individually everyone one the US team is better than everyone on the puertorico team, but as a team...man o man...we couldnt get anything going, such a bad offensive preformace, i dont know why they dont give it down to duncan everytime if he gets double teamed give it out to melo, they the only two who doin something good for the team
I think you've misinterpreted my respond and I'm not against what you've posted. It's true that they do need more pure shooters. I'm just suggestion these international guys were born shooting at this distant while the USA or NBA players been shooting at a longer distant all their life. It will totally take a player out of his rhythm shooting at another distant because they've train to shoot at certain distant for so long it become almost an instinct.
Is Larry Brown losing control of the team? US should've played press D as eary as the second quarter but they just didn't have the energy or desire. Brown has been talking about respecting the opponents since day 1... But after losing the Italy and a close win over German, the US team is still overconfident (see LeBron's comment). Are they listening to Brown? btw: Brown should seriously consider going back to playground ball .. Let Carmelo create for himself. YOU can't expect this team to play like the Pistons in just a few weeks.
Uh, so NBA players don't train shooting from the top of the key? It's a nice theory, but if it was legit, then these guys should take 2 steps back behind the line before shooting. Somehow, I don't think that would have helped today. They were just pulling a combined '94 Finals game 7 John Starks.
I think having to make the adjustment to international lay-ups in only 3 weeks is what is really killing this team...
My rolly eyes were for idea that there is an adjustment to shooting 3s because the line is closer. I think you are reaching. Good shooters don't care where the 3 pt line is, they stroke it from all over the court. All the guys that are good 3pt shooters are good shooters first so they shouldn't care where the line is. The only people who would care are those not so good shooters, IE the current Team USA, and they will hunt to step up as close as possible to it to shoot.
Doug Collins hit the nail on the head when he questioned why they weren't pressing at all until the last few minutes. This team has the most gifted athletes in the world...Lebron, Richard Jefferson, Marion, Wade, Iverson, Marbury...yet they don't put any pressure on the ball-handlers. Carlos Arroyo is a good, potential great NBA PG, but with the great athletic defenders this team has I just don't get why they weren't pressing him more and trapping.
International back board? Must be made specially for the Int'l basketball game. Give the Team USA the NBA back board!
If you play basketball then you would pretty much know what it's like. You saw how some NBA players either take free throw with their toe pretty close to the free throw line and some players feel more comfortable taking a step back to take their free throw. But when in the heat of the game you have to make up the imaginary 3pt line in which you're so use to taking it will take you off your game. Micah1j said if you are a good shooters you could take it anywhere but yeah, maybe within the 3pt line. Its like for most long jumpers train at certain distance to take off from. If you take away their usual start off point it going to mess them up and they will have to try and get their rhythm together again at a different start off pt. Pschologically it will affects alot of great shooters. I can see by taking a step back to make it look like their typical NBA 3pt lines but I see that as a conflict when pschologically your eyes see a different lines. I dont know if its affecting the guys that much but I'm pretty sure they will be inconsistence.
LOL. Don't forget the wooden floors. It's more springy so that's why the unathlectics international players has so much springiness in their hops. And those balls, it's smaller and the hoops is a little bigger. You gonna need experience to play with those smaller balls.
Did anyone hear what Bob Costas said as today's Olympic coverage ended? First he started off talking about our team's embarassing lack of shooting or good shooters., then he essentially said: "The NBA olympic commitee had a decision to make after their top teir NBA stars declined playing in the olympics. Should they just send the league's mosrt recognizable stars left to Athens, or should they send an actual TEAM, with capable shooters and scrappy pllayers?" "Unfortunately, the marketing department won." The way he said it was kinda like, "f*ck you, NBA. This is for going to ESPN." I thought it was great.
stu jackson should be fired for assembling this team together that has now become the laughing stock of olympics in basketball. come on, USA IS SO SUPPOSED TO KILL EVERY TEAM IT FACES. the team need shooters for real. could had gotten brent barry, kyle krover from philly, michael redd. we dont need some street ball players who have low basketball IQ. we need some players who r smart and know their role. this is the not the DREAM TEAM. this is the NIGHTMARE TEAM. i dont want to say it but i hope USA gets their asses whoop. stu jackson is the same idiot who was the gm of the grizzles in vancouver canada before moving to memphis (the worst team maybe to the clippers and warriors at the time).
I think another reason with this club is that they don't know how to play without the ball. I mean most of the guys chosen who usually needs many touches.
None of this matters. Sooner or later the rest of the world will catch up to us. The NBA will be a gathering place for all the best players; exposure, the *know* place where the best players meet, money, or whatever. But when it's all said and done...the international teams will get stronger and faster on a physical level. And their mind-set will be TEAM FIRST. Not individual based, like the USA. So, the NBA may have the "best" individual players collectively (from all counties). But the international squads will have the best teams. Guess who wins, though? It's only a matter of time. So, it's not just about "fundamentals" alone. It's many factors that have eroded American ball for the last 15 years. You can choose to ignore or deny it if you want. At our own peril. "Streetball" is just a residual or result of a larger issue. That's just an extreme example of "individualism." But it doesn't address the bigger problem.
Yes, this is an interesting story. On one hand. The NBA thinks of the Olympics as a competitor (gone corporate). See, there's this "competition" that the NBA doesn't like. They don't like the Olympic committee taking "their" stars and using them for their own marketing. I mean, the NBA does have a point. The Olympics has changed how they do business over the last 25 years. It's not the same anymore. It's essentially a company. Thus, the NBA doesn't like it. It's like Ford *giving* cars to Chevy for them to sell for themselves. On the other hand some people still believe that the Olympics is about national pride. And in symbolic terms, participants ARE still representing their country. It's just that the NBA see them as competition now. Things has changed. Capitalism gone bad? It's no longer *just* about basketball, competition, and patriotism.
