Team USA: Coach K's initial message misses the mark

exactly. they are no different. he wants them playing at thier peak, but don't tell them to dominate?

 

Agreed. Role players on the USA squad are stars on their NBA teams, while stars on international squads are just role players on their NBA teams.

At best, they'll have one legitimate star at one position - Yao, Nowitzki - and the rest will be no where near that caliber.

I was unfortunate enough to be a Penn State basketball fan the past couple years (thank God for football) and we had this weak skinny ass whiney "wunderkid" small forward in a 7 foot body named Jan Jagla. He wasn't even good enough to be a good stats player on a historically pathetic team - lo and behold he made the German national team. When fans of bad teams dont even want you, I'm pretty sure you should be in the market for a career change. The talent gap between USA and international teams is still HUGE, but not big enough to be as arrogant. That's all that's really changed.

 

International rules are different. FIBA referees call games differently. At least they don't give star-treatment. In their eyes, those all-stars on the team are no different from bench players from other teams. This would be the biggest adjustment for NBA players to play internationally.

I am pretty sure Lebron James will be called for travelling at least 3 times in this tournament. If he is called for travelling twice in the second half of one elimination game, he could be totally out of rhythm. And these calls are actually right.

 

lol

What a fu(king idiot.

Why would you ever tell a team to turn it on when they need to, and not worry about anything before that? That's the recipe for disaster, Mr. Sheridan.

There is absolutely no better way for those guys to approach things than to feel like they should/can/will/have to dominate all comers from wire to wire and leave no doubt as to who the best team is.

Trying to turn it on selectively is one of the biggest reasons the USA teams have sucked it up (relatively speaking) in recent years.

D-d-d-douchebag!

 

I saw this on ESPN yesterday morning...What a Freakin' Idiot...We should dominate, period...Its time we take this back where it belongs...USA basketaall should dominate...

 

Also
I have realized something in the few moments of World Cup soccer I saw
FLOPPING IS AN INTERNATIONAL THING
that is why their is so much of it in the NBA now
It comes from Soccer
flopflopflopflop
oooo i broke my ankle. .and now i'm in for the game winning headshot

Rocket River

 

How many championships does Chris Sheridan have again? He sure sounds tough behind his keyboard.

Coach K is one of the best coaches in all of basketball, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll get the most out of these players. His message is to be dominant every minute on the court, how is that a bad message?

 

I think Coach K slept with Sheridan's wife.

 

Sheridan is just pontificating out of his rear end. Here's an article that seems to actually be in touch with what's going on at Team USA training camp:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2525515

 

If they beat every team by 50
I still would want more

Rocket River

 

He got the Yao Ming NBA treatment, now he can relate.

FIBA officiating sucks when it comes to the USA, because there are officials from competing countries calling the games, and they know if the US gets knocked out, the gold medal path is clear.

I blame the US failures on 25% the players who were too nervous, 50% on the refs who had it in for Duncan, the only post player, and 25% on the selection committee.

 

You can't lay it on all on the lap of the FIBA refs not giving star-treatment to the US players that they were used to. International stars like Dirk and Yao were not jobbed like Duncan.

The refs indeed did call travelling on James frequently last time around. It's true the NBA refs are too lax on travelling. However, I did see violations by US opponents go ignored.

Let's face it, the US is going to have big troubles winning it all from now on, simply because now almost all countries in these tournaments have a legitimate shot at a medal. The FIBA refs come from these same countries and will make key calls against the US, that's just the way it's going to be.

 

Hmmm, let me see, Coach K or Chris Sheridan?

Which one has been more successful...

 

This article is garbage, but it has become typical of ESPN to stop reporting sports news and to start generating it themselves with false controversy. Hence you hire morons like Stephen A Smith, Michael Irvin, Skip Bayless, etc to sit around and say idiotic contrarian things for the sake of being "edgy". This article is just another example of how ESPN is starting to implode on its own monopoly.

Coach K will make sure this team plays hard and that it doesnt gain a sense of entitlement. He has had to do that throughout his career with prep stars, and he will do the same with the NBA all-stars on the squad.

This will be an up-and-down team with Coach K-- on both offense and defense, with a motion offense and it would most definitely not surprise me to see lots of pressing either to force turnovers.

 

ESPN's quality has been slipping a touch lately...but Sheridan is normally one of the more cogent writers for the site. Everyone has bad days; this was Chris Sheridan's mulligan article, so to speak.

However, Stephen A. is NOT an idiot. Is he brash and bombastic at times? Certainly. But if you can listen past his 120dB voice, he's eloquent, fairly erudite, and makes good points from time to time. The funny part about Stephen A is that he is calmer on his show than when he's on ESPN's pregame show.

 

In single elimination games, Coach K's record is not that great. His Duke team has lost many games to inferior teams, including many in the NCAA tournament. Many times, he had the best team but ended up losing to a hot team.

 

I agree. I don't see how his suggestion is nearly as effective.

 

exactly. did anyone see the calls manu was getting? it was like watching wade in the finals or something (well maybe not quite that ridiculous). i remember in the USA game he had four and1's, and on 3 of them, the replay showed he wasn't even touched. the 4th was one of those reggie miller, shoot the 3 then kick your foot out at the guy fouls. saying duncan got the yao ming nba treatment is the perfect way to put it. ticky tack fouls left and right, loose ball fouls when he was the one being held, getting hammered and not going to the line. i can imagine it gets frustrating.

you know, it's true. nba players do get away with a lot of things that are technically palming and traveling, and international refs call them. but you know what, international players get away with two things a riduculous amount as well. moving picks and shuffling their feet after coming off a pick to set themselves. it's almost like it's a violation if you aren't moving on a pick to free up a shooter. and coming off a pick and shooting is supposed to be hard, partly because setting your feet is hard, but hey, if the international players need a few extra shuffles to get it right, who cares.

and what do you know, both sets of refs (nba and international) go lax on things that are a big part of their respective games. we focus a lot on driving to the basket. calling every little carry and traveling would impede that a lot. they focus on shooting and moving off the ball, so calling every little moving pick and foot shuffle would hurt that a lot. they don't call it anymore by the book than anyone else, it's just different stuff that they focus on and go easy on.

 

IMO coach K should tell we have to win the 56 quarters, there is a difference between win and dominate, I dont think that the team USA, will dominate.