Team USA (basketball)

[Zanchief]

Zan,

About 90% of this board thinks you're an idiot... well 91% I hardly care what you think. Consider yourself lucky I have even replied to you THIS much.

Translation: I regret making this topic since I have no idea what I'm talking about. Please stop the vicious trashing you've given me.

Count yourself lucky I don’t post a poll about who people find to be more idiotic, Diekan. I'll save you further indignity.

Basketball sucks. Unless youre playing it.

There's always someone playing it.

[Ouchyfish]

College basketball > NBA

[Herko]

College everything is better than the pro sport... except soccer, and wrestling. (your god damn right i mean the WWE wrestling)

[Zanchief]

I thought Wrestling was just gay porn for closet fags.

[Herko]

No way, its a sport when you bash a man on top of a table, or pin them against the ropes, or piledrive them, or body slam, man on man pinning each other on the mat, or......omg...wtf... um im going back to watching the girls gymnastics and swimming.... I feel dirty

[Jirig]

The loss to Puerto Rico makes baby Jesus cry irl. Seriously.

What... the... fuck...

[Ouchyfish]

The loss to Puerto Rico makes baby Jesus cry irl. Seriously.

What... the... fuck...

Not so dreamy players being called a dream team playing for something I doubt they give a shit about other than a trip to Greece and a fat tax deduction.

[vonkaar]

Athens - Not long after his team had rallied from a 12-point deficit Thursday, registering an 89-79 win over Australia, U.S. Olympic men's basketball coach Larry Brown was asked how encouraged he was that his group of oft-struggling NBA players seemed to be coming together as a team.

"We don't have 'em all yet," Brown retorted.

The holdout would appear to be the Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony, who during the past 10 days has gone from a bright light in the coach's eyes to someone who needs to change his bulb.

"He's not buying into what we're doing - he's having a hard time accepting what we're trying to do," Brown said. "You can tell by the way he acts, by the way he plays. I've got a team; we're going to continue to coach him and do the best we can, but we're a team and you've gotta try.

"I think we all care for him and want him to do well - and we need him. The bottom line is we need him. But I don't need a guy who doesn't buy in."

Anthony responded: "I'll be all right. I'll get through this. I'm still trying to figure out what it is he wants me to do."

The runner-up in the 2003-04 NBA rookie of the year voting after averaging 21 points a game, Anthony played slightly more than two minutes against the Australians. When the game ended, Anthony had to be called back to the court to rejoin his teammates for the traditional postgame huddle and handshakes between the opposing teams. As has been the case after each of the U.S. contests, Anthony quickly took off his jersey, casually tossing it over his shoulder before leaving the floor.

Such acts don't sit well with Brown, an old-school coach, and are indicative, he said, of why Anthony is in his doghouse.

Reached late Thursday, Anthony said he has struggled trying to figure out his role.

"I know my body language hasn't been great sometimes, but it's tough to go through this," he said. "I've never gone through anything like this - it's tough to be perfect when it's something you haven't experienced before."

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU GOD DAMNED WHINEY TIT BABY. YOU ARE A FUCKING 2nd YEAR PLAYER ON THE FUCKING 'DREAM TEAM'. Holy fucking shit... in 1996, Shaq was the BACKUP center to David Robinson and Hakeem . Shaq playing backup to ANYONE these days seems as alien as can be... but did you hear him whine? No... he was young and arrogant, but playing on Team USA was his PRIVELEGE.

If Anthony is legitimately at a loss to understand what he's doing wrong, let me call attention to his pregame "routine" on Thursday. I watched him for 20 minutes, never took my eyes off of him. Here's what I saw: He never -- repeat, never -- went under the basket to retrieve the ball and throw it back to a teammate. Instead, Tim Duncan, the best player on the team, a two-time NBA champion and a two-time MVP, threw it back to him. The only time 'Melo parted with the ball was when two of them bounced toward him at the same time. He never -- repeat, never -- worked on any particular move, never jab-stepped, never took a pull-up jumper, never got the ball and dribbled into an imaginary seam -- a situation he would find in a game. On three or four occasions, however, he did kind of sweep the ball toward the basket in the event the United States might need a 20-foot shovel shot at some point in the game.

After the game, in which he played about two minutes, he turned and abruptly headed for the locker room but happened to notice that his team was gathering at mid-court for the obligatory Olympian two-team handshake and wave to the crowd. 'Melo half-heartedly ambled over, shook a hand or two and turned away again. Simply put, he doesn't get it. He doesn't begin to get it.

Holy shit, most of last year I was on the Melo bandwagon, way over King James... this Olympics drama has COMPLETELY swayed me over to LBJ.

[Zanchief]

Holy shit, most of last year I was on the Melo bandwagon, way over King James... this Olympics drama has COMPLETELY swayed me over to LBJ.

Was arguing just the other day with a King James fan, it does put things into perspective.

[Menelvir]

I understand that the 20 ft. 'shovel shot' can be insidiously difficult to
master. Good to see him putting in at least a token effort.

[Rotj]

'Melo needs to be bitch-slapped. Disgraceful. Hopefully he'll get a shot of reality (ie. no playing time) by Coach Brown.

[Zanchief]

'Melo needs to be bitch-slapped. Disgraceful. Hopefully he'll get a shot of reality (ie. no playing time) by Coach Brown.

w0rd

[Rzail]

US team led by Starbury beats Spain :D

[vonkaar]

Good game too... tense... could have gone either way.

[Lyion]

Good game too... tense... could have gone either way.

They beat Spain, after losing to Puerto Rico.. Go Figure...

Was a good game, and its obvious the International field has gotten much better.

I think in the future we should just send a single team from the NBA there, instead of random people.

[vonkaar]

The problem is... I don't think there is a single team in the NBA without an international player... certainly not in Texas. Detroit maybe, since Okur is gone...

[Zanchief]

The problem is... I don't think there is a single team in the NBA without an international player... certainly not in Texas. Detroit maybe, since Okur is gone...

what he said.

[Lyion]

Good point, I didn't think of that...

We need to overhaul the selection commitee, at least, to get a better balance...

[Zanchief]

Good point, I didn't think of that...

We need to overhaul the selection commitee, at least, to get a better balance...

There was no balance to the team at all. No good outside shooters, no good guard defenders, and a lot of undersized centers. Even mediocre players like Michael Redd or Brent Barry would have helped a ton.

Wasn't much thought that went into the roster.

[Lyion]

Wasn't much thought that went into the roster.

How exactly did the US get this fucked up of a roster?

[vonkaar]

It seems that money was the primary concern in the selection... think about each player and the market that they come from.

Biggest player in Texas? On Team USA.
Philidelphia? Yup.
God of Cleveland? Yup.
Best in Denver? New York? Phoenix? Miami (pre Shaq)? Yes yes yes...

Almost every major market was covered. People in these markets buy T-Shirts and posters because their favorite player was on the team. It truly IS an AMERICAN team, logistically speaking. Is it the RIGHT team? Obviously not.

People will put a lot of blame on the Selection committe and Larry Brown. Not ENOUGH blame is put on the players that didn't show up. Look at the 2003 All-NBA teams... who's here? Who had an excuse?

First team:
Tim Duncan - Present
Kevin Garnett - AWOL
Shaquille O'Neal - AWOL
Kobe Bryant - Can't leave the country, legal problems.
Jason Kidd - Injuries

Second team:
Jermaine O'Neal - AWOL
Peja Stojakovic - Isn't American, although he is still AWOL from the Serbia team.
Ben Wallace - AWOL
Sam Cassell - AWOL
Tracy MacGrady - AWOL

Third team:
Ron Artest - Wanted to play, wasn't invited.
Dirk Nowitzki - Isn't American, played for Team Germany.
Yao Ming - Isn't American, played for Team China
Baron Davis - AWOL
Michael Redd - Wanted to play, wasn't invited.

Other American players receiving votes that are not on Team USA:
Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, Brad Miller, Jamaal Magloire, Ray Allen, Elton Brand, Erick Dampier, Mike Bibby, Chris Webber, Michael Finley (wanted to play though), Jason Williams (wanted to play though), Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Steve Francis, Corey Maggette, Kenyon Martin, Theo Ratliff.

Where were they when Team USA was looking for players? Can you imagine how fucked up the olympic teams would be if Team USA looked like this:

First Team:
Mike Bibby - Point Guard
Allen Iverson - Shooting Guard
Elton Brand - Small Forward
Tim Duncan - Power Forward
Shaquille O'Neal - Center

Bench:
Baron Davis - Point Guard
Michael Finley - Shooting Guard
Ron Artest - Small Forward
Kevin Garnett - Power Forward
Ben Wallace - Center

Fillers:
Brent Barry, Ray Allen - outside presence
Chris Webber, Kenyon Martin - inside presence
Vince Carter - all-around threat.

That's your 15 players, right there. You have loads of defense, insane amounts of offense, unbeatable rebounding, disgustingly effective shot-blocking, free-throw shooters, 3-point GODs... we'd be back to winning every game by 30 points. Two problems: The PLAYERS didn't show up and the selection committe SUCKED in choosing among those who did.

[Lyion]

Well, if anything hopefully we've gotten wiser for the future.

And I am enjoying this years Olympic hoops, at least. Ya never know whats going to happen.

[vonkaar]

It's a lot more fun when the team is absolutely DESTROYING the opponents. Do you realize that the 92 dream team won every game by an average of FIFTY points?

[Zanchief]

Jamaal Magloire is Canadian.

[Zanchief]

Do you honestly think Michael Finley is better than Vince Carter?