Whose reputation suffered the most during the Olympics

Gotta be Marbury. On some level he can shoot & has no excuse really. We all already knew that Jefferson & Marion couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.

 

I say Melo...

that not getting playing time thing was crap and production has been crap...well his shooting is...ANYONE remember that game we had up in Denver when he would toss up crap a mile behind 3 land and it would fall everytime with Cat in his face??? WHAT THE HELL CHANGED?

 

Did you really have to say that?

 

For me it is:

RJ - his lack of jump shot and playing in the half court offense is...well offensive!

Anthony - his whining about minutes doesnt help him. Everytime he does stuff like that we should be proud that for the most part Lebron (even at the young age) acts way mature beyond his years. He just shuts up and plays.

Marbury- He has been useless for the most part. Dwayne Wade has thoroughly outplayed him in the backcourt.

 

Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterina Thanou

 

Carmello: For all his talk about gold being easy he is nothing more than a bench warmer.

 

I would say ALL.

Except for TD, US has no real star.

 

its hard to take part in this poll..

LBrown will probably take the most heat for virtue of being the head coach.

that being said he will (from what it sounds like) try to pass on some of the blame to the players. If this were a college team that would be ridiculous but since everyone knows how big NBA players ego can be hey it might be true.

I dont know how much it affects their rep (most people forget all about once the season starts) unless the media constantly brings it up.

J

 

This author makes a convincing argument for 'Melo.

(By the way, I thought RJ sucked before the Olympics, so this is no big surprise. I'm going with 'Melo and Brown -- there's no reason this team should be so unprepared against zone defenses that collapse on Duncan.)

Melo hits bottom - and nothing else - in Athens

Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News

ATHENS - Larry Brown is an old-school coach. The way things are going, he soon might have Carmelo Anthony cleaning the erasers.

Quite simply, the Olympics have not gone as Anthony had anticipated. In three games, the Denver Nuggets forward barely has played, and his situation might have bottomed out Thursday.

In an 89-79 win against Australia, Anthony played only 2 minutes, getting in for a 30-second stint at the end of the first half and for the final 1 minute, 36 seconds, when the outcome was decided. Afterward, it became clear the coach of the U.S. Olympics basketball team is not enamored with Anthony.

"He's not buying into what we're doing," Brown said. "He's having a hard, tough time with what we're trying to do. You can see by the way he acts, by the way he plays."

Brown would not specifically say what Anthony is doing wrong, although he has been offering hints. After Tuesday's win against Greece, he said Anthony "got in for 2 seconds and shot."

"How you play, how you practice, how you act determines the amount of minutes you're going to get," Brown said.

Brown apparently is not pleased with how Anthony conducts himself on the bench when not playing. Anthony perhaps has spent more time with his chin resting on his hand than he has cheering teammates.

"LeBron (James) played 7 minutes (in an exhibition Aug. 4 against Germany) and was rubbing guys' necks and cheering for everybody," Brown said. "Some guys didn't play, and you saw how they responded. So figure it out."

In three Olympics games, Anthony has played only 11 minutes. He has gone scoreless while shooting 0-of-8.

"We won," Anthony said after Thursday's game. "I can't really complain about anything. I ain't going to complain about my time if we're winning. . . . All I can do is keep working hard and see what happens."

Anthony, who said he has not talked to Brown about his situation, has complained after a defeat, though. After playing 4 minutes in Team USA's stunning 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico on Sunday, Anthony said he was "disappointed" and that he "came over here to help (his) team" and not to "just come over for a great experience."

Anthony doesn't believe his shot selection has been poor during the games. He was 0-of-2 on Thursday, both misses three-pointers during garbage time.

"I was in for 30 seconds," Anthony said. "Don't criticize me with my shot. I can't shoot if I'm not in the game."

In Denver, Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe quickly jumped to Anthony's defense, expressing disappointment at Brown's criticisms.

"Melo's a great kid, and there's no way he's not extremely team-oriented," he said. "Those comments are just disappointing at best.

"It's very surprising Melo would be that way at all. He's never been that way. It's sort of surprising Larry Brown, as experienced as he is, would come out in the paper and say things like that."

Anthony's demotion has been sudden. During Team USA's first three exhibitions, he was the leading scorer with a 17.0 average. But Anthony averaged 3.7 points in the next three exhibitions, setting the tone for what has happened in Athens.

"He was struggling early (in practice), didn't think he was going to play and really came through and played great (in early exhibitions)," Brown said. "Then he had some problems and didn't earn the right to play, basically. But he still has a chance and, like I said, you never know when they'll call your number.

"I think we all care for him to do well, and we need him. . . . But I don't need a guy who doesn't buy in. . . . This is three games and you never know when the light's going on and the worst thing you can do is give up on him."

Aaron J. Lopez contributed to this story.

 

i guess it really was for the best for both teams that Detroit took Darko over Melo

 

Hmm...I seem to remember a game where Carmelo let his teammates down and refused to go back in the game because his shot selection was questioned. Sounds like there's "a way" to me.

 

It sounds Jefferson bounces back in today's game.