# USA has best team since original Dream Team



## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

The last 2 teams were a joke compared to this team.

Kobe, Lebron, JKidd, Howard, Amare...That is the dream 5 right there. 

This team makes teams with Marbury and Iverson look pathetic. 

With that being said, USA will not lose once with this team. This is the real dream team.


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## Mateo (Sep 23, 2006)

Nah, best team since 2000 though. Definitely not better than Dream Team or 96, and probably not as good as 2000 either.


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

Actually the 2003 team is better than this present one. Much better


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

compsciguy78 said:


> The last 2 teams were a joke compared to this team.
> 
> Kobe, Lebron, JKidd, Howard, Amare...That is the dream 5 right there.
> 
> ...


 Don't most teams with Marbury or Iverson look pathetic?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

They lack the dominant center to be considered the best. Amare is more a PF and Howard the only true C. Both are very good but there is no prime Duncan, Shaq, D. Rob/Ewing, etc on this team


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> there is no prime Duncan, Shaq, D. Rob/Ewing, etc on this team


those guys would get torched on the perimeter by today's European bigs


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## rainman (Jul 15, 2002)

Seems to be much better coached but i dont view a team better without Tim Duncan than one with. The competition for this qualifying round is, to put it mildly, atrocius.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

TM said:


> those guys would get torched on the perimeter by today's European bigs


 Who would actually do the torching here? Duncan was still the best player the last Olympics despite the US's dissappointing finish and you're talking about two of the best defenders ever in Robinson and Ewing who are both extremely athletic. I fail to see how they would fair poorly against guys like Gasol, Darko, and even Dirk the cream of the foriegn big man. Even Dirk has a problem getting a shot over guys like Matt Barnes I can't imagine how he would suddeenly start torching Robinson who had the agility at times to stick with guards on the perimeter. In fact a big problem over the last two world tournament has been the lack of quality size where except for Duncan we've had to rely on player who are awfully young and raw (Howard), short (Brand, SF's like Marion/Odom playing PF), or thin (Bosh) - other bigs were able to make up some athleticism because they were simply bigger


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

If Duncan had any interest in playing he'd have no difficulty playing on the perimeter.He's never going to be seen on the same court as a FIBA referee again and I can't blame him after the way they officiated him in Athens.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> In fact a big problem over the last two world tournament has been the lack of quality size where except for Duncan we've had to rely on player who are awfully young and raw (Howard), short (Brand, SF's like Marion/Odom playing PF), or thin (Bosh) - other bigs were able to make up some athleticism because they were simply bigger


Bull. Stop making excuses for them. None of those are the true problems. The bottom line is that the guys that have played on the past few US teams are poorly disciplined definisive players.

And I'll give you Duncan and Robinson, but please don't tell me some of the other US guys on these past Olympic teams like Shaq and Ewing could play anyone outside of 12'.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

TM said:


> Bull. Stop making excuses for them. None of those are the true problems. The bottom line is that the guys that have played on the past few US teams are poorly disciplined definisive players.
> 
> And I'll give you Duncan and Robinson, but please don't tell me some of the other US guys on these past Olympic teams like Shaq and Ewing could play anyone outside of 12'.


 The only bull is coming out your posts. I didn't say anywhere it was the main reason or even close to the only reason the US lost but IMO it was a definite factor. Teams were just as big or bigger then the US compared to other years when the size difference in favor of the US was huge.

And you still haven't noted any big man (other then Dirk who I mentioned) who would suddenly start to burn team US centers. And it's not like we don't have historical evidence Shaq and Ewing did perfectly fine in world tournaments and the zone is completely legal in international play. They wouldn't need to play 12 feet into the perimeter as they are pefectly fine team defenders which centers main job is anyway. Amazing that people somehow think centers suddenly become dominant perimeter players in international play. Scola and Oberto weren't jacking up 3's for Argentina in there runs. Freakin slow as molasses Marc Gasol played for the title winning team last year. Sabonis did a whole lot of damage for years in international play and the dude was huge - not some guy who was going to guard Dirk out to the 3 point line. Divac while a good jumpshooter out to 15 feet didn't live on the perimeter and I didn't hear much complaint from the yugoslavs that other big men were torching him on the outside with his only ok footspeed.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

> The only bull is coming out your posts.


:laugh:

I already replied to the rest of your first paragraph. It has nothing to do with size. It has to do with the US players, specifically the US big men, not understanding how to defend things on the perimeter. Is that not an accurate statement? And if you think it's not, then note how the US got beat by Greece's pick and pops and other perimeter picks. Half the time, the US would semi-switch then get burnt either by a little guard speeding past a slow-footed US big man or by another mismatch that resulted from the screen. Are those not accurate statements? And what's "amazing" is that people think that big men [/i]only[/i] get stuck guarding big men all the time.



> *In fact a big problem over the last two world tournament has been the lack of quality size where except for Duncan we've had to rely on player who are awfully young and raw (Howard), short (Brand, SF's like Marion/Odom playing PF), or thin (Bosh) - other bigs were able to make up some athleticism because they were simply bigger*


Again (Since obviously you missed what _you_ posted). Bull. You're attributing their lack of ability to defend big men to being short, young, slow.... I'm attributing it to the fact that they have no clue defensively and/or being slow footed away from the basket.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

TM said:


> Again (Since obviously you missed what _you_ posted). Bull. You're attributing their lack of ability to defend big men to being short, young, slow.... I'm attributing it to the fact that they have no clue defensively and/or being slow footed away from the basket.


I don't understand. Howard, Brand, and Marion are all noted for their superior defensive instincts. Bosh is also a pretty good defender.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

Brandname said:


> I don't understand. Howard, Brand, and Marion are all noted for their superior defensive instincts. Bosh is also a pretty good defender.


so what happened against Greece?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

TM said:


> :laugh:
> 
> I already replied to the rest of your first paragraph. It has nothing to do with size. It has to do with the US players, specifically the US big men, not understanding how to defend things on the perimeter. Is that not an accurate statement? And if you think it's not, then note how the US got beat by Greece's pick and pops and other perimeter picks. Half the time, the US would semi-switch then get burnt either by a little guard speeding past a slow-footed US big man or by another mismatch that resulted from the screen. Are those not accurate statements? And what's "amazing" is that people think that big men [/i]only[/i] get stuck guarding big men all the time.


Umm the only true center we had when we lost to the greek was Howard who had a huge impact on the game defensively. I don't think there is anyone who didn't notice it until the brilliant Coach K decided to underplay him for the whole tournament. Howard only played 13 minutes in the Greek game. Brand had 12 minutes and Bosh had 5. So it's suddenly the US big men's fault we lost? A huge problem was the US didn't realize international refs allow moving screens 90% of the time and that also allow handchecking a lot more which our guards didn't do enough of

And this is from you're previous post. Talk about bull now moving to rotating big men.


> those guys would get torched on the perimeter by *today's European bigs*


 Bull is you can't even name a European big who is going to do the torching



> Again (Since obviously you missed what _you_ posted). Bull. You're attributing their lack of ability to defend big men to being short, young, slow.... I'm attributing it to the fact that they have no clue defensively and/or being slow footed away from the basket.


Umm you really have no clue what you're talking about: this is my post which you chose to reply too:
there is no prime _Duncan, Shaq, D. Rob/Ewing_, etc on this team

No one in there right mind would say Duncan, D.Rob, or Ewing have no clue defensively. Even Shaq was never considered a bad defender. All 4 are more notable defenders then anyone on the US big men last time around. Unless you think Brand and Bosh are somehow HOF level defenders:lol:. And by the way size also had to do a lot more then defense: US was only 4th in rebounding, only 9th in defensive rebounding


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

One topic at a time here because my main point is being overlooked. I'm obviously also misunderstanding what you're talking about. In all seriousness - my apologies.

- Duncan, Robinson, Shaq, Ewing = all great inside defenders. All know how to defend, but would Ewing and do well defending pick and rolls? My point in this statement...



> those guys would get torched on the perimeter by today's European bigs


...is that they have to respect some of these guy's (Dirk, Yi, Splitter) shots. They're also leaving their inside positions to defend screen and rolls. On several occassions, those big men get stuck guarding guards. I can't see Ewing, Shaq, and even Duncan having much success against those guards.

- Size does matter. I understand that, but that's not why the US has lost recently, specifically against Greece. That's was my main point. I don't know what the rebounding stats are for. That's not what we're talking about in this thread.



> Umm you really have no clue what you're talking about:


There's really no need for that.



> I don't think there is anyone who didn't notice it until the brilliant Coach K decided to underplay him for the whole tournament.


I don't know if that was a half crack statement, but... Coach K made several poor coaching decisions in that game, however I don't believe Howard would have had a much better clue of defending a screen and roll than say Brand or Bosh.



> Unless you think Brand and Bosh are somehow HOF level defenders


I don't really know where this came from or even what it means. I didn't say anything about those two, but ok.

My main point: I just don't see Ewing and Shaq (maybe Duncan and Robinson could) defending big men with speed and a shot or guards (off pick and pops, pick and rolls)


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## Kuskid (Aug 18, 2004)

compsciguy78 said:


> The last 2 teams were a joke compared to this team.
> 
> Kobe, Lebron, JKidd, Howard, Amare...That is the dream 5 right there.
> 
> ...


You may want to rethink 1 spot on your dream 5.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

TM said:


> so what happened against Greece?


They were hitting *everything *from the outside, and our bigs had to overplay on the pick and roll. It was mostly a function of unbelievably hot shooting.


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## Yoyo (Oct 16, 2005)

compsciguy78 said:


> The last 2 teams were a joke compared to this team.
> 
> Kobe, Lebron, JKidd, Howard, Amare...That is the dream 5 right there.
> 
> ...


What happened to Melo?


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## Kuskid (Aug 18, 2004)

Yoyo said:


> What happened to Melo?


USA needs Dwight out there to stretch the defense I guess.  You basically gotta pick one, Dwight or Amare, and stick Melo at the .


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

TM said:


> One topic at a time here because my main point is being overlooked. I'm obviously also misunderstanding what you're talking about. In all seriousness - my apologies.
> 
> - Duncan, Robinson, Shaq, Ewing = all great inside defenders. All know how to defend, but would Ewing and do well defending pick and rolls? My point in this statement...


My point back to you is in international play allows true zones and no defensive 3 second rules so centers can just be great interior help defenders. (Even w/o a zone slow guys like Ilgauskas on the Cavs does reasonably well against pick and rolls even in straight man to man because he's been trained to dive back down into the lane as long as he makes a good hard show on the pick to allow recovery: the Cavs guard the pick and roll very well for a team with a slow center) When talking about Coach K's error was that he didn't switch the defense up as centers can stay inside even if the opposing big men go outisde. This why bringing up a guy like Sabonis is important. He had even before all the injuries no significantly greater lateral movement in his prime then say a prime Ewing or Shaq and was able to have an absolutely terrific international career (maybe the best ever)



> ...is that they have to respect some of these guy's (Dirk, Yi, Splitter) shots. They're also leaving their inside positions to defend screen and rolls. On several occassions, those big men get stuck guarding guards. I can't see Ewing, Shaq, and even Duncan having much success against those guards.


Duncan has had plenty of success with Dirk in the past and come now Splitter and Yi? We just saw Splitter and while I certainly like his ability it wasn't like he was torching anybody. It's not like the NBA doesn't play a lot of pick and roll (see Utah): its just in international play the moving screens are pretty much allowed



> - Size does matter. I understand that, but that's not why the US has lost recently, specifically against Greece. That's was my main point. I don't know what the rebounding stats are for. That's not what we're talking about in this thread.


Because this was a problem I noted in the Olympics before the World Champions and as well as the 02 world championship (Duncan was the only true "center" we had unless we want to be reaaalll generous and consider guys like Ben Wallace, JO, etc as centers). It goes back to my main point that compared to past Olympic teams which trotted out 2 or even 3 true HOF centers we haven't seen that since. 



> There's really no need for that.


Sorry



> I don't know if that was a half crack statement, but... Coach K made several poor coaching decisions in that game, however I don't believe Howard would have had a much better clue of defending a screen and roll than say Brand or Bosh.


Switching the defense to a zone with Howard in the middle to protect against penetration was what was going through my mind.



> I don't really know where this came from or even what it means. I didn't say anything about those two, but ok.


Come on now. There were only 3 true big men in the Olympics - Bosh, Brand, and Howard and they totaled less then a whole game in minutes! You're the one who stated our big men had slow feet and made bad decisions in the Greece game - we really didn't play our bigs



> My main point: I just don't see Ewing and Shaq (maybe Duncan and Robinson could) defending big men with speed and a shot or guards (off pick and pops, pick and rolls)


I find the big men with speed a very weak argument as I've already stated (Yi, Splitter, hell throw in Pau and barganani) is not going to prevent a guy like Ewing and Shaq have a big positive impact. If the example of Sabonis isn't enough, we have precedence for this as well as Howard has certainly looked fine this year and last year even though his offensive skills are meager compared to the guys I mentioned and I wouldn't classify him as better on defense other then maybe Shaq. There really is not precedence to suggest a great center with the athletic ability of past US greats would somehow struggle. The international game does no favor for big men with the wider lane on offense mostly not on defense. In fact US centers have done very well in terms of scoring Robinson was the lead scorer in 88 and 96. Ewing third in 84 (behind Jordan, Mullin), Mourning third in 00. On defense, I can't think of a game where an opposing big man (outside of close calls with Dirk) caused a loss to the US. Look back at the Greek Game and it was there guard who killed us from the perimter. They even had a fat slow big in Sofoklis get 14 points against us and he definitely was killing us on the perimeter!


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

All right. Then my next question to you is (in all seriousness with no sarcasm inteded) - why doesn't the US play zone? Actually, I think this team has a clue so I don't see as great a need to play zone (especially against this tournament's competition), but why didn't the teams in the past two FIBA tournaments play zone? And also, why did the US coaches allow for our big men to go out there on the perimeter and get matched up against the fast guards? I completely agree with you about the guards killing us. I didn't mean to make it sound like the opposing team's big men were the reason for our loses, but matchups, specifically our (US's) big men vs. ______ has caused major problems for our teams.



> You're the one who stated our big men had slow feet and made bad decisions in the Greece game - we really didn't play our bigs


My fault. That wasn't what I intended to state (I actually don't think I did). I inteded to say that their bad decisions hurt us against Greece. We didn't have slow-footted players on last year's team. Ewing's and Shaq's (or a player similar to those two) slow feet would kill us if we played a team like that again.

One last thing...



> I find the big men with speed a very weak argument


I still don't understand that. I still don't see Shaq and Ewing keeping any top level international guards anywhere in front of them on the perimeter.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

Brandname said:


> They were hitting *everything *from the outside, and our bigs had to overplay on the pick and roll. It was mostly a function of unbelievably hot shooting.


8-18 from 3 pt range. You'll have to find a new argument.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

TM said:


> All right. Then my next question to you is (in all seriousness with no sarcasm inteded) - why doesn't the US play zone? Actually, I think this team has a clue so I don't see as great a need to play zone (especially against this tournament's competition), but why didn't the teams in the past two FIBA tournaments play zone? And also, why did the US coaches allow for our big men to go out there on the perimeter and get matched up against the fast guards? I completely agree with you about the guards killing us. I didn't mean to make it sound like the opposing team's big men were the reason for our loses, but matchups, specifically our (US's) big men vs. ______ has caused major problems for our teams.


This has a whole lot of nothing to do with guys like Shaq and Ewing. The US last year and this year as well played guys at the 4 who aren't used to being at the 4 and this is a big deal. For example, Melo and Lebron (and I watch a lot of Cavs games) aren't using to being the guy guarding the guard initiating the pick and roll (Watch a guy like Ilguaskas who has slow feet - he actually does a very good job on screens because Mike Brown is an excelent defensive coach and he knows he going to be involved with pick and rolls). Teams simply don't go after Lebron and Melo on the pick and roll in the NBA when guys like Camby and Z can be put on the perimiter. However, when you get hit by something different it takes to adjust. In addition, international refs allow moving screens - this is a huge difference.

To answer the other question: how come we didn't block more shots off the rim? or how come we didn't do more handchecking since the refs were clearly allowing it? The US players simply aren't comfortable in a zone and the coaches know it. Plus in most situations are players are the athletically superior team, zone is usually played by teams which know they have some weak spots. As the years pass since the NBA rule changes I bet we'll see more zone played by the international team. Zone is a lot easier to play if you have an eraser in the middle and only Howard was a true shotblocking presence we had - you can afford to overplay the jumpshot with a shotblocker. Against Greece they simply let open looks occur instead of forcing the drive.



> My fault. That wasn't what I intended to state (I actually don't think I did). I inteded to say that their bad decisions hurt us against Greece. We didn't have slow-footted players on last year's team. Ewing's and Shaq's (or a player similar to those two) slow feet would kill us if we played a team like that again.


Shaq was the most dominant player in the league with every team in the NBA trying to run a pick and roll against him (the Kings with Divac/Webber, Pacers with Smits and Perkins, Portland with Sabonis/Wallace). These guys played plenty of teams with very good athletic shooting bigs. Our losing to Greece again had nothing to do with foot speed and everything to do with players who arent' used to guarding the pick and roll and different international rules/reffing and coaching not taking advantage of international rules. I hate to harp on this buy Coach K basically didn't change his defense for nearly a whole quarter while Greece was going off and by that time it was too late



> One last thing...
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't understand that. I still don't see Shaq and Ewing keeping any top level international guards anywhere in front of them on the perimeter.


See my answer above. Shaq and Ewing anchored some of the best defenses in the league against NBA all-star guards. Fifa rules hurt centers more on offense then defense.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

TM said:


> 8-18 from 3 pt range. You'll have to find a new argument.


I wasn't just talking about 3 pointers. I'm talking jump shots on the P&R.


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## Carbo04 (Apr 15, 2005)

This is the best team we've had since 2000. But not better than 92, 96, 2000. Add KG, Duncan, and T-Mac to the team and then it'll be one of the best teams ever.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

It seems like they have finally found the right mix. It's a shame that injuries, marriages, and whatever else will probably conspire to force a completely diffrent team to the olympics next year, because this does look like the best squad we've put together in awhile. Though that squad with JKidd and Vince Carter that tore through Fiba Americas was really good too(and we didn't send that team to the olympics either).

It's really hard to tell though because there's so many bad teams in this year's tournament.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Carbo04 said:


> This is the best team we've had since 2000. But not better than 92, 96, 2000. Add KG, Duncan, and T-Mac to the team and then it'll be one of the best teams ever.


Didn't the 2000 team almost get beat by Lithuania?


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## g-dog-rice#2 (Jan 29, 2006)

Take off Chandler, Prince, Miller and Williams. Add any 4 of Duncan, T-mac, KG, Bosh and Arenas and this team would be even more stellar.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> Didn't the 2000 team almost get beat by Lithuania?


One last second Sarunas rimmed out 3 pointer away from Lithuania beating the US that year. That 2000 Olympic team wasn't that great


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

US needs to send this team to the Olympics

Kidd
Kobe
LeBron
KG
Dwight
Arenas
Wade
T-Mac
Bosh
Amare
Battier
Redd

Duncan is from the Virgin Islands. 

So basically you have all the best players in the league that aren't international then you bring the best defender who isn't dirty or starts fights and Redd for some outside shooting.


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

g-dog-rice#2 said:


> Take off Chandler, Prince, Miller and Williams. Add any 4 of Duncan, T-mac, KG, Bosh and Arenas and this team would be even more stellar.


My team would be James, Anthony, Wade, Kidd, Bryant, Stoudemire, Howard, Marion, KG, Duncan, Deron Williams, and Redd.


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

Those other teams didn't have Kobe and Lebron.

Kobe and Lebron = the difference


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

If they sent the team that played for the qualifiers in 2003, they would easily dominate teams


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

HB said:


> If they sent the team that played for the qualifiers in 2003, they would easily dominate teams


 I'm not familiar with that team, all I could find were: 

Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ray Allen


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## HB (May 1, 2004)

IceMan23and3 said:


> I'm not familiar with that team, all I could find were:
> 
> Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ray Allen


Also RJ, Bibby, AI, Duncan, Kenyon Martin, Elton Brand and Nick Collison. That team would probably have won gold in the last Olympics.

This *Link* towards the end of the article mentions the whole roster


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

HB said:


> Also RJ, Bibby, AI, Duncan, Kenyon Martin, Elton Brand and Nick Collison. That team would probably have won gold in the last Olympics.
> 
> This *Link* towards the end of the article mentions the whole roster


nice. Thanks


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

Colangelo and co. did an excellent job with this roster. Kidd and Kobe will be hugely important for this team in China.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Some of these shooting numbers are ridiculous
Lebron is averaging 76.5% FG%, 57.6% from 3, and 4.9 assists a game
Anthony is average 63.8% from the field while scoring 22 ppg


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

the level of competition isn't good enough for the numbers to be of much value.It's really been pretty comical so far.We play poorly and we're still up 15 to 20,then the other team has a lapse and we're up forty.We clowned around like it was a schoolyard game against Argentina and still beat them easily.We were great against everyone except Greece in Japan,but that one poor game against Greece meant a bronze medal.

What we probably need is another team that can really emulate the sort of challenge we'll get from the top Euro teams.Same sorts of guys you see in these games with a good european coach (like Larry Brown's brother Herb maybe).Noone is going to give us the sort of friendly games we'll need to get ready for the Olympics and we aren't getting much benefit from playing lower echelon teams


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

^ It's too bad there isn't a friendly system like they have FIFA for the soccer world cup. More games to test different players/lineups and actual play against some top flight countries.


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

Man, do these guys know how to officiate a game? It's just plain sad. These officials miss SO much! If this is what basketball WAS like, then I am SO proud of Stern! Blocks get called as shooting fouls, out of bounds aren't called, travelling gets ignored..... this is like streetball with someone calling random fouls and half of the calls that aren't TOO obvious.


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## Matiz (Jun 5, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> ^ It's too bad there isn't a friendly system like they have FIFA for the soccer world cup. More games to test different players/lineups and actual play against some top flight countries.


there are such tournaments in europe. It's just that US will prefer playing with China or some other sorts of exhibition game to boost up their marketing, instead of playing a serious friendly game.

What happened vs. Greece?
the same that'll happen if you get even more superstars into the US team, someone has to do the dirty job which the likes of Kobe, Tracy, Lebron can't because they've never been asked to do it in their whole career.

at the same time US players have same difficulties when ref's change them with something as some NBA players in euro-teams as Dirk, Parker, forgeting that in international game the name doesnt give you one tenth as big referee protection as in NBA. I do believe Duncan was frustrated by them, but that's the fault of the staff that haven't prepared him to it.


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Pioneer10 said:


> Some of these shooting numbers are ridiculous
> Lebron is averaging 76.5% FG%, 57.6% from 3, and 4.9 assists a game
> Anthony is average 63.8% from the field while scoring 22 ppg


Lebron's actually *leading *the US in assists for the entire tournament, above Jason Kidd and Deron Williams. Which is why I've really been happy with his performance. He's fitting into his role really well, taking a scoring backseat to Melo and Kobe, and really trying to facilitate the offense rather than be the offense. He's played within his abilities really well, and he's really shutting up everyone that tried to blame him for our poor performance in the world championships. 

If only he had guys on the Cavs that he could set up like this. He's really flourishing in that role when he has competent scorers around him.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

This team tires me, and I don't think they're playing good enough to go undefeated in the olympics next year, which makes it a failure. 

This is the team I'd look to send to the olympics

PG-Jason Kidd/Dwyane Wade
SG-Ray Allen/Ben Gordon
SF-Paul Pierce/Tracy McGrady/Shane Battier
PF-Kevin Garnett/Rasheed Wallace/Luke Walton
C- Tim Duncan/Eddy Curry

Sorry, I'm just sick of Lebron, Kobe, Melo, Amare, Dwight, Mike Miller, I just physically can't cheer for these guys. Kidd, Williams, and Chandler are the only guys I can stand watching on this team. I was fine with Lebron, but the past 2 games, he went back to his whining crybaby ways. 

Get rid of Coach K too, and put in a coaching staff of Skiles, Riley, and Stan Van Gundy. Kidd is the only player I have carrying over onto my team. The Kobe, James, Melo, Dwight, Amare, and Prince whining is just a disgrace. You are getting heavy favoring from the referees, and your going to complain when one little call doesn't go you way, when the majority do? Come on guys, stop being little nancys.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

Jeesh Sloth.I know you're only trolling,but that is just ridiculous


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## Brandname (May 24, 2006)

Mebarak said:


> This team tires me, and I don't think they're playing good enough to go undefeated in the olympics next year, which makes it a failure.
> 
> This is the team I'd look to send to the olympics
> 
> ...


Nice.

You put just enough irony in there to tip it off, but it was fairly subtle. I'd definitely give it at least an 8/10.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Matiz said:


> there are such tournaments in europe. It's just that US will prefer playing with China or some other sorts of exhibition game to boost up their marketing, instead of playing a serious friendly game.
> 
> What happened vs. Greece?
> the same that'll happen if you get even more superstars into the US team, someone has to do the dirty job which the likes of Kobe, Tracy, Lebron can't because they've never been asked to do it in their whole career.
> ...


 1) It's more likely it's easier to get Euroleague players to play friendlies as they play around half the games of NBA teams. Almost all of the Argenitineans NBA players chose not to participate in the qualifying tournament as an example

2) FIBA refs in every international tournament I have watched and it's been quite a few have sucked and it goes both ways for and against the US. It's easy to say players should take it easy but these guys make some egregious errors. It has very little to do with "star power"


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

Well I might invite Lebron back instead of Walton. But I don't want to see Melo, Howard, Kobe, and Amare on this team again.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Mebarak said:


> Well I might invite Lebron back instead of Walton. But I don't want to see Melo, Howard, Kobe, and Amare on this team again.


:lol:


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## Matiz (Jun 5, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> 1) It's more likely it's easier to get Euroleague players to play friendlies as they play around half the games of NBA teams. Almost all of the Argenitineans NBA players chose not to participate in the qualifying tournament as an example


international teams get to play less games, but not exactly half less than NBA teams. For the top european clubs that means something like 60-80 games in a season.
While latest interviews by Parker, Diaw or Nowitzki indicated that NBA tempo is not neccesarily the true factor of those guys missing.



> 2) FIBA refs in every international tournament I have watched and it's been quite a few have sucked and it goes both ways for and against the US. It's easy to say players should take it easy but these guys make some egregious errors. It has very little to do with "star power"


I dissagre about the "star power" thing, since to me that seems as a really obvious factor there, far from decisive one but watching those games it does seems euro NBA stars get a bit frustrated sometimes.
I think most of those are to blaim due to different rules in FIBA though


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

The plain fact is that FIBA officiation is so awful that noone should really care about them.At some point they stopped playing basketball and created wrestling with bouncing ball.It's not even a sport once you get to the point where noone can tell what the rules are.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Matiz said:


> international teams get to play less games, but not exactly half less than NBA teams. For the top european clubs that means something like 60-80 games in a season.
> While latest interviews by Parker, Diaw or Nowitzki indicated that NBA tempo is not neccesarily the true factor of those guys missing.


I'm not sure where your getting 80 games from. Last year Real in the Spanish ACB camp played 34 games + 9 playoff games for a total 43 games and then from what I can tell 14 euroleague games Give or take 6-8 more for euroleague final . That ends up being around 63 games or so and thats presuming you have a league champion plus one that goes to the euroleague elite (please correct me if I'm missing some other real tournament games and not exhibition games). A team like the Cavs played (not counting preseason which are the equivalent of exhibition games) 82 games plus 16 playoff games. That' s much more grueling season and players are going to balk to ask friendlies on top of the world tournaments. Your really selling the grind of the NBA short.



> I dissagre about the "star power" thing, since to me that seems as a really obvious factor there, far from decisive one but watching those games it does seems euro NBA stars get a bit frustrated sometimes.
> I think most of those are to blaim due to different rules in FIBA though


The different rules are only a small factor compared to how god awful FIBA refs actually makes calls and this is coming from a mod who routinely warns posters to stop *****ing about refs in game threads


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

If this team stays for the most part intact for the olympics it has a chance to be the best US team ever. The mix is really good.


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## ballocks (May 15, 2003)

this team has really impressed me. i'm glad i got to see them play. they came off, throughout the tournament, as a team playing with a lot to prove, and that's always an intriguing combination when you're talking about the best team in the world.

it may have just been a coincidence but i suspect that having kobe, lebron and j-kidd (three players who constantly appear to want "more help" on their nba teams) helped light a fire under the team. these guys are used to playing without much of a supporting cast- or at least want to believe they are- and this tournament must've felt like a brief respite for their careers, presenting an opportunity to show what they can do.

either way, the team appeared focused and walked through its opponents with no problem. the constant comparisons to the dream team will follow, and that's too bad, but that's just the way that it goes. still, i do think they should feel proud of themselves for absolutely blowing out the field at this tournament. it was impressive, imo.

peace


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## Matiz (Jun 5, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> I'm not sure where your getting 80 games from. Last year Real in the Spanish ACB camp played 34 games + 9 playoff games for a total 43 games and then from what I can tell 14 euroleague games Give or take 6-8 more for euroleague final . That ends up being around 63 games or so and thats presuming you have a league champion plus one that goes to the euroleague elite (please correct me if I'm missing some other real tournament games and not exhibition games). A team like the Cavs played (not counting preseason which are the equivalent of exhibition games) 82 games plus 16 playoff games. That' s much more grueling season and players are going to balk to ask friendlies on top of the world tournaments. Your really selling the grind of the NBA short.


34 in ACB +9 playoffs games as you've said, 2-3 in copa del rey (I don't feel like checking it up), +17 in Uleb cup, for Real last year to be exact, alltogether for 62-63 games without the preparation ones. While some teams in europe might reach 70-80 games due to different league and cup structure than in spanish league, as well as playing euroleague that at best can give you 25 games.
The point is I don't want to lessen the importance of NBA pace. Most guys coming from europe are saying much faster pace of playing games there is obvious difference, but on the other hand, in europe there are also more high-intensity pace games. and when a guy like Parker is showing the best performances yet in the international friendlies having played sth. like 2500 overall minutes in NBA last year, and a guy like Udrih feels too tired to play with maybee 500 minutes overall in a whole season, you can conclude that ammount of games/minutes played is not neccesarily the main reason behind those guys not participating. That's all I've been trying to say 




> The different rules are only a small factor compared to how god awful FIBA refs actually makes calls and this is coming from a mod who routinely warns posters to stop *****ing about refs in game threads


I believe you, compensations at int. bball game can make whole officiating look terrible.


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## Sliccat (Oct 16, 2004)

people who compare the 07 to 04 are morons. Compare it to the 03 team, which was supposed to be the 04 team. People forget that the 04 team only had like 3 leftovers from what they were supposed to have.


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## hardcomin (Oct 6, 2007)

that must be true. but what i am really interested in - will this team be the same next year??


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