Olympic Basketball

For once, this leaves me speechless. Not that the US lost, but the margin of victory!

 

Bob Costas said it best. The basketball team could have been put together two ways - one, by getting as many professional players who would AGREE to come to make the others countries fear us, or two, putting together a team wilth members representing all the required skills. And the marketing depertment won.

 

I echo Dr. Bob's comments about being glad it happened. I have thought all along that they should have kept using college players or at least limit it to 22 years old and under. At least then the players would maybe still have the desire to work hard in practice and be willing to play together as a TEAM in the games.

Their inability to work together as a TEAM will probably cost them at least one more loss before the Olympics is over. As Debby said above, the commentators even admitted that the selection committee just tried to get the biggest "names" that would accept instead of trying to put together an overall good team.

 

Yep. Really smart move.
Not to mention Iverson + Brown? We know what a good combination that is.

 

C4K,
Four years gives "the powers that be" a long time to forget! The USA keeps making some of the same mistakes over and over.

 

C4K, whadya mean, WE got caught out?...I thought you were born in Ireland?...not another turncoat I hope?

 

Wouldn't it be something if USA nightmare came back and won a medal?

 

Only if it's gold. Any other medal would only establish them as failures.

 

True, C4K - it truly has become a world sport. When the Argentines beat us in another competition awhile ago, they were quoted as saying they understood it was a difficult day for the U.S., but a wonderful day for the rest of the world. Meaning we probably never will be unbeatable again. Those days are over.

Consider the amount of time the other countries give towards their players becoming a team. They have months to prepare, compared to our guys only having a few weeks. Unless we change something here (NBA season), we will not be dominant ever again.

And then we have our own citizens rejoicing in the failure of our own team. In case no one noticed, the real NBA primadonnas sat out - they didn't come. The ones that signed on were the ones that wanted to be there to be a part of something special. Go get the bronze, U.S.! There are some supporters back home!

 

Oh yeah, in case anyone failed to notice, U.S. basketball is alive and well - the U.S. Women playing for the gold medal against our Aussie friends even as I type.

 

As usual, RodH and I are on the the same page. The rest of the world has put together some great teams, but a team made up of of our best college players would have played better than this "dream team". I don't know anyone who was rooting for this team. It was a distaster for the US Olympic team and one as well for the NBA I think. These guys stink.

 

A team made up of our best college players was defeated in the last Olympics where we were exclusively amateur. So for that reason Mark, I don't agree with your statement.

The real reason people routed against their own countrymen was because they were seen as rich, arrogant, and spoiled. It had nothing to do with basketball. However, a quick check of Team USA's roster reveals that with one exception, the majority of the team are decent folk - albeit with a much bigger salary than us.

The spoiled rich showboats largely stayed home and watched.

 

Not sure that is true, Mark... especially when you consider that at least three of the players (LeBron James, Amare Stoudamire, and Carmelo Anthony- who, remember, was a dominant college player on a NCAA title-winning team) should all still be in college.

What it boils down to is the NBA game and the international game have different values. The international game stresses teamwork, discipline, and fundamental skills such as passing, shooting, and defense. The current NBA game stresses highlights, dunking, and showmanship.

Thank you, Michael Jordan and ESPN...