the dream the team redeemed

"Hey Starman! Your diatribe was too long! Write the right way! Fundamentals!"

 

Here's the difference between 2004 and 2008.

In the game USA lost to Argentina in the semifinals, Carmelo played 0 minutes. LeBron played 3 minutes, Amare played 2 minutes, but Starbury, Richards Jefferson and Carlos Boozer combined for 83 minutes.

In the game USA beat Spain for gold, Carmelo played 17 minutes, LeBron played 28 minutes and Boozer played 1.

 

i wish i cared.

 

My diatribes aren't designed for your enjoyment, Norman.

 

I'm sorry, but there is only one "right way" to play.
FOR YOUR TEAM.
If that's your objective, how you get there does not matter. The 2008 U.S. men's national team played the game the right way.

 

This is ridiculous.
In 2004, the team included Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan, two of the greats in the history of the game, plus NBA all-stars (or future all-stars) Wade, Anthony, James, Marbury, Boozer, Stoudemire, Jefferson. And that team lost to Puerto Rico by nearly 20 in its opener, fell twice more and was happy to leave with a bronze medal.
In 2006, a team very similar to the current incarnation lost to a team from Greece that featured not a single NBA players. It's so much more complicated than just throwing all-stars onto the floor and expecting that to get it done.

 

Twoback is right.

At every level, teams with the most pure talent don't always win.

How many Final Fours did Ralph Sampson play in during his time at UVA? How many did UVA play in after he left?

It's about a team. Sure, if you have the most talent, you have more of a margin of error than a less talented team, but you still have to play as a group.

 

and Wade?

 

It's a lot more important to actually get the best NBA players on the team than it is to get them to "play the right way".

 

Would the 2007-08 Celtics have won the gold medal?

 

How is it ridiculous? The results speak for themselves.

Both those previous years, the U.S. went into the 2004 Games and the 2006 Worlds looking at both competitions collectively as extra work, a burden, and a detractor from their offseason — and the participation and the attitude showed. For Christ's sakes, LeBron, Wade and Carmelo all had just finished their first year in the Association in '04. Where was Kobe? Probably in a corner licking his PR wounds from Colorado.

Kobe & Co. basically had to be shamed into working hard and playing hard for these Games. Glad they did.

 

What it comes down to is that this team was given enough time to gel with each other and understand the nuances of the International game. Had that '04 team been given more than 20 days to practice together and a more flexible coach, I'm certain they would've achieved more than a Bronze medal.

And lets be real about things. The climate by many writers before and throughout the '04 games was the "U.S. players lack fundamentals" mantra. And for many writers, it was more important that they uphold that rubbish talking point rather than calling out the U.S. Olympic committee for the structural flaws they displayed in putting together those teams.

People constantly bring up AI and Stephon Marbury's play in the '04 Olympics. Meanwhile Tim Duncan, the most fundamentally sound player in the NBA, had a HORRIFIC time playing under FIBA rules, getting in foul trouble in the majority of his games. It was Marbury's 30 point outburst that got the US to a medal game. But at the end of the day, the Bronze did nothing more but act as a springboard for out of touch writers to say that the European basketball player maintained something U.S. player no longer held.

I can't WAIT for the 2012 Olympics when we see the destruction of that bs trapezoid FT line and other archaic rules which allowed sub par European players to flourish in their leagues to the point they got a job in the NBA only to squalor on the bench.

The new rules will allow the low post game to finally be a factor in international ball while exposing the complete ABSENSE of defense that is the usual overseas. And because of this the U.S. will flourish for years to come.