Anyone see the U.S. "Dream Team" face off against Puerto Rico? Man I never knew Jefferson and others were such an awful shots. If those guys were going to play like that and dissapoint so much they should bring in those college guys who can shoot and play perimeter/transition D. Where are the fundamentals? Is Tim Duncan the only guy that has them? My Starting 5 C Duncan PF Boozer/Odom SF Carmelo Anthony sg Lebron James pg Stephon Marbury Defense at SF might be weak, but you get better outside shooting and a versatile shooting guard with size that won't jack up stupid shots. And no more weak shooting Richard Jefferson. Depending on the situation Marion could be used as a good defensive stopper and same with Jefferson. But Anthony and Odom will keep the defense offense with perimeter shooting. Boozer would also be a decent shot and somebody to help Duncan own those boards and be the hustle player and help box out and guard the post. Bench C Okafor/Boozer/Odom PF Stoudamire/Boozer/Odom SF Odom/Marion/Jefferson SG Iverson/Wade/Odom/Marion PG Dwayne Wade We got so much versatility and all around skill with Odom and Lebron James and they're not even being used that much. I guess the coach figures A.I. will hit another buzzer beating game winner or something. Too late when you're down by almost 20.
These aren't even our best players. If you ask me, Tim Duncan is the only "superstar" on that team. If we had Shaq, KG, Bryant, McGrady and shooters like Ray Allen and Michael Redd we would be blowing these teams out of the water. They are just a bunch of lazy millionares with no pride.
Werd. But dont you think that our 2nd or 3rd tier players should still be able to at least beat these guys?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">Werd. But dont you think that our 2nd or 3rd tier players should still be able to at least beat these guys?</div>Oh without a doubt. But I can understand them losing, none of these players are great shooters and none of the players are dominating with the exception of TD.
What happened to LeBron "Next Magic" James..Isn't he supposed to be well er the next magic?...Why isn't he averaging 30 ppg?
Because the coach won't play him. He'd rather play "I"verson at shooting guard. Which isn't bad at times, but I think James should be the starting 2.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Werd. But dont you think that our 2nd or 3rd tier players should still be able to at least beat these guys?</div> You could take any two players not named Tim Duncan off of this team and I'd venture to say that I could suggest two fifth tier players that would better fit in this tournament. I think one could pick an entire team of bottom tier NBA players that would be better suited for the international game. The point is that the selection process is screwed up and done from a marketing perspective instead of a basketball one. We've certainly have an athletic team, but no shooters? Who puts together a team with no shooters? What would Jordan have been without a shooter on his team? Can anyone think of a champion Basketball team, on any level, without at least one good shooter?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting meshgearfox:</div><div class="quote_post">You could take any two players not named Tim Duncan off of this team and I'd venture to say that I could suggest two fifth tier players that would better fit in this tournament. I think one could pick an entire team of bottom tier NBA players that would be better suited for the international game. The point is that the selection process is screwed up and done from a marketing perspective instead of a basketball one. We've certainly have an athletic team, but no shooters? Who puts together a team with no shooters? What would Jordan have been without a shooter on his team? Can anyone think of a champion Basketball team, on any level, without at least one good shooter?</div> Nope such a team doesn't exist. Basketball is mostly about putting the danged ball through the hoop and dribbling the rock and if you can't do either of those well, then that's not good basketball. That's like Jr. High ball where everyone just crowds the paint and takes 12 footers and turns the ball over 50 times because nobody can dribble. Man they should have invited the Custodian, Rafter "Skip-to-my-Lou" Alston, some CBA or college player with good fundamentals or some guy dying to play like Brandon Armstrong who has a shot. They also could have used a true point guard from college like Chris Duhon but I doubt he'd risk injury on a non-guaranteed contract. Also this is the most 3's and 4's I've seen on a team without any true 1's or 5's or regular sized 2's(6'5-6'6).
Why do you guys think they won't go after anyone but the superstars? There are plenty of shooters available..but because they aren't superstars they don't get invited...guys like Kyle Korver,Wesley Person or Voshon Lenard could have filled that role real well yet they give us the notion none of the shooters in the League would play. Ridiculous,just goes to show you how fascinated everyone is with the individuals and not the team per say. My position is to let the college guys back in to have a go at it. Couldn't do any worse and it would be alot more entertaining to watch and we know they would bustass. And another thing,why in the world don't the NBAers stay in the Athletes Village??
I am not a fan of letting College players back in. I agree that it would be entertaining but they would get their butts whipped, probably 2 and out. What we really need is guys like Shaq and KG to get off their lazy asses and win this country a gold.
It needs to be a fine balance of pros and college guys (if certain pros won't accept invites). Plus I don't know if getting the star players was for marketing purposes because they hardly show the games at a reasonable hour for anyone to see them. I guess the committee that chose the teams and chose to invite certain people were just boneheads that weren't thinking about getting role players built around a core starting 5. I would have had a plan B in case certain nba players wouldn't show up if let's say Michael Redd, Mike Miller, Raja Bell (U.S. Virgin Islands), Michael Finley, Eddie Jones, Tayshaun Prince, Reggie Miller or any other good all around player (old or young) refused an invite.
I almost view this team as a rebuilding team. The international rules play to different strengths (among them shooting and both playing zone and playing through the zone/avoiding turnovers) and the young guys we have will greatly benefit from all of the experience they'll get here. At the same time, you can never pack it in for the Olympics. It'll take the best to beat the best teams out here, because other countries came ready to play, and some much more ready than the U.S.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Zhone:</div><div class="quote_post">I almost view this team as a rebuilding team. The international rules play to different strengths (among them shooting and both playing zone and playing through the zone/avoiding turnovers) and the young guys we have will greatly benefit from all of the experience they'll get here. At the same time, you can never pack it in for the Olympics. It'll take the best to beat the best teams out here, because other countries came ready to play, and some much more ready than the U.S.</div>I second that. The scariest team team right now is Spain and Lithuania and its because they got a balanced team and some players that can make the NBA someday if they aren't already there yet. Some of these guys are as slow as Dunleavy, but they can shoot the lights out if they get a clean look. Spain has Raul Lopez(not sure if he is playing) and Pau Gasol (definitely lpaying) along with some quick outside shooters and a good defender/shooter in Rudy Fernandez at either guard spot. Lithuania also has some really awesome shooters and they've got a couple of 7 foot big men in the mold of guys like Sabonis and Illgauskus. Croatia would have been awesome if they had guys like Peja Stojakavic, Vlade Divac, Marko Jaric, Darko Millicic, (Zarko Cabarkara if he had done better), Zeljko Rebraca (if he was healthy), Vladmir Radmonovic of the Sonics(is Radmo playing?). A lot of good nba players are from the former Yugloslavia.
I think the teams are made to bring in the most interest from the public. LeBron James brings a lot of interest to the team. And a lot of the other big names were invited because it would bring more interest to the team, so more people would watch and care about the team. What type of interest would a Kyle Krover or Jon Barry bring to the dream team? And since most of the players are selected and invited at different times, it's sorta difficult to really try to invite specialists like three point specialists. And since most of the invitations don't get answers until real late, sometimes right before they get ready to compete, it makes it that much more difficult to add shooting specialists. Some of the struggles I see a little bit of(even though I haven't watched a ton of Olympic Basketball this year, I seem to miss it) are perimeter defense, not getting calls like some of the star players would get in the NBA, and shooting. There are probably some more, but like I said, I haven't been able to watch many games. And I guess we are all seeing how international athletes are really conquering or at least trying to conquer the USA. Look at baseball and how many great international players play in the MLB. And also the USA team didn't even make the Olympics for baseball, and baseball is pretty much a US sport. And now basketball is struggling, granted they aren't the BEST players, but they are some darn good NBA players. So I guess this is sort of a wake up call that US isn't very superior in athletic team sports as we might have thought. And with the younger generation getting into much more broader interests, I don't know if this is going to change. Some day it could be very strange watching the main basketball league being in Europe or something like that, and maybe the main baseball league being in Asia or Latin America. And all the main US players having to travel there. I don't know though...Maybe that is getting a little too exaggerated, but it's getting interesting. Maybe the Warriors would have to move to Spain and become the Barcelona Warriors or something...haha...there is a strong international number of people here on this board I have noticed as well...heh...I guess it could be an excuse to travel more, something I wouldn't be against.
I love all these international players in American sports. Gives another thing to share in common with other countries in the world, bring us all closer as one. But it seems to me no matter what the sport, there's going to be fundamental skillset needed to play the sport (no matter what variation of rules they have like the NBA or International basketball rules) you still have to dribble the ball, make clean passes, shoot the ball, stay in front of your man, get those hands up, and communicate with your teammates. Even bigs should be required to shoot a 15 footer and in Europe or Asia that's how you play since the key is angled to keep bigger men further from the basket.
Team USA stunk it up because they did not play team basketball. Whatever the rules, they are the same for each team. Make a shot, 2 pts, make one behind the 21'9" (?) arc, that's 3 points. Most points in 4 quarters wins. Simple. Somehow, Team USA never grasped the rules. Embarassing. No excuses about not playing together, etc. The other teams have people who played together before but they were not playing together year round either. The one thing I got from the Olympics is that I found out that Iverson is a stand up guy who was proud to play there and I somehow wished everyone else there felt the same way.
I still think my lineup would have done better. Duncan Boozer Odom/Melo Lebron Marbury It doesn't solve 3 point shooting, but you can be sure that we can clean up the glass on any missed shots and also be able to shoot over smaller defenders. Maybe sub in Marion if defense is too weak, but I hate his jump shot.
I don't know, we pretty much out-rebounded every team, especially on the offensive end. We also were better on turnovers and free throws. But simply, we couldn't hit shots, not even 2 point shots. The 3-2 zone most teams played against us left a gap at about 15-20' from nearly anywhere on the floor, but clogged the passing lanes inside. I noticed that when the U.S. team did take a shot from that far, they were on the run, and not set or spot up. More defensive presence might have helped, but it just happened the way it happened. Hopefully someone will think of some good alterations for the next World Championships / Olympics.
