Official Olympic Basketball Thread
 

Yeah, we needed one of these "official" ones. I'm watching USA kick Serbia's ass right now. Good Times.

S&M would kill the US if Peja played

I dont think so, Germany had Dirk and it was a pretty close game

It would probably be the samething if they had Peja

lol, had no idea Dirk was from there.

........what?

Dirk is from Germany, I brought him becuase it would be like the samething if Peja played today

Serbia and Germany aren't a comparision. The FIBA ranked Serbia #1 without Peja who is by far the best player in the country.

what??

I said, I had no idea Dirk was from there

You had no idea Dirk was from Germany?

lol

yes. lol, I should of put the "I" in front of had I guess.

USA smoked them today though

USA only beat Germany by 3 points, I don't think with Peja it would have made a difference. It's like USA beat Serbia by 4 points or something.

I didn't watch today's game.

One player can really make a difference though, like next year if Kobe misses a game and the Lakers lose by 15 Kobe clearly could've been the difference in the game just because he is the center of the team/ballhog.

Nah I just got confused because when you said "there" I thought you ment Serbia

lol, I was watching ESPN this morning and they said had this video package on how they should give a call to all those "Streetball" guys and make them go to the Olympics. It was pretty funny. How many traveling calls you think those guys would get?

What they should do is send the Pistons since they're the best team and they have been playing together all year and have the best chemistry

That's what I said in Wadding's thread :y:

We either should have sent:
C Shaq
C Dampier
P Duncan
P Garnett
F Marion
F Malone
W LeBron
W Vince
W Kobe
G Allen
PG Kidd
PG Bibby

(or something of the nature)

or else

Okafor, LeBron, Amare, Carmelo, Jameer, Gordon, Wade, Ford, Childress, guy from Arizona, Deng (if he is american)

or something like that

Wow, what a fuckin joke. Can someone make a god dam jumper please. Terrible.

<font size="2" color="#2d5980" face="trebuchet ms">LOL this is rediculous, waaay too many ballhogs on the US</font>

There not even hitting the fuckin rim at times. WTF?

Wow ridiculous

Its just not a good team, there is no shooters. Too many slashers/cutters and guys who play inside. All their guards are guys who drive and dish. Basically the entire team is guys who drive to the hole except for a few of the "big men."

Its too bad all the best players turned down invites, pretty retarded. I don't get why they wouldn't want to come, injury excuse is bullshit since they play basketball everyday anyways. Don't want to give up there summers? Give me a break, you play basketball for a living.

<font size="2" color="#2d5980" face="trebuchet ms">If the starting 5 was Wallace, Wallace, Hamilton, Billups, and Prince these games wouldn't even be close</font>

Duncan is the only one doing good. The US can't play half court basketball. Most of their points come on transition. And forget about 3 point shooting. My god.

Coming back, but they can't buy a 3 if there life depended on it.

That would never happen though, The Pistons probably wouldn't want to have to play an entire full year of basketball or something

Even though I am sure the play everyday anyways :-\

<font color=goldenrod>:rofl: @ US jobbing to Puerto Rico</font>

I was reading an article (I forget by whom) that put this pretty succinctly.

He said something to the effect of "The reason USA Basketball has struggled is that the teams have recently been made up entirely of slashers. The Pistons proved in the NBA Finals this year that a good zone defense will take away even the best players' cutting ability."

This is absolutely true. Add to that the fact that the international teams play together far more frequently than any USA Basketball team, and you have the reason why USA struggles so badly.

I have been rooting against the US in basketball this whole time. All we are is just a shitty street ball team, everything is based around the sexy passing and lay up/dunks. Why would they ever put Stephon Marbury on this team, and why would they play him? They need a real point guard, I don't care if Marbury scores more, they need a guy who can set up the game. They don't even have a center. It's a good thing KG showed that he can do some winning in the playoffs last year or else he probably would have been sucked into this team of guys who can't win.

^ On that note, who would all of you put on the team?

I'll post mine after a bit of research.

I posted something up there ^^^, but I think i'll make a few changes:

C Shaq
C Dampier
P Duncan
P Garnett
F Artest
F Malone
W LeBron
W Vince
W Kobe
G Allen
PG Kidd
PG Bibby

Starting: Kidd, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, Shaq with Artest first off the bench.

I think Cassell would be a good point guard to have on this team because he doesn't demand a lot of attention and is a good shooter, whatever though. Also, I kind of made that up off my head, so I easilly could have missed someone blatant.

Here's my team (reserves in parentheses):

Point Guard - Jason Kidd (Baron Davis and Sam Cassell)
Shooting Guard - Kobe Bryant (Tracy McGrady and Ray Allen)
Small Forward - Kevin Garnett (Shawn Marion)
Power Forward - Tim Duncan (Jermaine O'Neal)
Center - Shaquille O'Neal (Ben Wallace)

Marbury isn't a true point guard? He is always tops every year in the league in assists. Kidd is about the only upgrade over Marbury. Cassell? He basically the same player as Marbury, maybe shoots a little better, but overall isn't as good.

Team USAs problem is the shooters, they can't hit a jump shot for some reason. It's ridiculous, all these guys do is play basketball. How can they not hit open jump shots?

Because nobody shoots jump shots anymore. The entire NBA is made up of guys who either throw up three-pointers, park outside the lane waiting for a pass, or try to create their own shots by driving.

The art of the pull-up shooter is alive and well internationally, but nobody in the States plays that way anymore.

Marbury is the typical street baller, he plays for himself, and that is why he will never win in the NBA.

LOL what

Loopydate, I think I like your lineup more than mine, I forgot about Ben Wallace. The only thing is I would put Artest in there instead of either Marion or T-Mac.

LOL USA lost? damn I missed it.From time to time I hear these stupid reporters call it a new 'Dream Team' fuckin idiots , this team is light years from the '92 squad.

I'm glad they lost, but i'm sure they could care less since they make a lot more than anyone anywhere else.

Which is why he's always ranked highly in assist in spite of usually not having a solid shooting team behind him right?

He's sure doing a stand up job manning the point over in Athens.

Yeah, I saw your team after I posted mine and was thinking "I should have put Artest on there instead of Marion."

The reason I put Marion on there in the first place is that he's a decent shooter, but having Artest's defense (especially pairing him with Wallace in the front court) would be more beneficial.