Hammon to play for Russia in Olympics

outofplace · Jun 17, 2008

zagoshe said:

outofplace said:

JackS said:

I'm not trying to start a flame war, but should anyone with a handle that indicates he graduated college in 1996 be telling us all who should have been chosen for the 1992 and (especially) 1984 Olympic men's basketball teams?

Not that I disagree that Laettner was useless to the '92 squad, but those who responded that there was a reserved spot for a collegian are correct. So Laettner was not chosen over Isiah. If you really want to lobby that Isiah was stiffed, the best targets at that point probably would have been Bird and Magic, as Bird was pretty much crippled by then and Magic was out of the NBA after having "attained" the HIV virus.

As for Steve Alford being chosen to the 1984 squad over Barkley, the only real beef is comparing their pro careers in hindsight. I have no doubt Alford got the love for being one of Bobby Knight's own players, and anybody who saw the team tryouts would have said Barkley (not to mention John Stockton) was a better player, but from a team standpoint it was wise to have a knockout perimeter shooter like Alford to balance the squad. The only other one on the roster was Mullin, and you can see from more recent history that a lack of good outside shooting has killed us in international competition. As it turned out, Alford was the 4th high scorer on the '84 squad behind Jordan, Mullin and Ewing, shooting .644 from the field.

So please, if we are going to bitch about selections for the men's Olympic team, can we do it for squads that didn't pummel the competition, as was the case in '84 and '92?
Click to expand...

Excellent points, except for the first part. Contrary to your suggestion, there are plenty of posters on this board who can comment intelligently on things that happened either when they were very young or even before they were born.
Click to expand...

Good point. It is just too bad that the list of "posters on this board who can comment intelligently" would not include you.
Click to expand...

Now who's stalking?

Armchair_QB · Jun 19, 2008

Former BYU men's player may also suit up for the dirty commies...

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/presClip/p/newsid/25911/arti.html

Sam Mills 51 · Jun 19, 2008

This was discussed on PTI today. Michael Wilbon absolutely napalmed Anne Donovan. Good for him. Good for Becky Hammon.

And no ... I'm not Mr. Wilbon.

Log in or Sign up

Hammon to play for Russia in Olympics

outofplace Well-Known Member

Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Hammon to play for Russia in Olympics

outofplace Well-Known Member

Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches