What do I think? I think J.J. Redick must give great head to have magically appeared on that list. Somebody somewhere got sexual favors in return for THAT huge injustice.
MY SQUAD STARTERS 1. Jason Kidd-(Nets) premier playmaker who would distribute, but shooting inconsistency will lend minutes to billups. i think he will mesh perfectly since he will distribute only and not shoot cause i take him for a smart fella (he knows he cant shoot and should focus on assists to the global icons) 2. Kobe Bryant-(Lakers) no brainer here. best asset and will form informidable defensive couple with lbj. would take most of the minutes here if not all. 3. Lebron James-(Cavs) playmaker role, i hope for high assist numbers. carmelo's play of late with the team demands minutes though. we all know he can get his scoring role on when he wants but if he distributes to kobe, amare, howard, bosh then this will be our medal. 4. Chris Bosh-(Raptors) this will be the fastest big man combo in the tourney. Can score, rebound, block, pass, run? what else you need. i hope the offense involves alot of pick and rollese, and most of all bosh slashing to the hoop. easiest bucket. 5. Amare Stoudemire-(Suns) you know me i dont need no introduction n ****. BENCH 6. Chauncey Billups-PG-(Pistons) playmaker no doubt, will pg by committee with kid, maybe i prefer billups for his shooting edge. and clutch as hell, man i would love this guy as my sixth man 7. Dwight Howard-PF/C-(Magic) i would split the minutes bt him and bosh. howard will add more pop here to provide more of a banging, power-wreckingball approach to rebounding and inside scoring via the pg playmakers, much like 8. Carmelo Anthony-SF-(Nuggets) proven in past tourneys, brutal scorer. consider at the two? 9. Shane Battier-SF-(Rockets) utility guy, may not say as many minutes but is tenacious defensively and can knock the jumper reliably. his never say quit additude will find d'antoni's/coach k's graces for more minutes than many may expect 10. Michael Redd-SG-(Bucks) lights out shooting, and underratted defender, love this guy personally but only will be kobe's alternate. maybe wont see many minutes but he would be great if we had to play small ball. high bball iq and speed with deron at the 1 could be deadly against faster teams. 11. Deron Williams-PG-(Jazz) a great talent with high iq, with his speed and shooting game that covers mid range and even deep shots governed by keen shot selection makes it hard to admit that as much as i think he is the future pg sensation of the nba, he may not find many minutes behind billups/kidd. i would use him as part of 3 man pg committee, but i think coachk will like billups most. 12. Tyson Chandler-C/PF-(Hornets) a little slow, but greater shotblocking and amare needs a back up so he gets lucky by guard glut. he will fill back up center role. if he can just make lay ups when he has to and just block those shots he will have done his duty to his country Cut List: Mike Miller-(Grizzlies) -overrated slasher IMO, but can jumpshoot lights out, plus size but he wouldnt play when you have kobe/redd, so SNIP JJ Redick-(Magic) deadly shooter and i know they want him for the international three, but i dont trust his defense or inexperience enough Kirk Hinrich-(Bulls) -great gutsy player who can shoot and takes care of the ball bright future with USA bball but had cut a pg Kevin Durant-(Sonics) - so hard to cut because of his obvious potential and athleticism like whoa, but realistically its too soon for him to compete on this level IMHO Tayshaun Prince-(Pistons) i love his tenacity but his is another battier and maybe im biased but i gotta go with shane. it will be a toss up to coach k and staff, maybe they keep prince over shane
i bet he does give great head. my friends at duke talked to him several times and said there were campus rumors he was gay, and i also personally know a girl who claims to have hooked up with him. by all accounts he is a manwhore. all hearsay, tho. but who cares let the man slut cause he sure isnt plaing usa bball. he shouldnt have been here in the first place
Just to clear things up with Michael Redd and his supposed "Defence". http://www.82games.com/rosenbaum3.htm "Michael Redd is in a league of his own on defense at the shooting guard position. The difference between Redd and the next lowest-rated shooting guard is three times as large as the difference between the 2nd and 10th lowest-rated shooting guards. And Redd has been very consistently ineffective over the years. Again, defense may win championships, but it does not pay the bills." He is perhaps the worst defensive player amongst starters across the league at the SG.
Sorry bad quoting post above, I didn't realise I was Quoting a QUOTED statement, sorry. I'm quiet new to posting, been a lurker. And my opinions are strictly personal, there are many factors to contribute to how great a defender is, but I believe a +/- stat I linked above has probably the best correlation. Hence, I'm very glad we have Battier and highly disregard Michael Redd.
Amare = Regular D in NBA / Really bad TeamDfence in FIBA Hinrich play good in Japan. Billups is big and slow playing PG in FIBA Battier is a excellent defender and even better with Prince and his long arms. If Lebron is the same who was in Japan, bye bye Beijing
This matches my list almost player for player except Battier. I think Prince is the overall better player, but it still depends on how the team shapes out and I feel it need one of these players. Prince offers a little more scoring and athleticism, and though he's not a ballhandler & you just absolutely have to rely on Prince for a shot, he can create a little of offense and put the ball on the floor. While Shane has no creativity and it totally depends on the offensive set for him to make a decision with the ball, but he is a slightly better outside shooter. Though I dont think Battier and Prince are that redundant to each other, Prince might be too redundant with the players who already figure to be on the team though kinda. Shane's the best team ambassador of them all and would offer a little more identity to the team if they care about that..This is the roster spot i'm interested in seeing who gets Or, they can just go with Durant and not choose either So that makes him the Number 1 Sun-na
you are absolutely right that redd is a sorry excuse for a defender, the +/- tells all, BUT he is fast and of course has the golden shot, which i think satisfies the minor needs of kobe's backup. if im the coach, i wouldnt let kobe sit. i meant he was underrated, because all i hear is "redd cant defend, hes trash" and while i may be able to take him 1on1, i still think he is better than most give him credit for defensively.
good question, KG is obviously KG and seems to be a good fit, a no brainer to me. the coaches probably either discriminated on age (foolish if they did, but doubtful) or didnt think he would contribute enough time? IIRC, he skipped the last olympics for his wedding. the coaching staff has shown a priority for player committment. i suppose the only reasons for leaving tmac and ai off were age/selfishness concerns because neither have brought home rings or medals in their opportunities. perehaps they threw garnett in this boat, which would be unfortunate.
Garnett was a key piece in the 2000 Olympic team that won the gold. if not for him and Mcdyess's clutch plays against Lithuania in the semi, they'd have lost that game. and I believe TMac has never played for the USA in international games.
Hinrich was torched by your beloved V-Span in Japan last year, because he apparently forgot to read the scouting report that said, "V-Span can't shoot."
'IF' Kirk 'wants to be in the final roster' then he can be really useful against south american teams.
My Team: J-Kidd Amare Kobe Durant Melo LeBron D. Howard M. Miller Redd Bosh Deron Battier Starters: J-Kidd, Kobe, Melo, LeBron, Amare
Here is an old article printed by The Onion regarding the USA basketball team for the 2008 summer olympics. Its funny how some of the things played out after this article came out last year. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/45757
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