Will the USA be the most talented AND BEST team in 08?

Shaq will be lucky to still have the ability to walk in 08.

My dream starting lineup for 08 is

Billups
Kobe
Lebron
Howard
Oden or Jermaine O'Neil

I think the players union, Nike, Reebok, ect need to put pressure on the stars to put forth 100%.

 

Yes to both questions.

My "dream team" includes (name your starting lineup):

Billups
Kobe
Wade
Redd
LeBron
Melo
Dwight Howard

Oden would be lost in international play and I still consider him a project. Hopefully a couple of years maturity will lift Chris Paul up like it did Melo/LeBron/Wade. I only listed players that have possibility of being on the team.

 

I think that Coach K , who has a great brain, will have learned a lot from his experience at the FIBA World Championship. Mainly that the World has not gone to guard oriented teams and that the Center and POWER Foward can play a significant part of a teams success and that the team game still is dominent. Also that he is building this team for the Future but should not overlook having the best tallent available on his team.
This team, which didn't win the Gold should have had Shaq, Bryant, AI and
T McG on it!
Why play the back up team and expect to be the best.
After all we taught and are teaching the rest of the world our game.
Its just like England in Football and Cross Country, they found that their greatest sports when taught to and adapted around the world showed that talent and greatness is not limited to any one culture and that the founders of the sport only rarely shines when others give their mind and heart to being the victor.

 

I think they were the best team in 2006. Yeah, they lost a game to Greece and werent' the best team that night; but they play a round robin among the top 4 teams and I think the US wins it going away; you saw how easily they smoked an Argie team that people were busting nuts over this AM.

 

They will eventually need to learn how to defend a pick and roll- a play that is taught to 10 year olds.

 

Do you think that as international players become as good as Americans the FIBA rules will change to be comparable to NBA rules?

We will dominate again when the rules aren't designed to level the field for crappy players.

We'll probably win in 2008 anyway.

 

Why would FIBA change their rules to match the NBA? I imagine FIBA is feeling pretty good right now.

 

If T-Mac hits it up for the 08 Olympics, USA is back on top.

 

Damn can't edit.
But to follow that up, even China, Philippines, and Korea will be cheering for the US then.

 

I think the other way, that the NBA will change his rules to be comparable to the FIBA, this is because the players will get more adapted to the system and maybe they will play better

 

i want this DREAM TEAM
pg: Kidd/paul
sg: Kobe/wade
sf: Tmac/lebron
pf: Garnett/d. howard
c: Duncan/amare or miller

sorry but I think the old still beat the young any day..

 

Exactly, our team is full of new players who don't even have that much experience. People like T-Mac, Kobe, Garnett would have had the experience and confidence to handle the pressure and thus adapt more easily.

 

As bad as the USA's defense was against Greece (and it was bad), and as badly as they shot, all they had to do was hit their free throws. Simple.

I'm not ready to start handing over and cred yet, the only thing USA's lacks is consistency, but this is because they play 82 games a season with playoff series that go up to 7 games for each round. In the NBA a bad game can be made up for.

If the WC's worked in a series format, there is no chance they would lose. Not to mention the fact that the USA sent a B-Team at best. By 2008, this will be the A-Team, as Garnett, Duncan, T-Mac will be too old. They just need to send more shooters, add JJ, Redd and play I-Ball.

I'm still of the belief that if the US sent their absolute best, they would still win, they are the only team that does not send their best possible team, but they need to force teams to play the American way, and for the zones they need to add shooters. I couldn't tell you how many times i screamed at the TV telling our guys to penetrate and when they did they were successful. I don't want to cringe everytime LBJ spots up for a three, somebody needs to tell him that he can't shoot.

The current mix is fine, just add Kobe, and a couple of lethal shooters. Thats it, play their way, hit free throws and it's taken care of. I would like to see Artest on the team as well, if the suits can swallow their pride.

Watching these games has made me realise how much i love the NBA game, because it allows for both team fluidity, and individual brilliance. The court has more space and defenses move and flow (although a bit of hand-checking would be nice, just so that defense can still be an important part of the game).

The WC's would do well to work like the davis cup in tennis, where the rules are according to the host nations league (in tennis though its the surface that is all-important). This puts everybody in the same boat, having to adapt to any rules that they are not totally familiar with. After all, i'd love to see other teams try to play the NBA game when the WC's come back to the US.

 

exactly, and this shocked me.

its not like the nba game doesn't include a few pick n pops.

pride is what's needed. The US guys aren't showing it when it counts most.

yay we won a bronze.