U.S. basketball team - ouch

[Robert Jan]

I like that Pistons idea. It would be cool if they made it such that whichever team won the NBA Championship the year of the Olympics got the privelege of representing us there. Either that or do what DT said.

I'm pretty sure the U.S. is going to play Vatican City for the bronze. Should be a good game.

Pope at point guard.

 

[Robert Jan]

NBA has increasingly poor shooters actually because Americans all want to dunk instead of shoot. They certainly could have sent some people like Michael Redd as an example................

I remember there used to be some excellent shooters in the NBA

didnt reggie miller one season have a 97% free throw average?

 

[jestro]

[nelson]HA HA![/nelson]

 

[Dieharder]

im sick of hearing this shit. "i hope they lose" fucking bullshit from Americans. If you watched the game today you will see its not like they were a bunch of idiots not giving a shit about the game. how the hell can you expect to field a team that plays an entirely different style of basketball, throw them together, give them a month to prepare, and make them play international rules against teams used to it. PURE bullshit. We didnt send any shooters because half of the best players in the NBA turned down an invitation to play. WE taught Iverson and co. how to play the game of basketball, and thats exactly the way they are playing right now. Look at Tim Duncan, one of the most dominant players in basketball, hes been NOTHING in this tournament, because of international teams packing in a zone and making us shoot. There is no fucking way we should blame these players for not trying, not caring blah blah. Blame the committee who selected the team, blame those who decided they didnt want to play, and blame the American basketball game for the style of play we are seeing. OK my rant is over.

 

[Robert Jan]

what dieharder said is pretty much true

 

[bluepeter]

im sick of hearing this shit. "i hope they lose" fucking bullshit from Americans. If you watched the game today you will see its not like they were a bunch of idiots not giving a shit about the game. how the hell can you expect to field a team that plays an entirely different style of basketball, throw them together, give them a month to prepare, and make them play international rules against teams used to it. PURE bullshit. We didnt send any shooters because half of the best players in the NBA turned down an invitation to play. WE taught Iverson and co. how to play the game of basketball, and thats exactly the way they are playing right now. Look at Tim Duncan, one of the most dominant players in basketball, hes been NOTHING in this tournament, because of international teams packing in a zone and making us shoot. There is no fucking way we should blame these players for not trying, not caring blah blah. Blame the committee who selected the team, blame those who decided they didnt want to play, and blame the American basketball game for the style of play we are seeing. OK my rant is over.

Whose blaming them? It's the fault of the people that put this team together. When all the best players in the league other than Tim Duncan turned them down, you need to go out and get a point guard that isn't a ball hog. Then you need to go and get some zone busters (where was Michael Redd's invite? Brent Barry's?). They thought they could waltz in there with this team? No way.

 

[Dieharder]

I think its borderline racist the way people are talking about this team. Basketball is and always will be an urban game in America. Look at what has become popular in the past few years, THE AND 1 MIXTAPE TOUR. Fancy Dribbling, no shooting once forever, embarassing your opponent nonsense. Thats the way players are playing now. Its all one-on-one, and if you go to any urban area where the future NBA stars play, thats what you are going to see. Then we have the NBA drafting these kids who cant even shoot a left-handed layup for Christs sake. The glorification of dunking, showing up your opponent has ruined the game completely. These players have never had to settle for jumpshots before. I just cannot stand the people i hear saying that they hope our team loses, because they are all selfish ballhogs!!! THATS THE WAY THEY LEARNED TO PLAY!! For example, Stephon Marbury played ONE year in college at Georgia Tech as a scoring point guard, went to the NBA, and hmmmmmm what does he turn out to be? A SCORING POINT GUARD. Taking 19 year olds from the ghetto who have grown up on streetball is why the NBA is the way it is today.

 

[mylife]

we can't send the NBA champions to represent us at the olympics.

they'd have no chance to defend their nba title in the following year.

all this team needed was shooters. not one player from the NBA's top 50 3pt shooters was given an invite. (maybe ray allen, can't remember if he declined)

besides shooting, we led every major category of the olympics -

1st in rebounding
1st in steals
1st in assists
1st in ______?

 

[Dieharder]

first off, statistics DONT MEAN DICK!! I agree we needed shooters (MICHEAL FUCKING REDD!!!!!) but the fact is this team cant play together!!! we needed shooters, playmakers, and those kind of players that give you the little intangibles. Here is why statistics are misleading:
1 Rebounds-thats because we cant fucking shoot!!! I dont know how many weak ass floaters and open jumpers we missed today (lost count after 100000) We offense rebounded like madmen, we have the hustle part down, just not the skill
2. steals-because we had to play over aggressive pressing defense to catch up in almost EVERY game!! sure we had a few steals, but how many times did the other team get wide open jumpers and layups at the expense of trying to make a big play?
3. assists- i havent looked at the stats, but i cant see ANYWAY we led in assists.

i think more importantly was there was NO TRANSITION OFFENSE WHATSOEVER. That is basically (other than one on one play) the way players score now from the NBA. Since the one on one was taken away from us because of the zone defenses and the fact we cant fucking shoot, we needed to get out and score in transition, which didnt happen thanks to our opponents actually being able to hit shots!

 

[supersizeme]

I don't understand how the NBA Champions wouldn't have a chance to defend their NBA title. They're just going to another country for two weeks to play together and the next season doesn't even start another month. It wouldn't be like they were spending two weeks fishing and not practicing.