Joel Freeland, the much maligned Blazers power forward / center, has said that he will forgo participating on Great Britain’s national basketball team this summer. Freeland, he of the single digit PER, 40.8% field goal percentage and frequent personal fouls, has said he wants to focus on his NBA duties during this time instead. There are several ways to digest this information. The first is obviously to appreciate the sacrifice that Freeland is making. On the surface level, nearly every athlete dreams about being able to represent his or her country at the national level, and to give up this opportunity is no trivial decision for Freeland. Playing for your country’s national team is an immense source of pride, and Freeland is demonstrating that he is willing to put aside these emotions for the betterment of his NBA career, something every Blazer fan should appreciate. Reading even deeper into the situation, though, this is an even bigger deal for Freeland since he hails from Great Britain, a country whose basketball pedigree is notoriously… underdeveloped. In fact, Britain’s national team just had to appeal a funding cut in order to receive money. As another example of basketball’s lowly status there, I once read an article detailing the difficulties British basketball players face. It described how a competitive youth team was booted from their court because the time slot had accidently been double-booked, and conflicted with a badminton game (yes, the badminton took precedence). Neither of these scenarios would be an issue in the US. As a result of these extra difficulties, British players tend to be fiercely loyal to their national program (see: Deng, Luol). For them personally, playing for the team is a huge source of pride, because they know that they are carrying the torch for an entire sport in their country. Basketball is certainly on the unpopular side of the spectrum there (compared to say soccer), so those who participate in the national team feel a real responsibility to both sport and country. Freeland’s decision to walk away from that this summer is a strong indicator of his level of focus on the upcoming NBA season. He wants to get better, and without trying to be overly harsh, he needs it. You don’t need fancy statistics or even normal ones to see that he struggled on the court last season, to the point that some were wondering if he was even an NBA-caliber player. I guarantee, though, that Freeland knows better than any of this just how much he struggled. We as non-athletes too often put professional athletes on a pedestal and forget they are just as human as we are. Think of how frustrated you get when you struggle with something, whether it is your job or a new skill you are trying to learn. Now, imagine going through the difficulties of said struggle with millions of zealous fans watching your every move. That wouldn’t feel so great, would it? The baseball slugger knows darn well that he is in a seven game hitless streak. The tennis player knows when his backhand is getting abused. The four interception game is on the quarterback’s mind without being constantly reminded about it by the media. Professional athletes are incredibly cognizant of their failures (and naturally their successes), and Freeland is no different. That’s perhaps my biggest takeaway from all of this: this decision tells me that Freeland is clearly aware of his struggles last season, and wants to improve. And honestly, as a fan, that’s all you can ask. There’s nothing more aggravating than seeing a player waste natural talent, but when a player truly gives his all to improve, you have to simply respect that. Freeland is not the most prolific in terms of natural talent (to put it mildly), but at least his attitude looks to be in the right place. Next season, Freeland looks to be the Blazers’ fifth big in the rotation, behind LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, Thomas Robinson and Meyers Leonard. This should also afford him time to develop, without being asked to do too much too soon, as appeared to be the case during last season. http://ripcityproject.com/2013/07/2...-joel-freeland-forgoes-british-national-team/
I think it's a bit poignant. He's not going to make it here - he just isn't. So why miss out on Eurobasket? Of course, he might be tired of losing EVERY SINGLE GAME - particularly if Deng isn't playing. Here's some fun facts about players competing for their national teams. Claver has played for Spain in some capacity for NINE STRAIGHT YEARS!
I really don't think it's hurt the games of the Gasols, Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Luis Scola, et. al.
On the other hand if he uses his time wisely and does improve his game, then it could also end up helping the British team in the future. It would be interesting to know what he is going to work on. His body or his shooting? Last year he looked like he was better suited for playing PF. But as the Blazers are constructed right now they need him to play some center, which means he needs to hit the weights. He is willing to bang and he is already 250. so maybe the plan is for him to work on getting stronger?
Yeah--maybe this year Freeland will be the player that the Oregonian reports added 10-15 pounds of muscle in the offseason...
The fans perhaps, but it appears the Blazers organization sees some form of potential. Case closed eh?
I feel worse for the NDBL players who are better than Joel, but have never been given a shot. I like Joel, great guy, hard worker. However, he's just not an NBA player. He was not able to dominate summer league backups, let alone summer league starters. Right now I consider him a 17th player on a roster - if he didn't have a guaranteed contract he wouldn't make the team. I like his attitude and applaud his efforts to get better. Hopefully, he'll improve. He's fine to have out on the court for 4 to 5 minutes a half. However, the refs hate him and he fads away when he's 1 foot from the basket.
He has a guaranteed contract. He's okay. And even if (when) he fails in the NBA, he's got a lot of Euro teams who will pay him top Euro-money. There are a lot more players to feel bad for. Sadly, I think we will need him more than we should, because more talented players like Robinson and Leonard just don't know how to play. Freeland at least knows the rudiments of defense.
If we put this article together with the last article on Freeland, it appears he is dedicating the summer trying to emulate Nick Collison. So I assume he will be working on getting a little bigger so he can sets some hard picks, and working on his mid range jumper in the event defenses leave him wide open. It is possible he can achieve that goal. I mean we are not talking that many minutes per game where he needs to go all out. We need him to be Loyd Neal.
Are you sure that's how you spell forgoes? Seems like you go to and fore, or here and yonder, or something.
Because he wants to prove himself in the league. He made it to the greatest basketball league in existence, and he wants to have a little success doing it. This is his chance to make the biggest professional accomplishment of his life. Some people like improving their person and their lives.
