According to an article from tom.com, Chirs Kaman just got his Germany passport today and will be allowed to represent German in the upcoming Olympic games, only if they won in the qualifying matches. Dirk + Chris, interesting... http://post.sports.tom.com/DA0001FD752.html will try to find an English link for this news... [Edit: Here's the English link, http://www.ballineurope.com/countries/germany/breaking-news-kaman-cleared-to-play-for-germany/ Not sure about their credibility though]
thats bizarre. I saw Becky Hammon cop a whole lotta flak for representing Russia. will Kaman get the same?? Good on you Becky, btw. Your a hottie.
But Shawn was BORN in Germany(West Germany) Chris was born in Grand Rapids,Michigan big difference man, this is obviously a way for Chris to say he played in the Olympics since he wasn't good enough for Team USA.
I think Chris believes some part of him is German following his father's bloodline. http://www.chriskamanonline.org/News-030608.php More importantly, he wants to play in the Olympics. This is a win-win situation for him and Germany. When people talks about the possible dominations in the paint in this summer Olympics by the likes of Gasol brothers and even Yao-Yi duo, I think Dirk-Chris duo probably is more convincing. Chris is a rebounding freak and accustomed to play a blue collar role. He will be a great addition to the German team.
yeah, chris kaman has received his german passport yesterday and he's already looking forward to join the german national team as soon as possible. he was eligible to get the german passport because his great grantparents were germans. @ carl herrera: it's true, shawn bradley once played for germany, but he wasn't really relevant at all. that should be different with kaman. though our weakest positions are certainly pg and sg, kaman will help us out a lot. if they qualify for the olympics they should have a chance to do well (quarterfinals). and to whoever said that germany isn't top-5 i say that with dirk you'll never know. he has played some incredible matches for our national team. after all, germany was 3rd at the world championships 2002 and 2nd at the european championships 2005. last year, dirk played pretty bad, though. i think the playoff loss in the first round with the mavs still haunted him. but now it's different. kaman adds another reliable scoring option to team. our front line of kaman, dirk and ademola okulaja (some may remember him from his days at the university of north carolina where he played with vince carter and antawn jamison - he had borderline nba potential) is pretty good for international standards. it's certainly better than what china can offer (sorry yao). i just hope they make the olympics. beating greece, brazil, croatia or puerto rico won't be easy.
Wait so... America right now assuming DHo is down because of stress fracture has Carlos Boozer and Amare Can't play Defense Stoudemire trying to defend Gasol brothers/Dirk and Kaman/Yao Yi/Scola Oberto?! BOOZER AND STOUDEMIRE?!?! Even if you add Dwight Howard... theres no guarentee he won't foul out in 20 minutes and force them to play maybe Lebron on those big guys...
We also have Chris Bosh common get it straight Tyson Chandler is supposedly an alternate which should make up for it and who cares Kobe+ Lebron + a jason kidd or chris paul pass is all you need.
I don't see why Kamen is not playing for Team USA, he would've been perfect for this team. He doesn't demand the ball and does alot of dirty work.
I once heard that almost a third of the US population has some German ancestors. I think we should really do a thorough check and see if the following guys don't have German ancestors as well: I want to see them on Team Germany!
How many naturalized players are there already on the German team? He might not even make final cut. Only one naturalized player per team in the Olympics.
Just because Howard plays the flashy style that Team USA loves look at the members there's your answer
