USA Basketball... it's over

[osudewd]

Well we finally reached our breaking point. USA lost to Argentina, the best they can do now is bronze. I'm sad to see we aren't the best at basketball anymore, I hope some changes are made.

 

[styles_t]

dont even start with the "we not the best anymore"

clearly, the US didnt send their A Team to the games

imagine if we had Garnett, Kidd, Shaq, Kobe and good outside shooters like Ray Allen

now come on - do you really think U.S would have lost

 

[cbcbd]

garnett and shaq were some of the players that turned the opportunity down. They should just send the latest nba champ team and then add some people, they'd do much better than a mish mash of "stars"

 

[Lil Freek]

^^ precisely..
most countries have olympic teams that practice all the time and play at World games and other International games... they are good with eachother.. it's not a 1on1 game, so no sense in grabbing all the 'greats'

 

[Puckpimp71]

It's a let down that we didn't get all the big names on board and we all know that the USA really has the best players, but after spending 4-5 months a year on the road, I don't think I can blame Shaq for wanting to spend time with his family and Ferraris... We've still got a higher medal count than anyone else. I think basketball can slide this time around.

 

[RyanJayG]

not to mention the international game is quite different...

different rules, physicality, zone defence, more offensive fouls.... etc.

 

[aznativesilverp]

We are definatley the best in basketball. Shooters and defensive stoppers like Ron Artest and Ben Wallace would have been great. I agree you can't send a bunch of stars and expect them to gel. You have to have role players. there is no doubt that any player that is on the team now can score 20 but you have to have specific guys for specific jobs. Energy, defense, heart, hustle, Mid range and long range shooting, post presence, and a few guys that you absolutley can score at will i.e. garnett, shaq, Kobe, T mac, Bibby. I could go on and on. My point is just like a few other posts here the wrong team was there this time. Maybe this will help the US Basketball selectors realize that basketball is changing and international player are very good. Hell half of them play in our league. By the way if the US was in Pool A it would have been even worse they would have had Angola's record. I appreciate the sacrifce that some of the players on the current team has made but the have to show us some heart by at least coming back with a bronze. we will see tomorrow.

 

[osudewd]

Even though they didn't win gold, I am actually proud of our teams effort to win the bronze. Given the circumstances they were put in, I think they represented the US well. AI impressed me with his patriotism. I feel bad for Duncan that he really got screwed by the refs. He is an excellent defender and doesn't do stupid things to foul out of games.

 

[protegemp52000]

oh my God. I can't believe you have sympathy for these chumps. The reason that we lost is not because of rules, or these guys are "2nd string" all stars, but because these guys don't give enough of a s***. "I wasn't the first choice, screw them." That seems to be the attitude.

These guys evidently did not practice(together or as a team). You have too many egos bumping into each other on the court. Do you really think any of our pros aren't as good as any player on any other team? If those guys were so good, they'd be playing pro ball in the U.S.

You send Shaq, or Kobe, or anyone else over there, and they don't practice or care, they'll lose thier ass too. Maybe they should hand out checks with the gold medals at the next games, I guarrantee we'll bring home gold. (pow)