We had a look at number 8 – number 5 last week. This week we climb higher up the ladder and see which teams stand at the very top and to whom the ‘Basketball crown’ as of today belongs. Put your seat belts on and join the ride.
4. Lithuania
Lithuania is the team ranked at the fourth spot by FIBA with a total of 447 points. Basketball is the ‘National sport’ of Lithuania and the locals are just insane about Basketball and want to see their team become nothing less than ‘World Champions’ every time they compete internationally.
They emerged as the Euro Basket champions in the years 1937, 1939 and 2003 which proves their dominance at the European level. However the team where Basketball is the second religion has not been quite able to come up with convincing performances at the FIBA World level. They have won a Bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup (2010) and three Bronze medals at the Summer Olympics (1992, 1996 and 2000).
Team Lithuania has some big names in their roster like 23 year old big man Jonas Valanciunas who plays as Starting Center for the Toronto Raptors (NBA), Donatas Motiejunas who plays an important role for the Houston Rockets and Linas Kleiza playing for Emporio Armani Milano of the Italian league.
3. Argentina
Team Argentina is the South American power house of Basketball ahead of Brazil who are at the ninth spot. They are ranked at number three by FIBA with a total of 455 points. Having joined FIBA in the year 1932, they are one of the Co-Founders of the organization and have a very long and proud Basketball heritage.
They have won Olympic Gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics having shocked the World by beating the Favourites USA at the Semi Finals. They also have a Bronze medal in the year 2008. Argentina were FIBA World Champions in 1950 and ended Runners-up at the 2002 FIBA World Cup.
The team became FIBA Americas champions in 2001 and 2011. However their most dominant performances have been at the FIBA South American Championships where they have won 7 championships stamping their authority as the leader of South American Basketball, and one must note that their rivalry with Brazil in Basketball has intensified over the years.
Five time NBA championship and basketball prodigy Manu Ginobili is the first name that comes to my mind when I hear the name of the South American team. Luis Scola (Toronto Raptors), Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee Bucks), Pablo Prigioni (Los Angeles Clippers) are other world class athletes competing at the NBA level. Andres Nocioni playing for Real Madrid in the Spanish league is another important asset of the Argentinian Basketball team.
2) Spain
Having joined FIBA in the year 1934 Spain is ranked second by FIBA with a total of 705 points. Spain is considered to be the second best international team by the basketball fraternity without much of a doubt. But consistency has been the issue for the Spaniards in the recent past.
They have a line up oozing with talent with the likes of Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves) playing at point guard, Sergio Lull and Sergio Rodriguez –the two Real Madrid stars coming off the bench as Point guards! Rudy Fernandez playing as shooting guard. He is the Michael Jordan of the Euro League in my opinion. Why? Because he can simply do it all. From shooting off the arc to ball handling to astounding dunking. We also have the likes of the Gasol brothers, the two All-Stars from the NBA playing at the Post along with veteran Felipe Reyes.
However they have often failed to play to their potential and live up to expectations. The 2012 Olympics finals loss to USA, 2013 Semi-Finals loss to France, a game in which they had the lead throughout the most part and the 2014 FIBA World Cup loss to France in the Quarter finals proves the team’s inability to maximize on their talent base, an issue which the European giants will soon look to fix.
Team Spain became FIBA World Cup champions in 2006, they also have three silver medals at the Summer Olympics (1984, 2008, and 2012). However it is their performances at the FIBA EuroBasket championships that has earned Spain the name of ‘European Basketball Powerhouse’ where they have 3 Bronze medals (1991, 2001 and 2013), 5 Silver medals (1973, 1983, 1999, 2003 and 2007), 2 Gold medals (2009 and 2011).
The Basketball model of Spain is one Sri Lanka could emulate where they identify talent at a younger than usual age and invest a lot on it so that it would reap dividends later on. Rubio, Gasol, Fernandez are all Super stars making waves across the World due to that reason. And if we do so locally SriLankans could be making those waves someday soon.
1.USA
At number one spot are the undisputed kings of basketball ‘Team USA’ which is famously captioned ‘The Dream Team’. They joined FIBA in the year 1934 and have a total of 1,040 points which is only 120 points less than the sum of the total points of the second best (Spain) and third best team (Argentina) in the World! Team USA has the luxury of having the best Basketball league, the NBA, which gives the domestic players the opportunity to battle it out with the best of the best in the World thereby becoming better players.
USA is so dominant in basketball that they have won medals in all Olympic tournaments they have entered. They have won two Bronze medals (1988, 2004), a Silver medal (1972) and fourteen Gold medals (1936,1948,1952,1956,1960,1964,1968,1976,1984,1992,1996,2000,2008,2012).
It just doesn’t stop there, they have also been a top performer at the FIBA World cup having won four Bronze medals (1974,1990,1998 2006), three Silver medals (1950,1959,1982) and they are five time FIBA World Champions (1954,1986,1994,2010,2014).
I should bring to your attention the fact that USA was actually using the FIBA World championship as a means of giving young players international exposure for a long time. However the Americans’ strategy has changed overtime and now they come up with an A grade team to contest at the world championships as witnessed by the team’s convincing 2014 FIBA World championship campaign. Team USA also has five gold medals at the FIBA Americas Championships, and eight Gold medals at the Pan American games.
From a country which has produced greats such as Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James I guess you could not expect anything less than greatness. But the best part if you are a team USA fan is that the young talent level that the team can unleash in due time from the big Anthony Davis to the quick and deceptive Kyrie Irving to lights-out shooters in the Splash Brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) team USA is one scary opponent both in the past, in the present and into the future.
But as SriLankans we should take it one step at a time. We are already the second best team in South Asia. The short term goal of SriLanka basketball is to beat India at the SABA level, qualify to the Asian level; gain the exposure there and then move into the global arena. With the right goals, the right people at the helm and an unwavering determination and love for the country no dream should be too big to conquer. God bless Sri Lanka Basketball!
Join us next week at ThePapare.com to as we will be taking a dive into the FIBA World cup history, until then keep balling.
