USA Basketball thread

[David Hassellhoff]

I'll say they get bronze at best in the Olympics. They have no shooters, just a bunch of "athletic" guys.

[sahyder1]

I don't know if this should be *spoilers* or not, but..

The USA Team lost, by A LOT. I didn't think they'd lose, but i'm not that surprised either.

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Edited August 15, 2004 by sahyder1

[Guest bukkake bandit]

The fact is every other country plays basketball the way it was meant to be played while the USA plays glorified street ball. As we all know, a good TEAM will beat a bunch of ball hogs, and the last few weeks have shown that. Maybe, just maybe the next US squad will have a guy or two that can hit a jump shot, and a few less guys with 40+" verticals.

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[DMN in the House]

No one cares about Amatuer Wrestlers.

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Ha, you're kidding right?

Wrestling is the only sport in the Olympics I actually care about. I know a bunch of other people that are the same way. Wrestling is HUGE, its just not mainstream.

[naiwf]

The fact is every other country plays basketball the way it was meant to be played while the USA plays glorified street ball. As we all know, a good TEAM will beat a bunch of ball hogs, and the last few weeks have shown that. Maybe, just maybe the next US squad will have a guy or two that can hit a jump shot, and a few less guys with 40+" verticals.

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They need to realize that the rest of the world has caught up in a big way. The rest of the world can play basketball (the American sport) the way it's supposed to be. These countries play defense, they pass and they can shoot.

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[Guest Wrestling_Man]

Man, what a disgrace it was to hear that the US basketball team lost to PUERTO RICO!! THEY SHOULD'VE NOT LOST TO PUERTO RICO TODAY!! I'm not saying that they should win every game, because just looking at that team, it's not that good. But hopefully, this will send a message to the US basketball committee when they pick people for the next games, TO NOT SEND NBA PLAYERS! The Olympics if I remember, are for AMATUERS!! Not professionals, so why not get college and high school kids with a college coach and send them to the games. Who should be the head coach for that team? I hate to say it as a Maryland fan, but Coach K!

[gunnar hendershow]

No one cares about Amatuer Wrestlers.

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Ha, you're kidding right?

Wrestling is the only sport in the Olympics I actually care about. I know a bunch of other people that are the same way. Wrestling is HUGE, its just not mainstream.

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It's the biggest cult sport in the world. Being a wrestler I can say this. It's a whole cult almost. You mention you wrestle and you can get in a conversation with a fellow wrestler for years.

And as for Team USA, fuck 'em. I hope this'll be a wake up call to have a National Team practice more often and play more friendlies.

[Guest bukkake bandit]

Italy hit 15 triples in that game, most of which were wide open jumpers, so what the fuck are you talking about bad shooting? Just today, the USA was what 3 for 24 from 3 point range? Now the int'l 3 point line is three feet CLOSER, and they still can't hit a shot, so again, what the fuck are you talking about?

Edited August 16, 2004 by bukkake bandit

[naiwf]

If a team is geared around outside shooting, what the hell do you expect them to do? Dump it in to their 6'8" center and get his shot blocked by the USA's massive inside presence? Italy fucking schooled them, and embarassed them so much that they ran out the 3rd string against them.

As was said before, Serbia's 3 best players didn't play in that game, so they had no shot against the Americans. None of the other teams have any depth.

Comparing an NBA regular season game, or best of 7 series game to an Olympic medal round qualifying game is stupid on so many levels that I won't even bother to respond to it. If you lose 2 games in this round, you can get knocked out of contention, while you can lose 40 regular season games, or 3 playoff games per round and still win the championship.

Driving through 3 guys and dumping the ball off because you can't get a shot off can get you an assist. Just watch LeBron with the ball. That's not necessarily team play. Setting up a teammate for a better shot, or setting a pick is team play, and the USA just don't do enough of that. And yes, I have watched ALL of the games, and the only games that they played well in were the two against Turkey. Every time they played poorly, they lost or needed a miracle. If you think that they will be able to get away with this weak level of play against the better teams, you're a fool.

[EWRFan]

Wooooohoooo...Here in Puerto Rico the party has not stopped. I am not drunk and I dont know why because I had to have drinked like 20 beers.

This is the best game PR has played EVER!!! We have beaten Spain , Argentina, Serbia before....but the all mighty USA with NBA players? Nope....college players yes , but NBA PLAYERS!!!

I have to admit that if Arroyo would have sit out the game because of his back spasms , we would have lost. But we dominated. yesterday Julio Toro(the coach) said that they where going to press the US inside and let them take outside shots because they would miss 3 out of 5. He said that we where going to press them inside , because it didnt matter if they got 100 Offensive Rebounds but couldnt convert them to points. Well, he most be psychic because that is exactly what happened. His final words in the newspaper article " I know we can win".

Well , back to the party :thumbsup:

[Guest bukkake bandit]

"Massive inside presence." They don't exactly have Shaq out there. Besides, if the USA defense was as big a pushover as you made it out to be earlier, it would be easy to abuse Duncan, Odom, and Boozer, right?

I wasn't comparing the NBA to the Olympics. Upsets happen. The USA blew out Puerto Rico by 25, now Puerto Rico manhandled them. So now the team sucks and has no chance? That's absurd.

Driving through 3 guys and dumping the ball off because you can't get a shot off can get you an assist. Just watch LeBron with the ball. That's not necessarily team play. Setting up a teammate for a better shot, or setting a pick is team play, and the USA just don't do enough of that. And yes, I have watched ALL of the games, and the only games that they played well in were the two against Turkey. Every time they played poorly, they lost or needed a miracle. If you think that they will be able to get away with this weak level of play against the better teams, you're a fool.

[sahyder1]

The only time an international team has impressed me was today with Puerto Rico, and even then everyone disappeared except for Carlos Arroyo after the first half.

[Guest bukkake bandit]

Yes, and I was referring to this year.

Edited August 16, 2004 by bukkake bandit

[naiwf]

USA beat PR by 25 in an EXHIBITION. When the game mattered they got THUMPED by 19. I guarantee you there's not a man alive who would take the 'W' when it didn't count instead of when it did. The USA squad is likely to lose at least once more since every country in the tournament now knows they are beatable SPECIFICALLY because a team they ran out of the gym came back and made them look foolish when the pressure was on.

If it comes down to the USA having to make shots, they won't beat any team out there since they can't shoot. If for some reason though, dunks and fast break hoops become worth 4 or 5 points, the gold will always be ours. Until then, the team that can hit more than 12% of their attempts at 20 foot jumpers will win just about every time.

[Guest bukkake bandit]

It's likely because they lost a game to a team that barely qualified? Look at the roster. The USA isn't fielding a team of bums. They can win the gold. They are the favorites. You know it. I know it. They can win every game from here on in and it wouldn't be shocking at all.

If/when they don't make it past the semi-finals, then I'll acknowledge the team was a failure. One thing I will not acknowledge are that international teams have better team players.

[naiwf]

"I don't know that (international play) is better because I think there are NBA teams that play that way," Iverson said. "These guys play the game the way it is supposed to be played. They don't play off their athletic ability. They think the game out ... sort of a John Stockton-Karl Malone type of game. I think this game is good for kids to see how the game is supposed to be played."

Talk about a ringing endorsement ... Iverson saying kids should watch other teams to learn how to play the right way. Then again, maybe when he said 'kids,' he was talking about his teammates.

[sahyder1]

"I don't know that (international play) is better because I think there are NBA teams that play that way," Iverson said. "These guys play the game the way it is supposed to be played. They don't play off their athletic ability. They think the game out ... sort of a John Stockton-Karl Malone type of game. I think this game is good for kids to see how the game is supposed to be played."

Talk about a ringing endorsement ... Iverson saying kids should watch other teams to learn how to play the right way. Then again, maybe when he said 'kids,' he was talking about his teammates.

Courtesy: Nightmare Team' too young, too unworldly for Olympic stage

Aug. 15, 2004

By Mike Kahn

SportsLine.com Executive Editor

AI understands it, and so should you

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[Guest bukkake bandit]

AI understands it, and so should you 

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[sahyder1]

AI understands it, and so should you 

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AI still doesn't understand why he was benched against Puerto Rico though.

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[Karizma]

International Forwards are a lot better than the NBA players, IMO, they can drain threes and jumpers with ease, even centers can hit big threes when it matters, Italy's Galanda is fucking awesome, and has a mean three.

US forwards may be more athletic, but the Forwards from around the wolrd are more well-rounded IMO, they can do it all, and most International teams have great 3 point shooters, who are the basis, because of the smaller arc, if you can't shoot threes in the International game, you don't have that much of a chance, just because the US is loaded, is the reason it's going to get through.