Q&A With ESPN Deportes’ Carlos Morales

ZonaFlash: I found an article on the globalization of basketball in Latin America. It suggests that the influence of futbol on Latino basketball players places stronger emphasis on passing, since in futbol passing is the best/only way to advance the ball. Given Steve Nash as the most futbol-like player in the NBA, what cross-influences, if any, do you see between futbol and basketball play in South America. Does a futbol player ever learn any techniques from basketball?

Carlos Morales: I don’t think that soccer players in Latin America are influenced by basketball in any ways, because soccer is, most of the time, their one and only sport since they are little kids. I think it’s the other way around, basketball players in South America, mainly in Argentina and Brazil, learn first from the soccer culture of sharing, sacrificing, passing, playing defense, reading opportunities that arise from their opponents’ mistakes, all for the sole purpose of helping their TEAM score the one or two goals per game that can lead them to the ultimate objective, which is winning. Because of this background, their view of the game and their attitudes toward team play are very different from those of their American peers.”*

*From: www.brightsideofthesun.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

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