Far removed from its peach-basket roots in a cold New England gymnasium, basketball is now played in all corners of the globe by people in all walks of life.

Coaches use it as a tool to bridge cultures in the barrios of Mexican border towns. Saudi Arabian women risk their lives playing in underground leagues to combat obesity and depression. Even reclusive DPRK president Kim Jong-il is said to be a huge Michael Jordan fan.

It should not be surprising, then, that the international game has grown in such stature.

Rarely has there been such parity among men's teams heading into an Olympic tournament. For most of the world, the Olympics has been a quest for second best, as the United States is the perennial favorite - and for good reason. Until its relatively dismal showing in Athens, the US team had compiled a staggering record of 109-2, and one of those losses was more a casualty of the Cold War than an on-court defeat.

But the inevitably of US gold came to a grinding halt when eventual champion Argentina beat the "Dream Team" in the 2004 semifinals. It marked the beginning of a new era, an era of true competition in international basketball.

"There's literally six teams that could contend for a gold medal," says USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller. "I would be very surprised if somebody makes it through the Olympics undefeated.

"We're (the US) coming in, probably for the first time ever, in a position where we're not the clear favorites."

Basketball's world governing body FIBA estimates some 400 million people in the world play basketball today. With such massive global numbers it was only a matter of time before the US' basketball hegemony would begin to crumble.

Still, the US is home to the gold standard of basketball leagues, the NBA. Few would disagree that the NBA consists of the best basketball players in the world, and many of the sport's superstars are, in fact, American.

But the NBA is also a barometer of what's been happening in the larger basketball world. The internationalization of the league is a story that's been unfolding for years, but not until the early part of this decade - right around the time Yao Ming, the first international player ever to be drafted No 1, came into the league - was the world's impression on the sport so apparent. Suddenly players like German Dirk Nowitzki, Frenchman Tony Parker and Spaniard Pau Gasol were the standouts. Overseas players were no longer anomalies - they were all-stars, and they made up nearly a fifth of the league.

Not surprisingly, the style of international basketball has also taken root on American soil. While a plodding, one-on-one approach had become standard practice in the 1990s, the influx of European and South American talent led to a more dynamic and fast-paced approach based on ball movement and quick rotations. The "shoot in seven seconds or less" philosophy made famous by former Phoenix Suns coach and current US national team assistant Mike D'Antoni invigorated the league and helped make the game more appealing than it had been in years.

The true test of D'Antoni's international system, which was developed in his more than 20 years playing and coaching abroad, will be his new assignment with the New York Knicks, a team in disarray and the epitome of the former, suddenly ineffective, style of American basketball. If D'Antoni succeeds in transforming the Knicks it will be a testament not only to how international basketball has grown up, but how the sport has become a truly global game.

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page6)