The 3x3 street game is no longer just for the playground. FIBA making it a global championship is making it's push to make this game an official world game, so to speak. Can Ball Ray gives his two cents on the whole endeavour and what it could mean to Canada's basketball talent ...
When I was a kid, I remember that the highlight of my summer basketball life was playing in the big 3x3 tournament that was held at the once named SkyDome (or Rogers Center to all you now). I would play through July and part of August as training to the main event just before my school year. I always played knowing that this was the "other" kind of basketball when I wasn't playing with my ball team indoors. And that's the way it was ...
Until this summer that is.
FIBA had made a concerted effort to make the 3x3 game an official game or sorts and I think that it had done a great job doing that. This summer, FIBA made the street game official with holding a global event in Miami. Even better is that at the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Tour Canada's entry, a team from Alberta made up of current CIS players Dom Coward, Jarred Ogungbomi, Joel Frieson and Jordan Baker, fared well to end up placing third overall at the event after losing a heart breaker of a game to eventual champion Puerto Rico.
I think this bodes well for the Canada and should be looked at as a potential basketball event that we, as an emerging basketball country, can look to for a sense of pride.
In the past, we may not have had the best 12 or 15 player teams but there were always four or five guys that could be stars. A 3x3 event would have allowed for these players to have competed at a high level while also building a bond and likely boosting the profile of the game in Canada. Now I'm not saying that these teams could have dominated but there would have been a shot of some continuity of the game from summer to summer. Not having the Senior Men or Senior Women competing in the elite world events for past summers I think has cost Canada Basketball some momentum leading up to the past three summers. If this event were in place there could have been a connection to the basketball community in those years Canada was shut out of the World Championships and Olympics.
Don't get me wrong, I am a full court guy for sure. I love the idea of running up and down the court with four teammates if for anything else to get my heart going so I can keep eating my junk food. But FIBA is onto something here with the push for the 3x3 game.
The powers that be like the idea of more kids getting involved in the game and this particular games puts an emphasis on teamwork and fundamentals, more so than the 5x5 game. I couldn't agree more here. And I think that this is going to be the way that Canada can not only get more involvement but also develop more players. This will not be the end all of course but it's a springboard to the bigger picture I think.
With that being said, both the Men's and Women's U18 teams playing in the FIBA U18 3x3 World Championship as selected by Canada Basketball are off to Spain for their chance to mimic and possibly better the results that the Canada had in Miami this past weekend. I think this initiative by FIBA is another way for Canada to get it's young talent involved at a national and global level as well as getting more eyes to see the growth that our country is experiencing in this game.
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