10: World basketball invades U.S.

The U.S.'s Elton Brand has his shot blocked by Spain's Felipe Reyes. AP

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The United States' domination of basketball diminished in 2002 as the sport became more globally oriented.

Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic were a few of the non-American faces that came into prominence when the basketball public wasn't otherwise occupied with the exploits of the Los Angeles Lakers, who finished the 2001-02 NBA season the same way they ended the previous two -- as champions.

Yao, a 7-foot-6 center from China, was the No. 1 pick in the June NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Yao became the first foreign player to be picked first overall, leading a parade of six international first-round picks. The Nuggets took Nikoloz Tskitishvili at No. 5, then acquired No. 7 pick Nene Hilario from the Knicks.

Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks into the second round of the playoffs, was the MVP of the World Championships while playing for Germany.

World weary It was hard deciding which was stranger: the Dream Team's three losses at last week's World Basketball Championship or the ghostly silence they inspired. A haphazard collection that included seven NBA All-Stars displayed a shocking lack of ingenuity to produce the worst finish ever by a U.S. team, sixth in the 16-team field. You'd think the fine fans of basketball-mad Indianapolis would have cared enough to boo. A total of 15,454 watched the home team's defeats -- to eventual champion Yugoslavia, silver medalist Argentina and fifth-place Spain. The losses provided bitter satisfaction to those who have complained for more than a decade about the decline in skills at all levels in the U.S. "Is the money and greed of the NBA having an effect on our competitive nature?" said U.S. coach George Karl. "Yeah." ---from "World Weary" by Ian Thomsen, Sports Illustrated, Sept. 16, 2002

Divac and Stojakovic, who were part of a Sacramento Kings team that took the Lakers to overtime in an epic Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, were members of the Yugoslav national team that won the World Championships.

Yugoslavia changed four starters after struggling in the first three games of the tournament, then peaked at the right time. Yugoslavia rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the United States in the quarterfinals, then advanced to the gold medal game and defeated Argentina 84-77 in overtime.

With thousands of flag-waving, chanting fans filling the arena in downtown Indianapolis, the Yugoslav team linked arms and danced around the court holding their trophy.

That would be the same tournament in which the United States finished sixth, losing for the first time -- actually three times -- since it began sending NBA players to international tournaments in 1992.

Many of the best Americans are now making commitments for the 2003 qualifier and the 2004 Olympics, when the U.S. team hopes to reassert its historical status as the home of the world's best basketball players.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.