Our men have zero chance to beat USA team in the opening game. I hope the Coach don't use Yao too much when USA pulls away the lead. Yao played a competitive game against Howard in the first half and I will be more than satisfied. Full court press defence is still the kryptonite to our National Team.
I can see that this team is built for international competition. We've got good point guards and shooters, which is important for international competition. I don't think that this team lacks size in international compeition. A front court of Dwight/Boozer/Bosh/Lebron (yes Lebron is a PF in international ball) is big enough against the likes of Argentina/Spain/Italy/Greece, etc.
I really don't like the lack of depth at the big man positions. Team USA only has 3 true bigs in Dwight, Bosh, and Boozer. Of those three, only Dwight has good size at 6'11, 265 lbs. Bosh is tall and skilled, but he's very thin (230 lbs) and doesn't really play big. It's more likely for him to shoot the mid-range jumper or face his man up than actually post up. He also hasn't been the best rebounder over his career. Boozer is a power player who can take it inside and rebound with the best of them. However, he's also short. Boozer is currently listed at 6'9, and has been listed as 6'8 before. Over his career Boozer has been a poor defender as well. Then you have to consider FIBA rules (5 fouls and you're out, technicals count toward this limit) and recent history with Tim Duncan getting taken out by the international refs. If one of the above three gets into foul trouble, or god forbid gets INJURED, Team USA will be really short on size. The media has been talking about the size controversy, mostly about whether it was right to pick Tayshaun Prince instead of another big. To me, Prince isn't the problem. His role on the team is to be its lock-down defender, and defense, not offense was the reason we lost in the 2006 World Championships. No, the real question mark for me is Jason Kidd. The guy has had a great career, but age has caught up with him. He's coming off the worst season of his career, and can't shoot at all. That's something that will hurt him and his team more in FIBA than it does in the NBA, since full zones (no defensive 3 seconds) are both legal and a lot more prevalent. Meanwhile, Team USA has two other PGs, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, who are both coming off career years (Paul being a strong MVP candidate). They not only shoot and score far better than Kidd, but take better care of the ball as well by this point. I see no reason why Team USA needs to be three deep at the PG position, which is far less vulnerable to fouls. Even IF the PGs get into foul trouble, Dwyane Wade can easily slide down there for a few minutes. If I were picking the roster, I would have left Kidd off and taken someone like Tyson Chandler.
I don't think the size will be a problem. Most of the international game is finesse and other than Yao, I can't think of a dominating big man that USA will have to contend with. Moreover, I believe they will go small alot and utilize Lebron as a four at times.
Size may be a problem. It's easy to dismiss international bigs, since they don't have the names or size to play PF or C in the NBA. But besides Yao there's also Gasol, and quite a few 7 footers on the better teams. Lebron and Melo undoubtedly have the size and muscle to play international PF. But more importantly, are they used to playing that position? The APBRmetrics forum is used by several prominent stats guys, including John Hollinger and Dan Rosenbaum. I like the forum because the guys there look for real evidence and numbers to support their positions. During the 2006 World Championships, they found that Team USA had better offense than the original Dream Team did, but that their defense was average at best compared to the other teams in the tournament. America's horrible defense against the pick-and-roll was pointed out by a number of guys there. And while they didn't have the numbers on it, the belief was that Lebron and Melo didn't know how to guard the pick-and-roll when their man acted as the screener, because in the NBA SFs and SGs rarely set picks.
They only have two big men. Bosh plays more like a SF than a big man. This is going to be bad when they face larger front lines.
Who? Scola and Oberto? Not exactly the Twin Towers. I guess you could argue the Gasol brothers have size, but my opinion of Pau has slipped a god deal of late, and I don't know if Marc is there yet - I don't remember seeing him play but his numbers aren't super impressive. A half-strength Yao is the only true post threat this year. Just not a lot of great tall international post players, the game realy isn't geared for it.
i guess i am overconfident. i think this team is going to kill. about time they started taking this a little more seriously. if they did not the nba will start to be questioned. along with the dollar dropping guys will start playing more and more in europe.
Point well taken. Hopefully, Coach K adjust to this. It would seem quite scary for a lineup with Kobe, Melo and Lebron on the floor at the same time, with the caveat being the ability to play a little d.
Years back, it was guard play of other teams that killed us, not post play. Teams like Argentina have large, quick guards and teams like Spain have pure shooters. I think this is a right decision imo
The Kidd pick is atrocious. The worst thing for our talented squad to have a guy out there to cheat off of. Bingo Kidd does that. Kidd's defense also looked pretty suspect against Paul in the pick and role. Hopefully all the PG minutes go to Paul and Williams. I think Williams might an ace in the hole for us, probably better for that team than Paul. I don't like Boozer, Redd, Prince, picks, not high on Wade or Bosh either, though those picks are understandable. Def take Rip, Joe Johnson, Pierce over Redd & Prince. More efficient scorers from multiple floor spots. Hello, did anyone watch the playoffs? I would def take KG and Duncan over any big other than Howard. If those guys not possible, David West would be good. I think a more versitle game than Boozer/Bosh. I'd probably done Josh Smith over Boozer too--much better defensive force. I'd even take Sheed over Boozer, more jumper range and better defender. Crappy job picking the team overall. Would not have been bad to start with the Boston trio (Pierce, KG, Allen) + Detroit backcourt (Billlips, Rip) + Lebron + Kobe + Deron + Paul + Howard + Duncan + West. Could drop Allen for Joe Johnson and West for Bosh, but the others IMO make sense for continuity with teammates they are more used to.
Agreed. Dwight, Boozer, Bosh, and James will be able to get the job done. We haven't seen James play PF because he is so effective at driving, but think about it. The dude is only 10 lbs lighter than Howard, and can jump ten feet in the air, why wouldn't he be able to play it? Between James, Kobe, Wade, Paul, Williams, and Howard, I really don't see how this team is stoppable offensively. They should just have Redd camp out at the perimeter and have Lebron, Dwill, and Paul kick out to him when they drive. Then there is Kobe, who is gonna always get his points on iso, plus the scoring ability of Melo and Bosh, there isn't much you can do on D to stop this bunch. Some people don't like them picking Bosh, but he is a great scorer and passer, and he can still get 9 rebounds a game. He might be small (230) but its really not that small I mean KG only weighs 220. Like Sam F said which country would have a big man duo that could outdo ours?
If we don't get Gold, I wouldn't blame it on chemistry issues. I think the make up of the roster what is going to be our downfall. I like our starting line up C: Howard PF: Melo SF: Bron SG: Kobe PG: Kidd My main concern is the bench. We only have one legit shooter, which is Michael Redd and the others just plain suck. Wade is a slasher who's had trouble adjusting to the FIBA game the last time he was there. I actually think picking Wade ahead of Mike Miller/Jason Kapono was a stupid choice. The problem lies in Bryan and Mike. They keep picking these high profile superstars when instead we should be focusing on making a more balanced team. Players like Jason Kapono, Mike Miller, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, would be a much better choice than what we have for this team. They are shooters who will definitely break any zone that the competition will throw out there. Another problem with this roster in the big men. We have Carlos, Dwight, and Bosh. I think if the US knows what is best for them is that we need big men with size and experience. The paint can get pretty ugly in FIBA competition and I would have prefered to have a better big man shooter along with another solid rebounder. If it were me, I would have chosen: Nick Collinson, Dwight Howard, Brad Miller, and Carlos Boozer (leaving out Bosh and perhaps leaving one of the guards or Tayshaun). I think with Kobe, Kidd, Redd, Williams, and perhaps Mike Miller, the back-court would have been solid. Unfortunately we added Wade and Paul. I love Paul, but his size is probably going to affect him in the FIBA games (although I hope it doesn't). He had some nice statistics in the last games he played, but stats don't tell the whole story. Overall, I don't think we will win championship gold, but I hope to be proven wrong.
