Jose Calderon tried to explain Team Spain's controversial slant-eyed pose as a "somewhat loving" gesture of respect. It's a laughably weak explanation, but so far, it's worked ... at least when you consider that the NBA has yet to issue any kind of reprimand or suggestion of possible future punishment.

Can you imagine David Stern quietly accepting that lame excuse had Carmelo Anthony or Kobe Bryant pulled a stunt like that? And yet, despite the fact that four NBA players (veterans Calderon and Pau Gasol, as well as soon-to-be rookies Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez) took part in the offending pose, Stern has been suspiciously quiet -- and Jason Kidd can smell the hypocrisy in Secaucus all the way from Beijing. From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

"We would've been already thrown out of the Olympics," he told Yahoo! Sports. "At least, we wouldn't have been able to come back to the U.S. ...There would be suspensions." And for his European peers, well, Kidd suggested, "They won't do anything to them. It's a double standard."

The photo shoot may have taken place in Spain for an advertisement that ran in a Spanish newspaper featuring players wearing Spanish uniforms, but as Wojo correctly explains, NBA players "are always on the clock."

I'm not sure the NBA can justify handing out actual suspensions (after a Eurobasket game last summer, Darko Milicic ranted to reporters about wanting to rape the referees' mothers and daughters and escaped with a mere verbal reprimand from the Grizzlies), but at the very least, the NBA needs to make some kind of official statement.

Previously on FanHouse:
Spaniards Meant the Slant-Eyed Photo to Be 'Loving'
Spanish Team Should Be Prepared to Get Called Into Principal's Office

The addition of Chris Kaman to the German men's national basketball team seemed like a grasp at mere respectability earlier this summer. The Germans didn't even grab an Olympic berth until July, going 4-1 in the FIBA qualifying tournament, smoking good teams like Brazil and Puerto Rico by double digits. Dirk Nowitzki seemed reborn under his frontcourt partnership with The Caveman, and the pair dominated today's game against Angola.

Is Germany better than happy-to-be-here? On Tuesday, Greece might give us our answer. I do say might -- the Greeks looked flighty and highly unspectacular against Spain today; if the Germans stomp Greece, it's no guarantee of potential greatness. Still, Greece provides a better challenge than the reigning African champs. With good size in opposition, Kaman's mettle will be tested.

Of course, size is where Germany can potentially challenge Team USA a week from Monday in the pool closer, and possibly in the elimination round. Famously, the Americans carry only one center -- Dwight Howard -- and two power forwards -- Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. There's the potential (especially if Howard continues to fail at the stripe) LeBron James could be left guarding Dirk while Bosh tries to limit Kaman. The Germans would dominate the glass in such a situation. Team USA's backcourt will maim the poor German guards, but a disparity up front could leave the Americans with a smaller margin for error on the perimeter.

It's funny: Kaman would be no better than the 12th man on the U.S. roster. But with Germany, he might make a competitor strong enough to beat the Americans. Fit, team puzzle-making ... that stuff actually matters! At some point, USA Basketball might learn that. (Of course, the Deutschland hasn't succeeded in team-building -- it just pulled the best minimally German NBA player it could. But still.)

Starting you off on the long road to divorce and estrangement from your family is New Orleans at Orlando at noon. So after opening presents, enjoying your Christmas morning coffee, and inevitably calling your sister to ask why she hated you enough to buy your kid that obnoxious talking Monk doll or plotting to return the sweater that your grandmother got you for an iPod charger, you can sit back, relax, and watch Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard beat the crap out of each other.

Then the blood rivalry resumes with San Antonio traveling to Phoenix at 2:30PM EST for what should be a warm and happy holiday greeting between the two teams as Amare Stoudemire tries to go Silent Night, Deadly Night on the team that's bounced him from the playoffs two years in a row, while Bruce Bowen attempts to give Steve Nash the gift he's never wanted, two severed Achilles' and a partridge in a pear tree.