Greeks, Afros, Olympics—and What the Heck is a FIBA?

The Dream Team is often hailed as saving USA Basketball, as if it was in some sort of funk, but nothing could be further from the truth—before 1988, USA Basketball had finished as low as second once in all of its history.

Back in the summer of 1988, the American team flew into Seoul with a staggering 86-1 record in the Olympiad—its lone loss being the controversial 1972 Munich Gold Medal Game (using controversial here may be the understatement of the century).

A team of plucky collegiate superstars, led by David Robinson, not only failed to bring home the Gold, but failed to make it to the Gold Medal game, 'only' earning Bronze. (Speaking of which, how the heck did 1988 Yugoslavia—with Toni Kukoc, Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, and Dino Radja—not win the Gold Medal game?)

Back in America, it was time for change, and not of the political variety. With FIBA—the International Basketball Federation, but the acronym is French, because the French love running sports leagues for everything for some reason—allowing American professionals to participate for the first time in 1989 (non-American pros were already allowed), and American resentment sky-high following the perceived embarrassment of a loss in 1988 to Cold War-foe Soviet Union, the path to Gold was clear like never before.

What followed in 1992 was the ruthless slaughter that Americans had been hoping for, like how you feel when your team just bludgeons a hated rival into submission—it never gets old. The Americans, leaving nothing to chance, enlisted the aid of the NBA’s most dominant figures—Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, and Magic Johnson, just to name a few.

When the dust settled, the world collectively shuddered.

But what might be expected to stunt the growth of non-American basketball may have actually had the opposite effect. Following the 1992 Barcelona games, the NBA has received not only a growing number of international-born players, but these players have made increasingly significant impacts—and this trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

You know the culprits, as do I—they’re literally household names, now. Manu Ginobili placed fifth in the MVP voting this year, a year after Dirk Nowitzki won the award. And he only wrested the trophy away from Steve Nash, who held the league’s highest honor for two years straight.

Yao Ming is a potential Hall of Famer in Houston, and AK47 is already popular enough to have a nickname. Don’t forget about Finals MVP Tony Parker, who has transcended basketball to become a legitimate American celebrity—although there’s a very attractive reason for that one.

Just as the wave of foreign prospects and All-Stars shows no sign of cresting, we’re hit with the latest bombshell—Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Childress has accepted an offer from Greek powerhouse Olympiakos (3 years, $20 million). The best part? As soon as the story (rumor) breaks, pundits nationwide estimated that the wave has already crested, flattened, rolled back out like the tide, and is now headed back the other way.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?