It's a business, you tell me you would turn down an extra $20-30 million just to stay in the NBA? When you know 10-15 years down the line no one will want you around anymore? If another similar job offered to pay me over double what I'm currently making while covering all my taxes, living expenses, health insurance and car expenses I would do it in a heartbeat.
Watching Team USA reminded me of watching Brock Lesnar's fight last night: 1. Boy are these guys athletic and quick compared to Team China; 2. There are probably no other teams as gifted as they are; but 3. They showed enough holes in their game that I am concerned about how they'll do against more serious competiton like Spain and Greece.
China after watching that game REALLY lack even an average point guard. It was disgracefu watching all those turnovers when they hadn't even penetrated the 3 point line yet... that's where they lost the game. USA will definately have problems with the bigger european teams...China won't pose a threat at all...
I don't pretend to be a Basketball expert, but a few things about the China game worried me. Every other team uses a lot of movement off the ball. The USA doesn't. Its 4 guys standing around watching one guy trying to make his own shot. That might work against lesser teams, but I don't think it will win a gold medal. At this level of competition I think you need big men that can shoot the ball well. I think the US really will struggle in that area. I don't see much mid range shooting at all, its either close to the basket or three point shooting, and I think thats a massive hole in the side. I also think the side is STILL not being coached for Olympic basketball. You can see other teams playing different styles of defense and getting a lot of movement around the court, and the USA style if very basic compared to other sides.
I didn't watch the whole game, but for the roughly half the game I did see, the US halfcourt offense was very unimpressive. This coming against a team that was vastly inferior to us in talent, with one NBA caliber star, 2 scrub level NBA players(at least Yi certainly played like one), and nothing else. I know the US will always have a huge edge against anyone when it comes to transition points. But they MUST be able to run some sort of set offense smoothly to have any success. Because if our opponent takes care of the ball, plays JVG-style no-offensive boards/packing-it-in defense, the US team could easily fall. That said, if I had to bet money, I'd still bet for us to win the gold. I'm just not as sure of it as I was before.
Team USA's scoring is based off of pressure and turnovers. Once in a half court set, all they do is drive and kick. I can see them struggling against teams with decent guards. Big men really aren't a factor in these types of games.
