Olympic Basketball

[abisai]

I just watched Team USA get stomped royally in basketball by Puerto Rico in first round action. Three things jumped out:
1. We don't have our best players. Not even our second best players. A lot of dudes declined they said, but who the hell is Dwayne Wade and why is he the star of the team. Team USA is undersized and has to shoot three pointers like crazy? Unbelieveable.
2. The whitest guy on the team is Carlos Boozer. I am actually surprised the entire team is black.
3. LeBron James and Carmello Anthony? What the hell right do these guys have to represent the NBA?

At this point, I'd rather see the Globetrotters representing the USA than this crap. They played very, very badly adn there was not a moment the game seemed close, from the first tip-off. This is the fruit the NBA culctivated after years of eroding rules to the point of the Shaq foul free zone and now people cannot even play basketball anymore. Even better, the NBA clear out strategy of every man for himself means these guys struggle hard to play together and few know how to make a pass. Lastly, years of scooping players from high school means guys are less educated and have less experience in the half court offense. These guys are not alert to the trends of international officials, would not know how to react to them if they were, and are incapable of adjusting their games beyond the fast break frenzy.

Bet against Team USA this Olympics.

[Darth Deucedropper]

Puerto Rico ho!

[Rob G]

Yo, the very first Dream Team consisted of
Jordan
Ewing
Byrd
Magic
Barkley

-INSANE

[abisai]

If I lived in Vegas I would bet large against us in next game.

Fuck it, let's go PR, they're Americans too. I've got no prob rooting them on.

[abisai]

From box score where US had to beat 0-4 Angola to advance as fourth seed in their division:

A Iverson 13 3-4 4-4 0-1 2 0 10
S Marbury 17 0-0 2-2 0-3 2 2 2
D Wade Jr 23 2-4 5-5 0-4 1 4 9
C Boozer 15 4-6 3-5 2-9 1 0 11
C Anthony 18 3-10 0-0 1-2 0 4 6
L James 27 5-5 0-0 1-4 5 0 11
C Okafor 12 0-2 0-0 0-3 0 1 0
S Marion 12 4-6 0-0 4-6 1 1 9
A Stoudemire 19 3-6 3-4 1-6 0 2 9
T Duncan 13 6-10 3-4 4-7 2 2 15
L Odom 17 0-3 0-0 2-5 2 1 0
R Jefferson 14 3-4 0-2 1-2 0 3 7

I'd say Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson hands down deserve to play and their roles as captains recognize this. But do ANY of these other dudes represent the best players we have to offer? These are not even all-star players, right? What the hell happened? I heard someone say that players did not want to subject themselves to drug tests and have to quit marijuana for long enough to play in the Olympic venue. Maybe. It's just plain mind-boggling to me how quickly and rapidly we descended from Hall of Fame Dream Team to this.

Maybe an overreaction from a casual basketball fan who would rather root for Americans NBA players that he actually recognized instead of rookies galour.

[abisai]

Dave said:

This is the fruit the NBA culctivated after years of eroding rules to the point of the Shaq foul free zone and now people cannot even play basketball anymore.

I agree with this article: sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/chris_mannix/11/20/pacers.react/index.html
"Any time you have a blowout situation, which it was at that point in the game, fans begin to get antsy and look for other ways to entertain themselves, which is why I was hardly surprised when Artest was nailed with the cup filled with beer. Here are Detroit fans watching their team get smacked around by their most bitter rival and were seeing their best player being antagonized by the resident NBA bad boy. It's like if Bill Laimbeer clothes-lined Larry Bird and then walked up to the concession stand to buy a hot dog. You expect something to happen. Players have had things thrown at them before, in every sport, but it's like Pistons CEO Tom Wilson says, "no one goes down on the floor, and no one leaves the floor."

And:
"But Artest should be thrown out of the league. How many chances can you give a guy who blatantly doesn't care about the consequences? Time after time we have seen this man suffer meltdowns both on and off the court. Throw him out. He doesn't want to be there anyway. Earlier this season Artest hinted to reporters that if the Pacers won the championship this season, he'd retire. Let the NBA help him out the door. You think his teammates enjoy spending countless hours defending him not only on the court, but to the media as well? Let him go work on his music label. What's the NBA waiting for? Artest to kill someone? After last night does anyone out there not think something like that is out of the realm of possibility?

It's not the players for whom the NBA should feel sorry. It's not the angry fans, either, whose behavior was both disgusting and completely inexcusable. Who the NBA should feel sorry for is the father in the crowd huddled over his daughter, desperately trying to prevent her from being hit by the debris falling from the crowd. Those are the fans the NBA is targeting in its media campaigns, and they are part of the constituency the NBA continues to lose."

In looking for full video footage I came across stuff of this guy talking about wanting to take the first month of the year off to promote his music album? Was this is a bad publicity stunt? Or is he just that mentally deficiant?

[abisai]

What I really do not understand is how the team owners allow people like this to represent their franchise. If the kid the plays Malcum in the Middle comes out and says he wants to eat the bodies of aborted babies and that he hates the Fox network he would be fired. But NBA owners follow some other bizarre methodology. Steinbrenner won't even let his players have facial hair. NFL players get fined for wearing helmets modified to have remberences to Tillman on them. But NBA players do mad drugs, talk mad shit, and no one cares? Blame the people writing the checks.

[Ken]

Yes, definitely blame the people writing the checks. Their only concern is putting the best players on the court, regardless of them being decent folk, or serial murderers. These guys were animals, but the fans weren't much better. If fans begin throwing stuff, they should be arrested for assualt as well, and security should be present and prevalent.

Those players should be thrown out of the league on a permanent basis. It would send a powerful message and would set a precedent that other players would have to follow.

[Rob G]

I would ok with it if the main two guys were banned from the league and the one fan was banned from all arenas forever.

That would stem this new trend quick.

[abisai]

I wholeheartedly would love players getting banned from the league and I think that should be the case for at least the main dude. Players cannot attack the fans in any sport. No sport can tolerate that. I'm totally down with prosecuting fans for unruly behavior too, that gets done in baseball and for good reason. But I cannot understand fans getting charges and none levied against the players for their actions.

TV people are really lenient towards the players. I think because they too hate the reactions the general public gives public figures. However, people act like the cup being thrown was the first thing. The fighting on the court by the players was the first thing. That was the spark that started it - with under a minute left in the game.

Fuck the NBA and the way they play the game now. I only watched to see the Lakers lose. As a Yankee fan I appreciate the irony of that statement.