I just simply came out here because there was a passion for the game.

It's huge.

I mean, it's a great testament of how the country has grown, how the sport has grown in popularity.

During the time when I was growing up, the Italian league, basketball league, was probably the best basketball, international basketball league in the world.

As NBA players, we make the mistake of assuming that if it's an international player that's really, really good, he's in the NBA anyway, so I've seen him.

Listen, that's not the case.

There are a lot of guys out there that should be playing in the NBA that just chose not to, and you don't know anything about them, but they know everything about you.

Since we've been getting our butts kicked a few years ago, I understood the significance of checking the egos out the door and playing for each other.

That being said, it's going to be tough to knock off the U.S., but there are other teams out there that have the opportunity to do so.

Who knows?

We'll see.

Australia is an interesting one for me, because they do have a tremendous amount of talent, and I'm looking to see how well that talent can gel together.

I never thought there was a shadow of a doubt whether or not international basketball would be a wave of the future.

It was always just a matter of time.

It should be a great event.

It should be a great event.