Why does the olympic team committee always snub Steve. they just named the last members of the team to be kidd and duncan. he is obviously one of the best players in the league and is on a winning team. hes better than ray allen. he should be on the olympic team!
Franchise not on the Olympic Team? This has to be a joke. I can't believe these freakin' idiots. He should be the first guy picked. There is no reason he shouldn't be there...
Well, is Iverson on it? I haven't heard, but if he's not, it's obvious: The Olympic Committee won't put in a player with tats. It may be kind of um, strange, but I don't remember any ball player ever in the Olympics who had them. Oh, well. He deserves it, but maybe it's best for the Rockets that he be home, playing pick-up and developing chemistry with Yao and the rest of his teammates.
There's a thread about this in NBA dish... As long as Stu Jackson gets to pick the players, Steve will never represent the United States in international competition.
I say steve should just go play for China. He and Yao can work on their chemistry, and maybe even pull an upset by kicking the US team's a**.
Yes Tim Duncan has tattoos. Look at his upper arms. USA Basketball isn't going to make him or Allen Iverson wear those silly patches that St. Vincent/St. Mary makes LeBron James wear. USA Basketball doesn't care about body art. But they do care about positive impressions and images (which may in some small measure be correlated with tattoos). But Steve Francis will probably NOT make the U.S. Olympic team. They're looking at Mike Bibby, and they've already got Jason Kidd. If it comes down to AI or Francis for a final PG spot, I think they take The Answer, especially after his tremendous performance (on and off the court) in the All Star game. Not to mention that until Francis makes it to the playoffs, he's always going to be overlooked.
<a href="http://www.nba.com/news/Four_Named_to_USAB_Roster-66940-32.html">Here's an article about the first four being picked</a>, and who picks them. I agree, Stu Jackson is still bitter about Francis forcing his way out of Vancouver, and he still chairs the selection committee.
Or maybe, the US team sucked last summer, because they had selfish one-on-one players, who played no defense? That pretty much sums up Francis.
Ouch. Beat me to it. He involves teammates sometimes but his fastbreaking skills are scary bad iff he passes.
Don't you think that Francis should attend ONE (just ONE) play-off game before we crown him an Olympian? The four that were picked, have. Francis play-off appearances = Zero Francis play-off wins = Zero
I hate to say it but Steve doesn't deserve it yet. I definitely think he's one of the top if not THE top point guard in the league but he hasn't shown he can win. Right now I see Jason Kidd, Gary Payton (if he plays again which he probably won't), AI (he was in the same position as Francis a few years ago), and even Stephon Marbury (he's as athletic as Francis and has better stats, plus his team is winning now) ahead of Stevie for the point guard spots. That list doesn't even include Baron Davis or Andre Miller whom they might pick since there are allready too many scorers on the team. Don't get me wrong, I think Steve could take any of them but I can see why he wouldn't be chosen to this team quite yet.
Great point! And I gotta agree with some other posters who talked about Stevie's PG ability. On a team with that much fire power, you need a pass-first PG who can set their teammates up. Stevie's improving but he's not there.
Kobe is definitely on the team. There is no chance Steve can get in as a scoring guard (Kobe, T-Mac and Allen are enough). The only chance he can make it is as a backup point guard to Jason Kidd. One more reason for him to play more like a point guard for us eh?
