Compared to expectations, Susigengi got a reasonably good guess for next summer’s men’s basketball Olympic qualifiers on Monday, but the road to Paris is still very rocky. The head coach Lassi Tuovin in my words, Finland needs to be successful in order to be able to place in the Olympics.
In practice, the setup is that the others will try to challenge the reigning European champion and 2019 world champion Spain, even in front of a Spanish audience. Only one team from the qualifying group goes to the Olympic tournament. Finland faces Poland and the Bahamas in the opening group. The best two go to the semi-finals, the winners of which decide the fate of the Olympic place.
The lottery result was quite good. The current Susijeng team has memories of how to topple Poland and Spain. Finland crushed Poland in last year’s European Championship with a historic 30 points. The champion Spain, on the other hand, suffered the worst defeat in the entire EC tournament in the quarter-finals against Susijeng.
Poland was the best draw among the teams in the second basket, as was Lebanon in the fourth basket. From the fifth basket, Angola also sounds good.
However, the Bahamas were the worst possible team from the last sixth draw. However, due to continental restrictions, no other team could enter the Finnish group.
The Bahamas got an advantage through the cabinet
This may come as a surprise to many who follow less basketball, but the Bahamas can be really tough opposition even in Finland’s first group. The Bahamas is also connected to the issue of why Susijeng’s Olympic qualification can take on an even more outrageous character.
The Bahamas secured a place in the Olympic qualifying tournament from the preliminaries in the summer with the help of three NBA players. In the qualifying final, the Bahamas defeated the then world-ranked Four Argentina, where players from Europe’s top leagues were enjoying themselves.
In the qualifying final, the best scorer of the Bahamas was Eric Gordon. A veteran of 16 NBA seasons. An important player in the 2010 USA World Cup gold team.
Why Gordon, who has already played in another national team in his career and won the World Cup gold, is now allowed to play in the Bahamas national team is very special, even though his mother is Bahamian.
According to the rules of the international basketball federation FIBA, a player cannot change the country he represents after playing in a prestigious tournament in the colors of a country.
However, it is possible with the decision of the general secretary of Fiba. The general secretary can allow another country if the player transfers to a developing national team and the transfer is considered good for basketball. This decision must also have been preceded by permission from the outgoing country, in this case the United States Basketball Association.
The Bahamas already had three NBA players in its ranks: DeAndre Ayton, Buddy Hield and Kai Jones. Among them, Jones did not play in the Olympic qualifiers.
It’s still ridiculous that the country of two or three NBA players would somehow be a developing basketball country and it would be important for the sport to further strengthen it. However, Ayton and Hield are not just any players.
Ayton is the number one pick in the 2018 NBA draft. His career has not matched his booking number and Ayton has been surrounded by all kinds of noises, but he is still talked about as a tough class infielder at his best. Buddy Hield, on the other hand, has been one of the toughest three-pointers in the NBA in recent seasons.
Even more NBA confirmations?
The Bahamas can get even more NBA players for next summer’s Olympic qualifiers.
One of the NBA’s insider reporters Marc Stein said in August that the Bahamas Basketball Association would find outcould it enlist those with Bahamian ancestry by Evan Mobley, of Isaiah Mobley and by Naz Reid.
Of these players, many Finnish basketball followers remember Evan Mobley from Cleveland fondly, when he was hyped as a rookie Lauri Markkanen alongside. His brother Isaiah also debuted in the NBA last season in Cleveland. Naz Reid has played a big role in this NBA season’s sensational team in Minnesota.
Of these players, Evan Mobley still longs for the USA jersey after already playing in the Yankees jersey in the prestigious youth competition. It is also still uncleardo the trio have Bahamian citizenship or should the country’s representation be played elsewhere.
In addition to the trio, a lot has been said About Klay Thompson, about one of the NBA’s superstars. About the pitching machine that was the guarantor of Golden State’s successful dynasty in the 2010s. Thompson has also represented the United States and played a key role in the 2014 World Championship gold and 2016 Olympic gold teams. Thompson stated at the beginning of October that he was interested in representing his father’s homeland, the Bahamas.
However, like Gordon, Thompson’s playing in the Bahamas requires a similar kind of banter in the cabinets. Neither could both represent the Bahamas at the same time, as such nationality changers are only allowed to have one player.
The basket boss must keep his word
Citizenship changers have been a hot potato in international basketball for many years. At last year’s European Championships, the discussion took new turns when Spain acquired an American back man by Lorenzo Brown.
The decision drew a lot of criticism because Spain is a traditional basketball country, and Brown had never even been to Spain. He was a decisive help at many points in the EC tournament, such as the semi-final by Gordon Herbert coached against Germany.
Brown had to miss the World Cup, which went under the bench for Spain, due to injury, but has expressed his willingness to represent the country towards the Paris Olympics.
During the World Cup in September, Gordon’s case also surfaced, even though the Bahamas were not involved. The international basketball media asked the general secretary of Fiba From Andreas Zagklis About the Gordon case. At that time Zagklis assuredthat the current rule is only rarely deviated from.
– Each team may only have one naturalized player. The criteria are clear. Many associations would like to change the rule, but so far no one has proposed a better one. We stick to this rule. I know I have to use my discretion carefully or Pandora’s box will open, the Secretary General said.
Now the basketball boss must keep his word, or else the Olympic qualification could take on an even more outrageous character.