I checked the file cabinet here at the Sparty & Friends headquarters that’s labeled theories that are assumed to be true but have yet to be proven a little while ago and found that there’s sufficient evidence to sweep one up and toss it out with the trash.  Remember all that noise about how the involvement of NBA players on the USA Basketball team and playing in the Beijing Olympics was going to wear out those players and reduce the quality of the NBA?  Yeah, I had forgotten about that too. 

Mrs. Mizerle06 mentioned something about the Olympics during one of the Magic’s lucky wins over the Cavs in Cleveland, and that got me to thinking, “Hmmm, D-Ho played on the Olympic squad…so did Lebron and Kobe and Melo.  If I’m counting right, that’s a star player from each of the only teams left in the NBA postseason.  Hmmmmm.“  Then I said to myself, “Wait a sec, Miz (yes, I talk to myself in third person, blogger nickname…is that really like sixth person or something?), Pau Gasol played in the Olympics for Spain, as did Linas Kleiza for Lithuania.”  By the way, for those of you who aren’t as big a fan of Kleiza as I am, he plays for the Nuggets and averages 6.8 ppg during 12 of the ‘08-’09 postseason games in which he’s seen court time.

Sorry for the Kleiza tangent…back to the point that the Olympics were supposed to hurt The Association.  From Michael Wilbon last year:

The Beijing Olympics begin in two months, and for the fifth time NBA players will compete. The U.S. team again will have only professional players, to the delight of NBA Commissioner David Stern, but to the detriment of the league, if you believe skeptics such as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Lakers Coach Phil Jackson.

PJax’s words (from Wilbon):

“We’ve tried to chase the gold in the Olympics and the World Cup,” he said. “I just think we’re taking some of our best players and putting them in positions where it’s tough for them to continue to play. I thought it hurt [Spurs star Tim] Duncan the year they went to Greece [2004]. I think San Antonio asked [Manu] Ginóbili to not play this year in the trials and he didn’t participate with the Argentina team. . . .

Kobe [Bryant] and I talked. . . . We were plotting out the real scenario from here on out for his career about the protection of his career. You know, taking care of his body, resting when he has to rest, and not doing an undue amount of work without cause or purpose.”

Jackson is using the broad career physical health issues to dissuade the use of his star players – Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol - in the Olympics.  If Kobe has a limp when he’s 45, are we to blame that on a couple of offseasons worth of Olympic training and games or the 20 year NBA career?

Cuban’s words (from Wilbon):

“I’ve said it before and I will say it again: The NBA is making a huge mistake by letting our players participate in the Olympics and its qualifying competitions.”

In a recent conversation about the Olympics, Cuban, too, worried about the physical toll on the players. He fretted over the health of Dirk Nowitzki, Germany’s best player, as Jackson did Bryant.

Cuban uses his distaste of NBA global marketing to support his fear that his investments – a.k.a Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd – will be hurt.  Cuban also used his blog to keep whining about it.

Here’s the links where I got the Beijing participants: USA Basketball roster and NBA players on international Olympic rosters.  Let’s check out how well the NBA teams fared whose players were on Olympics squads:

*These teams are still battling it out in the Conference Finals.  Two will advance to the Finals and one will be Champion.
ED Note: As a commentor correctly pointed out, Nocioni was traded from the Bulls midseason.  He finished the year with the Kings.  Also, another commentor correctly pointed out that the Jazz were only a First Round team, not a Second Round team.  The previous table I created stated both of those facts incorrectly and the new table has been updated to reflect the changes.  Feel free to peruse the comments and check out my responses to a couple here and here.  Back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Only three NBA Playoff teams were not represented in Beijing: the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, and Phildelphia 76ers.  Also, only 5 of the 18 NBA teams represented in Beijing did not make the Playoffs: the LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Toronto Raptors.

The NY Times headlined a midseason article by saying “For Some NBA Players, Effects of Beijing Still Linger“.  The key word in the headline is “some” as the rest of the article seems to point out that, to most players and coaches, the negative effects are not noticeable and may not even exist.

So, if 13 of the 16 ‘08-’09 NBA Playoffs teams - including all four Conference Finals teams - had star players that suited up in Beijing, seems to me like the hypothesized wear and tear didn’t effect the players.  In fact, I’d argue that the strict Olympic practices, qualifying games, and Beijing games helped the NBA stars by keeping them conditioned and game-ready throughout the NBA offseason. 

Mizerle06 is a senior writer and editor here at Sparty & Friends.  His email is mizerle@spartyandfriends.com.  Do what you wish with that information.

Popularity: 2% [?]