Ok, the Hawks? We have officially taken this too far, the Heat would not win a medal unless Shaq is the best player on the team, much less the Hawks. You guys have already forgotten the one man offense that the Heat used in crunch time in the playoffs, that won't work against teams that can play a true zone defense. The Pistons with an additional bench player or two are the only team that could win gold IMO. A lot of other teams are automatically disqualified because of important foreigners like the Suns, Spurs, and Rockets.
Wow I feel stupid. Ok then for point gurad they can have... ummmm... Brent Price! with those other 4 players it dont really matter.
Yeah we are pretty tall, The problem is that we are just not that good in Basketbal. But it is getting more popular, so maybe someday we will be able to beat Kazakhstan the pictures of africa are coming, i think today. Had been busy so i couldn't upload them. Tonight(european tonight) i will do that
No country has a prayer of beating Kazakhstan as soon as they put Borat at point! He's got the US scouted!
Dwyane Wade is a much better NBA player than FIBA player. He uses the NBA's handcheck rules, travelling rules (or whatever), and bias toward the agressor on fouls to his advantage. Real zone defenses and more traditional officiating negates Wade's best abilities.
Did they do away with the handcheck rule in international basketball as well? if not we should be handchecking the crap out of them. that's one thing players of the past were better at. Today's players may be better athletes but yesteryears players were more physical.
I agree, I don't know if its the rules or if mcgrady was right, the treatment he got from the american officials was borderline criminal. but wade had a tremendous year, not just the post season. I don't get it. larry brown tried to use him a lot in the olympics and it backfired. he had a terrible tournament then to. its befuddling.
The most best players but the best team? I wish, but let them prove a return to dominance. Please, fellows. PS If the rest of the world had to play in an NBA tourney with NBA rules the NBA would still be best. The Int'l game is, I regret to say, a better game to watch and not a good fit for our guys.
This is an interesting thread. One key think to remember, in the NBA teams advance in series. Even scrubby teams, playing inspired and/or on their home court, manage to beat the best in individual games. In the medal rounds you only need to get hot and play inspired once. Also the quesiton of style is interesting. Perhaps the Heat would not fair well, and least not the best fitting NBA team. But how about the Mavs or Suns. Granted they have key international players, but just in terms of style of game. For sure I'd say Detroit. 2 years ago if we sent Detroit "as is" I do believe they would have been much better than the team we ended up sending and losing with. That Detroit team had interchangable parts defensively that spread all over the floor and locked down jumpshooters beyond the 3 line. Except for Big Ben, they had guys to knock down open shots too. However I am also not sure if we sent New Jersey or the Clips or the Kings if they would not compete for a medal, if not being favored for one. Heck would someone tell me Seattle, a bottom 10 NBA team but one who can shoot lights out when on, couldn't beat any of the teams in the current turney or that they would not be odds on to medal?
I remember seeing the Soviet team get killed by the University of Kentucky about 24 years ago (man I'm old!). Now we're talking about NBA All-Stars or NBA Champions being favorites in a FIBA tourney. Things have come a long way. I think chemistry is a real issue. That is why this current US team had tryouts, etc. and received 3 year commitments from the players. This current team will only improve. The US has by far the deepest talent pool. We (they?) could churn out 20+ teams that could contend for the gold. We should also remember that not all the best foreign players play in the NBA. Teams seem to only show interest in very young Euro-players. I don't know much about FIBA - but I'm sure there are a bunch of older foreign players who COULD play in the NBA but, because of their age, are just not attractive to NBA scouts. I just think that's true because of the US teams recent 3rd and 5th place finishes.
I think US might not be the best team if you are talking about FIBA. Yes the US team is talented but they are playing against different rules right now. One obvious difference is the 3point line. the 3pt line in FIBA is just like Mid-range NBA jumpers. Despite Wade and Lebron can shoot 3s in NBA, it is not their speciality to shoot those 3s in FIBA. However Carmelo has developed lethal mid range jumpers in his NBA career, thus he is shoot these with ease ( remember the game where he got 16 before he injury + half time) Another difference is the defence. I'm sure people would have notice FIBA teams used alot of Zone Defence rather than " Man2Man". This gives a hard time to NBA penantrate plays such as PFs and Cs cannot be fed down the block because they will immediately double or triple teams. This can also relate to why TD did so bad last time =(. Lebron and Wade which mainly plays penantrate style will also have difficulty (but we all know they are GOD, they can do everything but nothing).Mid range Gunners are what we really want The final point I want to make is that Coach K is making everyone happy. He can get superstars to make hustle plays, he makes every player happy with their role, he is friendly with the media. All these will contribute towards the chance of US to be the best team out there. Time is another issue, how long will the US players be comfortable with the FIBA style of play? You know groove is a big issue for many players. When they get groovy you want to stay out of their way.
1.USA 2.Argentina 3.Spain 4.Brazil Do you guys ever ask yourselves why Yao isn't on the USA team. LOL
That question is easy to answer. It's b/c he's loyal to his country and not a traitor like Wang Zhizhi, and even Wang Zhizhi has repented and returned to the national team.
oh really, who doesn't know wade is on the US team? i'm speaking if wade stayed on the heat and someone replaced his starting spot on the US team. nba champs probably have a better shot now that the rest of the world has caught up. you have to have team play.
