Hinrich was also drilling 3's in the loss when OTHERS would pass to him. In the loss none of the guys were helping or switching on D. I really like how their big guys were eating up the guys who are going to be guarding Yao....bring em' on!
Shouldn't he have gotten more shots if he was hot? And is the fact he wasn't a starter and was hitting but didn't get the ball a perfect example of why we lost because the coach was busy appeasing egos as opposed to milking the best of a situation?
you're a fountain of misinformation. kirk hinrich took 8 shots, was four of 7 from three range, four of eight overall. the only three players who shot more than him, all shot higher percentages lebron 8/14 anthony 9/15 wade 6/11 you're just like all these other ignorant fans of what actually went on who do nothing else but blame the stars. so let me ask you this, since hinrich actually wasn't the best shooter that night, should he have taken less shots?
there used to be a time when a players' production got fans excited....but not these days. I'll say it again....if Shane Battier wasn't such a "nice guy" his rep as player would be where it belongs. A guy who's closer to Ryan Bowen than Shawn Marion. People have already been brainwashed by this guy....its sad.
Lebron, Wade and carmello were 23/40 So percentage wise in loose terms would be Hinrich at 20/40 I must be ignorant though to notice that Hinrich shots were 3 pt.s that would have amounted to more points than the other guys 2 pt.s. Your STARS SUCK stop making excuses for guys who dominate an OLYMPIC TEAM who have yet to embrace a TEAM CONCEPT. DO THEY MAKE ANY OF THE PLAYERS AROUND THEM BETTER? Or are you blinded by the medias insistence to make these guys stars when they lack the fundamentals of basketball? HERE'S WHAT I SAY TO YOUR STARS "ATTACK THE GD BASKET!" Why were they so stupid they couldn't figure it out? What our stars can't break down a zone defense and pass the f%$%ing ball when they did? OH Yeah none of them have experience at passing! Or how about an inside game? Why must we jack up 20 footers when we can play two feet from the basket? Now that is IGNORANT! AND IF SHANE BATTIER IS CLOSER TO RYAN BOWEN THAN THE MAJORITY OF THE NBA IS CLOSER TO FONDE REGULARS or AND1 PUNKS. ONE DIMENSIONAL BS. THEY USED TO BE IN THE CBA...now the NBA is so watered down that is the best it can do, therefore our OLYMPIC hopes depend on a bunch of guys with no TEAM skills. Who needs a team when you can go one on one and get all the glory yourself. Oh but team defense is a good idea for guys to lazy to play man to man good like the DREAM TEAM did. I hope Battier doesn't go to the Olympics so I can root against the primadonnas ruining this sport. GIVE EM HELL JVG keep the fundamentals coming!
so you actually advocate someone shooting 40 shots to promote the team concept. part of the reason hinrich is able to get off 7 three pointers as it is, is because he's playing with lebron, wade, and anthony. your posts are ridiculous and your last statement only proves the point that you just want to hate these guys anyway because of some pre existing issues with them.
not to mention, in another thread about ignorant hatred of the nba game and the int'l teams, it is pointed out that the usa actually led the tournament in assists. again, the usa's problem against greece was defense, and a lot of that is on hinrich who was there for his defense, and he got lit up in just about every match up.
Your reply is interesting indeed. A different opinion of Shane Battier makes me a cowboy fan!? Well, I have been watching Shane Battier since his rookie year. Shane Battier is Mr. Constant. How Battier performs in regular season games is how Battier performs in playoff games - nothing more but sometimes a little bit less. God bless Battier plays well for the Rockets in PLAYOFF.
Actually in the Greece game, Greece had more assists....SURPRISE,SURPRISE! You know what I hate about these guys now days....they can't shoot, they can't pass, they can't defend A SIMPLE PICK AND ROLL? THE GREATEST PLAYERS ON EARTH CAN"T DEFEND A PICK AND ROLL? In that loss they didn't switch right, they didn't even have to switch in most cases all they had to do was HELP EACH OTHER....why didn't they? You can look at stats in many different ways for instance the fact that USA beat Senegal 103-58 but only had 9 more assists....you can interpret numbers any way you want BUT imagine how good this team could have been if they could run a simple pick and roll! I did not expect HINRICH to take 40 shots, that was not my point, my point is do the stars make each other better to make a team, or are they so used to being the individual talents that they are that they have neglected to cultivate the skills that make them good team players that make everything easier on the players around them. Lebron can open shots for Hinrich sure, but is it fair for Hinrich like players to never find their groove because they only get the ball when its convenient for Lebron to give it up? I hate the fact that these guys are so me-oriented that I have to watch them take ill advised ahots as opposed to making smart basketball decisions that facilitate team scoring. Think about it...these guys get paid more money than most of all the players in the past but do not have the fundamentals and high basketball IQ of the players of the past. Dwayne Wade was the only player on the roster with a ring if I'm not mistaken and he took less shots and had more assists in less minutes than Lebron and carmello. Carmello was named one of the 5 best players in the tournament and averaged 1.9 assists. I HATE THE FACT THAT THESE GUYS ARE SO DAMN TALENTED AND THAT IT IS SO FRUSTRATING TO WATCH THEM LACK JUST FUNDAMENTAL THINGS AS SMART BASKETBALL THAT ALLOWS THEM TO UTILIZE THEIR TEAM AND MAKE THEIR TEAM AS WELL AS THEIRSELVES BETTER. They just want to do it all themselves and even Jordan would tell you that it is not until you rely and trust your teammates do you get better. I have opinions, I don't like calling anyone ignorant and I do not hate anyone on this planet and I don't understand how you can call people ignorant over something so trivial in this world as basketball. I realize since you are not looking me in the eyes it is easy for you to be hateful....but realize that my hate is directed towards the idea that TEAM BASKETBALL IS DEAD because of the troubled world that we live in that revolves arounnd the acceptance of selfishness and greed. It gets hard for me to watch it invade the sport I love most. Please do not be so egocentrical yourself as not to understand that some people will not agree with you on this planet, therefore what is ignorant is to demean others with differing opinions. I feel proud that right now the team I love most is one of the few teams that has a coach who demands others rely on each other and work together, an act the rest of the world could learn from. I am also proud that we have two superstars willing to defer to each other and to the guys around them when it helps them utilize the team concept to their advantage to help the TEAM win. I have not called you or anyone here or will I ever call anyone on this site ignorant because they have a differing opinion. I don't expect the same from you and you still haven't the fundamental question about the fundamentals of the players. DO THEY MAKE EACH OTHER BETTER? Just a question and not an indictment on you or anyones character? Just the facts maam.
I'm in no way defending Hinrich. I'm asking do the superstars of the world team or the NBA have a smart basketball game that makes the players around them better or do they continue to make bad decisions that detract from the TEAM concept that has made players like Battier and Hinrich as well as the World Teams just as valuable as the marquis names we put on a pedastal. Hinrich may lack in defense what Lebron and Carmello lack in their ability to use the talent around them to the TEAMS advantage to translate into a TEAM win. I'm still wondering how our superstars make the players around them better therefore making the team better. I think Battier does and thats why I love the guy.
Bingo. That double clutch non shot was the beginning of the end as far as offensive cohesion for the US. Also, Greece shot as well as they have EVER in the last two years. They hit a lot of contested shots and a lot of shots they don't normally hit. In a one and done tournament, that happens. I am guessing by two sandwhiches short philosophy that there was only one fundamentally sound team in the WBC...SPain. I mean Greece got beat by about 20 with Spain's best player on the bench. They must be stupid primmadonnas, right?
MY philosophy is short...the best TEAM won. To think you can beat the world with athleticism alone and not something as fundamental as passing and properly defending the oldest play in the game, the pick and roll, is pretty short sighted. Can you tell me how these superstars make each other better? Do you think they could play a better TEAM basketball? I'm sorry but my philosophy usually pertains to all of the Championship teams of the past, and IMO alot of guys don't put enough credence in TEAM and put more emphasis on INDIVIDUALITY. I do not use primadonna to describe all of the players in the league.....I just feel there are some guys who may be indivdually fun to watch but their style does not help their team in the end. I see alot of potential Magic in Lebron sometimes and alot of Iverson in Carmello. One has several rings and one has you can argue not allowed his game to make his team better. All I expect is that the guys who make the most money on the team also be the smartest guy on the team. His job is take the TEAM on his shoulders and help the everyone around him the best possible players they can be. I just don't see the marquis players concentrating on a team concept. They want to win it all but they are not willing to sacrifice some of their game in order to make the guys around them better utilized for the wholeness of the TEAM. Their coaches are usually preaching this but for some reason they refuse to embrace some of the most succesful concepts for winning. I'm sorry I won't call these guys primadonnas anymore from now on I will refer to them "tIm players" because they put to much I in team. There were times in the tournament where there was OFFENSIVE cohesion but I think a coach would argue that you are not a TRUE TEAM until you include others to your advantage...I'm sorry but this team did alot of jacking up long range shots and less breaking down defenses and getting better shots. Why were we shooting so many 3 pt.s when we couldn't even make free throws? I just didn't get it. Every player on the team took Greece for granted as well as their teammates and their abilities and in the end the better TEAM won that night. THE beginning of the end came long before this game and in this particular game when USA was attacking but missing their free throws and jumpers they began to panic and the immaturity as well the lack of team cohesion was exploited. Personally, I don't care if this team learns from it all i care about is the Rockets learning from it, and I think if some of what I say is true I hope that Battier conveys that knowledge to our players this year. I think he will and that is why I love Battier.
I think you are the one taking the Greeks for granted. You would think by your nonsensical rants the Team USA lost by 40 to Angola and not by 6 points to the European Champions.
What is nonsense is your team gave us your best TEAM player for unproven players. I reeeeaaaaaalllly don't expect you to understand the TEAM concept from the team you have to watch post HUBIE BROWN and I think i detect a little bitterness on the trade that we will get the best of this year hopefully. Get ready to go through this year what Rocket fans went through last year. I enjoy your opinions, thanks for the entertainment.
why should he? he and everyone else volunteered to go represent America and seemingly all they ever get for their troubles is grief. look how selfish y'all are, you're stupid, play like the europeans, you're rich and spoiled, you're arrogant, can't play as a team, no fundamentals, everyone else used to be better than you, haha you lost, etc, etc. i'd say "**** you, too" if i volunteered to represent the US after they asked me to and did my best and all people did was hate me for it.
did i miss ryan bowen leading his college team to a national title or something. duke's only national title since the laettner/hurley days also. and while it doesn't matter now, for my money he's the best college defender i've ever seen. his weakside blocks, straight up blocks, ability to strip the ball and draw charges were just amazing. a ****ing mozart of defensive technique. as for the nba, the guy can hit 3's at a 39% clip (someone on the 1st page somehow said he couldn't shoot them), plays excellent help defense (basically the best charge drawer i've ever seen), hustles like crazy, blocks shots better than you would think for his size and athleticism (he averaged all of 0.2 blocks less than yao last year), barely turns it over, always makes the smart play, and hasn't been hurt at all (though he's just joined the rockets so i'm sure his acl is already getting wobbly). he's not a star but he's a very solid role player.
