OK lets use a little predicition ability to see how you think the 2004 Olympics will shape out. First off the participants: Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, United States, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Angola, China Here is my predictions: GOLD: United States - having a real coach and top flight NBA talent will be the key SILVER: Serbia and Montenegro - have multiple NBA players and great expereince after winning the last World Championships BRONZE: Lithuania - showed alot of heart and grit winning Euro Championships; great team oriented play is sometimes stronger than individual talent 4th: Spain - Gasol and Navarro run the show 5th: Argentina - Ginobili must be healthy 6th: China - It's all about Yao 7th: Puerto Rico - gained good expereince playing against the US 8th: Australia - had an easy path to get to Olympics through Oceania tourny (what a joke); could be a darkhorse 9th: Italy: played better than expected in Euro tourny 10th: New Zealand: Sean Marks leads the Boomers 11th: Greece: host team squeaks past Angola 12th: Angola: don't really know much abouth this team except for Charles Barkley making some non PC comments about them in 1992. How do you think the Olympics will play out? on a side note: its too bad that teams like Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, and Russia didn't qualify for the Olympics. Those are some exciting teams that would have been fun to watch.
Here is my predictions: 1. USA 2. Lithuania 3. Argentina 4. Puerto Rico I love small countries like Lithuania and Puerto Rico, because it's impressive to be that good even if you're a small country. Both countries have about 3,5 million people... I saw Lithuania in this years European championship in Sweden and they are really good as a team. Sarunas Jasikevicius is one of the key players. A good PG... Watch out for Arvydas Macijauskas! I really like him. I think they will be tough to beat because they are good as a team, and if they get as much support from their fans as in Sweden that will help very much. I haven't seen Puerto Rico, but I hope I get the oppurtunity to see them. Got a good feelin' for them! USA is still in top by far. I'm tired of those who claim that Serbia is better because they beat them in 2002 and became the W.Champions... Another player I really like is Antonio Fotsis on Greece. Played really well under the Euro championships...
imo matador, i don't agree with you if you think Greece is going to get 11th by squeaking past angola. they have been a competitive team for years and will likely finish about 6th or 7th. granted they did perform poorly at eurobasket this summer, but they didnt have to do well so they didnt place much emphasis on it b/c they were already qualified for the olympics. as recently as the 98 world championships they placed 4th.
Rockets10: You are right about Greece. I am unfamiliar with their team and based my ranking of them on their performance in this past years Euro Championships. Also I thought Jake Tsakalidis was their best player and he seemed to struggle in the Euro Championships. It is hard to rank all 12 teams because for the most part they are all very good teams.
ron: I too was very impressed with Lithuanina. I don't see how Jasikevicius isn't on an NBA roster. He dominated the Euros nearly doubling the assist totals of any other player. It is very impressive for the small countries to challenge the larger countries in basketball. I think that shows that either great team play with good coaching or having a dominant star can carry teams in international competition. If Tim Duncan and Raja Bell both played for the Virgin Islands I think they would have had a good shot at qaulifying just becasue no one could stop Duncan.
well when I originally made my picks I thought the US was going to have their best talent representing after their embarassing finish at the last World Championships. I still am predicting the US to take the Gold but it will be tough. Having Larry Brown over that bafoon George Karl (sorry Karl fans ) will make a big difference as well.
1. Yugoslavia 2. Spain 3. USA Team USA's hopes depend on Duncan, really. he's capable of carrying them all the way himself.
I predict Yao will smoke the competition... Associated Press Torchbearer Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, lights a cauldron with the Olympic Flame during Day 6 of the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay today in Beijing. The Beijing leg of the Athens Olympics torch relay is part of the flame's around-the-world journey. The torch is to be carried 46,800 miles across six continents, 27 countries and 33 cities by about 11,000 runners. June 9, 2004, 10:47AM Athens Olympic flame torch relay begins China segment in heart of capital BEIJING -- The Beijing leg of the Athens Olympics torch relay began today in the heart of the Chinese capital -- the fifth stop of the flame's unprecedented around-the-world journey. "Today, the sacred flame of the Olympiad brings brightness, courage and solidarity to Beijing," Liu Qi, president of the city's Olympics organizing committee, said during the torch-lighting ceremony held under sunny skies at the steps of the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature. Yu Zaiqing, China's IOC member, was the first of 148 torch bearers. Dressed in a white running suit with matching headband, Yu held the torch high after it was handed to him, posing for photographers, before he began a slow jog down the steps toward Tiananmen Square. About a thousand middle school children waving miniature Chinese and Olympics flags attended the ceremony, which also marks the first time the flame has been carried on the mainland. "This shows how fast our country has progressed," said 14-year-old Wang Xirui. "I'm so happy to be here. It makes any Chinese proud." The flame arrived in Beijing from Seoul on Tuesday and was carried to a section of the Great Wall, where a welcome ceremony was held and a documentary filmed. It remained for two days because the city is hosting the 2008 Olympics. On Wednesday, the flame was to pass historic sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven on the 31-mile route which ends at the Summer Palace, the former imperial resort in the city's northwest. Many roads were closed off and curious onlookers lined up to see what was going on. Several waved flags. One street banner read "Pass the flame, unite the world." Chinese NBA star Yao Ming will carry the torch to ignite a ceremonial cauldron before a celebration at the palace, organizers said. Other scheduled torchbearers include former Olympic table tennis champion Deng Yaping and gymnast Sang Lan, paralyzed from the waist down in a fall. The torch is to be carried 46,800 miles across six continents, 27 countries and 33 cities by about 11,000 runners. It is scheduled to travel to New Delhi next. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2618537
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/9228388.htm?ERIGHTS=5771416613918124884dfw (registration required) Brown may have an Olympic squad that's really a team By TIM KAWAKAMI San Jose Mercury News SAN JOSE, Calif. - First, Larry Brown coached a team from out of nowhere to shock Shaq and Kobe. Next up for a Brown toppling: Serbia and Montenegro? These are very different times - and Brown is a very different coach - for the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team, which is so far from a Dream Team that organizers don't bother to use that nickname anymore. Instead, when the Athens Games begin next month, it will be Brown - coming off his NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons over the Los Angeles Lakers - and a happenstance lineup that features only two established superstars (Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson) Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, by the way, said no thanks, though Kobe might have committed to play if Shaq was traded to Cuba. Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby, and Pistons Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton declined, too, for various reasons, some related to the time commitment of the Olympic practices and games and the fear of terrorist attacks. Add that to the memories of America's display of selfish, NBA-attitude basketball in a sixth-place debacle in the 2002 World Championships (won by the players who make up the Serbia and Montenegro squad) and... This might be the best situation for Brown, not known as a superstar-coddler but as a driven purist who demands that every player meet his standard of proper team play. "I think the Pistons proved that you don't need a team of superstars to have a super team," Warriors executive Chris Mullin says. So finally, a U.S. team that's...a team? What a concept. This also might be the first U.S. Olympic team of the Dream Team era that needs real coaching, a share-the-ball mentality and defensive effort to bring home gold. For instance: Chuck Daly's 1992 team of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson danced to gold against international teams that mostly just wanted U.S. players' autographs. Lenny Wilkens' 1996 team of Shaq, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone bullied everybody. Rudy Tomjanovich's 2000 team of Garnett, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd flew high but almost stumbled against Lithuania (before winning by two points) in the semifinals, a sign of the narrowing divide. OK, this isn't exactly a woeful underdog when it can showcase Duncan rebounding, LeBron James dribbling, Iverson scoring, and Richard Jefferson, Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion tearing up and down the floor. But, compared with the previous three NBA-loaded Olympic teams, it's lacking in size (only Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and Emeka Okafor back up Duncan in the post), threadbare at point guard (only Stephon Marbury is a true point) and overloaded at small forward (Marion, Jefferson, James, Lamar Odom and Carmelo Anthony). "We're not going to be an All-Star team," Brown said earlier this month. "But we have terrific talent. Our job is to play the right way and continue to uphold the great tradition we've had in Olympic competition." Coach George Karl's 2002 World Championships team was much more accomplished individually, featuring Jermaine O'Neal, Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, Andre Miller, Elton Brand and Wallace. But that team bickered during practices, never played as a team, jacked up a slew of ill-fated jumpers, fell flat early against Yugoslavia (the eventual champion, now reformulated as Serbia and Montenegro) and lost three of its last four games. The savvy European and South American players throttled the NBA-style one-on-one offense and bamboozled the lazy U.S. defense. This time, troublemaking players such as Pierce and Davis were bypassed. "I'm more excited about coaching this group than probably a real All-Star team, because they are the future of our league, the future of USA Basketball and they're making a tremendous sacrifice," Brown said. "I think we're tremendously athletic and versatile and have got good character." The United States, of course, remains the favorite to win the gold medal, given its unblemished Olympic record since NBA players were allowed in. But each progressive Games has seen the world creep closer. Serbia and Montenegro is ranked No.1 in the world, with the United States, Lithuania (the 2003 European champion), Argentina (with Manu Ginobili) and Spain (with Pau Gasol) right behind. China, meanwhile, has a decent player by the name of Yao Ming. Serbia and Montenegro, however, is experiencing a bit of NBA-style roster intrigue - stars Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac have not shown up for any practices and neither is listed to play in Athens. Still, as the U.S. team found out in 2002, spurred by the world interest in the 1992 Dream Team, there are waves of international players capable of giving NBA veterans a tough time. "Everybody is on center stage - over a billion people are watching," Anthony said. "Nobody wants to get embarrassed. Everybody says we're young, but we've got young talent who can also play." But can they be coached? We'll find out. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a decent article laying out a few of the top team that will be participating in the Olympics. I was surprised to read that both Peja and Vlade are not with the Serbia and Montenegro team. This is the first I have heard of NBA players from countries other than the US shunning their Olympic duties. Vlade not being there I can understand because of his age ad declining skills but Peja is THE star of their team. Without Peja I don't think Serbia And Montenegro will medal. Does anyone know Peja and Vlade's reasons for not playing?
replying to my own post. How sad! I found this link talking about why Peja is not playing Becoming a father is one of the reasons Stojakovic passed on the Olympics, even though the Games are in the country he now calls home. Stojakovic has played for the Serbia and Montenegro national team the last six years, but he said it's time to rest his body and not deal with the rigors of international play. "It's also good to have time to myself and with my family, my friends," Stojakovic said. "Not a lot of traveling. Ground, ground." I guess the US isn't the only country to have its players wuss out of the Olympics.
Marko Jaric will also not play for S & M. So they're missing three of their five starters from the world championships three years ago. I think that it will be tough for them to get a medal. My top four: USA, Argentina, Lithuania, Spain.
fantastic article about the upcoming Olympics from nba.com http://www.nba.com/pretour/olympic_primer.html You will notice that the link's top 5 teams are the same 5 teams I picked back in 10/03 With the absence of Peja, Jaric, and Divac my revised medal picks are: Gold: USA - superior athleticism and not having George Karl as a coach will be the difference for USA Silver: Lithuania - great team oriented play; haven't figured out yet why Sarunas Jasikevicious hasn't been able to find an NBA roster Bronze: Argentina - very talented, hard nosed team
have high hopes for the usa team...... although since alot of the players are "retired" due to security concerns.... not quite sure if we'll get the gold
I'm changing my picks once again : Gold- Spain (from nba.com: Spain has arguably been the most impressive team in pre-Olympic competition. Led by Gasol, they have won all seven games they've contested, including two wins over Serbia & Montenegro, a victory over Argentina and a 51-point demolition of Puerto Rico.) Silver - USA: have shown vulnerability to zone defenses and teams with good three point shooters Bronze: Lithuania: S&M and Argentina have not looked impressive of late.
