Injuries. Serious injuries.

That's the fear. That's a big part of the reason top players like Steve Nash and Tim Duncan aren't here every year.

It happened to incoming Syracuse freshman rising Syracuse junior Andy Rautins. The Canadian guard was trying to keep up with Leandro Barbosa, and wrecked his knee.

Andy's dad is the head coach of Team Canada, and Leo Rautins is upset at the way FIBA organizes the tournament with, he says, little regard for player health. Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun reports:

Trying to stay with the ultra-quick Leandro Barbosa midway through the second quarter of Wednesday's 75-67 loss to Brazil, the younger Rautins' knee went one way and his body went the other. A sickening popping sound heard by Rautins and a handful of his teammates on the bench nearby confirmed for the elder Rautins the worst-case scenario had just transpired.

But what Rautins the coach can't understand is the wanton disregard for the players' health FIBA shows by its scheduling, its roster rules and even the power it allots TV networks whose schedule seems to supercede all other concerns.

As Rautins arrived at the Thomas and Mack Center last night for Canada's game with Venezuela, his first order of business was to confront officials of the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifer and ask them why Canada's warmup the night before had been cut to just eight minutes. Tournament officials told him they had a schedule to keep but would endeavor to make sure it didn't happen again.

And can you get that barn door now that the horse is out? Whether the abbreviated warmup contributed to the injury, no one will ever be able to say for sure, but asked point blank by his father how he felt going into the game, the younger Rautins replied, "tight."

"We had an eight-minute warmup (the normal minimum is 12)," Rautins said. "Now, I can assure you if that were the U.S. it wouldn't have happened. That's what bothers me. You get into these international competitions and things just aren't on a level playing field. If you're going to do eight-minute warmups then let's do eight minutes. Don't have player intros, don't have exchanges of the pins. Nobody cares about that and certainly we don't need to have the anthems at this point. If you are that far behind ...."

Rautins goes on to imply that NBA teams are trying to keep their players out of these tournaments because of these kinds of issues. He recommends a less compressed schedule, more warmup time, and the ability to replace injured players.