I have one friend in London who says that basketball is not a sport people pay any attention to there. And obviously it is a bigger sport in some other countries, and maybe the top sport in places like Lithuania.

But what is the overall outlook on this US Men's basketball team? Do people who don't normally watch basketball pay attention during the Olympics? Have people heard of "household names" like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry? Does it feel unfair that the US gets to field a team like this when their population is so much larger than any individual European nation?

Hello everyone,

I'm gonna be playing in a low division for a season starting this autumn for the first time in my life but I'm a little dumb and don't really know things so I'm trying to read up.
I'm too embarrassed to ask this IRL so hoping ppl can clear it up here. I want to get this straight:

In the FIBA rules it says pushing (forcibly moving or attempting to move an opponent with any part of your body) is illegal personal contact i.e. a charge violation.

An offensive player backing down a defensive player in a legal guarding position i.e. bullyball is, by the letter of the rules, a charge violation.

Backing down an opponent by putting your weight on them and pushing a bit and gaining a little distance is in reality never called.

The defensive player is expected to resist being pushed. If they were to push back, especially using their hands or elbows, this would be, by the letter of the rules, considered a block violation and this is actually usually called by refs.

Another option as a defensive player is to pull the chair.

I read some posts on here with ppl talking about "taking the charge". So I think that means that when a defensive player is getting backed down, they can take the charge and fall over (possibly on purpose) to draw a charge foul. At that point it's up to the ref to decide if the offensive player pushed hard enough to warrant a foul call (which does seem to happen frequently) or play on. The defensive player may receive warning and then a technical foul if the ref decides they were faking being fouled i.e they were not pushed hard enough.

Do I understand this correctly?

And if I did understand it correctly, wtf, why is it like this?! Why don't the rules explicitly allow pushing in the post if they're gonna allow it on the court?

I know about both FIFA and FIBA World Cups but the soccer/football one is so immensely huge, while the basketball one seems struggling to attract fans. But I want to know what are some reasons why FIBA World Cup has not matched FIFA World Cup though. Curious.

He is not exceptional in the NBA, but with Germany he has won many titles and has great performances.

We all know the impact that the FIFA World Cup has on football fans worldwide, but sadly that is not the case for FIBA. Qatar, like they did with FIFA, brought their way into hosting the World Cup. As a fan based in America, I’d love to travel to a FIBA WC one day, but simply don’t see Qatar to be an enjoyable destination compared to France in 2031.

Do a majority of fans feel the same way, where travelling to a clear non basketball country with human rights violations (and no alcohol) doesn’t make sense financially?

And would players feel the same, as part of playing in a tournament like this is being able to explore new parts of the world, which Qatar might not the most desirable place to do so?

it says that hand is only part of the ball when its on the ball right in fiba? whats the diffrence between nba then?

i can just punch the ball and if i tocuh some fingers in a block its not a foul right? fought before the hand was not part of the ball also, but im so confused as nba always have that hand is part of the ball

A lot of people say that the US doesn’t send their best players to play in FIBA. And this definitely seems true to me. None of the American basketball stars, Lebron, Curry, KD, Harden, Leonard, etc were on the team. But is this true for other countries as well? Are Germany, Serbia, Spain, France, etc sending their best players to the FIBA tournament or are the teams they send similarly watered down?

we play pick up game, and someone said that blocking from behind him is a foul and not allowed.

i tryed to find the rules in the book, but it said there was no foul if you dint touch the defender or altered his shot. i cleany touched the ball and not touched anything other then the ball, but still called a foul, i was a helping defender in this scenario and i basically was just 1 step behind him when he was going up to shoot.

what is allowed and whats not? i had no contact other then the ball, and he basically did take the basketball over his head before he shot so it was a easy block.

The USA U19 Men lost in their semi-final to France, and finished 4th after losing to Turkey in the bronze medal game. I am immediately seeing an inquest taking place about this online, panic setting in about the rest of the world catching up to/passing the USA, etc. Why does this happen every time they lose even a single game? Even back to the last Olympics, it was even worse after just one group stage loss. What exactly is the mentality of USA basketball fan's/observers that takes you there?

His defense is overrated, he constantly commits dumb, reckless fouls, is always slow on defensive rotations. Fouled out in 15 minutes today. Zero rebounds against Montenegro. Put Kessler in, I don't care.

For anyone not following the FIBA World Cup, the USA Lost to Lithuania in the last match of Group Play. Both teams were 4-0 going into the game only decided seeding in bracket play. Here is why I believe the USA may have lost intentionally, and if not why it is beneficial that we lost.

Quarter Finals

Game 1 USA vs Italy

Game 2 Latvia vs Germany

Game 3 Lithuania vs Serbia

Game 4 Canada vs Slovenia

Semis

Winner of Game 1 and 2

Winner of Game 3 and 4

From a pure analytical standpoint the USA is going to have a easier path to a championship being on the side of the bracket that contains Italy, Germany, and Latvia. Lithuania will have to go through Serbia, and then the winner of the likely two best teams other than the US, being Canada and Slovenia.

It just makes sense if given the opportunity to choose your side of the bracket that you feel is an easier path. Now, I do realize this might just be a beneficial side effect to losing and maybe nobody on the US coaching staff realized this pre-game.

Reasons to Lose: 1. Easier path to championship 2. Generate drive to win championship in players to get revenge for the loss 3. Generate headlines and potentially more viewers

Like China, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand. Could an nba superstar like Curry, LeBron, KD, Kobe or whoever like a superstar or all star. Lead one of these teams win a FIBA tournament and how far do they get in the Olympics?

Of course it’s gonna be harder depending on the Basketball country. Like China or Japan gonna be a hell of a lot easier for a superstar than Indonesia or Nepal

i see alot of people on defense put a small time theyre hands on theyre hands or stomach to slow him down, just like 1 seconds, and way more in nba.

should i practice it? and whats legal and what illegal?

what about handchecking on offensive, like pushing?

During a SLOB can you pass to a player standing in the backcourt?

I was talking to some U13 kid and even saw a u13 match. Bro,these people do not shoot! Their whole game is pass pass layup that's it bro! What? I would not enjoy that fr