I agree. If i were an NBA player, i'd just do it once, win an automatic Gold and never do it again. Rest and working on your game and body is more important than sitting on the bench cheering as your team is up by 50 every game. I think it'd be more exciting if we went back to not allowing pro players. It'd be a challenge again and it actually does help 18-19 year old college phenoms develop as they learn the international competition is more fierce than college competition. (It would basically help make the NBA better because i know there are a lot who think the NBA is amazing today, but i'm not one of those. Every team is loaded with dleague level nobodies on the bench. I think it's very top heavy and very weak depth wise like the 80's and 2000's. So many teams have a bunch of 10 day contracts for these young guys they are hoping can crack their roster instead of doing the smart thing and getting skilled older veterans like the 90s had. All the bottom feeders of the 90s were loaded with old vets around their young players). What would be even cooler is to limit like 3 PRO's and the rest college athletes. That'd be sick watching 3 stars carrying college kids and see if they can lead them to gold. I'd watch every game. I haven't watched 1 game for Team USA this summer. Not even highlights. I just don't care at all this summer.
I like how James was clowning on that dude for giving him the open shot and then buries it. Can't wait for next season to start.
Harden 4 years ago at London Aquatics Centre: Spoiler Durant & DJ yesterday at Rio Aquatics Stadium: Spoiler <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Amanda Weir, Kevin Durant taking a selfie. <a href="https://t.co/JTFfTxKYDK">pic.twitter.com/JTFfTxKYDK</a></p>— â“‚arcusD (@_MarcusD_) <a href="https://twitter.com/_MarcusD_/status/763181406205849601">August 10, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> [NBC Olympics - video] USA Basketball stars support Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BI6aJyCA23g/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">The G.O.A.T! Congrats brother on #21. Many more to go!!! #swimunited</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by DeAndre Jordan (@deandrejordan6) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2016-08-10T03:11:53+00:00">Aug 9, 2016 at 8:11pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
Your point is moot because in fact we are not going to rollout just 18-23 yr olds, but the best players we have that are available to play, regardless of age. Also, Larry Brown was the coach of the 2004 team. We started winning gold again when, not only the calibre of player was better, but we replaced Brown with Coach K.
how is his point mute when hes actually responding to someone claiming sending out a team 23 and under would still win gold today. His post is actually pretty spot on and very objective
Didn't know James knew how to alley-oop. There were so many poor attempts last year. Maybe he just didn't want to throw it to Dwight. LOL
Yes, and I understand you were rebutting RedRedemption, but my point is all of that is purely hypothetical off-season type discussion since it wouldn't ever be the case in reality (unless all of our best NBA players were 23 or younger). And my point was also that the 2004 bronze medal squad was coached by Larry Brown, whereas the gold medal squads of 2008, 2012 and 2016 were coached by Mike Krzyzewski. I'm debating that it was not so much a lack of talent but a lack of proper coaching that caused the 2004 squad to be ill-prepared, hence they got a shock when they thought they could just waltz in and have the gold handed to them.
I suppose it's not the first time and certainly won't be the last, but thanks for pointing that out. At least you spelled moot correctly
There's no point going to the Olympics for USA players, especially in Rio, it's really a been there done that thing. Yeah let's go there and blow teams out by 40 points every game and have some orgies in the Olympic villages all in the name of loving your country. No wonder everyone pulled out this year.
2006 with coach K won bronze. 2000 with Rudy T (and Larry B) won gold. 2003 with Larry Brown won Gold. Stop putting the entire blame on Larry Brown. He's not the one out there playing, and a team can clearly win gold without coach K, win bronze with coach K, and win a gold with Larry Brown. Those aren't hypotheticals. Those happened. May not be against the best competition, but even against not the best competition coach K still led the US to bronze in 2006 with Lebron, Wade, Melo, Bosh, Dwight, Joe Johnson, and Chris Paul. So what happened here? Was your coach K also unprepared? Was team USA at the point just not good enough to compete Spain and Greece? Did the US not have enough talent or was coach K just not prepared? I know you say it doesn't matter because we'really not sending a team with 23 and under, but I was replying to RR and it doesn't matter if it's off season talk or not. A team led by Jabari Parker, Victor Oladipo, and Harrison Barnes wouldn't be as dominant as some people think they'd be even if they had the best coaching in the world. Coaching doesn't mean much when you have young players who aren't good enough or disciplined enough to compete with better and more disciplined teams. Look at the Australia and US game from tonight. Australia doesn't have a coach K, but they definitely played like they belonged and could hang with our super team. We didn't lose in 2004 cause of Larry Brown and we didn't lose in 2004 cause we had bad talent. We lost cause we simply got beat by better teams. The same would happen this year if we took the eligible 23-and-unders along with Coach K. We'd likely lose because there are better teams. I hate when people do that logic. "We only lost cause we got out coached or cause our players weren't good enough!" Uh... so basically you only lost cause the other team was better? There are upsets and then there is straight up losing. 2004 was an upset I guess, but if we sent out 23-and-unders I wouldn't say we'd be the favorites to win. Not with Parker, Oladipo, and Barnes leading the team. (If Beal, Davis, and Drummond play then that means all the other players who chose not to play for their countries would also get to play which would make it even more hard for team USA.)
Jeez. Always complaining about something. Harden is looking good and this is after we've heard a few reports of him working hard this offseason. The Olympics are great, but from a competitive point of view, what's the point? Harden can get a lot better working out and training in the States, rather than going and playing 20 minutes per game during 30 point blowouts in the Olympics. Y'all are impossible. Secondly, would you rather him not compete in these types of competitions? It's a low risk, low reward situation, but at least he stays in shape and is playing against decent opponents. It gives him an opportunity to apply whatever he's working on in the offseason in a low-risk enviornment. As for the dude who started ranting about Harden never winning a ring in Houston and having to go to these types of competitions to be a "champion", you're completely off base. I love when fans like to just assume they know exactly what a player is thinking. Harden was not motivated last year because our team chemistry was piss poor. Harden has been putting in work and looks more motivated than I can remember him. I don't see why Harden won't return to 2014 form, as he seems much more positive and optimistic about the team's chances to return to relevancy. Those facets of the game are really really important. TL;DR. STOP ****ING COMPLAINING ABOUT EVERYTHING
Hour long video of the game <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EaNG_vA6omY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Man, team USA barely beat Serbia by like 4 points yesterday. AND with precious coach K. And some of you really think team USA would win gold easily with a bunch of 23-and-under olds? The first way you can lose is by underestimating your competition. Clearly this group of NBA players and a few posters on here underrate the teams other countries can put out there. A team led by Victor Oladipo, Harrison Barnes, and Jabari Parker could easily win gold. Yeah, right. Smh.
