http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/misc/1424640.html Nothing's wrong with Johnny's game, America -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Chris Ramsay ESPN.com Reggie Miller, Ben Wallace and Paul Pierce do us all a favor. Please, take care of business at the World Championships and silence all the moaning in Hoops Nation USA. Paul Pierce, left, and Andre Miller will show the world what's up with American hoops. You no doubt have heard it. It's coming from everywhere. The U.S. is losing its grip on basketball. The Europeans are better because, here in America, Johnny can't shoot. Johnny won't play "D" and Johnny doesn't rebound. When Pau Gasol won Rookie of the Year, everybody started freaking out. Europeans work on their fundamentals, they said. Europeans are in shape. Europeans use the two-hand chest pass. Gasol is a good player, but his numbers were inflated because he played on a horrible team. Remember, the Grizzlies lost 59 games. Folks, just because Gasol beat out Jason Richardson and Shane Battier in the Rookie of the Year voting doesn't mean that young Euro players are better than U.S. players. Then came the NBA draft and four teams used their first-round picks on Europeans. Europeans are coachable, they said. Europeans play a team game. Europeans work hard. But who knows if Nenad Krstic will stick or if Bostjan Nachbar will ever take off his Houston Rockets warmup. For every Dirk Nowitzki there are twenty Milan Pupovic's. Does the name Frederic Weis ring a bell? Let's look at some NBA stats. Besides Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki and Peja Stojakovic are the only other Europeans to crack the top 50 in scoring in the NBA last season. Nowitzki, Gasol and Rasho Nesterovic are the only Europeans in the top 50 in rebounding. Tony Parker and Vlade Divac are the only Europeans in the top 50 in assists. Go through the rest of the NBA stats. It's pretty much the same. A couple of imports in the top 50. Sure, the Euros are a factor, but they're not dominating. Here's what's going on. The American game is evolving and it's way ahead of the rest of the world. You don't see the 15-foot, pull-up jumper around here a lot anymore, but you don't see grandpa's 35-foot, two-hand set shot, either. It's evolution. Gone is the basketball with laces, the hook shot, the weave and the underhanded free throw. So what! The 360-tomahawk slam has replaced the two-foot, bank-shot layup. That's a good thing! The ankle-breaking cross-over, down-the-lane, no-look, alley-oop pass is better than a bounce pass in the lane any day. That's a good thing, too! The American game continues to evolve like it has since the day Dr. Naismith hung the first peach basket in Springfield, Mass. This isn't George Mikan's game. It's not Walt Frazier's game. It's not even Magic Johnson's and Larry Bird's game anymore. The point is, the American game has grown beyond that. It is still the best game in the world, bar none. Players build on their brother's and uncle's and father's games. American kids love to create. They love to do things that have never been done before. And they do. And that's the beauty of it. Chris Ramsay, whose game is fundamentally sound, is a senior editor at ESPN.com. --------------------------------------------------------- This kind of a follow-up to the World will catch up soon and Sad State of American hoops. People keep saying the euros have more fundamentally sound players but they have not dished out a single player with the all-around fundamental package of a Tim Duncan or a Chris Webber since maybe Sabonis. Vlade is the only euro who has established a reputation for being one of the best at both ends of the court although Gasol will probably be as good or better than Vlade very soon, we will see if he can mantain his high level of play. Kirelenko is probably the lone stand out of the euros who will be a pure defensive stopper. Although not a euro, Ming looks like he might have the all-around package in the NBA, we will see. Can anyone think of any other euros who have/will have the all-around game of the Americans?
Dirk Nowitzki has just about anything you'd want in a basketball player offensively, although I'd like my PF to spend a little more time in the post than on the perimeter jacking up 3's. His big weakness is on the defensive side of the ball.
Question: What exactly is the American game evolving into? Granted, I see where he's coming from in terms of all the gloom-and-doom, 'the kids are ruining the game' talk. Just explain to me, if little Johnny is being so creative, why can't he do the mundane things like pull-up off the dribble from time to time, or hit his free-throws? Is that beneath him or what, 'cause that's what wins ball games. Your boy Kobe has one of the better middle distance games in the league, and he hits his free throws. Why doesn't little Johnny emulate those aspects, and not try to always practice dunking like Kobe?
Making the midrange jumpers doesn't get the oohs and aahs from little Johnny's peer like dunking or hitting 3 pointers. My 10-year-old son, who is just starting to like playing basketball, keeps trying to shoot from the 3 point line even though it is obviously waaaaay beyond his range. (He can't even touch the net yet, or I'd bet he'd be trying to dunk too.) I told him the first thing you need to practice in basketball is dribbling and doing layups. Of course he didn't listen. He was in a basketball camp. After a while he complained that all the coaches had them doing was dribbling and passing. "It's so boring!" That pretty much sums up the mentality of the majority of kids in America.
I just notice something. Even though most of the top NBA scorers are American, we could only find two 20 point scorers(Pierce and Finley) for our national team. We also only have two players(Brand and Oneal) with a low post game. We're just asking to get beat.
America's ultra-elite (Shaq, Duncan, Mcgrady, Garnett, Kobe, Payton, Webber, etc) have all declined to play.
Comparing foreign born player's stats to American-born NBA greats is ridiculous in itself. I hated it on draft night when Kenny Smith proclaimed on TNT that this draft was "a wake-up call". It's not a matter if "Johnny can't shoot" or, as I've seen suggested, that NBA really want to have players that are "coachable". Does any kid in America want to win anymore? Does C-Webb and KG? Does anybody really care enough once you've got a 50 million dollar contract? And if they do, is that really healthy? Most Americans, once financially secure are supposed to be thinking about more important things while fulfilling their contractual obligations. Think C-Webb and KG don't? They do, their stats and play justify their salary rank in the NBA. Therefore our, "the American", game is in trouble. If you're T-Mac and may just be the best basketball player in the world and you miss a game because of "personal reasons" it won't register on the same radar screen as a foreign player carrying his presence in the NBA as a badge of honor. The game itself? Look at the rule changes adopted last year in response to the international game. And "our" game looks good on TV and the rec courts and in your driveway. It still does, but we're losing ground every minute. Countries basically "drafting" adolescents to be trained in order to develop players. It's been pointed out that China has 4.3 billion people and we have .3 billion. Europe, South America, Australia, and Africa might also provide a future load as well. If Yao Ming doesn't benefit from playing in the lane around 2 feet closer, someone else will. In fact, some others have. There is nothing wrong with "our game". No, there isn't, but 8 years from now we may not be favored even if we're still undefeated with our pros. Whomever will be our best 4 years from now will be told that playing internationally will be incredibly risky from an endorsement perspective. I don't believe that's happened yet, but when you look at Team USA's performance last night vs. China and also the game in the 2000 Olympics against Lithuania, it just sounds like we're just bragging because we still can. Nothing wrong with our game? I don't agree.
Kinda makes you think to what would happen if the US really had their "elite" players. Who could even stand up to: Shaq Webber Duncan Wallace Garnett Carter McGrady Kobe Payton Kidd They would Squash any team. We would see highlight films nightly about some Euro or Puerto Rico, Angola or wherever player getting abused by the Real Team USA. A front line of Jermaine O'Neal, Elton, ADavis and Ben Wallace isn't even an all star squad.
Yep. One thing I think people fail to consider when saying the rest of the world is "catching up quickly" to the U.S. is that during last 3-4 years, we haven't put our best team in the competition. Our ultra-elite have declined the invitations. In Barcelona in 1992, the original Dream Team was the best team we could put on the court. In Atlanta in 1996, it was also just about the best team we could put on the court. While the rest of the world has gotten better, IMO, if our ultra-elite were in the competition, you'd see the average margin of victory be in the 30's again. We wouldn't be having these "scares" or whatever anymore. While it won't be up to the dominance of the original Dream Team who had an average margin of victory of about 44 points I believe, it will still be quite a dominant team.
The fact that the "elite players" are not playing is just one more example of "what's wrong with America's game." American players used to WANT to play in the Dream Team. Now they don't even care. Compare that with Yao Ming's statement about "not wanting to let his NT uniform down."
i think they have all been al stars, maybe Wallace isn't (i forgot), but he is the best defensive player.so it is not like it is a bad sqaud, Andre miller and pierce and finley and miller are good players. this U.S.A team would beat the east all stars. i agree that the U.S.A is still the best basketbal country, i don't tink anyone think there are not, but i think there are losing there advantage, there arn't as far ahead as they think they are, i think the nba elite should participate in the world championships. i hope the u.s.a will lose this year, so the so called stars want to play to show they have pride, because i think they don't have it. in every country in the world almost every person would love to play for theyre country, just the nba "stars" think they are to good for it. it is stupid, so i cheer for every team exept for the u.s.a. and i think the super stars are afraid because they know They could lose a game, if they play bad and the other them plays great (germany,yoegoslavia,spain,brasil,argentina). Go the world ( it is not like there is a rocket on the u.s.a team)
What the US team should do is establish a standard national team. Maybe 1-2 players can be added, dropped, etc. Once you are asked to be on it and say yes, you have to come to the Worlds, Olympics, etcs for as long as you are on the team. If you say no, you are banned from ever participating in it again. It should get a permanent coach with a permanent staff and system, like Chuck Daly or Phil Jackson, basicaly somebody who would bring continuity to it. They should also make it competitive. If guys who are on it who are sucking and don't deserve to be there, like Steve Smith or Raef Lafrentz, you get dropped. USA basketball should treat as an honor, instead of as an option, and then maybe the players will responsd the same. Sadly I fear it is going to take an embarassing upset for anything like that to ever happen.
Make playing on Team USA (except for the non-US players) a prerequite for being named to the all-NBA team.
The rest of the world is catching up to the US in basketball: True. That is a fact and the bottom line. Why try to dispute that? What's the point?
