Can you imagine this? LeBron running the point, Wade and Kobe playing the wings. Poor Euro guards. I'm guessing that means there's no chance of Spanoulis leading Greece to a championship. We can all claim that Battier was the key to a US championship.
You got me all wrong dude, I want to see the US win so that means that I don't want to see that lineup, IMO that's a disaster waiting to happen, I'd prefer a better passing guard than Wade like Chris Paul starting with those Lebron and Kobe on the wings. Wade if they have to take him would have to come off the bench on my team and mostly as a hustle player; steals, offensive rebounding, blocked shots, etc. I'm not sure if the Heat would want him playing so much anyway after playing in the Finals, and I'm not sure if FIBA is going to let him wear his suit of armor under his uniform.
... or LeBron. I've always thought he'd make a great Magic Johnson-type point guard. It'd be awesome to see them try it in the world championships.
Wade and Kobe are also head and shoulders above their competition athletically. We all know LeBron's genes are from another planet, but you must have forgotten how freakish Kobe is. He is VERY strong, probably as much as LJ and every bit as quick. Answer me this: If you put them on each other during a game and gave them equal teammates, do you really think LJ would outperform Kobe? I doubt it. In 3-4 years max, LJ will definitely surpass Kobe but they are very close right now. I'm not a Kobe fan but he's probably the best player in the NBA. It's too bad his "alpha male" complex goes off the deep end. Wade's offensive game is different from Kobe & LJ. He's quicker than either one and is more efficient. He passes better than Kobe but not like LJ. There is no reason to think international competition will stop him. Wade will be able to dominate whatever international player guards him. He doesn't need to shoot 3 pointers to be successful. I think you put LJ on too high a pedestal. Then again, maybe by 2008 he will be there.
We're not talking about the NBA though. At the WCs Wade will have to beat zone defenses, not one on one defensese, and not learned on the fly (fake) zone defenses like Dallas used against him. In the WCs teams are allowed to camp out someone in the paint, no 3 second rule, they can also take a charge anywhere in the paint, no more worrying about being outside some dotted line. International teams are zone defense experts. Wade is efficient in the NBA because he gets high percentage shots inside the paint and he hardly ever has a hand in his face on jumpshots because defenders are so worried about him getting into the paint. At the Olympics Wade shot under 30% and turned it over a ton, Lebron on the other hand shot over 55% and contributed everywhere else. Why? Because teams had no answer for his athleticism and back then his game wasn't as complete as it is now with a consistent 3 point shot and a mid-range game and he still killed them. Larry Brown's most serious mistake was not play Lebron more, Wade and even Carmelo played a lot more than Lebron. You shouldn't even think about any accomplishments a player achieves in the NBA, I mean it's still just basketball, but at the same time it's two completely different brands of basketball.
Both are fantastic individual players. Both make their teammates better. I think Lebron is slightly better as an overall player, particularly because Lebron is the best transition player in the league. But right now Wade is the superior player in the half court and in the clutch, particularly important in slow down playoff ball. So while most teams would take Lebron, I don't think any other player in the league, Lebron and Kobe included, would have carried Miami past Dallas.
