Sazar
08-31-04, 11:32 AM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/john_hollinger/08/29/olympic.after/index.html
okies... there are a coupla things i wanna make very clear...
I am gonna be ranting.. and I am gonna be breaking down a few of these articles very deliberately to make my point :)
you have been fore-warned...
Despite sending 12 highly talented individuals to Athens -- emphasis on individuals -- the once-mighty American team settled for the bronze. The descent began with a humiliating loss to a U.S. territory ('scuse me ... commonwealth) and, adding insult to injury, was capped by a semifinal loss to a team with three NBA players and several Fabio impersonators.
First, let's dispel two popular myths about the American squad: They didn't care and they didn't know how to share the ball. The guys who didn't care were the ones who chose to stay in the States. As for not sharing the ball, the U.S. led all teams in assists at these Olympics by a wide margin.
2 issues very apparent... first is the lack of respect to the argies... argentina beat the USA fair and square and the fabio impersonators comment was really un-needed...
secondly... the sharing the ball comment is very accurate... anyone who saw the US team play saw a number of contested shots, off-balance shots, forced shots all over the place which could easily have been converted with an extra pass... the over-reliance on the stat-sheet is one of the downfalls of sports in this nation...
The poor defense owed mostly to a lack of preparation and practice, making what were in truth some pretty average players look like superstars. Manu Ginobili, for instance, played an entire NBA season last year and scored as many as 29 points exactly twice, but shredded the U.S. for 29 in the semis.
manu ginobli is a versatile player who adds a whole other dimension to the spurs.. after duncan he is the best player on the team wrt the intangibles... more lack of respect for players who are not built for marketing and flashing dunks and the like... much like the lack of exposure duncan has coz he is not going all out and ripping down rings like shaq...
First, USA Basketball has to distance itself from the NBA. The league had a huge amount of input in the selection of the USA team, which would be unthinkable for any of the other national squads. This is doubly confounding since the commissioner is all but openly rooting for other teams as part of his international marketing blitz. (Seriously, does any other pro league, in any sport, in any country keep separate stats for "international leaders" on its Web site?)
no disagreement there... but hang on a bit :)
More importantly, the next time it's "suggested" that the U.S. select a highly touted young player (Dwyane Wade) who doesn't fit the team's needs, USA Basketball has to have enough gumption and confidence to politely decline. It's the national team, not Stern's. If he's so geeked up about the international players, he can pick a squad for Guatemala
riiight... coz dwayne wade is a bad player :) but it gets better...
Fast forward to the World Championships in 2006. Imagine a team of, say, Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Michael Redd, Mike Miller and LeBron James in the backcourt, with Corey Maggette, James Posey and Carmelo Anthony on the wings and Emeka Okafor, Carlos Boozer, Zach Randolph and Brad Miller in the frontcourt.
look.. no dwayne wade while utter suck-uppage to carmelo anthony and lebron james...
first of all... dwayne wade was one of the reasons the US team was not blown out of the water in the first 4 games... even vs PR he did his best to keep the team in it... only in the last 2 games did his shootng suffer and even then he kept his end of the bargain by defending and playing good team ball...
lebron james and carmelo anthony were non-factors in every single game they played.. their inclusion was ludicrous... only dwayne wade showed ANY leadership qualities or skills by taking his team deep into the playoff's... he DESERVED to be on the team.. the other two were the highly touted players about whom conveniently nothing bad is ever apparently supposed to be said...
the writer's idea about getting a full-time coach will help... getting a full-time team may be a little harder... consider that manu ginobli and co don't train all the year with their national teams coz of obligations... I don't buy into the whole thing with the other teams playing together for life...
they play longer... thats for sure but we have NBA teams that have players who play together for years who can't play with each other... heck the last tandem I saw that could was malone/stockton and jordan/pippin...
who else since? shaq and wade perhaps but thats a big maybe...
----
step 1 in sorting out what to do is to admit that the teams that beat the US bball team were better... this was not a fluke.. losing 7 times to other teams in the last 2 odd years is not a fluke... its a clear sign that someone who is in a position of power needs to wake up and get these guys working harder...
okies... there are a coupla things i wanna make very clear...
I am gonna be ranting.. and I am gonna be breaking down a few of these articles very deliberately to make my point :)
you have been fore-warned...
Despite sending 12 highly talented individuals to Athens -- emphasis on individuals -- the once-mighty American team settled for the bronze. The descent began with a humiliating loss to a U.S. territory ('scuse me ... commonwealth) and, adding insult to injury, was capped by a semifinal loss to a team with three NBA players and several Fabio impersonators.
First, let's dispel two popular myths about the American squad: They didn't care and they didn't know how to share the ball. The guys who didn't care were the ones who chose to stay in the States. As for not sharing the ball, the U.S. led all teams in assists at these Olympics by a wide margin.
2 issues very apparent... first is the lack of respect to the argies... argentina beat the USA fair and square and the fabio impersonators comment was really un-needed...
secondly... the sharing the ball comment is very accurate... anyone who saw the US team play saw a number of contested shots, off-balance shots, forced shots all over the place which could easily have been converted with an extra pass... the over-reliance on the stat-sheet is one of the downfalls of sports in this nation...
The poor defense owed mostly to a lack of preparation and practice, making what were in truth some pretty average players look like superstars. Manu Ginobili, for instance, played an entire NBA season last year and scored as many as 29 points exactly twice, but shredded the U.S. for 29 in the semis.
manu ginobli is a versatile player who adds a whole other dimension to the spurs.. after duncan he is the best player on the team wrt the intangibles... more lack of respect for players who are not built for marketing and flashing dunks and the like... much like the lack of exposure duncan has coz he is not going all out and ripping down rings like shaq...
First, USA Basketball has to distance itself from the NBA. The league had a huge amount of input in the selection of the USA team, which would be unthinkable for any of the other national squads. This is doubly confounding since the commissioner is all but openly rooting for other teams as part of his international marketing blitz. (Seriously, does any other pro league, in any sport, in any country keep separate stats for "international leaders" on its Web site?)
no disagreement there... but hang on a bit :)
More importantly, the next time it's "suggested" that the U.S. select a highly touted young player (Dwyane Wade) who doesn't fit the team's needs, USA Basketball has to have enough gumption and confidence to politely decline. It's the national team, not Stern's. If he's so geeked up about the international players, he can pick a squad for Guatemala
riiight... coz dwayne wade is a bad player :) but it gets better...
Fast forward to the World Championships in 2006. Imagine a team of, say, Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Michael Redd, Mike Miller and LeBron James in the backcourt, with Corey Maggette, James Posey and Carmelo Anthony on the wings and Emeka Okafor, Carlos Boozer, Zach Randolph and Brad Miller in the frontcourt.
look.. no dwayne wade while utter suck-uppage to carmelo anthony and lebron james...
first of all... dwayne wade was one of the reasons the US team was not blown out of the water in the first 4 games... even vs PR he did his best to keep the team in it... only in the last 2 games did his shootng suffer and even then he kept his end of the bargain by defending and playing good team ball...
lebron james and carmelo anthony were non-factors in every single game they played.. their inclusion was ludicrous... only dwayne wade showed ANY leadership qualities or skills by taking his team deep into the playoff's... he DESERVED to be on the team.. the other two were the highly touted players about whom conveniently nothing bad is ever apparently supposed to be said...
the writer's idea about getting a full-time coach will help... getting a full-time team may be a little harder... consider that manu ginobli and co don't train all the year with their national teams coz of obligations... I don't buy into the whole thing with the other teams playing together for life...
they play longer... thats for sure but we have NBA teams that have players who play together for years who can't play with each other... heck the last tandem I saw that could was malone/stockton and jordan/pippin...
who else since? shaq and wade perhaps but thats a big maybe...
----
step 1 in sorting out what to do is to admit that the teams that beat the US bball team were better... this was not a fluke.. losing 7 times to other teams in the last 2 odd years is not a fluke... its a clear sign that someone who is in a position of power needs to wake up and get these guys working harder...