What is up with those NBA Players

[Jedi Master Carr]

This is abou the NBA players playing in the World Championships. Not only did they lose yesterday to Argentina, the first time pro players have lost in 59 tries, but they lost again today and now won't even win a medal. Now granted we played a lot of nobodys this time, and one of the better players, Reggie Miller, was banged up. They better wake up for the 04 Olympics or we might not win Gold in Athens.

[JonathanLB]

They suck. A bunch of stupid East Coast players who never learned how to play defense whatsoever and didn't play together enough to be any good. They are horrible and a disgrace to our country.

What's worse, though, is that the arrogant Lakers aren't even represented by Kobe or Shaq (this is more understandable for the big man) even though they were World Champions. Even the Kings, I mean what gives here, why aren't the good players playing? No Duncan, no Robinson right? No MJ. WTF?

It's just stupid.

Then again, the rest of the world can suck it, because our players always have been and always will be the best. EVERYONE knows that, and if they don't, they're really just morons. Our players have REAL basketball to prepare for in the NBA and they don't all want to go risk their necks for some stupid little basketball championship that means nothing. So while I still think it's embarrassing that our team blows chunks, I also don't really care because the U.S. is the best at this sport. We suck at some sports in the Olympics, we are great at others, and basketball is our sport. The best players in the world come from here.

Actually the other funny thing is that in golf, the British made that game up, but they sure aren't very good at it. The best players in the world are basically all from the U.S., and most notably the two greatest ever to play the game, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. Thanks for inventing it, we'll take it from here. :)

That's what the Japanese said about video games. We made video games. That was a UNITED STATES invention, but they took our invention and made it far better. They made the best games, the best systems, they own the video game world. :)

[CMJ]

I don't care if they aren't our best players....there are some GREAT guys on that squad. They had no business losing.....

They will forever be known as THAT team now. :\

[JMK]

They may be the best on paper, but they aren't the best in this tournament. They really did have no business losing. Once they lost to Argentina and lost hope of gold, they turned their attention back to their pro teams and figured they'd throw the rest of the world a bone.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well, they were good players but a there wasn't one dominant player and that wasn't the problem, that was because the two only dominant players didn't want to play, Ray Allen and Tracy Mcgrady, if they had went I think the US would have won easily, hopefully they will go with the bigger players like Kobe, Shaq, and Duncan, etc for 2004, if not then they ought to just start sending the college players again at least those guys would try to win.

[JonathanLB]

That loss to Argentina did NOT put them out of the Gold Medal race. If you watch Sports Center you know they could have still won the Gold, but the next loss took them out of medal contention entirely. No medals.

These players are NOT a great bunch of players. They are losers. They are good on a normal team but together, they can't do anything.

They were outgunned because they don't play together. The other teams have been playing together for YEARS now. They are good TEAMS. We just have good PLAYERS, and not even that good. All of the best players didn't even bother showing up. We don't take the rest of the world seriously, nor should we. We're so much better it's not even worth considering.

[JMK]

There, you hit the nail on the head. Yes, the team was full of great players (not elite, great). But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A "lesser" team that plays together will always beat the team of showboats and floaters.

[CMJ]

From now on we should take the world seriously...apparently we're not THAT superior now. I'm afraid we're gonna turn into Canada with hockey if we aren't careful.

And we did have some great players on that team Jon. They aren't a buncha scrubs. Hell Reggie Miller will prolly make the Hall of Fame. Pierce is terrific...Brand almost carried the CLIPPERS to the playoffs(and thats just a few of the guys) which in and of itself is almost Heculean.

[JMK]

With guys like Miller, Brand, A & B Davis, Finley, Marion, Pierce etc...they should have won hands down. But it doesn't always work out that way, does it? Maybe the rest of the world is starting to catch up.

[JediBoricua]

I follow international basketball, and the gap has been shortened. The past couple of years foreign players have been discretly invading the NBA, last year the rookie of the year was a spaniard. You guys were the team to beat, and since 92 every basketball playing country has been preparing and training for that. Argentina won because they are the better team and they will probably win gold. If not careful, you will be the Canada of Basketball, or as they said in Sportscenter, you may become a soccer playing nation.

What does this teach the US? First and foremost, they should stop approaching international competition as if it were an All-Star Game. Granted a team with O'neill, Bryant, Duncan, McGrady would be unstoppable, but on the other hand when the US sent college guys to international competition they still dominated and won by 40 or some points. Difference? College teams practiced together for a month or more, they developed together and established roles for each player to fullfill. The understood each other and played as a team. This team just tries to dunk.

Second, this team was formed by stars. Add up all the salaries of the over payed players and they will round the 100-150 million mark. Stardom and fame does not translate to dominance.

Bottom line, Intl. basketball is not the NBA, intl. basketball is a team game with defensive schemes, were not everything revolves around one player. The NBA has by far the best athletes and individual players, but the world is catching up. Tonight Puerto Rico faces the US. We will probably loose, but our guys will play motivated for we have already beaten Yugoslavia, Spain and Turkey, 1,2,3 European team respectively. We would not mind being the 3rd team to beat a Dream Team, we would not mind at all. I just hope our best players get well-deserved contracts in the NBA after the show they have pulled on this tournament.

[Figrin D'an]

Boricua is right.

This team assembled for the World Championships had plenty of talent, more than any other world team. They just didn't play team basketball... that's why they lost. George Karl tried to emphasize to his players that if they played "playoff basketball," that things would be just fine. And it would have... but instead, a combination of gross overconfidence and an "all-star" game playing style got them in trouble.

I hate the term "Dream Team" being applied to every team that the US assembles for international play... this years team didn't even have a lot of the league's top players (O'Neil, Bryant, Allen, Duncan, Iverson). The only "Dream Team" was the '92 Olympic team... the greatest team ever. Only two players on that roster were not on the NBA's all-time top 50 players list... that's a true Dream Team.

Team basketball will prevail in these kind of tournaments, especially when the US players get overconfident and don't practice enough together. Ideally, I'd like to see a national coaching staff appointed, made up of NBA and college coaches, that can work together for at least a 4 year period. Similarly, the players that are going to play for the US team should make a 4 year commitment and have additional off-season practices as a group to get better prepared. That's the only way the US will remain dominant.

[JMK]

Calling yourself the "dream team" every time is cocky, and at the same time disrespectful to the '92 team. That team had chemistry, talent, class and pride. These guys seemed to be out to get some pre-season dunks on the rest of the world. They're still 5-2, not disgraceful, but the first chinks in the armor are now clearly visible. It's always easier to rally when you play a strong team, and while the other teams played harder, the U.S. team folded and mistakenly played down to their opponents.

[jjwr]

I'm gonna sink my teeth into this one......

As has been stated the problem first and foremost is our team was beaten by the other teams. Simple as that. They played as a team and beat our Team.


They are horrible and a disgrace to our country.

Thats a bit harsh, a disgrace to our country? Please


These players are NOT a great bunch of players. They are losers. They are good on a normal team but together, they can't do anything.

Paul Pierce, Elton Brand, Reggie Miller, Michael Finley.......these are great players, no doubt about it but they were outplayed, couldn't execute or come up with a stop when it was needed and they lost. Simple as that.


Second, this team was formed by stars. Add up all the salaries of the over payed players and they will round the 100-150 million mark. Stardom and fame does not translate to dominance.

Exactly, when they built this team they didn't look for the best team they could field they got the biggest names they could and threw them all together on one team.

While watching the game down the stretch last night(Yugoslavia) it seemed pretty obvious that they were in serious trouble, they were constantly getting beat on defense and on offense being forced to take long jumpers. The Yugoslavia team outhustled them, scored a ton of 2nd chance points and broke down the US defense time and again.

Fundamentals, until the US deals with that issue and its players then the problem won't be solved. In another 10 years a gold at the Olymics will no longer be a easy thing, heck me may be lucky to get one.

In these countries players are tought the fundamentals of the game and how to play as a team. What do we have in the US? When I was coaching my 3/4 Girls team last year I got to see a lot of the 3/4 boys before my team got on the coart, these boys who aren't quite 4" tall are trying to chuck up 3 pointers while they can't hit layups.

They see the NBA players and want to emulate them all the while not really learning how to play the game.

Our players will continue as long as the ultimate goal is the NBA and the Millions that await. Its no coincidence that Foreign players are starting to make up a large amount of the players drafted out of college. Our young college players just aren't ready, they leave college early and don't know the game anywhere near as well as they should. Most NBA rookies don't do much for a few years because of that. Some of the best rookies lately have come out of other countries or have been players who stayed all four years in college.

If Kobe, McGrady, etc played we probably would have won on sheer skill alone, but that will only last for so long before the International players equal the skill and have the fundamentals and teamwork to take us down regardless.

[JMK]

Another aspect to this, as much as anyone wants to agree or not, but the US team is and probably always will be about keeping up appearances and high profile. It's just another opportunity for the NBA to showcase its best available players.
They will just "throw together a team" of the best players they can until it no longer makes sense for them to do so. Like when international teams have as many stars as the U.S. teams.

[Wei Wu Wei]

[i] We don't take the rest of the world seriously, nor should we. We're so much better it's not even worth considering.


You hit the nail on the head here. We did not take the rest of the world seriously, and that is why we lost. We did not take those terrorists seriously and they destryoed two very important buildings. America needs to get its head out of its -DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR--DO-NOT-SWEAR- before it's too late.

[JediBoricua]

Well the US beat us last night, by 10. We had a horrible second quarter, but at least we were close on the 4th. Our key guys had a pretty nice game, and our center had some very impressive blocks. All in all, our defense sucked. At least we beat Yugoslavia this week, unlike another team I know! ;) Sorry, had to say it. I am very sad, we were so close to clinching number 4, but we really had a sad showing against the 'kiwis', it seems their ritual dance before the game got to us...sigh...so close. Now we can only hope to finish 7th, sucks.

[JediBoricua]

And once again the US goes down.

They have just lost 81-75 to Spain, thus ending in 6th place.

In other news, PR beat Brazil and we clinched the 7th spot, not bad considering we were 11th in 98. And in better news our point guard has been given a 1 yr. deal with the Jazz, Carlos Arroyo is his name and he played this year with the nuggets and the raptors. I hope he gets some good pointers from Stockton and the gang.

[Rmiao]

It all comes down to giving them an incentive to play and play well. The '92 team wanted to play for the US. It had a whole patriotic feel to it. I still have my red white and blue USA Basketball cards from that team. That novelty has worn off, and our best players aren't playing while the ones who do play without any passion.

I'm not sure what kind of an inventive it would take to recreate what we had 10 years ago. The players want and need their summer break for the most part. They'd have to be paid a lot considering what they make to give up their summers. That may be the only way though.