Sam, I do not believe, nor did I state that "playground" ball lost this game today. To not acknowledge the problem with the lack of fundamental basketball skills being taught to our young players is shortsighted. I reiterate that it is a legitimate critique of US player's lack of fundamentals that is allowing less athletic foreign teams to compete and win. I respect your posting too much to initiate a war of words with you.
Paul Pierce has the same shooting percentage for his career as Steve Francis. His presence would not be a plus on this team.
The answer to the team USA'S problem is.....Steve Francis. Put him on the opposite end of the court and watch marbury go to work.
As much as everyone is hating on the U.S players right now, bottom line, these are the guys who didn't back out and are out there playing for nothing but national pride. All of them are millionaires and could be enjoying their vacation like the rest of the NBA guys, but they're out there playing. Did you see Odom and Melo damn near crying on the bench? They're hurting right now. Meanwhile Rip Hamilton (who refused to play) can been seen on the front page of nba.com smiling for the cameras after playing in a charity game this weekend. Hey Rip, you should be in Greece!
...but to simply point the finger at it as THE problem is also shortsighted; read Kim's excellent post in his thread (below this one, which is getting no props, unfortunately) for a perfect summation as to why the "streetball" argument is lacking. If he shot 3's the way he did in Indianapolis (48% or so), he'd be a big help provided he werent too big of a jerk.
you obviously didn't see enough of the game to have a solid opinion. they shot...lots, and missed...LOTS. the dunks and stuff were what got them excited and back on D so that they almost caught up for a bit there (within 8)...but yeh, the shooting was horrible.
They could use some of these guys on the team shooting 3s Brent Barry 45% Allan Houston 43% Michael Finley 40% Jim Jackson 40% Cuttino Mobley 39% Kirk Hinrich 39% Rashard Lewis 37% Gilbert Arenas 37% Instead of these International Game scrubs: Allen Iverson 29% LeBron James 29% Dwyane Wade 30% Lamar Odom 30% Stephon Marbury 32% Carmelo Anthony 32% Shawn Marion 34% Richard Jefferson 36% (how in the hell did he do that last year?) They need to fly in Houston, Finley, Hinrich & Lewis immediately to replace James, Odom, Wade & Anthony. This will still leave you with Iverson, Marbury, Marion & Jefferson and they should not be played together. Stu Jaskson should be fired for putting together a team like this with absolutely no 3 pt shooters. The International game has a much closer 3pt line so it is more important to the game. What a dumb ass for ignoring this.
absolutely agree... he was bad during the worlds... adding him would not help the team. If they had VC, Tmac and Bibby, they would win the gold. That's all they really need.
Jazz guard Carlos Arroyo scored 24 for Puerto Rico. (Garrabrant/NBAE) Puerto Rican Pride (title of the front of www.nba.com right now)
He shot about 48% from 3s and 47% from the field during the world championships in 02. If you want to argue about his being a jerk off the court, fine, but the US team sure can use his outside shooting touch instead of seeing AI going 1-10 from 3s.
Stu made the only right decision in not inviting SF3 to the Olympics games. SF3 against a tight zone is a disaster waiting to happen. SF3 has never been able to beat the zone since his days at Maryland.
I know what i'm talking about but I didn't praise it properly. I know that they took 75 shots but most of these guys aren't PURE shooters is what I'm trying to say.
adjusting to shoot 3's should be easy.. its a foot closer. about Carlos he can do what he wants... he took a hard fall (frustration on Wade's part) and was saying hey you took a cheap shot but we won the game. we as fans always blame the refs. Intl competition have different rules than the NBA.. remember alot of foreign players needing time to adjust to our rules. the US team just shot poorly today they had open shots (wide open) and they were missing everything. J
Someone doesn't think we would be a lock for gold with "our best" (the players above). I definately have to disagree. We are competitive (well not today) with one of our best (Duncan), even though every team is packing the lane on him and daring others to hit an open jumper (which they can't). Our missing and best swingmen (Kobe, T-Mac, Allen, Bibby) can all hit an open J. So can KG and J.Oneal. Too bad they didn't want to play though....
