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Team USA vs. Italy

Discussion in 'NBA Draft' started by pgabriel, Aug 3, 2004.

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  1. Nick

    Nick Member

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    Its amazing how much smaller Okafor looks next to NBA players.

    This guy looked huge in college... now I'm confusing him for Wade... man.
     
  2. pcheung

    pcheung Member

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    The Italians are showing them up. Bowing to the crowd? Ouch.
     
  3. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    Is this a joke.
     
  4. snowmt01

    snowmt01 Member

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    USA needs to play better otherwise they will be destroyed by Serbs,
    Lithuania and Spain that are all better than Italy.
     
  5. yipengzhao

    yipengzhao Member

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    not so sure about that one...

    but yeah... i'm kinda sad too.

    here's my theory. a lot of the USA's previous success had to do with the mystique. you know? the god-like mystique. 1992 dream team, other teams were more interested in getting autographs and too scared to compete.

    slowly, the mystique wore down as teams got closer and closer. now, not only is the aura of intimidation gone... it's like teams are extra motivated to bring their A-games against the US. because of course it's very prestigious to beat the US. it's like: you think you're pretty cool bullying us all those previous years huh? for the revolution we'll bring you down!

    yeah... i wonder if the U.S. can ever regain that kind of dominance. i guess not since the globalization of basketball is an unstoppable trend. hell... if China loves basketball this much, in 20-30 years they might become dominant... just by the law of large numbers alone.
     
  6. zoork34

    zoork34 Member

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    why not? italy isnt even considered one of the top teams and they just demoralized us
     
  7. snowmt01

    snowmt01 Member

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    Probably not. Teams will use zone defense more and better in the future.
    So players need good jump shot to dominate. Fortunately, both of our
    Franchise players have it :)
     
  8. New Jack

    New Jack Member

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    Italy's point guard has been amazing (no, I'm not suggesting the Rockets should get him).
     
  9. madmonkey37

    madmonkey37 Member

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    Pretty pathetic but its better to lose now then later.


    I bet this game will shut carmelo the hell up. This team has some serious flaws and I dont know how the selection committe built a purely on athleticism and youth. Sending this borderline all star rookies instead of established vets
     
  10. lalala902102001

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    Team USA's past success was due to our basketball philosophy, and our current woes are the result of the same thing.

    The world has changed, but we haven't.
     
  11. snowmt01

    snowmt01 Member

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    Most of 90s Dream teamers had good fundamentals.
     
  12. Nick

    Nick Member

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    QUESTION:

    What is the reasoning behind having the trapezoidal lane in international competition... is it just to neutralize the big men, so that they can't just camp-out right under the basket??

    I think this facet alone hinders the US team greatly, especially since some of their big guys (Okafor, Stoudamire) have absolutely no shooting range at all.
     
  13. pcheung

    pcheung Member

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    Nope. No joke.

    If you're watching this game, it's more than obvious.
    Any NBA catch-and-shoot specialist would fit this team better than every perimeter player except Carmelo and Wade, regardless of athleticism.

    These All-Stars, even if they are decent shooters, are VOLUME shooters. Give them 1 shot/5 minutes, they turn into GP in the playoffs. Brick city. A role player with a consistent 3 pt shot is just... better. That's basically what the Italian high-scorers have.

    I'll go on,

    A retired Steve Kerr > Marbury
    Rasheed Wallace > Stoudamire/Okafor
    Teammate Kyle Korver > Iverson

    There's no defensive 3 seconds. It's basically a game of horse.
     
  14. MLittle577

    MLittle577 Member

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    DAMN is all I can say.

    It's like when Serena lost at Wimbeldon, when she usually loses, it's because of her own mistakes, but at Wimbeldon, that girl just kicked her @$$, it wasn't how bad Serena played, it was how good the Russian chick was (forget her name)

    Same with L.A. and Pistons

    Same with USA and Italy, they just kicked our ass.
     
  15. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    watching a team of guys who can't hit an outside jump shot to save their lives is soooo fitting for the state of the game here right about now.
     
  16. rezdawg

    rezdawg Member

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    This was a romp...

    I think the US team needs a humbling experience like this.
     
  17. MLittle577

    MLittle577 Member

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    Well a lot of the original picks backed out, so what do ya do?
     
  18. Nick

    Nick Member

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    HAHA... and ESPN is following this horrible showing by the perfect analagous, ironic programming... AND ONE STREETBALL!

    Europeans who probably see this programming are very optimistic about the demise of future USA basketball players...
     
  19. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    The reason the rest of the world can compete with us is because there are no more dominant big men. The first Dream Team had Ewing, Robinson, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley. The second had Shaq, and the third had Olajuwon. Now we are relying on Duncan who isn't enough.
     
  20. madmonkey37

    madmonkey37 Member

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    Can somebody tell me why Micheal Redd wasnt extended an invitation. Carmelo over Redd??? comon. Does he have too much experience or something or is he too much of a good shooter to join this team.

    Stu Jackson and the rest of the committee should be fired for making such a bonehead team. Their imcompetence will cost the US gold or maybe even a medal. You cant win on talent and the world championships should have proved that.
     

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