http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/news?slug=sk-olybasketball0828&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Fall from Greece by Steve Kerr, Yahoo! Sports August 28, 2004 As I watched Team USA lose to Argentina in the Olympic semifinals on Friday, one thought continually recurred in my mind: This was no upset. America didn't have its best team in Athens. Yes, Kobe, Shaq and KG probably would have made a difference. But Argentina's team was simply better than the team we put on the floor. They played with passion and poise, they worked beautifully without the ball, they passed and shot better, and I got the sense they would have beaten Team USA six out of 10 times. So the question American basketball fans are asking is, how did this happen? How did we invent a game, dominate it for over 100 years and suddenly forget how to play it? How can our national team go from utter dominance a mere 12 years ago to suddenly becoming a mediocre player on the national scene? (If you think we're anything more than mediocre, witness the fact that we finished in sixth place in the world championships two years ago and third in Athens). ADVERTISEMENT There are probably a lot of reasons for our Olympic failure, but the first thing we have to fix is the selection process. Ever since the original 'Dream Team' trampled the competition in Barcelona in 1992, selecting the national team has been nothing more than a popularity contest. The NBA was interested in promoting its league around the world, so Team USA was comprised of superstars. If a star player turned down the invitation, he was replaced by the next biggest star. The selection committee has been largely made up of NBA general managers and officials, who frequently are politicking their own players for marketing purposes. Selections were based on star status and exchanged favors, and since we were going to win anyway, nobody cared how the team was picked. That is about to change. It doesn't take James A. Naismith to figure out that Team USA desperately needed a shooter, and that guys like Brent Barry, Michael Redd or Wally Szczerbiak would have been valuable assets on this team. In the past those names would have never been mentioned. Now they will not only be considered, but recruited and coveted. But to place all the blame on the selection committee for the Olympic failure would be wrong. While I believe we could have fielded a more efficient squad, international basketball has improved so dramatically that it's no longer as simple as sending our best players. There are more than 80 foreign players in the NBA, so teams from around the world are extremely gifted. In fact, with Tim Duncan on the bench in foul trouble, it was difficult to view a disparity in talent between Team USA and Argentina. Manu Ginobili was the best player on the floor, and Andres Nocioni, who will play for the Bulls next season, punished the smaller American guards on the block in the first half. Luis Scola, for whom the Spurs hold draft rights, was a strong force inside. And late in the game, Walter Herrmann did his best Dr. J impersonation, swooping to the hole and closing out the Americans with his offensive aggressiveness. These guys were awfully good. But while the disparity in talent wasn't glaring, the style of play certainly was. I believe that the international teams are now playing the game better than we are. Tex Winter once taught me that the best players make their decision to drive, shoot or pass within one second of catching the ball. That creates offensive rhythm and continuity. The Argentineans rarely held onto the ball for more than a second or two as they passed, cut and shot us to death. The irony is that they ran a simple offense called the 'flex', which was a staple of American basketball 15 to 20 years ago. It involves a pattern of back screens and down screens that are difficult to defend, especially when all five players on the floor can shoot. The Argentineans spread the floor, set great screens and knocked down open shots – something the 'Dream Team' of 12 years ago did from day one. But the American game has deteriorated to the point where players are holding the ball for three or four seconds, over dribbling, dumping the ball into the post and not moving or setting screens. That is what Team USA did, and the lack of offensive continuity was glaring. The Americans' play was simply an extension of an NBA game, and it was exposed in a tournament where teams employed a more traditional – and more efficient – style. So will this Olympic loss spawn a new generation of players and coaches who are dedicated to working on their games and strategies and getting basketball back to what it was in this country just a decade ago? Probably not. The NBA game has become institutionalized, with teams playing the same way – running screen and rolls and isolations, feeding the ball to the best player and clearing everyone out. Teams are not going to run the 'flex' offense because many players can't shoot, and without shooters the defense doesn't have to honor screens and perimeter play, preferring to simply clog the lane. And younger players will continue to enter the league underdeveloped, having played hundreds of AAU games, but not doing what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were doing 30 years ago – sweating in a gym all summer working on their skills. The NBA can learn a lot from the Olympic failure. The league could use more innovation and more coaches – like Don Nelson and Phil Jackson – who think 'outside the box' and value basketball skill over athleticism. Perhaps the league can help our young coaches at the junior high and high school levels to inspire kids to develop skills – especially away from the ball. Maybe we can adopt some of the international rules and apply them to the NBA. We could allow all-zone defenses, for example, or possibly widen the lane, or even – heaven forbid – call traveling. But no matter what we do, the USA will never return to the dominant state it enjoyed for so long. The international game is too good. There are great players all over the world. And our game is regressing. So even if we pick a better, more efficient team to send to Beijing in 2008, don't be surprised if we come home empty handed again. Steve Kerr is Yahoo! Sports' NBA analyst. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Thank God this is not another Steve Francis commemoration thread! He plays for Orlando, people! Let's move on! Almost every time I come to the board his name is on several threads. Steve KERR is absolutely right! Dribble, Dribble, Dunk, Dunk, Turnover, Turnover, Miss, Miss: basketball in the NBA has become less sophisticated, and in some ways, less skilled. Will it return to earlier forms, probably not.
LOL......that is too funny! Back in my day what the guys do with the ball now was called palming, now it is readily accepted form of dribbling. This was put in the wrong BBS but good read none the less...
you know I wonder that too.. what if the NBA adopted some of the international rules? Rules that the rest of the world uses and is actually more fun to watch. If it wasnt for the Rox I wouldnt even be watching basketball. I love to play the game but watching it hasnt been that much of an experience. The teams that were actually enjoyable to watch (Kings/Mavs) used alot of cutting, moving w/out the ball and great shooting. J
Surprise me. I was referring to the NBA in general, however. I would like to see the adoption of some international rules. Allowing a zone defense is, I believe, a step in the right direction. I loved watching Detroit beat LA, and I look forward to the Rockets playing a similar game. Team play will almost always prevail.
It seems to me that people are just piling on the US team now just for the sake of it. It's really getting overboard. Despite their poor showing, the US players has shown several areas in which they absolutely dominate. This includes the boards(especially on offense), transition baskets, and general domination inside the paint. The only time opponents can stop our inside game is when they pack everyone inside to give us WIDE OPEN outside shots. This shows that the athletcism of the NBA players still give us a huge edge in general. The US team needs to only improve in two areas. One is outside shooting, and one is perimeter defense. Both are very curable problems.
I tend to agree Meh. One win against Argentina, and unless the US team imploded against Italy, the pundits would have had to rewrite their post-mortems. Or more likely, added a paragraph about 'sure we won, but we still suck' Not as dominating as before...but hardly as pathetic as is being written. Oh....and my respect for AI continues to grow. and i was always a fan. (and Brown seems to have escaped relatively unscathed).
Examples? The last ten NFL Championships; better teams or "star power?" The last ten MLB World Series Champions? The last ten College, Football, Baseball, and Basketball National Champions? NBA, no doubt that Hakeem, Jordan, Kobe, and Shaq have had a huge impact, but they didn't win championships by themselves. Detroit is a case in point.
Well I'm just talking about the NBA. Pretty much every champion of the past 30 years has either had a top 3 player that carried the team to the championship or a couple of top five, top ten players. The Detroit Pistons are an exception, not the rule.
I find myself agreeing with m_cable more and more once he started quoting Italo Calvino, and I actually mean that!
Don't worry. I'll be switching to a Pauley Shore quote in a couple of weeks, so we can go back to being on different sides of the room.
The mantra in Detroit during the finals was "a full house always beats a pair." I see your point, but don't forget the Bad Boy Pistons, the Celtics, and the Showtime Lakers; they had stars but they were very talented teams, ten deep.
The Bad boys are a good example of a team effort. But the Celts and the Lakers played in a pre-expansion, non-watered down league. If we only had 24-25 teams in the league today, all the championship contenders would have awesome rosters.
Everybody save Argentina. Anway, you saying the US didn't because they didn't pass, dribbled too much, and turned the ball over too much? Because that would be wrong.
