Not that I want to start 20 polls about the Olympic team, but I would also be curious to know what people thought about this: How would the USA team do if the Olympics were played with NBA style rules? (I placed a vote for "out of element") I personally think that the competition would be obliterated. -I feel like the length of the game, although it is only 8 minutes less, makes a big difference. It alters the pace of the game and our guys never seem to get into a rythme before a quarter ends. -All of the European players in the NBA who can shoot, but are defensive liabilities would be exposed, where in the olympics they can play good team defense. -Our perimeter game would be opened up for driving, which would swing the shooting/driving emphasis towards driving skills. I wonder if this embarassement will start a movement to push American HS, College, and Pro ball to emphasize shooting and passing skills? How many times have you heard, "Take it to the basket, and don't settle for the jump shot."? A thousand? Two-thousand? I didn't watch basketball much growing up, but I've been addicted for 10 years now.... 80-90 games a year times ten years.... 900 games.... probably heard that twice a game.... I would guess 1,800 times for me and I don't even play basketball.
The US is second in assists despite being only middle of the pack in shooting. http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/5038628/detail.html It's not lack of passing that's causing them to lose these games. It's also not lack of trying to work the ball inside - the US is far and away the leader in points in the paint despite having to play against packed zones You can have the best ball movement in the world, but if a guy misses a wide open 20 foot jumperr then you're not getting any points. As far as shootng -- what makes you think High school and college coaches don't emphasize shooting? of course they do. That's how they score. In fact, they probably emphasize it more than the pros because of the 19-9 three pointer. I can tell you one thing for sure, no pro coach is going to have his players bone up on 20 foot jumpers -- as far as the NBA goes its the worst shot in basketball.
The number one problem with team USA is that they didn't invite Cuttino Mobley. The suffer two ways with that, they lose out on having a good shooter/defender, and they take a karmic kick in the nuts for not taking one of the NBA good guys that busts his ass and doesn't b****. Instead they take Jefferson (nice contract signing by Jersey there), Anthony (who can't seem to keep his mouth shut), Marbury (has never won, but still better than Fancy), et al. The only guy on the team that I would keep on the team is Duncan, maybe Odom.
Jefferson had the best game of any player yesterday and nearly won the game by himself in the last few minutes.
What's the surprise? The int'l players in the NBA are also the ones with the best fundamentals. All you have to do is force this USA team to shoot jump shots and you can beat them. That's exactly what most good teams in the NBA do as well to win. Solution----TEACH FUNDAMENTALS and PRACTICE SHOOTING. Problem----FUNDAMENTAL and JUMP SHOTS don't generate the NBA enough money any longer.
-I know the US has decent ball movement, but I would say that they don't practice inside/out passing very well. They can send the ball upcourt, set a play, and send a post pass in, but they don't do a very good job of looking for the dart-like passes from the perimeter to cutters and post players for open layups. Most of their assists are from drive and kick plays or fast breaks. I have noticed that they are far superior with interior passing between the PF and C. No one can execute an interior pass against them, and they seem to do it without turnovers. -I would assume that the lack of shooting abilities in the American's best players is a systematic problem rather than an isolated one. Most trends in pro sports start from the bottom and move up. Pros identify a need and it slowly gets filled as new players work their way up through the system.
where is: "because they aren't good" forget excuses... NBA players just don't really cut it anymore. look at Serbia / Montenegro... lots of NBA players... bam! last place. there are so many good players now we have no clue about that excel in olympic bball. i mean... china really has very little talent compared to the rest of the world. US... i guess the talent is there? or maybe even not.
