Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 10:05 am  |  74 responses

USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo Against Olympic Age Limit for NBA Players


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

With Team USA competing for the Gold medal in the Olympics, one issue that hangs over the London Games like a black cloud is the push from the NBA to limit the participation of its star players going forward.

David Stern and owners such as Mark Cuban are strongly advocating for a 23-and-under age limit on NBA players in the Olympics. They want to create their own money-generating international basketball tournament instead, the so-called “World Cup of Basketball”.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo is advocating for NBAers to be able to compete in future Olympics, regardless of age.

Per KTAR:

“The game comes first, money comes second,” he said at a team practice. “I’m not quite sure that’s true for all owners in sports.” Colangelo said lowering the age limit would deny NBA stars an opportunity to play for their country. For example, guard James Harden, a former Arizona State University star, would not have made this year’s team because of the age rule. “I don’t think that rule should be put into (effect),” Harden said. “That would mean that I couldn’t come back. The majority of the guys that play, the faces of the NBA, are 26 (or) 27, so that means they wouldn’t be allowed to play (either). Ultimately, the decision isn’t Colangelo’s. But he is lobbying owners not to impose the rule. He said players want to decide whether or not to play for the Olympic team.

“They love it,” Colangelo said. “I mean, it’s pretty hard to argue with something as simple as supporting the flag and representing your country.” […] Colangelo brought his expertise to Team USA at the request of Stern after the 2004 Athens Olympics, which ended with an embarrassing bronze medal behind Argentina and Italy. “At the time, the commissioner said he thought I was the only person who had the credibility and the respect of the players and people around the world because of my experience and because of my resume,” he said.

This will be a tough fight for NBA players and Jerry Colangelo to win. Regardless of the age-limit proposal’s lack of popularity, the Commissioner and the owners are determined to implement this rule (and reap the financial rewards that would follow.) And we’ve all seen what happens when a battle takes place between players and ownership (see: NBA lockout.)

So, enjoy watching your favorite NBA stars take on the rest of the world in these Olympic Games. It might very well be the last time.

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  • the box out of

    *cares

  • the box out of

    *cares

  • J-MaC

    NBK
    It’s not about having the best players, it’s about having the best team and putting the TEAM in positions to win games.. Hello Indianapolis debacle or Athens failure.
    The olympic basketball event should then be called U23 Basketball, nothing granted for the US even with good or great players on board. Just check the historical results of the Olympic Basketball event, the U19 championship or the World Cup.
    Nothing is given, to bad the spirit of sport(s) is spoiled by revenues…

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    what. the. fnck. are. you. talking. about.
    .
    .
    do you magically know how i feel about what the olympic rules should be? did i say my opinion either way, anywhere? (no)
    .
    also, cheering? you think cheering about LeBron and Kobe dunks is what matters? cheering? really?
    .
    money talks.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    that was at the box out
    .
    J-Mac – i realize what winning is about. (“The US generally has the best players at every age. Whether they all play, or how close it is to some other countries is the variable – ou can’t call yourself the best basketball team in the world, you can say we are the best team under the age of 23, but what the hell does that matter?”) but thanks buddy. like i said, this is about money and what makes the Olympic coffers the most of it.

  • Adam

    NBK, I genuinely think that the Olympics not would suffer viewer wise as much as you many think. It runs simultaneously to other events, today it had to go up against Rowing, Judo, Swimming, Skeet Shooting, Canoe, Gymnastics, Ladies Soccer,Cycling and others. When you consider that medals were being decided in each of those other events along with the varied nationalities of the competitors in each of those sports causing viewers in each individual nation to have increase interest in other sport those watching are well spread out. Basketball is my favourite sport, but the great thing about the Olympics is that there is so much going on, it’s easy to move onto something else and still be entertained. I think stern would be grossly in error if he was to believe that some kind of manufactured NBA international tournament/lowering age limits would be more beneficial to his product.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    like i said, “the idea that the Olympics wouldn’t suffer if Basketball was taken out is not right or wrong. The Olympics would still be wildly popular. But if you think it wouldn’t lose some ratings (unless it replaced it with an event that is just as popular) then you are crazy.”
    .
    see the word SOME? – idk if you meant to type “I genuinely think that the Olympics not would suffer viewer wise as much as you may think” or ” I genuinely think that the Olympics not would suffer viewer wise as much as many think” – so just to clarify, wanted to make sure you actually read what i said

  • AdamD

    You used the word ‘some’, you then said that a person would be crazy if they did not agree with that. I pointed out that i believed not as many as you may think, perhaps if i put the word ‘though’ at the end of my sentence you would have understood me more. So take it as ‘I genuinely think that the olimpics would not suffer as much as you may think though.’ This was not a shot at you, i was merely trying to pick up on your earlier point. Alright?

  • J-MaC

    NBK
    You either can’t read, are stubborn or think the US is centre of the world, go check facts. As you seem lazy I’ll give you some “cheap” links to backup what I mean. If any interest to dig deeper… I don’t see any domination here, seems pretty open to me. It will be even more relevant if we send kids to compete against men. That was my point mostly.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_Basketball_World_Cup
    I know some of those teams were assembled at the “last minute” or was composed of collegiate players and/or overseas vets.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_U-19_World_Championship
    Some players weren’t available to attend due to their agendas.

    However I get what you are saying “Generally we (USA) have the best players”, but it has often not been enough to get the top spot in any competition.

    Yeah, money talks;-)

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    you typed “I genuinely think that the Olympics not would suffer viewer wise as much as you many think” which doesn’t make sense. So i asked what you meant.
    .
    I typed SOME (“of a certain unspecified number, amount, degree, etc”) – i don’t know how you could possibly interpret what i meant by some. other than, more than 1 person. so, you either think the Olympics won’t lose ANY viewers, or you made an illogical assumption.

  • http://Slamonline.com Black Mamba

    Cosign all nbk posts

  • P

    team usa to david stern: suck it

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC03hmS1Brk Max

    This was one big F u to Stern..
    I wanted to see 30 3′s dammit.

  • AdamD

    Incorrect on your part. For a person to say ‘some’ and then for someone to respond with ‘Not as many as you may think’ in not an unusual turn of phrase where i’m from when talking statistics. Frankly some can mean any number, as you eloquently pointed out, but it depends on the context in which it’s used. You qualified your statement by saying ‘unless it was replaced by an event equally popular’. This would suggest to me that you feel significant viewership would be lost unless this ‘replacement sport’ was found, the fact that you referred to something ‘equally popular’ would suggest that in your construct basketball holds some kind of high rating in terms of viewing figures, hence why i came to this conclusion, which is logical in the terms of this whole thread. It has been suggested that basketball is the third most popular sport to play in the world. So one would believe there would be great interest in watching it. Perhaps i am wrong, but that’s how i interpreted what you said. Regardless, i feel that we are arguing over a complete non-point in terms of the conversation purely because i used your name at the start of a post in order to bring a topic to discussion.

  • LA Huey

    The Olympics survived having it’s men’s soccer tournament being downgraded, they’ll have no problem moving on if hoops left.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    I said unless an equally proper event was added, implying they wouldn’t lose ANY viewers. “None of Some” in other words. The context I’m using my comments in is perfectly appropriate and very easy to understand. As long as you actually take words at their meaning, and don’t add your own personal definitions.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    Soccer (Football), Ping Pong, Cricket, Field Hockey, Tennis, Volleyball, and Golf are all more popular globally. But that doesn’t meant they all bring in more money.

  • Allenp

    It is not about the Olympics suffering it is about the NBA getting a cut.if it is paying the players. Olympics will be fine but starting a World Cup would be better for NBA.

  • lud

    The NBA wants to setup a World Cup for basketball that they can get tangible profits from. Right now the Olympics only give them exposure, the I.O.C. keeps all the profits for themselves.

  • BigA

    I didn’t read anything. Carmelo Anthony scored an alltime US gamehigh 37 pts in 14 minutes.
    14 minutes, 10 threes.

  • BigA
  • pposse

    a world cup of basketball will never be as prestigious as winning gold in the olympics. 2,000 years down the line all Olympic records will still be there to reflect back on, not so much a world cup of basketball (i doubt). BIG PICTURE fellas!

  • pposse

    saw carmello splash like 5 threes in a row to get that record, he went off!

  • http://mozillafirefox Kay Louis

    Let’s put an age and or time limit on Stern. He is an egotistical jerk.

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