what the hell was wrong with Hinrich, when he didnt pull the trigger on the 3 and was called for traveling. you never see Cassell hesitate like that.
That seems to be the problem with the whole USA team, no problem against lesser opponents but against the top tier teams they had this clueless look and couldn't recognize even a pick and roll. Does the USA squad need international experience to recognize that the pick and roll is killing them? It's one of the fundementals of any team basketball not called And1. And that one they keep calling Baby SHaq is total trash, but we managed to make him look like an All-star. Typical. I'm hoping the actual SHaq dunks on him many times but this guy is Clipper bound, so maybe Yao can school that chump. Ok, you're knobslobbing of Cassell is getting kinda creepy, much like you did with Tim Thomas. I almost half expecting you to pop in a Hangout thread with a Cassell reference: Death To Armadillos! Tinman: Yeah if you bring in Cassell into your yard you wouldn't have that problem anymore. And yeah Hinrich was looking for a cutter when he was up in the air, that play and him fouling V-Span in 3point land was to me the turning point of the game.
Why would you pick Melo over Mcgrady? Is it because Mcgrady doesn't attack the basket as much as he used to?
dude you can't give me credit can you? 1. When Cassell went to the clips, I said they were better than the Lakers and playoff bound. tinman - correct haters - incorrect when I said that Tim Thomas is good, haters didnt think so. what happened? Tim Thomas was clutch in the playoffs knocking down horry-esque 3s. tinman -correct haters - incorrect Its not about being loyal to former Rocket legends, its the fact every game they play further proves that the Rocket championship had special players, on par or better than the Pistons, bulls, lakers, and celtics.
i havent seen a healthy tmac in awhile. i want to see what he looks like this season. i dont like when tmac starts settling for Js.
I agree Cassell would have helped this team in this tournament, but by 2008? He'll be 40 years old, man!
I agree. Billups and Kobe would try and dominate this team and set it back further. The only players I would consider replacing would be Jamison or Brad Miller. Jamison just seemed to do nothing and Brad Miller was too slow for international play.
no way i dont think theyll last in the olympics. u need kobe or tmac. who can score consistently and make some shots when everyones off!
THey destroyed argentina today, much like they destroyed a good Lithuania team 2 years ago that had beaten them earlier in the bronze game. That tells me that the US team eventually gets bored, loses focus and motivation; when embarrassed they come out and play with fire afterwards. You just have to get them to care more. But they won't - let's face it, this just isn't that important to American players or fans when compared to the prestige, time and money at stake in the NBA season.
people always act like we don't need more stars but more team players. this team played as much like a team as you could hope for. consistenly making the extra pass, passing up good shots for great shots, having chemistry, breaking down man to man and zone defenses equally well, essentially never having a game where they didn't get good shots (though making them was sometimes a problem, you can't fault having wide open jumpers), lebron constantly looking to set people up despite the fact he could get a shot whenever he wanted. aside from that, our best team since 2000 was also our most stacked team, the qualifying tournament of the americas team in 2003. tmac, vince, ray allen, bibby, duncan, jermaine o'neal, kidd, brand, and iverson. they went 10-0, beat argentina twice, and crushed argentina by 33 in the gold medal game. the more talent we have the better. since the 2002 WC debacle, every team has tried very hard to play as a team. egos have not gotten in the way. and they won't if we add more to this team. can anyone really say if we added kobe, tmac, allen, bibby, duncan, garnett, and redd to this team that they would do worse? no way in hell. we'd have some size on the inside for once that we really missed at times in the tourney, especially on D, more shooting, and even more wing dominance. we'll never get them all willing or healthy to play (duncan and garnett don't want to), but if we could we'd see how good we could be (and it would be very good).
I actually like the squad that we have now. I predict that they are going to win the 2008 Olympics if this team are kept together and play through the Amercas qualifying games next year to get the necessary experience playing together.
They need Kobe playing even though I hate him with a passion. TMac would be fine but he wont play. Allen or Redd would be fine too and another legit big man instead of Brad Miller would make it easier for the US.
Ray Allen and Bibby for shooting. Cassell for leadership and that little jumper. And a guy like Eddy Curry that actually has low post skills. Subtract Hinrich, Chris Paul, Joe Johnson, and Chris Bosh. I understand Cassell not being on there. He's too old and will be retired in two years. I don't understand Ray Allen not being there. He's the best shooter in the USA. I don't understand JJ being on the team. He's duplicative and inferior to DWade. Chris Paul will be much improved in a couple years, so I am okay with him.
