Hammon to play for Russia in Olympics

Wasn't the plan all along to have one college player? I could be remembering that incorrectly, but I thought they were set on doing that from the beginning.

Not defending the move, but I'm not sure if it was a choice of Thomas or Laettner.

 

I remember it pretty much the way you do, OOP. I think there was a spot set aside for a collegian, which Laettner got over both Shaq and Mourning. So it wasn't that Laettner was chosen over Isiah.

 

To me the story is why she wasn't invited to tryout for the US team. Haven't we gotten beyond the US vs. The World approach to The Olympics. Half the athletes in the Olympics compete for U.S. colleges or train here. Should make for a good NBC "human interest" feature.

 

Exactly. Why wasn't she invited? That's the question that hasn't been answered. I saw a quote from Hammon where she said "they had their reasons." Well, wtf were they? If she was unfairly snubbed because she's not hip enough or because Lisa Leslie doesn't like her or because she's a lesbian or because she's not a lesbian or some other stupid reason, I think that would make a difference in how people view her decision. But I haven't seen anything to suggest that there was anything going on except the committee preferring other guards to Hammon.

 

Didn't Knight cut Barkley because Charles was still too raw of a player?

I cannot remember Barkley saying anything negative about those trials.

You want a fucked up Olympic team? Take a look at anything John Thompson ever coached.

1988 squad
United States (USA)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitch Richmond
Charles Smith IV
Bimbo Coles
Hersey Hawkins
Jeff Grayer
Charles D. Smith
Willie Anderson
Stacey Augmon
Dan Majerle
Danny Manning
J.R. Reid
David Robinson

Danny Manning?
Sean Elliott?
Glen Rice?
Nick Anderson?
Mookie Blaylock?
Pooh Richardson?
Tim Hardaway?
Rex Chapman?
Tim Perry?

I think there was some BS with some of these guys during trials or some were hurt, but shit.

 

Maybe she wasn't invited because USA Basketball didn't think she was one of the ten best guards available for the team they are putting together.

Is that possible, is that in the discussion or does there always have to be a "conspiracy to disrespect" when someone gets a perceived snub these days in the wussified version of what used to be America?

And further - the fact that she -- with no ties to Russia, no ancestoral ties, no blood ties, she was born in South Dakota and is not even Russian -- is going to be allowed to play for Russia underscores everything I've said about the Olympics becoming an irrelevant joke because there are plenty of other cases of people who went country shopping in order to play in the Olympics.

The Olympics used to mean something -- now they are a waste of three weeks of programming in the summer.

 

Zag, I'm with you. The Olympics are a cluster fuck 99 percent of the time. Every event is a huge mess. Judges, steroids, bombs going off, hostages and all the other shit, this just never reaches the hype. And most of the greats seemed flawed over time.

If this girl is an all-star in the WNBA, you have to invite her. You cannot brush her off.

Shit, invite 100 people to the camp. In a camp setting, that is not a lot of people.

 

I think it is a legitimate point --- why does everything have to turn into a case study in prejudice, blackballing, bias -- does it ever occur to these people that maybe, just maybe there are better players available?

I know, it is a tough concept in this day and age, but maybe, the reason she ain't on the team is she ain't good enough.

And 93 -- What is hilarious to me is all of these European and Asian clowns spend all of their time looking down their noses at the U.S., act as if they are better than us and act as if we are the selfish greedy bastards in this world -- yet look at what a fraud the Olympics are, look at all of the scandals and then go to an average soccer match and see if you still think people in the Dog Pound in Cleveland are really that out of control........

 

What drives me nuts about the Olympics as well, and this just begs for fucking up on a grand scale, is that a judge's opinion decides a winner.

You are just begging for corruption when a winner is a subjective winner.

 

That's especially true in sports like diving -- they all do the same shit and one gets 8.5 and the other gets 9.5 --- but the Olympics are the purest form of competition, unlike those greedy professional American sports......

 

That's what I've been saying. Show me some evidence that she was unfairly treated by the U.S., and I'll be much more sympathetic to her playing for Russia.