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did you happen to watch marion play in the last olympics? he was absolutely horrific.

he looks a hell of a lot better than he really for two reasons... he plays with steve nash and the nba suits his style of play. in international play... i.e. basketball that gives more of an advantage to skill as opposed to athleticism :shocked: (oh what a wacky concept), he looked terrible.
 
usa olympic team training camp invites

Carmelo Anthony, Denver
Gilbert Arenas, Washington
Shane Battier, Memphis
Chauncey Billups, Detroit
Chris Bosh, Toronto
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio
Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
Dwight Howard, Orlando
Josh Howard, Dallas
LeBron James, Cleveland
Antawn Jamison, Washington
Joe Johnson, Atlanta
Rashard Lewis, Seattle
Shawn Marion, Phoenix
Brad Miller, Sacramento
Chris Paul, NO/Okla. City
Paul Pierce, Boston
Michael Redd, Milwaukee
Luke Ridnour, Seattle
Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
Dwyane Wade, Miami

jj redick, adam morrison & greg oden are also expected to be added to the tryout, and shaq has an open invitation to join the team if he so chooses.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
usa olympic team training camp invites

Carmelo Anthony, Denver
Gilbert Arenas, Washington
Shane Battier, Memphis
Chauncey Billups, Detroit
Chris Bosh, Toronto
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio
Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
Dwight Howard, Orlando
Josh Howard, Dallas
LeBron James, Cleveland
Antawn Jamison, Washington
Joe Johnson, Atlanta
Rashard Lewis, Seattle
Shawn Marion, Phoenix
Brad Miller, Sacramento
Chris Paul, NO/Okla. City
Paul Pierce, Boston
Michael Redd, Milwaukee
Luke Ridnour, Seattle
Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
Dwyane Wade, Miami

jj redick, adam morrison & greg oden are also expected to be added to the tryout, and shaq has an open invitation to join the team if he so chooses.

Two things:

1.The starting lineup should be Miller/Amare/LeBron/Kobe/Billups

2.I know that Duncan said no and that Iverson wasn't invited, but what about KG? Was he invited? And if so, did he say no?
 
namkcuR said:


Two things:

1.The starting lineup should be Miller/Amare/LeBron/Kobe/Billups

2.I know that Duncan said no and that Iverson wasn't invited, but what about KG? Was he invited? And if so, did he say no?

Im pretty sure Kg wasn't interested in the olympic team.

It would be a pity if Nash didnt play for Canada in the olympics and qualifying tournaments.
 
garnett said no.

i want to know why heinrich wasn't invited.

from that list, i'd go with billups, redick, redd, brand, miller.

i wouldn't start amare because of his knee issues... i think ridnour's a better passer than billups but he couldn't guard a statue, so billups gets the nod at the point. jj redick is obviously not yet the caliber of player as the players i started him over... but with the closer 3 point line and lebron on the court, all you need is for him and redd to just chill on the peremeter and knock down open jumpers.

if we put a team that will play as a cohesive unit, we should blow everyone out on the way to the gold. if we put too many me first/shot first guys on the court, it could be an embarassment once again.

kobe would never be on my team.
 
I get the whole cohesive unit thing, but we put a literal dream team on the floor in 92 and it worked to perfection, instead of being an embarassment like 04.

I have NO problem with the three-year(is it three?) commitment thing, it's a good idea and will only improve the team, but I am not of the camp that thinks starting an olympic team of

Shaq
Duncan
KG
Kobe
Kidd

with Iverson, TMac, Brand, LeBron, Wade, Marion, B.Miller, whatever

would be a recipe for disaster. People see what happened in 04 and think that you can't take an all-star team to the olympics anymore. But it had NOTHING to do with too many all-stars being on the team and EVERYTHING to do with too many olympic-calibre players declining to come, and with somebody putting Larry Brown in charge. If ever there was a coach who should not be coaching an all-star or olympic team, it is Larry Brown. You don't need to teach an olympic team 'the right way'. Players on an olympic team already know what the right way is. An olympic team coach's job is to build team chemistry. There weren't any role-players on the 92 team. There are two differences between the 92 team and the 04 team:

1.Everybody said 'yes' in 92, hardly anybody said 'yes in 04.

2.There was ZERO team chemistry in 04, there was PERFECT team chemistry in 92. Chuck Daly wasn't trying to suck all the fun out of it and make the olympics into a 'how to play basketball' class.

And by the way, we won the gold in 96 and 00 as well. We weren't embarassed then.

I hold Larry Brown, and the lack of olympic-calibre players saying 'yes', responsible for what happened in 04. That's all it is, to me.

And in case it isn't obvious yet - I can't stand Larry Brown.
 
I don't want Kobe on that team either, and I'd love to see Dwight Howard make it, he gets better every game I see him and will probably make The Leap by the time of the games anyways
 
namkcuR said:
I get the whole cohesive unit thing, but we put a literal dream team on the floor in 92 and it worked to perfection, instead of being an embarassment like 04.

I have NO problem with the three-year(is it three?) commitment thing, it's a good idea and will only improve the team, but I am not of the camp that thinks starting an olympic team of

Shaq
Duncan
KG
Kobe
Kidd

with Iverson, TMac, Brand, LeBron, Wade, Marion, B.Miller, whatever

would be a recipe for disaster. People see what happened in 04 and think that you can't take an all-star team to the olympics anymore. But it had NOTHING to do with too many all-stars being on the team and EVERYTHING to do with too many olympic-calibre players declining to come, and with somebody putting Larry Brown in charge. If ever there was a coach who should not be coaching an all-star or olympic team, it is Larry Brown. You don't need to teach an olympic team 'the right way'. Players on an olympic team already know what the right way is. An olympic team coach's job is to build team chemistry. There weren't any role-players on the 92 team. There are two differences between the 92 team and the 04 team:

1.Everybody said 'yes' in 92, hardly anybody said 'yes in 04.

2.There was ZERO team chemistry in 04, there was PERFECT team chemistry in 92. Chuck Daly wasn't trying to suck all the fun out of it and make the olympics into a 'how to play basketball' class.

And by the way, we won the gold in 96 and 00 as well. We weren't embarassed then.

I hold Larry Brown, and the lack of olympic-calibre players saying 'yes', responsible for what happened in 04. That's all it is, to me.

And in case it isn't obvious yet - I can't stand Larry Brown.

With the rising of popularity of basketball recently the other teams are getting so much better. We should also take that into account when looking back at the 04 games.
 
namkcuR said:
I get the whole cohesive unit thing, but we put a literal dream team on the floor in 92 and it worked to perfection, instead of being an embarassment like 04.

which goes to show you the difference between the players today and the players just 10-12 years ago. those players on the '92 team were some of the greatest players to ever play the game, and htey got along just fine... whereas the 2004 team couldn't do anything right and just looked like a complete mess.


I hold Larry Brown, and the lack of olympic-calibre players saying 'yes', responsible for what happened in 04. That's all it is, to me.

And in case it isn't obvious yet - I can't stand Larry Brown.

you could put any one of us in charge of the US olympic team, and they should win the gold, and win it easily. in 2004, NBA all stars... MVP winners... lost to guys who couldn't even make the knicks. it was pathetic.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:


which goes to show you the difference between the players today and the players just 10-12 years ago. those players on the '92 team were some of the greatest players to ever play the game, and htey got along just fine... whereas the 2004 team couldn't do anything right and just looked like a complete mess.



you could put any one of us in charge of the US olympic team, and they should win the gold, and win it easily. in 2004, NBA all stars... MVP winners... lost to guys who couldn't even make the knicks. it was pathetic.

But was possible that they couldnt make the knicks but they played much smarter and better coached basketball. They also shot the ball a hell of alot better than the americans.
 
thetitans2k said:


But was possible that they couldnt make the knicks but they played much smarter and better coached basketball. They also shot the ball a hell of alot better than the americans.


helloooooooooooooooooooooooooo... that's my entire point.

being able to shoot, actually having knowledge of the game and coachability are not neccesary in today's NBA. as long as you have athleticism, it's allllll good.

thus why we lose to the puerto ricans.
 
The 1992 team had no strong opponents except Croatia and they had difficulties to beat them, an united Yugoslavia could have been really really hard to beat.

The 2000 "team" was lucky too, the last Lituanian free-throws shooter shitted his shorts :yes:

2004 was a joke, no team, no shooters.

Only O'Neal and Kobe are exceptionnal players, the rest of the list is average, nothing impressive. The time when Europeans were afraid is over.
 
if you took the best players from every single other team in the olympics that year and made an all star team out of them, gave them months of practice time, and then put them against the 1992 united states olympic team... the united states would stil win... by a lot.

that was perhaps the greatest athletic team ever assembled.

had difficulties beating croatia? they played croatia twice... winning by 33 the first time, 32 the second time. i'd love to have those kind of "difficulties." they beat germany by 43. they beat bronze medalist lithuania by 53 points.

i'll be the first person to admit and talk about the short comings of basketball in america today. i catch a lot of heat for claiming that teams like the detroit pistons and/or the uconn huskies on the college level are bad for american basketbal because they win based on a high level of athleticism, not a high level of skill. but let's get serious here... there was never a team like the 92 men's olympic basketball team, and there never will be again.

and a unified yugoslavian team wouldn't have stood a chance against them.
 
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I ordered a DVD set of all 14 games played by the 1992 Dream Team off of EBay.

It's the six games they played en route to winning the Tournement Of The Americas(a warmup of sorts en route to the Olympics that year, I guess), and the eight games played during the 92 Barcelona olympics themselves.

I can't wait until it arrives. I ordered it Sunday, so maybe tomorrow(Wednesday) it'll arrive.

All fourteen games played by the Dream Team, on DVD. I rule.
 
guill said:
The 1992 team had no strong opponents except Croatia and they had difficulties to beat them, an united Yugoslavia could have been really really hard to beat.

Dang. Don't ya just hate it when facts totally destroy a good opinion?

1992 Barcelona Olympics
Game #1- USA Dream Team VS Angola (116-48)
Game #2- USA Dream Team VS Croatia (103-70)
Game #3- USA Dream Team VS Germany (111-68)
Game #4- USA Dream Team VS Brazil (127-83)
Game #5- USA Dream Team VS Spain (122-81)
Game #6- USA Dream Team VS Puerto Rico (115-77)
Game #7- USA Dream Team VS Lithuania (127-76)
Game #8- USA Dream Team VS Croatia (117-85)
 
Celtics, with Paul Pierce hitting 4 buzzer beaters and Ryan Gomes averaging 25 points and 14 rebounds (If Doc plays this kid all year he might have a shot at ROTY)
 
I'm just comfortably sitting in my belief that good teams can't tank it for the first 2/3 of the season and do well in the playoffs. The basketball gods wouldn't allow it.

Oh wait, that's what we have done the last two seasons.

Crap.
 
Hewson said:
Ryan Gomes averaging 25 points and 14 rebounds (If Doc plays this kid all year he might have a shot at ROTY)


The way he's been playing shows that 4 years of college might not be a bad idea afterall.
 
stammer476 said:
I'm just comfortably sitting in my belief that good teams can't tank it for the first 2/3 of the season and do well in the playoffs. The basketball gods wouldn't allow it.

Oh wait, that's what we have done the last two seasons.

Crap.

well... i'm not so sure if the heat have been a complete tank job. they had so many new parts, including a new coach, that it was going to take a while for everyone to get used to playing with each other.

shaq, on the other hand, has been on pure coast mode all season. frankly i think shaq coasting through the regular season is the only chance they have to win the NBA title. the heat obviously assume, and i would have to agree, that if Shaq was Shaq last spring, Miami would have had a much easier time getting through the eastern conference last year. so by letting him coast through much of the regular season, they're hoping to have a healthy shaq come May. and a healthy shaq has always dismantled ben wallace. :shrug: it'll be interesting to see if it works.
 
From a strategic standpoint, it's brilliant to have Shaq coast for the first 2/3 of the season. If you're in a crappy division and you know you won't be challenged for the #2 spot, it makes total sense.

I just hope that for the sake of basketball he doesn't get rewarded for it. The regular seaso is already boring enough. We don't need people following his example.

And dang it if I'm gonna be in China before the Conference Finals. I guess we'll see how global the NBA really is.
 
stammer476 said:

And dang it if I'm gonna be in China before the Conference Finals. I guess we'll see how global the NBA really is.
If the Rockets were playing, you'd see it in China, the Pissed-ons, I doubt it.
 
Hewson said:
If the Rockets were playing, you'd see it in China, the Pissed-ons, I doubt it.

That's exactly what I'm afraid of. It'll be like last year when I didn't have cable and missed the first two rounds. Freakin' TNT.
 
Hey Headache, enjoying the latest in the Marbury/LB fued? :wink: It's worse right now than it's ever been.

The Knicks are a disaster.
 
stammer476 said:


Dang. Don't ya just hate it when facts totally destroy a good opinion?

1992 Barcelona Olympics
Game #1- USA Dream Team VS Angola (116-48)
Game #2- USA Dream Team VS Croatia (103-70)
Game #3- USA Dream Team VS Germany (111-68)
Game #4- USA Dream Team VS Brazil (127-83)
Game #5- USA Dream Team VS Spain (122-81)
Game #6- USA Dream Team VS Puerto Rico (115-77)
Game #7- USA Dream Team VS Lithuania (127-76)
Game #8- USA Dream Team VS Croatia (117-85)

Oh yes absolutely, i'm sorry, i was wrong.
I rewatched the final this week for the first time, i had a completely different memory of it, i didn't realize that Americans didn't want to kill the show too early.
Sorry, shame on me.
:reject:
 
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