NBA Commissioner David Stern wants change in approach to Olympics – NBA Update
NBA Commissioner David Stern has declared that he will be seeking a change in the Olympics model of his country after the London Olympics 2012. Stern of course wanted changes made regarding the composition of the United States Basketball team which draws
its players from the NBA.
USA goes into the Olympics every time as the favourite to win gold in basketball because of the high standard of players in the NBA. Arguably the very best in the world play in the league and it is no surprise that the USA has dominated since it sent the
Dream Team to the Olympics back in 1992.
Stern though is now proposing a model that is based on what the football world does.
"We think international soccer (football) has an excellent model and in the case of soccer, of course, there's the World Cup of football, which is the biggest sporting event in the world every four years, and then in the off years, for the World Cup, they
play, in essence, with some exceptions, a 23-and-under competition at the Olympics," Silver said.
In essence, the Olympics team that Stern wants to send from the NBA would not include the most glamorous stars in the league, thus saving them the trouble of an extra month or two of work. Stern’s idea is driven by the input from NBA owners.
Mark Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been vocal about the issue and other NBA owners also believe that additional strain is put on their players because of the Olympics. This results in injuries and weariness that hampers performance
of NBA franchises.
David thus wants to spare the top stars in the Olympics, although he doesn’t plan to do so for the FIBA word basketball championship. For the London Olympics however Stern assured that a star studded USA team would be made available, after which though he
would be looking for changes to be made.
"So what we have told FIBA and what David has announced several times is that we are all in through the London Olympics, and then post-London Olympics, we want to step back together with USA Basketball.”
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