The US mens olympic basketball team

Phill.

Phill.

Active member
Named to the 2008 USA Basketball Senior National Team were: Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz); Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kidd; Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets); Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons); Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks); Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat); and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz). Duke University Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski is head coach of the USA Senior Team program. Serving as assistant coaches are Syracuse University and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

thats a crazy good team talent wise.....but the player egos like in the past might get in the way...
 
hopefully they play well together and just shit on every other country, that would be awesome
 
we have always been rediculous and had great coaches, but we always find a way to lose. i don't know how.
 
BOOZER!!! that guys insane. when he was in highschool i watched his school play mine and it was absurd. he had like 48 points or something and was single handedly destroying us so bad that everyone in the stands were cheering for him. he was dunking on everyone like it was nothing, in highschool, just dunking on the whole team, rediculious...
 
seriously, I would have ditched Prince for Tyson Chandler easily. We only have 3 big guys out of 12, and not only is Chandler a quality center but the Chris Paul - Chandler combo is devastating, would have been a sweet second line with them
 
Im a pistons fan. But with Prince on the team I know we will find our way to the semi finals then blow it..
 
The olympic team is now being made a big deal after we were embarrassed last olympics. Honestly, this shouldn't have to be big news, its a great honor for the players, but now all of this talk about team defense and teamwork is ridiculous. The U.S. should be able to pick 12 good players from the NBA and be handed the gold. No disrespect to the other countries competing but with the exception of a few players, all of the elite players in the NBA are American born. We shouldn't have to hold press conferences to tell the world who is coaching and what the team goals are how we need to work together. We should be able to send 12 guys there and have someone tell them "go play"
 
They really should send the team that wins the NBA Finals.
It has been talked about in the past and I have no idea why they dont go through with the idea. It's a team that played together all year long and understands the concept of team basketball. When you have Kobe and Lebron on the same team it makes it kinda hard because they are both used to taking 20+ shots a game. Having all these NBA All Stars on the same floor it super difficult b/c nobody knows their role. They all wanna go out and be the leading scorer, rebounder, etc.

I fully support the idea of sending the NBA Finals champ to the Olympics/FIBA's.
 
Wrong. KG is the only of the big 3 to have won a gold medal at the Olympics and that was in 2000.
 
Sorry but Tay and the rest of the team are easily gonna make it through. They don't have Flip Saunders as a coach........
 
i always find it weird that basketball is in the olympics. it always seems out of place to me. same with baseball and softball.
 
exactly what i was going to say. they would own. this team will have no chemistry and their egos are all too big. they wont pass enough and they will hog the ball the whole time.
 
I was making a joke. Seeing as the pistons have made it to the conf. finals for like 6 years straight but not won a ship. I have no doubt that we will clean house come august.
 
the european teams shouldnt be taken lightly. the majority of them choose to stay in europe and play, when they could easily come to the NBA to make the $$$, and they play a different style game, more defense oriented and less big-play oriented
 
forgetting 2004? Prince is on the team for the same reason Redd is, they picked specialists with smaller egos and injuries/fatigue/no interest from better ballers. The lanky thin man is one of the better defensive players in the league, and the Europeans have a lot of good perimeter players with size playing the 3 spot. But was surprised to hear he made it since he's not even close to being the best player on his own team.
 
I'd disagree. The NBA is a pretty international league now, I think more players are from other coutries than most people realize. In the last 4 years the MVP trophy has been won 3 times by an international player.

And the US will not win gold this year cause the other team actually play and pactice togther longer than a month before the games and their roster isn't full of head cases.
 
uhhh we've been playing together for 2 and a half years now and the only real head case is carmelo, the one who said and im not kidding "cares more about FIBA than the NBA" so i think we should be just fine
 
You're right thats theres more and more international players every year, but how many of them are at the top of the NBA? Now how many of them are actually from the same country? Theres a bunch of good international players, but they're all from different country's, so theres not 1 super team from Europe or anything, just teams with one or two really good players. The US basically has all the top level NBA guys to choose from. The only way the US looses is if everyone is selfish and don't play well as a team.
 


No doubt the NBA is mostly composed of Americans but here are just a few big name international players;

Nash, Nowitski, Barbosa, Diaw, Parker,Ming, Kriolenco, Ginobuli. Gasol, Calderon

I think people really underestimate the talent of players in the European leagues.International basketball is much more fast passed than the NBA which is favors the European players at the Olympics. Which is why the US has beaten the last few years.

Not to mention they were humiliated by Puerto rico last Olympics.

No doubt US has the Talent I just think Argentina or France have just as good of chances
 
canada

there's no question the team has the offensive punch. They will be fine as long as they can run with the lead. The weakness of this team is in the forwards and center positions. sure they are allstars but there arent many on the team. They really lack grit and defensive shutdown people at those positions. Howard is the most gritty defensive player in those spots for the US team. If he gets in foul trouble with a team of gritty forwards and centers who attack the basket the US could be in trouble. Particularly if the other team has a big player in the 3 spot shooting the lights out, to create space for a grinder in the 4,5 spot. I believe this is the formula that could expose them defensively as talk is that Lebron will see time in the 4 spot which could leave him undersized and exposed against a big 4, and their perimeter shooter D is questionable, which is traditionally the trademark of non-US teams. The US team does lack shooters as most of their trademarks are as a slasher or postup player.

But in the end, I do see this team having less ego on the team than previous ones so I think they will win.

Hopefully canada qualifies
 
lebrone james will fuck the entire team over. his ego has gotten to him so much. hes a complete dick and a shitty team player.
 
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