Could Regal FC Barcelona Compete in the NBA?

The best people to ask this question would be the Lakers, who lost to FC Barcelona yesterday. From ESPN: “They played really well [Thursday], but they’re not up to the competition that we face night in and night out,’ [Phil] Jackson said. ‘But that’s not taking anything away from them. The physicality of our game, the size of our players, those are things that night in and night out are very difficult to contest.’ When informed of Jackson’s comments, Barcelona coach Xavier Pascual pointed out his team beat the Lakers and came close to doing it in the previous matchup while playing with NBA rules instead of FIBA rules. ‘If we played [in the NBA] and we changed our way of doing things, I think we would be able to compete differently,’ Pasqual said. Kobe Bryant let out an exasperated sigh when told about his coach’s opinion (‘I don’t know why he says these things some time,’ Bryant said) and then disagreed with Jackson. ‘I think they execute extremely well, they know each other extremely well, they move the ball extremely well and that’s what you’re looking for,’ Bryant said. ‘In the NBA, teams that do that are few and far in between, teams that play together as a unit. You see a lot of isolation game; you see a lot of guys going one-on-one. They do a great job moving the ball, they do a great job helping each other defensively, so I disagree, but, what do I know?'”