FIBA Versus the NBA

Many of us are used to the NBA as default basketball. But FIBA has spawned many talented players and many believe education in basketball fundamentals are superior elsewhere. Here's to sharing some well-known and lesser-known info. 

Non-American born players have greatly impacted the NBA. NBA MVPs born outside CONUS included Tim Duncan (2), Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Nash (2), and Dirk Nowitzki.

The US has dominated FIBA/Euroleague teams through the years, but to a lesser degree away from the US. 

From Wikipedia

What are the differences between the NBA and FIBA? 

1) Game length, 48 minutes versus 40 minutes 

2) Court dimensions. 
    a) 94 by 50 feet versus 92 by 49 feet
    b) 22' versus 21'8" in the corners
    c) 23'9' versus 22'1.75" on the arc
3) Six versus five fouls per player for disqualification
4) Goaltending (ball on rim) versus touching after the ball hits the rim
5) Zone defense - NBA with defensive 3 seconds, FIBA with no restrictions
6) Timeouts, 6 full, 1 x 20-second timeout per half, versus FIBA 2 first half, 3 second half in FIBA, all called by the coach, all 60 seconds
7) Jump balls...NBA has jump balls and FIBA uses alternating possessions, like college
8) FIBA disallows T-shirts underneath game jerseys.

Strategy. 

1) During Olympic play, we saw foreign teams foul to stop fast breaks. 
2) Shorter games deemphasize depth. 
3) Many FIBA teams were built around the perimeter game. That has relevance both offensively and defensively (running players off the line). 
4) Refereeing is widely considered inconsistent. There is more emphasis on traveling and flopping is seldom rewarded. 

Offense.

We sometimes complain about the historical overabundance of ball screen and isolation offense in the NBA. Fair or not, I think of ball movement with FIBA. 

 


Serbia highlighted some slick passing against the US during the Olympics. 


Does the Spurs' exceptional ball movement reflect the influence of foreign players like Ginobili, Parker, Mills, etc.?