#fiba2023

by Bert A. Ramirez / September 18, 2023

Photo from FIBA.com

Basketball’s premier test, the FIBA World Cup, has been decided, but a look at its best individual performers is worth taking for dyed-in-the-wool roundball aficionados.  After all, this is the same event where the country, no matter how early in the sport’s history it was, and its greatest player ever, Carlos Loyzaga, first gained recognition.  Remember 1954?  That’s almost 70 years ago now but it was when the Philippines, led by King Caloy, achieved a podium finish in basketball’s World Cup (still called World Championship then), a feat that, to this day, no country in Asia has matched.

And Loyzaga, The Great Difference to fans and historians alike, was then among the five best players in the world, having been named to the event’s All-Tournament Team.

Fast forward to 2023, and for the first time in its history, the FIBA has come up not only with its traditional All-Star Five but also an All-Second Team to honor this year’s best individual performers.  People now know, of course, that Dennis Schroder, by virtue of his having led Germany to its first-ever world championship, won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award, following Ricky Rubio of 2019 champion Spain who didn’t make it to this year’s competition, in winning the honors.

Schroder leads four other players on the tournament’s All-Star Five, which also includes Bogdan Bogdanovic of losing finalist Serbia, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of bronze-medal winner Canada, Anthony Edwards of fourth-placer USA, and Luka Doncic of seventh-placer Slovenia.

Photo from FIBA.com

Making it to the inaugural All-Second Team, meanwhile, are Arturs Zagars of surprise fifth-placer Latvia, Simone Fontecchio of No. 8 Italy, Jonas Valanciunas of sixth-placed Lithuania, Nikola Milutinov of Serbia, and Franz Wagner of the champion Germans.

If one would be more discerning, he would notice that all members of both teams, with the exception of All-NBA First Teamers Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic, belong to just the second tier of players in the NBA.  For that matter, Schroder and Rubio, the last two MVPs in the FIBA World Cup, are not even NBA All-Stars, and three of the players on the World Cup All-Stars – Zagars, Fontecchio and Milutinov – are not even in the NBA – yet.

But this doesn’t mean the quality of players in the FIBA World Cup is not at par with that of the acknowledged top pro league in the world.  If anything, the latest denouement of the world competition just proves two things – efficient teamwork and commitment to a system will always be an advantage in basketball wherever it is played, and, second, if one is to go with the concept of winning with the best individual players, it better be with an overpowering cast similar to the original Dream Team where the US won by an average of 45 points, the biggest average winning margin in Olympic history next only to the Bill Russell-led 1956 US team’s 53.5-point winning edge.

One, however, has to qualify that that one and only Dream Team was not only made up of great individual players – despite the fact that one, Larry Bird, was already hobbled and was in his last tournament, it turned out, before retiring – but also of players whose instincts for team play were unmatched and whose passing skills seemed to have been with them since birth.  Try Magic Johnson, Bird, John Stockton, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who averaged no less than five assists in their careers, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that this year’s FIBA World Cup standouts should be dismissed.  They deserve recognition as much as their more heralded predecessors in world competitions, whether it be the World Cup or the Olympics, and should thus be extolled.

Schroder, for one, proved that perseverance pays off in the end.  Having tied a dubious tournament record for most missed shots in a game when he shot just 4-of-26 from the floor in Germany’s 81-79 quarterfinal victory over Latvia, the 6-foot-1 point guard that has played for seven NBA teams delivered when it counted most.  He helped his team beat the US 113-111 in that fateful semifinal matchup with 17 points and a game-best nine assists, and then followed it up by scoring a game-high 28 points in the finals against Serbia, including a deft driving layup that iced the contest and the championship with 21.4 seconds left. 

Schroder averaged 19.1 points, 6.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals for the tournament as he deservedly won the MVP trophy.

Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was the most consistent player on the Serbia side, topping his team in scoring with 19.1 points while also norming 4.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals, sixth in the tournament.  He led the Serbians to their decisive 95-86 triumph over Canada with 23 points in the semifinals and had 17 points and a game-high five assists in the final.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who until he hit a rough patch against Serbia in the semifinals, battled for the tournament’s scoring championship, was one of the FIBA Worlds’ top all-around players, averaging 24.5 points, 6.4 boards, 6.4 feeds and 1.6 steals.  Gilgeous-Alexander asserted himself in that third-place game against his NBA counterparts on the US squad, putting up a big double-double with 31 points and 12 assists as he combined with Dillon Brooks to give the Canadians that historic first-ever podium finish.

Edwards, who assumed the role of primary scorer for the Americans with the absence of such guys as Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, led the US with 18.9 points while also averaging 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals.  He had a personal high of 35 points in a meaningless 110-104 loss to Lithuania in the second round.

Doncic was the tournament’s top scorer with an average of 27.0 points per game as he became the only player to score 200 points in this year’s games with 216.  This is besides averaging 7.1 caroms and 6.1 assists and finishing third in the games in steals with 2.5 per contest.  The Dallas Mavericks’ franchise star had 29 points, 10 rebounds, eight handoffs and three steals as the Slovenians salvaged seventh place with an 89-85 victory over Italy.

The All-Second Team, on the other hand, may not be that star-studded but it’s made up of players who were no less impactful in determining their team’s fortunes.

Zagars, for example, must have made a lot of heads turn by leading Latvia to a surprising fifth-place finish despite missing top player Kristaps Porzingis.  Zagars, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged 12.4 scores and a team-leading 7.4 assists, orchestrating the Latvians’ team-oriented style that saw five of them average double figures in scoring and, most importantly, coming up big in the clutches.  In Latvia’s surprising 98-63 blowout of Lithuania for fifth place, for example, the 23-year-old Zagars set a World Cup record with 17 assists without a single turnover.  But Zagars’ coming-out party came during that heartbreaking 81-79 quarterfinal loss to Germany, during which he was red-hot with 24 points on 9-of-17 floor shooting while passing for eight assists, both game highs.

Fontecchio, meanwhile, normed 18.0 points and 5.6 rebounds as he continued to be one of Italy’s premier players.  In that 78-76 comeback win over Serbia, for example, which dealt the Serbians their only loss in the tournament before the finals and clinched for Italy a quarterfinal slot, the 6-7 Fontecchio had a game-best 30 points, seven caroms and three assists, hitting what turned out to be the marginal basket with 33 seconds left.

Valanciunas led Lithuania in both scoring and rebounding, finishing with norms of 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds, which ranked sixth in the tournament, while also averaging 1.3 blocks.  The 6-foot-11 center, now with the New Orleans Pelicans, became only the second player after Jose Ortiz of Puerto Rico to have recorded multiple double-doubles in three World Cup tournaments since 1994.

Milutinov, meanwhile, was the second-best player on the Serbian team as he averaged 12.1 points and a team-best 8.4 boards.  The seven-foot center, who plays for the Greek League squad Olympiacos, provided Serbia its primary option inside in these games with his 66.1 percent shooting from the field.

Wagner, who injured his ankle right in Germany’s first game against Japan and subsequently missed the next four games, earned his slot for having been instrumental in the Germans’ historic championship triumph.  He averaged 16.8 points, a team-best 6.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in the four games he played for the Germans, and it may be safe to say that his team wouldn’t have finished on top had he not recovered.   The 6-foot-10 forward, a two-year veteran with the Orlando Magic, played a crucial role in Germany’s 81-79 quarterfinal victory against Latvia, taking over when Schroder struggled with just nine points as he led his team with 16 points and eight caroms.  He also scored 22 in his team’s semifinal triumph over the US and, finally, capped his memorable campaign with 19 points in the championship match.

For the first time in the World Cup, the tournament has also come up with awards for the Best Defensive Player and Best Coach, and winning these seminal honors are Dillon Brooks of Canada and Latvia headman Luca Banchi.

Brooks, the feisty former Memphis swingman in the NBA now with Houston, was the primary defensive force for Canada, helping the Canadians to a crucial 100-89 victory over Doncic and Slovenia in the quarters with his physical one-on-one defense and holding down the US’ potent wing scorers in their 127-118 overtime victory over the Americans to clinch a historic bronze medal even while burning the hoops in this one with a tournament-high 39 points, including 7-of-8 from three-point range.  

Banchi, of course, might have done the most with the least by leading an undermanned but gallant Latvian squad to fifth place in its first-ever World Cup.  With Banchi orchestrating the Latvians, the latter showcased a beautiful brand of team basketball that saw them average 24.4 assists throughout the tournament, the most among the eight quarterfinalists and third among all teams, as they bucked the absence of Porzingis while overcoming a lot of other talented, more loaded teams.

This year’s FIBA World Cup might not have seen the best players right now with the missing NBA superstars from the game’s cradle, the US, along with what arguably may be the best big men in the world today, Nikola Jokic of reigning NBA champion Denver, who could have made a huge difference in Serbia’s campaign, and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee, who could have provided Greece an irresistible force on the floor, as well as such other stars as Jokic’s Nuggets teammate Jamal Murray of Canada, Domantas Sabonis of Lithuania, Al Horford of the Dominican Republic and this year’s top NBA draft pick Victor Wembanyama of France.

by Bert A. Ramirez / September 12, 2023

Members of the champion German team that includes tournament MVP Dennis Schroder (holding trophy) and coach Gordie Herbert (in glasses at right) celebrate after receiving their championship trophy.  (Photo from FIBA.basketball)

Germany has made history.  The Germans won their very first world title of any kind when they held off Serbia 83-77 in a fitting climax to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup last September 10 before more than 12,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.

It was undoubtedly a breakthrough triumph for a team that’s in the middle of a three-year program, winning a championship even before it sees that program come to its full cycle in next year’s Olympics in Paris.  But the Germans wouldn’t have it any other way.  With Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner leading the way, they finally achieved what their great predecessors Dirk Nowitzki and Detlef Schrempf could not: win a world championship.

And they did it in the best possible way by finishing with an unbeaten record, winning all eight of their games even as the rest of the 32-team field lost at least twice.

“It's an unbelievable group,” tournament MVP Dennis Schroder said of his team. “It's unbelievable going 8-0.”

Dennis Schroder drives against the Serbian defense in the FIBA World Cup championship game.  (Photo from News.CGTN.com)

Germany coach Gordie Herbert, who took the job in 2021 and built a close relationship with Schroder, was ecstatic that their partnership has borne fruit.  “It's a little bit of a surreal moment,”

Herbert said.  “It's like I told the players.  It's a tremendous group of players, but we were a team first.  Guys cared about each other and they challenged each other.”

The finals that featured several runs from both teams lived up to its billing despite the absence of top favorite and basketball mecca US.  The Serbians took a 26-23 lead after one quarter but the Germans tied it up at the half.  But after the game’s last deadlock at 51-all with 6:52 to go in the third quarter, the Germans ignited a 13-2 run capped by Moritz Wagner’s layup even as Serbia’s guns went cold to take a 64-53 cushion 4½ minutes later.

The Serbians had to play catch-up from there as they trailed by 12, 69-57 at the end of the third.  The Eagles were not finished though.  They would ride a spectacular fourth-quarter performance by guard Aleksa Avramovic to make a game of it.  Avramovic scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the period, hitting 10 of them in a span of three minutes, 10 seconds to bring Serbia to within 73-69 with still 4:50 to play.  His three free throws then put Germany within three at 78-75, time down to 1:21.

But the former Yugoslavian republic could not take advantage of a steal by top star Bogdan Bogdanovic as Marko Guduric missed a tying three-pointer with 56 seconds left.  After a split from the line by Schroder, who led all scorers with 28 points, Guduric made up for that miss with two free shots to make it 79-77 going into the last 39 seconds.

But Schroder iced the game by craftily penetrating the lane and making a layup with just 21.4 seconds left, and the Serbians would finally see their championship hopes die out as Avramovic, worn down by his earlier heroics, shot an air ball from long distance and Guduric would turn it over with 13 ticks remaining.

The defeat sent Serbia to its third bridesmaid finish in the last four major international tournaments.  The Serbs also lost in the finals of the FIBA World Cup in 2014 against the US and bowed to the Americans in the gold-medal game in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.   They finished fifth in the 2019 FIBA World Cup in 2019.

But the Eagles seemed destined for such a finish from the start.  Starting power forward Borisa Simanic was lost for the rest of the tournament in Serbia’s third group-stage game, a 115-83 win over South Sudan, after taking a blow to his midsection and had to have a kidney removed during an emergency surgical procedure.  Starting guard Ognjen Dobric, meanwhile, had to be carried off the floor in the championship game after just 2:20 after injuring his ankle, and never returned.

The Germans, however, would take it any way it could to win a historic first world championship.  After all, their previous best finish in the tournament, or any other world competitions, was when the greatest player in their history, Nowitzki, the former Dallas Mavericks superstar, led them to a bronze medal in the 2002 edition of this tournament.

“They deserved this win,” Serbia coach Svetislav Petic himself conceded.  “They played 40 minutes at a high level.”

And even Nowitzki himself wouldn’t mind.  Tweeting on X (the former TWITTER), Nowitzki said, “World champions!!!  Incredible!  What a team!!!!”

What a team, indeed.

Franz Wagner, the Germans’ second-best player in the tournament, shoots over Nikola Jovic of Serbia during the finals.  (Photo from News.CGTN.com)

by Bert A. Ramirez / September 11, 2023

Jalen Brunson of Team USA is stymied by Isaac Bonga of Germany in their semifinal matchup won by the Germans.  (Photo by Dante Diosina Jr. of Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The United States basketball team, which was expected, as it always is, to take home the championship in this year’s FIBA World Cup no matter how its all-NBA aggrupation is configured, finished without a medal after being beaten by Canada 127-118 in overtime in their bronze-medal game to fall out of the podium for the second straight World Cup competition.

The Americans not only fell to a less loaded Germany in the semifinals but also ended up medalless by being unable to overcome a history-making Canadian team despite a miraculous three-pointer by Team USA’s Mikal Bridges with six-tenths of a second left that forced their game into overtime.

So what happened to the bastion of the sport, the game’s undisputed stronghold to fail to even get on the podium?  Simply saying that the rest of the world has caught up doesn’t tell the whole story.

First, the lack of time to play together has always given Team USA a problem.  Unlike European teams, for example, whose nucleus play together every summer for years on end even in the case of those who have commitments to professional leagues, including the NBA, the Americans can’t do that, resulting in a lack of chemistry inside the court.  Take note, “inside the court,” and not in the locker room as in the case of this US team whose players obviously liked each other.

Team USA revelation Austin Reaves defends against Nickeil Alexander-Walker of Canada in their bronze-medal game won by the Canadians for their first-ever podium finish in the FIBA World Cup.  (Photo from Agence France Press via Getty Images)

US coach Steve Kerr admitted to this problem but said there’s no clear solution to it.  "I'm not sure how you would do that," Kerr said.  "If you want to ask the same 10 guys to play every summer, I think that's very unrealistic.  I love being part of USA basketball.  I think our players really enjoy it as well.  And part of the deal is you pass the baton."

Jerry Colangelo, who was at the helm of the men’s basketball team as its managing director for 16 years until the 2021 Tokyo Olympics before Grant Hill took over, also wanted players to make a commitment similar to what their European counterparts do, even if for just a few years, but that apparently did not work out.

So what has happened is that in this FIBA World Cup, only the second-tier players were generally available as those who led Team USA to the gold medal in the last Olympics, like its top two scorers Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, apparently begged off.  This has got to stop if the US is to avoid a continuous slump in the FIBA World Cup.

 “This issue is the biggest challenge to American basketball supremacy since the Dream Team,” ESPN senior writer Brian Windhorst, who came over to Manila for the FIBA Worlds, said.  “It isn't a new problem, but it's a real one.  And unless the US brings its premium and older perimeter talent –Stephen Curry hasn't played for Team USA since 2010, LeBron James hasn't since 2012, Kevin Durant has skipped the past two World Cups -- the burden to overcome this challenge is getting higher.”

Corollary to this issue is also the quality of big men the US has been able to present against opposing teams.  In this tournament, the American bigs were clearly outmanned by their counterparts.  In their games against Montenegro, Lithuania and Germany, for example, the Americans were “outsized,” in the words of Windhorst, inside, giving up 53 offensive rebounds and 64 second-chance points.  No wonder Team USA had to come from behind a double-figure deficit against the Montenegrins before winning by 12 points and lost to both Lithuania and Germany.

Illustrating the disparity in play between the US bigs and those of their counterparts is that crucial semifinal game against the eventual champion Germans, where Daniel Theis had a total of 21 points and five rebounds against the combined 13 points and five rebounds of Team USA’s Jaren Jackson Jr. and Bobby Portis Jr.

Jackson is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA and Paolo Banchero, this year’s Rookie of the Year, is no wimp either but it’s obvious they still need a lot of seasoning in order to measure up, nay, overpower their European rivals, particularly as the defense in the international game has become more physical compared to the NBA where the no-hand-check rule has turned the league into what some say is a “soft” league.

Still, there are some who’re saying that Team USA’s All-Star coaching team of Kerr, Erik Spoelstra and Tyronne Lue might not have maximized their lineup enough to get the most of the team.  Kevin O’Connor, for one, said that seven-foot Walker Kessler, the No. 4 shot blocker in the NBA with 2.3 per game as a rookie with the Utah Jazz, did not get enough floor burn, averaging just eight minutes of playing time throughout the competition.

“Not playing Walker Kessler was a massive mistake by Team USA,’ O’Connor said.  “Kessler is an elite rim protector and rebounder, and we saw all season in Memphis how Jaren Jackson was way better at the ‘four’ next to Steven Adams.  Things would’ve slotted better into place with this lineup.”

Of course, the presence of Bam Adebayo of Miami and Brook Lopez of Milwaukee, to name just two, would have made a big difference for the US at the power slots.

But polishing things up at the seams might also do just so much considering the way European teams play nowadays, utilizing a system of good, precise ballhandling as well as player and ball movement to go with a combination of defenses that can stymie the one-on-one style NBA players are fond of.  And that can only be made possible for the Americans if they – both players and officials alike – come together to commit to a program that will make such a system and style of play possible, which means spending the time that their rivals do every offseason. 

Anthony Edwards of the US tries to elude the defense of Canada’s Kelly Olynyk and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.  (Photo by Dante Diosina Jr. of Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Bottomline: The Americans may still be the best players in the world but short of overpowering opponents with an All-NBA Team lineup (which is different from a mere all-NBA squad), there’s no realistic way for them to consistently dominate anymore except through such a system that gives more premium to precision and teamwork.