The 4-Down Podcast, Episode 13: International friendly

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Tiago Splitter looks to lead Brazil at the FIBA World Championships

There’s not a lot going on regarding the NBA right now. That’s not fun. But luckily for us, this is one of those summers where international basketball is in the spotlight. The FIBA World Championships kick-off on Saturday morning in Turkey and a couple of players property of the San Antonio Spurs will take stage.

In this episode of the 4-Down Podcast, Os Davis from BallinEurope.com joins me to talk about international basketball. We cover both of the Spurs’ interests in the tournament, Tiago Splitter of Brazil and Nando De Colo of France, and the tournament itself.

I was curious why the FIBA World Championships don’t get the same amount of hype in America as the Olympics do, even though the Worlds are the basketball equivalent of the World Cup in soccer.

Os also gives podcast listeners a heads up on a handful of players to watch out for in the tournament and one international player to remember come next June’s NBA Draft.

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  • buns

    Considering euro players, the maths are simple (I don’t know for others continents):
    2011 Euro are qualifiers for 2012 Olympics. And All euro players wants to play in London.
    That’s why I’ve always said TP won’t play in this year’s Worlds and will play next year. Same for Nowitzki, and many others.

  • Menudo T Williams

    WOW! Os Davis was talking out of his ass. I mean, WOW, he may know the names of players, teams, leagues and competitions, but his analysis of the game itself was extremely poor (or lazy). Tiago Splitter shooting 3s? Nando De Colo is athletic? WOW I mean WOW!

    Plus the guy could come up for air every once in awhile…

    My rec: One and done for OS. PEACE and keep up the good work.

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    @Menudo T Williams

    The international 3-point is quite a bit shorter than the NBA one.

  • Menudo T Williams

    But seriously, look at Splitter’s stats. He jacked up a whopping 0.2 3-pointers per 40 minutes in the 2007-2008 season. In the other campaigns, that ball-hogging-let-it-fly-from-distance-Dale-Ellis-wannabe shot either 0.1 or 0.0 3-pointers per 40 minutes. And as far as making them….it doesn’t look like he made a 3 in his entire Euro career.

    Let’s just say I’d be surprised if Tiago is consistently taking shots outside 15 feet. He’s not DJB but he’s not Merlin either.

  • tmoney

    There are no Israeli troops in Lebanon. Stick to basketball.