when you've only lost twice in the history of the olympics, and then lose three times in athens... yea... it's a bit of a crisis situation for american basketball. and without surprise, there are already those... including a columnist on espn.com... who have played the race card, saying that we hate this olympic basketball team because they're all black with tattoos and corn-rows. that, of course, is assinine to say... but people are saying it.
these olympic games brings out the problems that many of us in american basketball have been saying for years now, but have been put off as being "old fashioned" and that we need to "get with the times."
american players today are disrespectful to coaches, teammates, opponents, and most off, to the game it's self. most of the kids on the team i'm on actually believe that someone like tracy mcgrady is BETTER than larry bird... LARRY F'ING BIRD!!! we live in a time in american basketball where players like kobe bryant, paul pierce, steve francis and allen iverson are celebrated for being blatant ball hogs with no respect for their teammates. a time where a player who takes 30 shots to score 30 points is considered an all star. shit... if michael jordan took 30 shots, he was dropping AT LEAST 50... now, kobe takes 30 shots, scores 32 points, and people think he's the second comming. please! and try to make that argument to people, and you're said to be stupid... old fashioned... or even worse... racist. it sickens me....
i have a dream that basketball players will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their ability to knock down a mid-range jump shot... by their ability to hit the open man when he's open... by their overall ability and understanding of basic fundamentals rather than pure athletic ability and "upside."
That is my dream.
I hate this team... they wore our colors, so i still rooted for them, but i despise them. With the exception of Tim Duncan and Lebron James, they represent everything that's wrong with American Basketball. Over the summer a camp was held in Chicago that featured 20 of the best high school recruits in the nation. Probably 5 of them will end up going to the NBA draft next year, with the rest heading off to the ACC, Big Ten, etc. etc. When drilled on basic fundamentals, many of these players... the top recruits in the nation, mind you... struggled. But ask them to dunk the ball, and by golly it looks like a scene out of those old 'Nique-Jordan battles in the late 80s.
Too many players today... white and black... can cross you over, dunk on you and slap glass... and they stink. Why is there such a lack of talented centers in the league today? Because in this instant gratification, AAU over high school, skip college and go right to the pro's world we're living in now, if you're 7 feet tall and can dunk on people, that's all you need to do. No one ever teaches you the finer points of the game, like they taught a Ewing or an Olajuwon. The NBA is FILLED right now with 7 footers who get the ball in the post and then have absolutely no idea what to do with it besides try and dunk it. Amere Stoudamire? Emeke Okafor?
Shawn Marion, Dwayne Wade, and yes, Carmello Anthony have been exposed in this tournament. If they can't use their one-on-one skills, they're practicly useless. Allen Iverson? Maybe if he went to practice a little more often he'd be able to knock down a jump shot now and then.
Even the fanciest of houses needs a good foundation, other wise it will eventually just fall to the ground. That is why the Europeans are slowly "catching up" to us. It's not a white black thing, because frankly I don't see too many white Americans dominating basketball these days. It's European vs. American. The Europeans have continued to develop the basic core fundamentals of the game, while Americans are concerned only with "Iverson cross overs" and 360 dunks. Go to any camp in America with young kids... 5th, 6th, 7th graders. Are they concerned with wether or not you can knock down a mid-range jumper with any consistancy? Do they care if you know the proper way to cut through the gaps of various zones? No and no... all they want to know is one thing. Can you dunk?
it's rediculous... players like rasheed wallace and vince carter actually drove the great dean smith into retirement. he didn't want to deal with the modern player anymore. michael jordan... the greatest to ever play the game... could sacrafice his own scoring for the benefit of the team and to win a championship at carolina... but these two couldn't. and now, no one can.
we're at a critical stage in american basketball... a make or break point where we could go either way. we could return to the dominance of the early 90s olympic teams, or we could continue to get worse, losing to far inferior teams simply because we can't shoot and they can.
and yes... i call them inferior. a team like lithuania is far inferior in talent to the united states... just like the detroit pistons were inferior in talent to the lakers. but the pistons knew how to play as a team, and the lakers... err... kobe... did not. lithuania shattered the olympic record for three pointers made yesterday, and still lost by 10 points. if the americans had a few shooters on the team and a few guys who actually got a hand in somebody's face on D, they would have won yesterday by 30.
we're still right there... still capable of being dominant. the world hasn't caught up... yet. you don't go from beating teams by an average of 45 points per game to an even field in just 12 years. so they haven't caught up, we've just fallen back. but if we don't pick our selfs up now, rest assured... in a few years the world WILL catch up, and eventually pass us. only time will tell.
how do we fix this? get rid of AAU? maybe... put an age limit on the nba? maybe... jail every member of the "And-1 Mixtape World Tour" as enemy combatants? maybe... but quite simply, we need to stress fundamentals and teamwork at the core level... middle school and younger. put the emphasis back on high school and prep level play rather than on AAU and showcase camps. reward players who reward their teammates. make passing and shooting "cool" again. then, maybe, we'll go back to beating people by 45 again.
