by the Gilas to play as their naturalised player. I'm not even sure if he’d set foot in the country before.

Liz was born in 91 which means she'll be 34 for the 2025 Afrobasket, 35 for the 2026 WC and 37 for the 2028 LA Olympics.
That gives Nigeria a real shot at a medal.

I'm in agreement with a lot that's been written above. We performed much better than expected for sure, but Team USA always seem to have the answers to everything thrown at them and it's been that way for a long time. Hard to see it changing. Superior quality athletes and players. But anything can happen in a game.

Hail to Borlase growing up. Getting over her obvious inexperience and the excruciating 'rabbit in the headlights' moments seen in the group stages. It was fantastic to see her show what she's made of.

Odd to see the remarks about Camabage. That luxury cruise liner sailed long ago and the management and remediation needed to keep her on course was far beyond the modest skills of the dinghy operators responsible for doing it.