3-ON-3 HOOPS IN SUMMER OLYMPICS?

3-on-3 hoops action in
the Singapore YOG.

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann is not discounting the possibility of including the 3-on-3 basketball event in future Summer Olympic Games. The success of the half-court game in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games in Singapore might trigger the demand to consider it for the Olympiad. The fast-pace tempo and physicality of the game impresses Baumann most, according to the Edmonton Sun.

“Yes, absolutely. It would never replace the basic basketball, it is different. It is a tournament on its own. It is not a side tournament or an auxiliary event... it is a whole discipline on its own. It couldn’t have gone any better, we are the hottest ticket in town.

“Everyone likes to come here because it is fun. All the guys from the (other) national Olympic committees have come here because they want to see their team. Too cheer, its half an hour, its fast. We wanted a fast-paced game, a physical game, a players game. We didn’t want it to be a coaches game and we wanted to make it attractive.

“You are levelling off the differences between the countries so you no longer need a deep bench of players, so it open the game to small nations. The U.S. will always be able to have 12 players of the same quality which India would not be able to have. But India can have three, four or five players who can play three-on-three and they will be at the same level as the U.S.”