# Eddie Johnson said TEAM USA will struggle



## nbanoitall (May 21, 2004)

*Who's your top 3 for the upcoming World Championship? What does the US Team need to do to win the gold?*
*– *Franz Smith

*EJ:* I really can't say who the favorite is, but Team USA will struggle again and mainly because they still don't have shooters like *Michael Redd*, *Ray Allen* and *Kobe Bryant* that would force teams out of the zone to free up LeBron, *Carmelo*, *Elton Brand*, etcetera. Hopefully they will overcome the lack of shooting and defend well to decide games.

From interview on HoopsHype.com

I think Johnson needs to go look up some stats from how players on this roster shot from the 3 in the nba... and then consider its not as far out.

Sure we could use Redd. But Joe Johnson and Arenas and Hinrich etc etc... this list goes on all have that range. This team has plenty of shooters.

Eddie, you are a washed up moron who cant get past his glory days. Reading the whole interview is just saddening. Talking about with this rule or that rule you could have scored this many points. Your career is over, and you want attention.

This is coming from a guy thats never played pro ball, but has something called common sense. This team is the best team in the world. And now they finally have a full roster assembled with excellent leadership (and im not a duke fan and the chevy commercials with coach K annoyed me)

So Eddie, shut up, and crawl back into that hole you came out of. And let Carmelo Anthony show why he is the most underrated player on the team as he starts at PF and leads TEAM USA to gold


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

Who the hells Eddie Johnson?


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## nbanoitall (May 21, 2004)

sloth said:


> Who the hells Eddie Johnson?


http://www.databasebasketball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JOHNSED03

what didnt watch him in pre-school?

j/k


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## Sir Patchwork (Jan 12, 2005)

They didn't really see much zone tonight. The coach of PR admitted that he wouldn't be pulling out all the stops strategically until the real thing started, and zone is the obvious crutch of the USA, so I'm sure he is holding out on that. 

Zone is the kryptonite. If USA can overcome it and consistently knock down the long ball, it's blow out city. If they hesitate on shooting it and become indecisive like they did in 2004, well it could be a repeat of 2004. 

Personally I think this team has much better balance, and I foresee a gold medal. Arenas, Hinrich, Johnson, Melo and Jamison were all shooting the ball without any hesitation, and those guys will knock down enough shots to make you regret zoning them up.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

The International 3pt line is three feet shorter than the NBA line and this team has plenty of guys who can hit that shot.The real defense against the zone is to beat it down the court and that's the real key to our strategy.

The bigger issue in the past was really defending against the three point shot and if Coach K gets his point across we should be vastly improved over Athens when we gave up open treys en masse.It's just like the college game where you have to recognize who the shooters are and contest the shot w/o fouling.If you let international teams have open threes they will kill you,but if you force them to take difficult shots they won't.It's pretty much the same as they teach you in pee wee ball.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

If the team had Ben Gordon on it, no one would be even thinking about stopping them.


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## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

They sure struggled tonight.....all the way to a 45 point win. Wait until Kobe and Amare join the team. It will be like watching the 1992 team all over again. 60 to 70 point blow outs regularly.


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## LuckyAC (Aug 12, 2004)

Idunkonyou said:


> They sure struggled tonight.....all the way to a 45 point win. Wait until Kobe and Amare join the team. It will be like watching the 1992 team all over again. 60 to 70 point blow outs regularly.


Mmmmkay


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## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

LuckyAC said:


> Mmmmkay


Ok so maybe I'm just a little excited, but check this out:

*The 1992 Dream Team's Olympic Summary*
Team USA cruised through its qualifying round with a 6-0 record. The team then took on Angola in the opening game of the Olympic competition. Barkley had 24 points in a team USA 116-48 romp. Next, the Dream Team took on a talented Croatia team and beat them soundly by 33 points, led by Jordan's 21. The United States team then defeated Germany behind Larry Bird's 19 points and Karl Malone's 18. In the next game, seven USA players scored in double digits and Charles Barkley set the new single game scoring record with 30 point in a 127-83 rout of Brazil. Team USA then closed out pool play with a resounding 122-81 drubbing of Spain.

In the quarter finals, Mullin scored a team high 21 points as the Dream Team scored a 115-77 victory over Puerto Rico. Team USA rolled on in the semis with a 51 point win over Lithuania. Nine US players scored in double figures. Jordan led the way in the gold medal game against Croatia, scoring 22 points. Barkley had 17. The final game was the closest of the entire Olympics, with the Dream Team winning by 32 points in a 117-85 blowout.

*Dream Team Trivia*
Because of this star line-up, the team's games usually featured pregame photos by the opposite team of their U.S. opponents — and idols.

As thoroughly dominant as the Dream Team was, their 43.7 average margin of victory was still below the Team USA Olympic record of 53.5, set by the 1956 squad.

Stockton was the only Dream Team member to wear his NBA number in the Olympics (12), and the only one allowed to by international rules, which restrict player numbers to 4 through 15. All other Dream Team members normally wore numbers outside the allowable range.

Coach Chuck Daly never called a single time-out during their entire tournament run, although he reportedly entertained the thought midway through the first half of the gold medal game against Croatia.

Despite being regarded as the best mix of players ever, half of the Dream Team members never won an NBA title: Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin and John Stockton.

*Results at the 1992 Tournament of the Americas in Portland*
USA 136 Cuba 57 
USA 105 Canada 61 
USA 112 Panama 52 
USA 128 Argentina 87 
USA 119 Puerto Rico 81 
USA 120 Venezuela 80 

*Results at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona*
USA 111 France 100 (Pre-Olympics in Monte Carlo, Monaco) 
USA 116 Angola 48 
USA 103 Croatia 70 
USA 111 Germany 68 
USA 127 Brazil 83 
USA 122 Spain 81 
USA 115 Puerto Rico 77 
USA 127 Lithuania 76 
USA 117 Croatia 85 

*Final standings at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona*
United States (8–0) 
Croatia (6–2) 
Lithuania (6–2) 
Commonwealth of Independent States (5–3) 
Brazil (4–4) 
Australia (4–4) 
Germany (3–5) 
Puerto Rico (3–5) 
Spain (3–4) 
Angola (2–5) 
Venezuela (2–5) 
China (0–7)

I think this team may have enough juice to win by 40+ points a game.


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## 1 Penny (Jul 11, 2003)

Diable said:


> The International 3pt line is three feet shorter than the NBA line and this team has plenty of guys who can hit that shot.The real defense against the zone is to beat it down the court and that's the real key to our strategy.
> 
> .


thats bad and good at the same time... shorter perimeter arc means those 3s are like mid range in comparison to the NBA... but the negative side of that is that the inside area of the perimeter arc is smaller hence defenders are closer to the inside players.. hence zone will make the inside clogged for the big men... and spot up shooters are are also closer to defenders... unless the usa team spot up top 3 feet behind, which is the nba distance, but it may take time getting use to...


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

The days of blowing these teams out is over. There will be blowouts if we get hot. But the talent gap is close enough that we'll have to grind out most wins by just playing good consistent basketball. We can still lose if we come up against a team that is unconscious from 3. But this team has the best chance of any team to win the WC. At this stage it's about giving yourself the best chance.

But at the end of the day, it's like the world cup. Brazil has far and away the best team. But they don't win every time.


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## SianTao (Jul 11, 2005)

futuristxen said:


> But at the end of the day, it's like the world cup. *Brazil has far and away the best team.* But they don't win every time.


The best individuals. But these individuals don't make the best (or even good) team every time.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

SianTao said:


> The best individuals. But these individuals don't make the best (or even good) team every time.


Exactly. That's the same as the US. On paper Brazil and the US should win everytime. But it's actually about catching that chemistry, getting a little bit of luck, and then it's on to the winner's circle.


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## ralaw (Feb 24, 2005)

I believe the US team has sufficient enough shooters to be ok. Yes, there isn't that lights out shooter, but sometimes that player can be overrated. Between Arenas, and Joe Johnson the team has two good shooters. The real key will be defending the 3 from those trigger happy International teams and this is where Battier, Hinrich and Bowen come into play.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

This team has plenty of jump shooters. and that's all the 3pt line is. Look, if they move the ball the way they did at times last night, especially if teams sit back in zones, they're going to get wide open jump shots left and right. Did you see last night in the second quarter when PR was in that 2-3 zone? US had 4 guys on the perimeter. They moved the ball around twice and by the second time, the PR guys were just moving their heads guys they couldn't keep up.

Side to side and inside-out - according to John Wooden and every other coach who knows basketball, that's how you beat a zone. I'm sure it'll work for USA too if they do it.


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## rainman (Jul 15, 2002)

sloth said:


> Who the hells Eddie Johnson?


is that a rhetorical question.


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## bball2223 (Jul 21, 2006)

They have between 6-8 guys who can hit the 20 or 21 foot 3 point shot in international ball. They will be more than okay and against the zone they should use TM's strategy side to side, and inside and out.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

Wait, isn't this Eddie Johnson, as in Eddie Johnson the sex offender?


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

No read the article.Go to Basketball-reference.com and you'll find an Ed Johnson and two Eddie Johnsons.The alleged child rapist played about a decade from the late 70's on to about 87 or so with the Hawks and someone else.

This Eddie Johnson played for about twice that long most famously with PHX and Seattle and retired in 1999 I believe.


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