- 17,693
- 24,875
I know everybody likes to say the world has caught up with the US, but I don’t know if that’s true. Besides Jokic and Doncic, the rest of the world has role players. The US is home to the stars/best players. Spain is washed.
I think Canada could be a threat to the US if they ever decide to put together a serious team. Their rosters are always half assed.
I think the gap is certainly smaller but I agree that the world hasn't caught up. Look back to the 92 dream team and you'll see that they were playing other teams with either no NBA players or at most 1-2 NBA players on their rosters. Now they're playing teams with 5-6 guys who are either currently or have been in the NBA. That's certainly A sign that the world is getting better.
Not to mention that the early dream teams of 92 and 96 won most of their matches before the ball was tipped. Other teams were in awe of seeing Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaq, etc. They would go out there and blow teams out by 60 and opposing players would ask for pictures and autographs because they know they'd never see those stars again . Now top NBA players are teammates with the best players from other nations.