Greece?

[bgtg19]

Originally Posted by euby

This has been coming for a long time ....

This hasn't been coming for a long time, this has been *happening* for a long time.

[rockyroad]

I watched about 2 min. of the US/Germany game the other night - watched LeBron pull up and shoot a three during a 3-on-1 break...he missed, Battier rebounds and kicks it back out to Carmelo who bricks a three that is rebounded by LeBron who dribbles back out and shoots a three that hits the backboard about 6 inches from the top and Germany rebounds, throws an out let pass, guy drives to the basket, hits the lay-in and gets fouled and makes the free throw...turned to the Sci-Fi channel and watched old Battlestar Gallactica reruns.

[RonRef]

Maybe we should just send our NCAA Men's Championship team instead of all these NBA guys who obviously don't give a rat's ***! I hope they lose the Bronze game also!

[bgtg19]

FWIW, I think the USA players care, and probably care deeply, about the games and how they perform. I believe that they are trying their hardest while they are out on the court.

What I think people in the U.S. need to come to terms with is that, while the USA/NBA may have the best athletes in the basketball world, they do not have the best basketball players.

For example, the USA team left 14 points on the free throw line during the Greece game. I'm guessing that there are a lot of players all around the world -- yes, even in the United States -- who are shooting 100-200 free throws every day. I'm guessing that the world's "greatest athletes" are not among the players who are doing that....

[RonRef]

Originally Posted by bgtg19

FWIW, I think the USA players care, and probably care deeply, about the games and how they perform. I believe that they are trying their hardest while they are out on the court.

What I think people in the U.S. need to come to terms with is that, while the USA/NBA may have the best athletes in the basketball world, they do not have the best basketball players.

For example, the USA team left 14 points on the free throw line during the Greece game. I'm guessing that there are a lot of players all around the world -- yes, even in the United States -- who are shooting 100-200 free throws every day. I'm guessing that the world's "greatest athletes" are not among the players who are doing that....

We don't have our best players in Japan, where is Kobe, Shag, Garnett! Our guys just don't care, they get paid too much money to be bothered to play in theses events.

[Jimgolf]

Originally Posted by RonRef

We don't have our best players in Japan, where is Kobe, Shag, Garnett! Our guys just don't care, they get paid too much money to be bothered to play in theses events.

Well, Kobe is on the team but had knee surgery recently. Shaq's best days are behind him. Garnett wouldn't have helped much.

[26 Year Gap]

Top 6 from NCAA champ & top 6 from NCAA runner-up. That would worth watching. I can't remember the last international contest I watched, but lots of electronic gadgets had not been invented yet. And it probably pre-dated the 10 panel ball.

[Jimgolf]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

Top 6 from NCAA champ & top 6 from NCAA runner-up. That would worth watching. I can't remember the last international contest I watched, but lots of electronic gadgets had not been invented yet. And it probably pre-dated the 10 panel ball.

You might like to watch it, but Florida / UCLA would have lost by 30. There is no way an NCAA team could compete with the top 8 international teams.

Greece plays basketball the way it's supposed to be played: pass, cut, screen, layup. Defend. Repeat.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

Top 6 from NCAA champ & top 6 from NCAA runner-up. That would worth watching.

They gave up sending the college kids in 1988 because they were getting their azz handed to them. And they were NCAA all-star teams. Basketball US went to the pros because the NCAA players were losing so much.

[zebraman]

Originally Posted by RonRef

We don't have our best players in Japan, where is Kobe, Shag, Garnett! Our guys just don't care, they get paid too much money to be bothered to play in theses events.

We had some of our best players there. I'm quite confident that USA would beat Greece in a 7-game series. But the other countries are close enough to us now that "on any given night." We are no longer good enough to beat other countries without our A game. Give Greece credit. They put together an awesome game on a night when the USA didn't play their best. End of story once again.

Z

[bbcoach7]

I think that's all there is to it- the USA got beat by a better team, simple as that. Honestly, I wonder if the Heat, or the Pistons, or the Mavs would beat Greece. Team USA hasn't won a major international tournament since 2002. It seems like when we point out the fundamental flaws with USA basketball, the underlying theme is that's why we haven't been winning tournaments in international play. No, sorry, that's not why. It's because our excellent teams are getting beat by better teams. It hasn't sunk in yet. In peoples imaginations, the best basketball on the planet is still being played in the USA, but for this reason, or that reason (excuses), we are getting beat by inferior competition.

I think we do the game an injustice, and I've been guilty of it too. But it's time to wake up. We insult quality basketball with our misplaced assumptions of some kind of latent superiority. As if all we need to do is get things straightened out, and all will be back to normal (USA dominance) in the world of international basketball. Maybe this is normal now. A level playing field, no longer dominated by the country that invented the sport.

Maybe there's nothing "wrong." Why do we just assume that something has to be wrong with USA basketball? When we do that, we make the underlying assumption that these international teams really are not that good, that they aren't supposed to be beating out boys, that in order for them to beat the USA, something has to be wrong. Maybe we just got beat by a better team. I mean, that's usually what we assume when one team wins and the another team loses- that the better team won.

I don't even want to hear the, "we got better individual players" comments. Or, "we are more athletic." So what, you still got beat. It's a team game. Even if it were true, which it isn't, better more athletic players losing doesn't expose what is wrong with development any more than it tells you who is better.

Is there problems with the development of youth players in the USA? Sure there is. Can we do better? Absolutely. But lets not fool ourselves. There will be over 100 international players in the NBA this season. People just need to get it thru their heads that we aren't the best any longer. From year to year there may be other teams that are better than the USA squad- no matter who we put on the team. The USA will never again dominate international basketball- and that's a good thing. We may win more gold medals, but it's always going to be competitive.