The Dilemna Facing Asian Ballers

The lopsided result of prevous night's game between South Korea vs. Team USA highlighted the 'real' problem facing Asian ballers - lack of height . Althought young generations of Japanese, Koreans , Chinese and Filipinos are sprouting like mushrooms , these youngsters still lag behind their western counterparts . The Chinese has an advantage in this area because there is large pool of players to choose from (see previous post) . The only other large source of big ballers in Asia is India. India's population is almost as big as China with some parts of it producing extra tall people. However , it's basically a cricket country which obviously is a British influence . Let's see if KG's recent trip there produces some results. The Middle Estern countries although some of them are producing ' big breeds ' are soccer crazy nations.

Ed Macauley the former NBA great who used to conduct clinics in Asia years ago was asked by a Filipino sportswriter if Asians have a chance to be a power in basketball . Easy Ed supposedly replied ' A good small team can beat a tall team ' . That's another problem . The tall team is also good if not better ! Legendary us coach Hank Iba once called the Filipinos the ' best baller pound for pound '. In the Rome Olympics , its national team held the US Team composed of Jerry West , Big O and 8 other future NBAers ( this US Olympic team was considered the best team outside of the Dream Teams ) to a 25 points margin ! After facing the futility of the situation years after that statement was made , the Philippines began recruiting Filipino-Americans to play for the country . Now it's national team is composed mainly of former US NCAA Players. This is the best thing Asians can do rather than adopt the Nazi's selective breeding . Yao Ming some say is the result of that ( an extra tall Mom and Dad ) .


Iba : Let's show these dwarfs !