Turn your eye to the present day and FIBA is looking to break down the barrier once again and take a step out of the shadow of its older, foot-orientated, sibling.

How do they do that? Well firstly, a change of name was in order. According to former National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner David Stern, that is.

As FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann explained to me during the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, basketball's world governing body had a "very specific request".

That request came through the then NBA commissioner Stern, a man credited with the global expansion of the NBA and a new era of commercial wealth for the association.

Patrick Baumann explained that David Stern (pictured) insisted on changing the name of the FIBA World Championships to that of the FIBA World Cup while commissioner of the NBA ©Getty Images



"The commissioner of the NBA said to me 'nobody knows what a World Championships is, call it the World Cup'," Baumann began.

"'Ah but you know, it's the World Championships in the rest of the world, everybody knows what we're talking about,'" came the secretary general's retort.

A couple of stronger, less tasteful, words later and Stern had suitably argued the point that the name World Cup was a "seller". It was cleaner, fresher, younger and most importantly, more marketable.

Baumann took this argument to the Board and, despite some debates among the "purists in sport" who believed it to be a copy of FIFA, a general consensus agreed that it fitted with the direction and ambitions of the governing body's plans, and suited the new values the sport was trying to portray.

"We also want to send a signal that this is going to reach new levels, new heights and new importance. Broadcasters like it and the partners are very happy, so we have to say that David Stern was right," added Baumann.

Next up for FIBA was moving it away from that ever-looming shadow of the FIFA World Cup, widely regarded as the biggest sporting competition in the world, with viewing figures exceeding that of even the Olympic Games.

The FIBA World Championships have been held on the same year as its footballing counterpart since 1970, when the tournament was held outside of South America for the first time.

This, according to Baumann, is "absolutely not acceptable for basketball players" due to basketball's World Championships being considered the "small one compared to the big one".

"We are bigger, we are taller, we want to be better, so we decided we have to go up, therefore we decided to play in 2019."

This means that following the conclusion of the 2014 FIBA World Cup - the first of its name - which got underway yesterday and continues until September 14, basketball's flagship tournament will not feature on our calendars until 2019, where it will then reset its four-year-cycle and sit on the proceeding year to that of the FIFA World Cup.

This puts an added importance on the 2014 edition of the World Cup as athletes, coaches and nations alike, battle for the first FIBA World Cup crown, and the chance to hold the title for an unprecedented five-year period.

FIBA is moving the date of the World Cup to fall out of rhythm with the FIFA World Cup, the most viewed sporting event in the world ©Getty Images



A number of keys changes have also been implemented into this year's tournament following extensive talks between FIBA and the competition's organisers, with a hope of bringing both economical and sporting benefits to the organisation, the players and the fans.

One such change is that of the grouping system. Traditionally teams are placed into lines and drawn at random into six groups. Although the top four teams are placed in the same line, and therefore cannot be drawn into the same group, the position of the groups within the tournament bracket was completely at random.

This meant that the top two nations in the world could face each other in a round as early as the quarterfinals, eliminating one of the "draws" of the competition and making it less of a spectacle.

In 2014, however, a system has been introduced to ensure the world's top two teams, hosts Spain and the United States in this instance, will not have the opportunity to meet until the third place playoff or the final.

In a system similar to that of tennis, the "big two" will be placed into Groups A and C. These will then be put at opposite sides of the draw leading to a scenario where they can only meet, given they win all their previous fixtures, in the tournament finale.

"It's been a very organisational decision to create this path driven from the economics of the event and also from the sports side," explained Baumann. "Giving them [the two top teams] the opportunity, if they perform well, to meet at the end and to finally decide who is the best this time."

The economical benefits come, according to Baumann, through another change FIBA has introduced into this latest World Cup.

Despite the initial group stages being similar to that of old, with teams split into groups, who then play their fixtures in a given city, the 2014 World Cup sees two host cities for the final knockout phase, as opposed to the traditional one.

This comes due to the immense rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, as well as the duo's more than capable ability to host such an event. Spain's two major cities both showed an interest in hosting the 2014 FIBA World Cup leaving organisers aghast at which sporting giant to favour for the finals.

A problem it may well have been, but one expertly resolved by organisers and FIBA alike.

To fit with the "top two" system mentioned above, it was decided that following the group stage, Groups A and B would travel to Madrid to play through their half of the bracket, and groups C and D to Barcelona. The teams would then converge at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid for the bronze medal playoff and the all-important final.

"We have taken a decision with the Board which was on the request of the organisation, thinking how is the best way to make the competition successful and also balance this interest from both Madrid and Barcelona to host the event," said Baumann.

"So we basically decided that we would play these groups in a way where we know exactly where we go through a channel, then the best teams should go and meet each other in the final.

"Of course some people have some expectation [that the teams will meet in the final] but that's not our problem, that's the problem of the players who need to put the baskets where they should go."

Not only does this "channelling" system satisfy both Madrid and Barcelona, it also gives fans a clear path to follow their team. There is no "toing and froing" between cities and venues. A fan buys a ticket, goes to the group stage venue then travels on to either Madrid or Barcelona before meeting, if the team is good enough, at the finals venue in Madrid.

Or, as Baumann more eloquently put it, "[A fan] doesn't buy the ticket and then think, 'oh s**t where am I going?!'"

Interestingly, the highest share of ticket sales have come from fans from Finland, a wild card team at the World Cup ©Getty Images



This tactic seems to have worked wonders for FIBA as well, with tickets sales sky-rocketing since their launch last year. Tickets have in fact sold out in Bilbao, home to United States' Group C, although most interestingly, it's not fans from the US that have been eager to snap-up the tickets, but those of Finland.

"We have actually been very successful in ticket sales, they're going extremely well," Baumann explained. "We don't have any tickets anymore in Bilbao. We don't know what to do its just crazy. And the craziest thing is that it's Finland who brought the most tickets. You know, Finland was a wild card in the choice."

As has been the case since the 2006 FIBA Wold Championships, four teams who have not previously qualified for the tournament are picked to compete as wild cards. These wild cards must have participated in a qualifying tournament and then apply to FIBA for selection. The four teams picked for the 2014 World Cup were Finland, Greece, Brazil and 2010 hosts Turkey.

This decision has proved a highly favourable one for both FIBA and organisers as ticket sales exploded in the nation.

"We picked Finland because it's growing fast and there's a huge craziness for basketball in the country now," said Baumann. "The result, at least from an Organising Committee perspective, is extremely pleasing because they sold so many tickets. They could have played in two venues at the same time and would have been very happy. So we are very fortunate with that."

This year's World Cup will be the last to include wild cards due to changes to the system ahead of the 2019 edition - a potential reason for the increase in ticket sales for Finland.

This is because future World Cups will incorporate FIBA's new two-year qualification system.

Currently, teams qualify for the World Cup via a continental Championship in each FIBA zone, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, with each zone allocated at least two berths, while additional berths are allocated depending on the strength of the teams within that particular zone.

From 2017 this system will be altered in order to facilitate the expansion to 32 teams ahead of the 2019 World Cup. The new system will combine the Asian and Oceania regions for the purpose of qualifying. The qualification period will be held over the course of two years and consist of six windows in November (2017), February, June, September, November (2018) and February (2019). The national teams will be divided into two divisions - Division A and Division B - with groups of three or four teams in an open system with promotion and relegation. Games in the qualification period will be played in a home-and-away format.

"Now we will have a two-year story lead up," was Baumann's explanation for the change. "We are creating a real buzz around the world with 140 countries that will participate in that [the qualifiers]. As a consequence we have taken away one continental championships because we cannot play them so much. This helps reduce the workload of the players, especially the top ones, and was also done in agreement with the NBA players.

"Every summer the NBA players had to come back and forth during qualifying. They get tired, they get injured and simply don't want to come, and after 10 years it became just too much. We had to change because of that, and now it is a very nice package that will end up in 2019 with the World Cup."

The new changes also mean that the Olympic champions will no longer be given an automatic berth at the World Cup. This will force the Olympic champions to compete in the World Cup qualifiers and, due to Olympic qualification being heavily focused on the World Cup, will consequently add more significance to the event.

This differs from the present system which gives only the world champions automatic qualification to the Olympics, with the other six nations - not including the one berth given to the hosts - having to battle in one of five continental Championships and a single pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.

"In 2019 it's the World Cup that will qualify the majority of teams for the Olympics," said Baumann. "So we are also increasing the role and the importance of the World Cup for all the players to be there because they know the prize is to go to the Olympics."

From 2017 onwards, even the Olympic champions will have to qualify to compete at the FIBA World Cup as the governing body looks to grow the importance of the event ©Getty Images



This growth of the World Cup is a major aim for FIBA, according to Baumann. He believes that with the help of the NBA, the Championships can grow to be on par with, or even exceed, that of FIFA's flagship tournament - the FIFA World Cup.

"We see the FIFA World Cup; it's an amazing event, and we see where the FIBA World Cup is and we know we have huge potential to grow," he added. "So together with the NBA we want to grow it even further. None of us has the intention or the envy to kill the dream of any athlete to go to the Olympic Games. This will always remain, but it is different. This feeling to be at the Olympic Games and win an Olympic medal or just be in an Olympic Village is so different from a World Championships where it's pure intense sport. It's totally different. But we do have expectations that the World Cup will grow in importance over the next 10 to 15 years."

One major stalling block in this growth is the potential challenge by the NBA in its decision to send players to the World Cup.

Since a rule change in 1989, national teams have been given the opportunity to send professional players to the World Championships, as opposed to simply amateurs. This opened a gateway for the huge expansion and global success of the tournament with professionals bringing more competitiveness, awareness and overall commercial benefits to the competition.

This position has been under fire recently by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban who, following the injury to Indiana Pacers star Paul George, has sparked fresh rows over whether NBA players should be allowed to compete in international competitions.

Cuban, who has been a long term critic of players competing internationally, complained that the decision brought no benefit to franchise owners within the NBA. He believes that NBA players competing at international competitions brings huge benefits to FIBA and the International Olympic Committee, due to the increased viewership gained by having the world's elite stars compete, while giving nothing back to owners. If a player, such as George, were to get injured on international duty then the investment placed on the player by his team, which pay millions of dollars in contract fees, will be lost, with the player unable to compete in the upcoming season. This could potential cost a team dearly throughout the season with owners still having to fork out the players multi-million dollar contract as he warms the bench week in week out.

Responding to the criticism, Baumann said: "I think that criticism is out of place. As it relates purely to the basketball business I think as an owner he [Cuban] has the right to say what he thinks in terms of how the players that he has play internationally or not. That's certainly a topic within the NBA and always has been. It's not only in the NBA, it's in any club and any league around the world and it's not just our sport. So this is nothing new.

"We have worked very hard with the NBA to try to fix the calendar in a way that we give a free year [to players] so their time with the national team will not be as intense as it has been. There will be a summer free for example and other opportunities where new players can come up and the NBA players rest.

"I think that is very important for us because we are very concerned. We need the players. It's not just NBA players, it's all players. We want them to be healthy, to have fun and to come, and also to be proud of coming and representing their national team.

"When a player wants to go and represent their national team we need to give him the best possible environment so that injuries don't happen or that he is taken care of with proper insurance and there is good medical services, but of course an incident like the one we had with Paul George is unfortunate. It's sad for the player and for everyone but it can happen at any moment. It's not something related to where he is or what he does.

"On the other hand when you look at this, for us it is important to look at what the players want. Protect the owners as much as possible but at the end of the day it's a matter of where the NBA wants to go. The NBA is one of the best leagues in the world. It is clearly a strong league in the US but that market for the NBA and for basketball is small and it wants to be more global than it is today. So participating in the Olympic Games, in the World Cup and in other events around the globe is, in our opinion, a key tool to strive for a global property that wants to diversify its portfolio. And as a consequence you have to balance; you have to allow the players to go.

"There wouldn't be an NBA franchise in China as there is today if Yao Ming would not have been allowed to play for the national team. And at the end of the day it's your own pride, your country. I can understand players that say, 'I'm done, I don't want to play for the national team' or 'I'm tired I don't want to this summer' but to say you can't. That's a no go."

This is a tough battle for FIBA to fight, with the importance of national pride set against the economical powers of modern society. The row could potentially lead to a similar situation as that seen with the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Winter Olympic Games where the former is reluctant to allow its ice hockey players to compete at the Olympics due to similar concerns over injury - although NHL players have competed in the last five Games.

Despite the uncertainty of the future, it is clear to see that FIBA has created big plans for its newly branded World Cup. So, with the rosters finally chosen, the draws clearly defined and the players raring to go, we can say one thing at least for certain and that is that the 2014 FIBA World Cup is upon us. It's time to shoot some hoops.

Paul Osborne is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.