Analyzing the FIBA Americas Tournament

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - Buenas Dias once more, this time from Germany!

After returning to Germany, I thought about going into detail with the participating teams and their players to finish the coverage of the FIBA Americas Tournament 2009 hosted by Puerto Rico.

The Bottom Four:

U.S. Virgin Islands

The neighboring Virgin Islanders prepared only in a short time before moving over to Puerto Rico to play the tournament. Veteran players from the past years like Jason Edwin, Kitwana Rhymer and Kevin Sheppard were mixed with new talent like Walter Hodge, Phil Jones and Gregory Washington but it never quite worked out for the proclaimed underdogs. Without a legit preparation and test matches prior to such a tournament nowadays hurt the chances to clinch a win in Puerto Rico and some of the players like Jason Edwin and Reggie Freeman played below of their potential, in case of Freeman probably because of his down winding pro-basketball career. I liked both Walter Hodge and Phil Jones, who should have a bright future in the national team that has now to rebuild and should leave the veterans off the team for the Centrobasket 2010.

Venezuela

With a great start into the tournament thanks to a surprising win over Argentina, Venezuela found its way to the bottom of the standings thanks to three shaky performances against Brazil, Dominican Republic and Panama. New head coach Carl Herrera is going to take over the job of interim head coach Nestor Salazar and probably has to count out top-scorers Oscar Torres and Richard Lugo due to their advanced age. A difficult job for the former-NBA player, as only Vasquez and Romero performed well in San Juan and might be the cornerstones of Venezuela in the future.

Panama

Although being a late replacement for Cuba, Panama survived surprisingly the first stage and won two games (Venezuela and Uruguay) but lost in the end to Mexico to be placed eighth in the tournament. It was D.J. Pinnock who scored at will but looked pretty selfish while Jaime Lloreda sometimes looked a bit rusty. Jamahr Warren played also a bigger role and put up some nice performances while being somehow not a steady contributor, looking lost at times on the court. Joel Munoz is a great point guard but is a bit undersized which makes it difficult for him to score on the drive. But his passing skills made up for that. All in all, the Panamenos should be having a good time at the Centrobasket next year if they can bring in Pinnock and Lloreda again.

Mexico

When disaster strikes... The Mexicans had a forgettable basketball-year. First, they got stripped off the FIBA Americas Tournament after not securing the necessary funds. Then, the CoCaBa Tournament produced a big controversy with Belize and its players in which Mexico played its part. Then, they were putting a lot of money into the preparation for the national team only to witness their stars Eduardo Najera and Earl Watson dropping out shortly before the FIBA Americas was going to start, leaving Mexico to modify their ambitions.
If this was not enough, Romel Beck, who started well with a great first half against Puerto Rico, turned into a ball hog and got into an argument with head coach Guerrero and was later, after the third game has been concluded, sent home to L.A. It also seemed that some of the players did not take the tournament seriously enough and their play looked rather unmotivated and amateurish then professional. In the end, Gustavo Ayon and Noe Alonzo excelled while others certainly won't be called up again.
The future belongs now to the younger players such as U.S.-based Jorge Gutierrez, Jeremiah Dominguez, Jorge Camacho as well as Hector Hernandez and Lorenzo Mata and a major re-do of the national-team is in its works.

The Mid-Minority:

Uruguay

The Uruguayos started as underdogs into the tournament, but looked great early to be upgraded to the contenders for a ticket to Turkey. This did not sit well with the team and they played a terrible second stage to drop out of the tournament right before the semi-finals. I wondered a lot about it, as I witnessed their great tem-play against Mexico and Canada, but they simply gave up a lot of good opportunities to loose all of its second stage-games, even to lower-ranked Panama. Esteban Batista was the "Luis Scola" of Uruguay, relentlessly putting up big numbers and never giving up fighting, while Aguiar, Garcia Morales and Osimani tried to be as effective as Batista but failed to do so against the likes of Leandrinho Barbosa, Luis Flores or Pablo Prigioni. It’s basically a problem with the lack of quality in the paint as Newsome is just an average scorer while the rest of the big men were pretty unimpressive.

Dominican Republic

Three NBA players plus a lot of big-time pro players staged in Europe. Still, the Dominicans failed as they played more NBA-ball then FIBA-ball and played spectacular but at times a bit ineffective as they forced a lot of 1-on-1 plays instead of passing to the open man. Horford was rock-solid in the paint while Villanueva went from cold to hot during the tournament. The barring of Francisco Garcia to play in the last games cost the Dominicans the ticket to Turkey 2010. Also, the lack of a capable point guard was apparent as neither Morban nor Flores who is a shooting guard in a point guard's body excelled on that position. Also, leaving out Sammy Mejia, Jeff Greer and point guard Edgar Sosa in favor for unknown Juan Coronado and Alejandro Flores has to be questioned as well.

The Ticket-Holders:

Canada

An up-and-down tournament concluded with a well-balanced roster and a ticket to Turkey feels like heaven for the Canadians. Its tough to figure out a star in the team as everyone of the players had a day in which they stepped up to help whether its scoring or defending or acting (Like when Kendall went down with a bloody nose in the final seconds against the Dominican Republic and Canada’s doctor plastered his nose like it was close to fall off his head). No Dalambert and no Nash helped them and maybe Carl English is on his way out too as he did not suit up for the Maple Leafs in the last two games. Officially due to disciplinary reasons...I guess he stayed too long in the club on Friday after securing their World Championship qualification which had to be celebrated in Club Brava that night.
The last two games seemed not to matter anymore and Canada went out uninspiring but happy with what they have reached in San Juan.

Argentina

The Argentinos started pretty weak and most of the journalists in the Coliseo Roberto Clemente prognosed the end of their dominance on the continent(s). But Luis Scola had something against it and played his heart out to reach the semi-finals where they eventually lost in the last seconds to Puerto Rico after some strange calls by the refs. Pablo Prigioni got his rhythm and directed the offense as well the defense visibly with gestures and a lot of talking while Kammerichs, Gutierrez and Cantero were all deadly from the three. Even though they finished third, Argentina could have even finished first as the potential and the will were there to succeed and even without all major stars like Ginobili, Herrmann, Nocioni, Delfino and Oberto, the Argentineans should be taken seriously by its opposing teams in Turkey 2010.

Puerto Rico

Soy boricua! It was tough not to root for the hosts as the unbelievable vibe in the Coliseo worked like magic on the players as they played a lot of entertaining hoops which pulled even rival fans out of their seats to applaud Arroyo & Co. Arroyo was the person in charge on the court for Puerto Rico who relegated coach Cintron into a minor role, sort of a motivator who actively cheered for support of the fans. Larry Ayuso poured three-pointers from downtown when needed the most, and Ricky Sanchez, A.D. Vassallo and Carmelo Lee were all deadly from long range too. P.J Ramos had some nice moments which also goes for Daniel Santiago while fan-favorite Guillermo Diaz was responsible for all the highlight-plays. The team deserved the championship but like in all of their games, the team started poorly into the first two quarters to bounce back in the next two quarters and Brazil kept the upper hand this time by taking revenge for the second stage-loss to the hosts.
Nevertheless, the country should be having another good outing in Turkey, although they won't have a sixth man in the fans the next time.

Brazil

Samba in San Juan! The team danced itself to the title as all players knew their roles and displayed great homogeneity and chemistry on and off the court. Moncho Monsalve really knows how to coach team-oriented basketball and even NBA-players like Leandrinho or Anderson Varejao accepted their roles within the system which involved a lot of passing and off-the-ball movement. Alex Garcia's defense and threes as well as Huertas’ court-overview helped Brazil to make it easily to the finals. Thiago Splitter did what he was supposed to do and even guys like Guilherme Giovannoni and Marcelinho Machado brought supported off the bench. Add Nene to the roster and you may have even a World Championship-contender as sky is the limit for the Brazilians.

That's all for now regarding this year's FIBA Americas Tournament, check back for more regarding international basketball soon!