International dilemma: For NBA stars, deciding whether to play for country is constant struggle

To play, or not to play?

For some — like Jazz starting point guard Deron Williams, who is taking part this weekend in USA Basketball's minicamp at Las Vegas — the response is a no-brainer.

Yet it's a question many of the world's best basketball players wrestle with each NBA offseason, and one whose answer — as certain Jazz players have discovered, at least one the hard way — can have implications lasting far beyond the dog days of any one given summer.

No wonder so many stress over the decision on whether or not to play internationally for their home countries while on vacation from their high-paying jobs in North America — a reality compounded by the fact their NBA teams sometimes send somewhat conflicting messages on the subject.

"Am I against it? Absolutely not," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president of basketball operations and a former member of USA Basketball's own selection committee. "They need to compete for their national team, and it's an honor.

"But," O'Connor hastened to add, "I think they need to be smart about it and evaluate what's good for them."

Jazz All-Star center Mehmet Okur did just that last summer, and now — a full year later — he's catching all sorts of grief about it back home in his native Turkey.

"I was accused of not wanting to play. I was criticized a lot," Okur, who started playing for his national program when he was 14 years old, was recently quoted as saying by a Turkish newspaper's Web site, Today's Zaman. "Some of my (Turkish) teammates might have thought so as well. (But) I am not angry at anybody.

"I only missed it last time," the 28-year-old added, "because of my injuries."

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Okur did not miss a game during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Jazz seasons, but he cited lingering soreness and a bulging disc in his injured back — which had bothered him for much of '05-06 — as the reason for not playing with Turkey's team at the FIBA World Championships in Japan. (FIBA is basketball's international governing body).

Making matters worse for Okur — who is married to a former Miss Turkey and is something of a national icon in his own right — have been several contributing factors.