<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Josh Howard, Luke Ridnour, Shane Battier, Rashard Lewis and Brad Miller are among those going to training camp with Team USA. Lamar Odom and Allen Iverson are not. Through league sources, ESPN.com has learned the identities of the 22 NBA players on the preliminary roster for the U.S. national team, whose director, Jerry Colangelo, will make the news public Sunday. </div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">How did Luke make it?</div> His form has been pretty good since he started the season so sluggishly, but with Billups, Paul, Wade, Arenas and Joe Johnson around, I'm not sure how he can possibly make the final cut.
r a c e tell me it's not :[ i guess ill elaborate so i dont get flamed too quickly.. looking through that list, i see josh howard, luke ridnour, and brad miller as people who are conspicuously out of place. maybe it's because I haven't seen enough of howard? maybe he's a defensive stopper like the article says.. but miller is over the hill, and ridnour......................? are you telling me they can't find a better pg to invite than that ? sam cassell? baron? GP? Ford? I don't know if I want to throw Bibby's name out there too.. i mean these guys aren't exactly the AI/marbury/francis type that they want to avoid, either..
I know I'm just saying, those 3 stand out to me as being "weak" compared to the rest and Howard is perhaps weak only in my eyes since he was mentioned as competing with Bowen for the "defensive stopper" position
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">r a c e tell me it's not :[ i guess ill elaborate so i dont get flamed too quickly.. looking through that list, i see josh howard, luke ridnour, and brad miller as people who are conspicuously out of place.</div> Looks very much like were insinuating Josh Howard was white with that post. Miller is an outstanding player and has the sort of game that suits international competition.
Also, probably a knee-jerk reaction to the horrid showing of the US team last Olympics, where we were criticized for just throwing a team of stars together. So now they want complimentary guys with no ego whatsover. I guess Luke fills that bill. Think Jeff Turner over Charles Barkley
yeah ok, maybe i didn't communicate it very well but that's why i had a qualifier after that sentence for josh howard.. i watch league pass pretty religiously.. and it doesnt even take THAT much to know that howard isnt a white boy ;[ give me a break man.. but apart from picking apart a vague part of my post, you haven't weighed in on the rest of it..
meh, fine get on the regular bandwagon ish.. you are the same people who were crucifying this kid for being in our starting lineup--or hell, at one point, our roster, and yet you don't find anything strange about him being invited to play on the national team? strong form since bob hill took over is certainly not enough to put him in front of the pg's i listed BUT NO, GO AHEAD...... bash bash go circle jerk yourselves to death
Brad Miller is a great choice, because of his ability to pass and shoot from the perimeter. His game is ideal for International rules. I hate to think race played a role in Luke Ridnour being added, but I can't think of any other reasons why he made it over some of the players you mentioned, aside from Sam Cassell & Gary Payton. Remember this game is 3 years from now, so Sammy & Payton would be too, old to compete. I'm surprised Bibby wasn't selected ahead of Ridnour. Maybe he turned down the bid?
Because Luke is a pure playmaker. They are obviously picking guys who will fit together best as a team, and with a LOT of scorers on the team already, they probably see Luke as a guy who can run a play and can be effective without needing shots to do so. Anyway, the chances of him making the final cut are pretty damn slim anyway.
I agree, Luke is a playmaker. Maybe they do need someone who doesn't look for his shot first. Maybe thats why they added Rashard too. I personally would like if both made the roster...
perhaps not the greatest source to quote, but i just happened along it on hoopshype "It?s all the more bizarre when we hear this morning that Luke Ridnour got an invite. Luke Ridnour? Nice enough guy, but would you even say he?s a top 10 point guard in the NBA? We know they?re looking for specific pieces for the team (hence Bruce Bowen?s invite) but what is it that Rid brings? We can safely say it?s not defense." - dime magazine
That quote is pointless. Ridnour is not a top 10 pg, but he may very well be a top 10 playmaker (9th in assists, and even higher once you take out guys like Nash and those too old to play for team USA). Guys like Jason Terry and Marbury are better players than Luke, but are they better playmakers? Probably not, and even if Marbury is we saw what happened with him on the team last year. You could argue for guys like Andre Miller, Chris Paul or Brevin Knight over Ridnour but we don't know all the circumstances.
It doesn't make any sense for the U.S. to invite Ridnour to try out other than the fact that his unselfishness is what Colangelo wants to emphasize and exemplify when constructing this roster. As Sonics fans we shouldn't want to rip this selection just b/c it is a positive in a season worth of negatives. I don't think that Ridnour will make this team but I also know that he would be one of the few players in this league that would have no problem competing for a roster spot in a tryout. The kid does not have an ego. Does race play a role in this selection? I hope not but it might. I think his age may play a bigger role since he just turned 24 I believe. If the team wants to play an uptempo style where everyone is running the lane expecting to get the ball then I can understand why someone would look at Ridnour as a good fit for this team. Personally, I wouldn't include Ridnour on a roster full of under 24 stars, let alone an Olympic squad, but to each their own.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">If the team wants to play an uptempo style where everyone is running the lane expecting to get the ball then I can understand why someone would look at Ridnour as a good fit for this team.</div> Exactly, I had meant to say that in my original post.
Rashard turned it down. He wants a guaranteed spot and with no politics involved. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soni...niglance06.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"It's an honor to get the invitation, but I don't want to go through a training camp and get cut," Lewis said. "I think that would really hurt my feelings."</div> Rashard must really have issues with rejection - the olympic team, crying when he got passed over in the draft, getting turned away with his 30 man posse at the All-Star party...
Rashard's become a bit outspoken this season. I would have given him a really good shot of making the roster too, because the international game is all about good shooting and ball movement, not beating your man one on one everytime. He'd kill it from the shorter three-point lines.
