He annoyed me as well, but he proved to be right. Of course, it's sort of safe to pick against the US. If he's wrong, he can just say that he wanted the team to play with an edge and not be overconfident (and congradulate himself in the process for giving them something extra to prove). And if he's right, he looks like a genius.
Paul Shirley's articles on ESPN are certified gold. who's gonna start the lets pick up Paul Shirley thread? He'd be good in the locker room. maybe we can trade one of the weaker performing chronicle journos for Paul just before the deadline.
Don't know if this is serious or not, but those guys get paid millions, too. The big Greek center (not Baby Shaq, the other one), apparently just signed a 3 year, $17 million deal. And he gets to live in Greece (or Europe), which, btw, is where he's from and probably wants to live.
the usa needs more post players, not more three point shooting. its so obvious, the usa team got weaker without duncan. I like howard but he isn't ready, this team need jermaine o'neal, its the one advantage we are still holding on to.
I disagree - Duncan was largely ineffective two years ago. The wider Int'l lane and shorter three point line allows help defenders to harrass post players a lot more quickly than in the NBA, plus the offensive player has to start out further away. Accordingly I don't think traditional bakc to the basket types are going to do that much. The US is sort of caught "in between" phase where they're trying to beat the Euros at their own game yet play US style as well. That's to tricky; 2 years ago I thought the US should essentially play UNLV-Arkansas Razorbacks style "40 minutes of hell" with running and pressing and see where itgets them. I think that would be tough to stop.
That's a terrible thing to write in so many respects. It disrespects all sides and the game of basketball itself. Anyhow, even though there's much of the "here we go again" attitude, I too believe that USAbasketball is on the right track. At least structurally, they have a process now, and there Needs to be growing. If they would have won gold this year, complacency might have set in and too many people would have prematurely declared "mission accomplished". The goal is an Olympic Gold. Colangelo and Kaskdjfsadhfsky and Carmelo (USA's best international baller) and co. having a World Champ Gold goal is nice, but it really wasn't a shock to see them lose. There needs to be growth and there will be. By the way, the last USA basketball team to Dominate international ball was the Tournament of the Americas team in 2003. Top 8 scorers for that team: Jermaine O'neal--11.2 ppg, 6.2 reb, .623 FG% Elton Brand-----07.2 ppg, 3.9 reb, .605 FG% Tim Duncan-----15.6 ppg, 8.0 reb, .607 FG% Ray Allen-------10.6 ppg, .550 3pt, .580 FG% Mike Bibby------08.7 ppg, .571 3pt, .604 FG% Vince Carter----12.6 ppg, .452 3pt, .640 FG% T-Mac----------12.6 ppg, .421 3pt, .544 FG% AI--------------14.3 ppg, .536 3pt, .562 FG% Now I haven't found this year's roster stats yet, but I don't they are as good as the team above. That's the model they need to follow...and of course, more practice.
That's what I thought also, but it just doesn't work against some of these teams. greece scored over 100 as it is, and from what I remember of argentina, it wouldn't work against them either. pressing and fast breaking imo actually limits their physical advantage over the long term. everyone can run if they want to, some of these teams, especially in a one game format will not wear down. my only point is that the usa needs to take advantage of the last advantage they have. these international guards are no longer afraid of the usa press. part of the press is to gain a mental advantage, to wear your opponents will down, obviously that's not happening any more.
so our team of ALLSTARS lost to greece... Greece had NO NBA players...you think if the entire greece national team was on the roster an NBA team that they could win it all?
no they could not, international rules, plus the fact they are a real team vs a group of good players playing together. Let me put it like this NBA champs of the past would beat this team because they have no cohesiveness. They need a completely new method of USA basketball where they keep 6 average (think average starter to 6th or 7th man quality) players playing almost year round then bolster that with stars. Gives the team continuity, and cohesion. but its too late to change the system for 08
No. This doesn't say that Greece has better basketball players than the US. Greece put a team on the court that had more experience playing with eachother, and more experience with FIBA rules. With that, if the two teams played a best of 5 or best of 7 series, it could easily have gone the other way. The only conclusion to draw is that the gap between the US and the rest of the countries isn't as wide as it was 10 years ago. Winning a gold medal with teams that have only played together for a month, in a single elimination tournament, is no longer a given, and we should stop expecting that it is.
I want to see us send the NBA Champion team to play these things. With maybe a couple All Stars added to augment where that team is weak...or where that team relys on a foriegn born player. The deal is....the other squads are teams...with set plays...who know each other. We try to cobble something together in a couple weeks and it doesn't work.
a nba team could definitely win. mind you, this team usa has only played together for a few weeks. they have stars but lack of role players, nor do they have team chemistry needed to win at this level. a good nba team, on the other hand, is a different story.
With Pau Gasol, who's been the best player in the tournament, injured and unable to play in the championship game, Greece will have a huge advantage. It looks like Spanoulis will be our gold medalist. Hopefully it gives us the same luck San Antonio and Ginobili had a couple years back.
No they would lose in the finals to the Jazz. It would go down in the ages as the battle of the pick and roll...
The only conclusion to draw is the Greece is a BETTER team. People often overlook the fact that a collection of 5 better players individually does not necessarily give you a better team, even with more time to play together. This US team was built with that in mind, right players for the specific roles, but only timke will tell if they made the right selection.
I don't make such conclusions based on a single game, unless it's a total route. They were a better team last night. If they played 6 more times, I'd probably still pick the US to win the majority of them.
LOL!!! but I think its more than just them playing together for a long time...I think its like the Pistons a few years back...they took flunkies from other teams, but these players meshed well TOGETHER...and together they became a strong team...I think we're always stuck on having these big names, huge stars, highly marketed players... not sure if I'm making any sense...kinda just thinking out loud...
how can you be certain of that??? most didn't think we'd lose this first time even...lebron and other players said time and time again that they planned on blowing every team outta the water..."it shouldn't even be close"...comments like that were made over and over again... I just don't understand how you could think that...
