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Underrepresented. That's what the young adults of America are. Tired of hearing about your Philadelphia 76ers in the traditional format? Generation NEXT gives you a perspective of Philly basketball from the voice of America's youth. by Steve Robbins

Team USA struggled during this summer's "Worlds" competition. Nathaniel S. Butler/ NBAE/ Getty Images

Anyone who watched this summer’s FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis probably had one of two reactions. Either he/she was excited to see the rest of the world finally give the United States some competition on the basketball court or was totally disgusted by a lackluster effort by the US squad that featured selfish play, immaturity, and lots of pouting (I’m looking at you, Jermaine O’Neal). I fall somewhere in between.

As a basketball fan, I am ecstatic to see the game truly going global. International ball was always interesting to watch…just when the United States wasn’t playing. I don’t care who is on the court; I’d rather watch Oprah in Spanish than a basketball game where the winner is a given.

As an American, I was horrified by our countries’ representatives playing with all of the fire and passion of a pre-calculus class. The only emotions showed by the team were pity and self-loathing after losing to Argentina, Yugoslavia, and Spain, thus falling to 6th place in the tournament’s standings, way out of medal contention. This is why the recent news of Larry Brown being on the "short-list" as the next coach for US Men’s Basketball in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece has me genuinely excited.

Who better to fix US men’s basketball than a coach who relies on a systematic, tightly run approach for his teams’ success? In his 21+ years as an NBA coach, Brown’s teams have depended on teamwork and unselfish play to win, and oh, have they won. Brown is 4th on the NBA’s all-time coaching wins list, entered the Hall-of-Fame this past year, won a National Championship with Kansas, lead a battered 76ers team to the NBA Finals and most astonishingly, actually took the L.A. Clippers to the playoffs.

Brown also has experience with international ball. He was on the 1964 gold medal-winning Olympic team and was an assistant coach to Rudy Tomjanovich with the 2000 team in Sydney, Australia. This is why Brown probably has this burning desire to coach the US team. He was probably more embarrassed with this past US team’s performance at the Worlds than the actual players.

Brown, who served as an assistant coach for the 2000 U.S. Basketball Team, is the only U.S. male to play and coach in the Olympics. NBAE/Getty Images

Turning around the fortunes of US men’s basketball won’t be as easy as it may seem. While the squad may have underachieved this past summer, other countries are catching up to the United States. Our country does harbor the most extensive base of basketball talent, by far, in the entire world, but take a look at the facts. There are 67 international NBA ball players, one of which was the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft (Rockets C Yao Ming) and another who won the Rookie of the Year Award last season (Memphis F Pau Gasol). Four players on last year’s All-Star teams were from other countries (Steve Nash, Dikembe Mutumbo, Dirk Nowitzki, and Peja Stojakovic). Stojakovic was also one of five NBA players on the gold-medal winning Yugoslavian national team at the Worlds. All of this combined with the fact that Dirk “The Diggler” is arguably the best player in the NBA at the moment. The Mavericks are hotter than Winona Ryder under the interrogation lamp right now, and Nowitzki is a big reason why. International hoops is bigger than it ever has been, and it will only keep growing.

Now, I wouldn’t be doing my journalistic duty if I failed to mention that Brown’s US team will be considerably different than the one George Karl “coached” this summer. For one, the players will be jazzed up to play in the Olympics, which is a considerably larger venue than the FIBA World Championships. Brown’s team will also have better players. While Karl did have a very good team, certainly one talented enough to win the gold handily, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and Jason Kidd have all verbally committed to play for the upcoming Olympic team. There weren’t enough basketballs to go around for Karl’s team, which featured players like Baron Davis, Elton Brand, and Paul Pierce. All very good players, All-Stars even, but not in same class as T-Mac, Duncan, or Kidd. Again, talent alone won’t win games. If that were the case, then Golden State and the Clippers would be contenders for the championship. Basketball, just like most other sports, is truly a team sport and the best team will bring home the gold from Athens. Recently, I read an article by ESPN NBA analyst, David Aldridge which proposed making the Olympic team a true team, meaning putting guys on the squad who are strictly role players. For example, DA said that Eric Snow would be a good choice for the team because he understands that coming into the lineup playing hard-nosed defense and taking care of the ball can sometimes be just as important as scoring. If there is one thing Larry Brown knows how to do, it’s coach role players. You won’t see guys fighting for stats like you did at the Worlds, Brown won’t put up with it.

Larry Brown deserves this chance to coach the United States. He’s accomplished so much in his career, this is one of the few things left on his checklist. Forget Phil Jackson’s nine NBA Championship rings, the Olympic team won’t have Shaq or Jordan, most likely, and we have yet to see how successful Jackson’s triangle-offense can be without two of the greatest players in NBA history. With Larry Brown, you know what your getting, a coach who wills his players to give it their all in order to achieve total team success. The person I want leading our country on the hardwood in Athens is the coach who gives the United States the best chance to win, Larry Brown.

Steve Robbins is a 21 year-old senior at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Steve is studying Communications with a focus on Journalism and is currently an intern in the 76ers Public Relations Department. The Mt. Laurel native was a co-host/co-producer of a sports talk show on a local radio station (WBZC in South Jersey). Following college graduation, Steve plans to remain on the East Coast and continue writing in the sports field.