US names Olympic squad

Xavi6

So after completely ballsing it up four years ago the US are hell bent on winning gold in Beijing and they've picked a strong enough squad to do so -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/basketball/7469984.stm

Bryant and James named in US team

The NBA's Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant and top-scorer LeBron James head the list of 12 players named by the United States for the Beijing Olympics.

Also named are Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd as the US seeks to end a recent run of disappointments.

The US failed to win the gold medal in Athens - the first time an NBA-based team had done so at the Olympics.

The team's officials have promised a 'change of culture' in a bid to improve the men's team's results.

Argentina won gold in Athens, having edged out the United States in the semi-finals. It was the third defeat of the tournament for a US team that was criticised for being under-prepared.

But the team's managing director Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski are confident the current squad will perform better than the team that went to Athens.

"That team didn't have enough practice time," said Krzyzewski. "There were late additions and they were given a short window to prepare and you can't win at that level without preparation."

Bryant led the LA Lakers to the NBA finals this season, while James scorched the league's defences, scoring 30 points per game.

Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Michael Redd and Deron Williams complete the American line-up.

Eight players have been retained from the team which ensured Olympic qualification at the Americas Tournament last year. Bosh, Paul and Wade, who all missed that tournament, return from the 2006 World Championship team.

The squad will train in Las Vegas from 20-25 July before heading to China for warm-up games against Turkey, Lithuania, Russia and Australia.

"I felt the culture certainly needed to change," said Colangelo. "We needed commitments from coaches and players alike for a period of time.

"All that has taken place and we're really enthused about the make-up of this team from top to bottom."

NBA players have been allowed to compete at the Olympics since 1992, where the US famously fielded a gold medal-winning 'Dream Team' in Barcelona.

The US has only failed to win a medal in men's basketball on one occasion - the 1980 Games in Moscow, which they boycotted.


US team: Carmelo Anthony, forward, Denver Nuggets; Carlos Boozer, forward, Utah Jazz; Chris Bosh, forward, Toronto Raptors; Kobe Bryant, guard, Los Angeles Lakers; Dwight Howard, forward/centre, Orlando Magic; LeBron James, forward, Cleveland Cavaliers; Jason Kidd, guard, Dallas Mavericks; Chris Paul, guard, New Orleans Hornets; Tayshaun Prince, forward, Detroit Pistons; Michael Redd, guard, Milwaukee Bucks; Dwyane Wade, guard, Miami Heat; Deron Williams, guard, Utah Jazz.

Kinetic^

Ye the thing with the current squad is that Mike Krzyzewski wanted guarantees from players that they would remain available for the squad for a number of years so some sort of team spirit could be built up.

Sea Devils

l like the look on that team but my biggest gripe is why Jason Kidd? I mean, he was pretty good but he's obviously on the decline. Let some up and coming younger players get in the act. Hopefully he doesn't take to much PT from Paul and D. Williams at the point. Kidd use to be one of my favorite players in the NBA but he's way overrated now. If we are serious about actually winning the gold again why is he still on this team(for like the 20th time, I know i'm exaggerating).

Kinetic^

Yeah I agree about Kidd. Definately past his best but I can see his experience being a good asset to the squad.

Sea Devils

There are plenty of players on the team that can provide leadership and "vetran experience." Kidd can't shoot and can't defend anymore. He's no longer a top 10 point guard and doesn't belong on Team USA.

Kinetic^

Sea Devils wrote: »

There are plenty of players on the team that can provide leadership and "vetran experience." Kidd can't shoot and can't defend anymore. He's no longer a top 10 point guard and doesn't belong on Team USA.

I agree, just trying to say that's probably why Mike kept him on. I don't agree with his decision but the guy is a great coach so I'm sure he has his reasons.

Lafortezza

That squad seems fairly stacked with guards, not many bigs/centres apart from Howard.

Sea Devils

lafortezza wrote: »

That squad seems fairly stacked with guards, not many bigs/centres apart from Howard.

Agree with this. One Centre and two Power forwards= serious lack of size. Howard has to avoid getting into serious foul trouble otherwhise Bosh and Boozer will be exposed for their defensive frailties

They should have gone with Tyson Chandler rather then Prince tbh

63587614

Boys what about Nate Robinson from Knicks, is he not woth a shot as PG.

Sea Devils

63587614 wrote: »

Boys what about Nate Robinson from Knicks, is he not woth a shot as PG.

If they were to call up another Guard which they don't need really I'd say Brandon Roy should be taken into consideration

phil

Nate Robinson is not national team calibre material.. yet anyway.

Sea Devils

Well they killed Canada 120-65 last night although Canada didn't even make it to the Olympics

Here's their group

Angola
China
Germany
Greece
Spain
U.S.A.

perish

usa has feel like to do something important in an olympic games or a world cup, but always they play as in the nba, i mean very individual, not like a team.If they become to play as a team, is a very strong team, but with teams like spain, russia... they haven't easy to win

Lets'go spain

What do u think about calderon, gasol, garbajosa...?
be careful with the spain young new players :ricky rubio and rudy fernandez, rudy will play in portland the next year, amazing players

i'm spanish,jaja,it is not difficult to know

sorry for my english

BRM

If the Americans are taking this as serious as they are making out, as a team of players they will obliterate any nation team in the world. They have never taken the Olympics serious tho and it was very obvious at the last Olympics.

I have my doubts about this one also, when you look at where they are playing there pre Olympic warm-up games (Vegas/Macau) the two biggest gambling cities in the world, and we all know how NBA players like to gamble  I guess there is a trade off in the deal they made with USA Basketball when committing to 3 months of basketball in the offseason.

I agree about the lack of size but players in the NBA seem to becoming smaller or at least all star centres seem to be under the 7ft mark its prob a reflection on the NBA game tho its more about running quick offense and transition play than settling into a half court offense these days.

I think Kidd could be in the squad being the oldest player he is easy recognisable with older viewers who prob wont know any of the other players outside Bryant and James.

Kinetic^

Anyone got a schedule of the games and what time they'll be on over here?

Looking forward to seeing some of the teams playing, particularly Spain, Argentina and USA.

Sea Devils

Taken directly from USA Basketball.com. China are seven hours ahead of us so most American games wouldn't start until midnight:(.

August 10
9:00 a.m. Russia - Iran
11:15 a.m. Germany - Angola
2:30 p.m. Spain - Greece
4:45 p.m. Lithuania - Argentina
8:00 p.m. Australia - Croatia
10:15 p.m. USA - China

August 12
9:00 a.m. Iran - Lithuania
11:15 a.m. Croatia - Russia
2:30 p.m. Greece - Germany
4:45 p.m. China - Spain
8:00 p.m. Angola - USA
10:15 p.m. Argentina - Australia

August 14
9:00 a.m. Germany - Spain
11:15 a.m. Australia - Iran
2:30 p.m. Angola - China
4:45 p.m. Lithuania - Russia
8:00 p.m. USA - Greece
10:15 p.m. Argentina - Croatia

August 16
9:00 a.m. Greece - Angola
11:15 a.m. Russia - Australia
2:30 p.m. Croatia - Lithuania
4:45 p.m. Iran - Argentina
8:00 p.m. China - Germany
10:15 p.m. Spain - USA

August 18
9:00 a.m. Iran - Croatia
11:15 a.m. Australia - Lithuania
2:30 p.m. Greece - China
4:45 p.m. Angola - Spain
8:00 p.m. USA - Germany
10.15PM Russia-Argentina

perish

the usa team doesn't play seriously in the olimpic games, maybe is true but is his problem, if they loose, that's why the other teams are better.
look the dream team of 1992, they had more stars than now and they played like a team and they won because was the best team in the world, perhaps like now but nowadays they don't play as the best team in the world.
Nothing else, i think with bryant, james, ... they shouldn't need a tall center.

The hour of the matches is the **** of china, jiji

c u

Sea Devils

Exactly how I feel about the US Team

BRM

I think the current Celtics team would be a better team to represent the USA they have experience as a team and are coming off an NBA championship season. At least there would be role players in there which has always been a problem for these dream/all star teams.

To many superstars and not enough role players, I think sheed, garnett, dunkan, camby would have all been better additions than prince. Time will tell but against zone defence superstar guards wont get easy routes to the basket and 3 point shooting can be difficult against a zone.

Sea Devils

Can someone explain to me exactly what's so different about the international game?

I mean...wider key, yeah. No goal tending after the ball touches the rim...yeah. But it's not THAT different.

In reality, the fact that it's single elimination is what's knocked the USA out in previous competitions. No one comes close to beating this team in best out of 7 since 1988.

*end mini-rant*

Fer_

Sea Devils wrote: »

Exactly how I feel about the US Team

Interesting article. I mostly agree with it, but I think the current team has actually a really good and powerful center: D. Howard. Note that the rest of teams haven´t got any center able to stop him.

Probably US will win the gold medal. I think the only way to beat them is playing a perfect zone defense (cause man on man they´re unstoppable and they´re not used to attack that type of defense) and having a brilliant attack. I think the only teams that are be able to beat them (with lucky and playing at their best) are Greece, Argentina and Spain.

Sea Devils, it´s not only the small changes in the rules. Also, the game is a bit different. In the NBA, they´re used to play stronger, more physical contact is allowed, while FIFA referees call more faults. Anyway, since they´re some of the best players, it shouldn´t be an excuse for them.

Mikeyt086

I pray... I pray to the god of RTE.

PLEASE... PLEASE dont have that guy commentating from the last Olympics!

He had an information sheet infront of him with Name, Height, Team on it and everytime someone scored he would list those 3. Example:

*Really annoying Dublin/Waterford accent*
"Tim Duncan, with the slam-jam, the 6 foot 4, from San Antonio"

Like wtf, he actually said Slam Jam. I hated him. I wont watch if he is commentating.

Kinetic^

Sea Devils wrote: »

In reality, the fact that it's single elimination is what's knocked the USA out in previous competitions. No one comes close to beating this team in best out of 7 since 1988.

The way the NBA scheduling is done is retarded. 82 games in a regular season? :rolleyes::rolleyes: Then you may have another 28 after that? It's ridiculous. There's just some times when you don't deserve a 2nd chance and the playoffs is where that should be. Every team should play each other home and away. If they still want playoffs after that then it should be the top 8 from all teams.

Sea Devils

I've said it before but if Dwight Howard goes down we will lose.

Nothing I've seen in the three exhibitions have made me change my mind about that

Lirange

Defence has definitely improved over 2004.

Bryant is the best perimeter defender in the NBA.
Prince is the most versatile defender.
Howard led the league in blocks.
Paul led the league in steals.

They only used Howard sparingly in the preparation game against Russia yet still bottled their offence. Exhibition games mean little but the team did struggle more in the pre-Olympic warm-ups in 2004 if memory serves.

Sea Devils

It's all very well listing the accomplishments of Kobe, Paul and Howard etc but on the international level, individual talent is not as important as team play. Especially when you get to the single-elimination knockout stages.

Lirange

I was addressing the personnel issues raised by the article and earlier posts in thread. As such evaluating the team from that standpoint it is a better group than 2004. What they do on the court and how the coaches prepare them is a different question altogether.

Fer_

Sea Devils wrote: »

It's all very well listing the accomplishments of Kobe, Paul and Howard etc but on the international level, individual talent is not as important as team play. Especially when you get to the single-elimination knockout stages.

It´s not so important, but helps a lot. And sometimes, individual talent makes you win games, specially the close ones.

US - Russia: 89-68. Very easy win for US. Note that Russia is the current European european winner and it´s not a bad team at all.

By the way, Kidd is the starter point guard, but after few minutes, he is always replaced by Chris Paul, who is the real and authentic playmaker of this team.

Sea Devils

US looked pretty sluggish for the most part of the game vs. Russia. It was more them not executing though, IMO. Jason Kidd needs to sit the whole game. Deron Williams is the best PG on the floor when he plays.

Sea Devils

BEIJING — Between Yao Ming's return and President Bush's arrival, this might be the only Olympic basketball game in which the guys wearing red, white and blue have to cede the spotlight.

The United States begins the tournament Sunday night against host China, a game that figures to have a lopsided result but should feature an atmosphere that rivals a Super Bowl or any other championship match.

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are the headline names on the gold medal favorites, but the star power this time goes well beyond them. Yao is back from a foot injury to play before his frenzied home fans. Bush will become the first U.S. president to attend an Olympic Games on foreign soil.

"I think that is going to be one of the most-watched games in sports history," U.S. forward Carmelo Anthony said. "It's going to be exciting."

USA basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said the Americans have been told more than a billion viewers are expected, potentially making it the largest audience ever for a sporting event.

Link:eek:

Sea Devils

I must have got my times wrong because the BBC Site says they start around 1 PM. Tommorows game against China is around 3.15 PM here but anyway a revised update on the BBC site says most of them start in the afternoon or midday. Sorry for any confusion:(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7492407.stm

Fer_

You´re right, Sea Devils, USA-China is at 15.15h Irish time.

I don´t know if it is going to be the most watched basketball game in history, but if not, it will be very close for sure.

Anyway, in terms of game level, I think that Lithuania-Argentina (9.45h) and specially Spain-Greece (7.30h) will be much better.

I can´t wait!!!

Kinetic^

Decent enough game between USA & China. China just have no decent ball handlers and struggled getting the ball up the court. Outside shooting was relied on too often.

Sea Devils

Pretty easy stuff for the US although the outside shooting remains a concern 1-12 from downtown. As I expected Kidd is still a liability (0 points 0 assists and 3 turnovers) but LeBron ,D-Wade and Howard were easily our best players. Some of LeBrons blocks were out of this world.

Overall theUS played wonderfully that second half as a team. Besides Spain, there should be no problems through group play.

Oh and did anyone else lol at that Yao Ming 3. Thought it was hilarious anyway:)

Fer_

After watching the game (kind of training for USA), this is what I saw:

1. China is a **** team. They were scared. You have to respect your opponent, but never have fear.

2. Yao Ming is big, very big, and he has good movements, good shooting, but he plays like my mother!! For the God´s shake, with I bit more energy, passion and guts he would be the best center... what a pity...

3. Sorry, but I still don´t see USA playing as a team. No screens, no pick and rolls, no plays... I just saw one-on-one and counterattacks. They base their victories on their great individual talent and physic. They are lucky because the three players who know more about team playing are the point guards, and sometimes they are able to bring some sense to their play.

phil

Watched the game with Timmy McCarthy and Liam McHale commentating

I'd pay money to get Timmy McCarthy off the RTE panel for basketball. Liam McHale is reasonable in his analysis, but their lack of knowledge of the international basketball scene (even team USA which is about 100 times more high profile than any of the others) is pretty shocking for supposed experts. McHale tends to analyse what he sees on the court without much context based on experience. Tipping China to potentially cause an upset based on the opening 5 minutes isn't very astute analysis IMHO.

USA vs Spain ... can't wait

I have the BBC site bookmarked which has the games in local times so there's no messy timezone subtraction http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/basketball/default.stm

My comments on USA basketball is that they seemed to have ditched a lot of things they were meant to have gotten right and tried to completely overwhelm the chinese in the first 10 minutes. They left a lot of outside shooters wide open trying to get steals and jumping at fakes. Eventually they started to kill in transition, and their open court play is undoubtedly the best in the world. They are still not working their half court offense and you can see the reduced 3 point line is hurting the spacing for the likes of LBJ, Kobe and Wade. Still find it hard to look past them but they will need to fix that against Spain.

Lafortezza

If you have the connection to handle it, www.rte.ie has some of the games streaming online. I watched USA v China yesterday and the sound and picture quality was fine. Best of all there's no commentary!

If the US comes up against a team that has good transition defence and a solid point guard then they could have problems. As phil said they have very weak half court offence, mostly it seems to be drive and dish then crash the boards. Fast breaks are pretty impressive though.

Kinetic^

There's no way I'd subject myself to watching basketball on Irish TV. At least when the national league was being covered by TG4 you had no ****ing clue how retarded they were being! I watched the highlights on BBC2 and they had John Amaechi commentating, wasn't great but I know it was better then RTE.

Are the games being shown on P2P? Although if RTE are showing them without commentary that would be good.......except they're on during work hours!

I agree that the USA transition play is exceptional but against the upper tier teams, they'll need to set up in a half court set play. I know the 3 line is shorter.......they just need to step out further, they're used to the distance and it will free up space inside. The USA team were obviously versed well by Mike K not to argue with refs as they just got on with things.

Question......is there defensive 3 seconds in international ball? If not, with the wider lanes the 1-3 positions should get to the hole a lot easier.

I was also thinking about the differences between the 2 types of games (NBA & international). I came up with only a short list of things:

• No timeouts called by a player (this is a big thing imo)
• No 20 second timeouts
• Shorter 3
• Wider lanes

Fer_

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Question......is there defensive 3 seconds in international ball? If not, with the wider lanes the 1-3 positions should get to the hole a lot easier.

Yes, there is, but nobody call it.

Kinetic^ wrote: »

I was also thinking about the differences between the 2 types of games (NBA & international). I came up with only a short list of things:

• No timeouts called by a player (this is a big thing imo)
• No 20 second timeouts
• Shorter 3
• Wider lanes

- 5 faults limit, instead 6.
- quarters of 10 minutes instead 12.
- Traveling! It's unbelievable, these american guys do traveling every single time they take the ball, specially in transition (referees don't dare to call it). Come on, guys, bouncing the ball before moving your pivot foot is not really a big deal, isn't it?

Sea Devils

LMAO when Melo was posted up and scored on by a much shorter Angolan player. He really is that lazy defensively.

Aside from that can't take a whole lot from todays game.. Kobe was strangely awful missing all eight 3-pointers he took and the 23 percent from long distance tells it's own story.

Irony really is today was the anniversary of the Dream Teams First game when they won by 68. Today they won by 21. Guess it just shows you how far the gap is closing in International ball

Sea Devils

I love the way our Defense is playing at the moment especially Wade. His 6 steals plus his energy and scoring means he's probably the best player in the Tournament at the moment.

Also kudos to Bosh for holding his own against Greece's baby Shaq. Hit his free throws, defended well, scored, and ran the floor and was better then Howard

BRM

Quote from dre after todays win after all the talk bout an upset :pac:

"Now you wanna run around talkin bout guns like I ain't got none What you think I sold 'em all? Cause I stay well off !"

nirelandguy

Kinetic^ wrote: »

There's no way I'd subject myself to watching basketball on Irish TV. At least when the national league was being covered by TG4 you had no ****ing clue how retarded they were being! I watched the highlights on BBC2 and they had John Amaechi commentating, wasn't great but I know it was better then RTE.

Are the games being shown on P2P? Although if RTE are showing them without commentary that would be good.......except they're on during work hours!

I agree that the USA transition play is exceptional but against the upper tier teams, they'll need to set up in a half court set play. I know the 3 line is shorter.......they just need to step out further, they're used to the distance and it will free up space inside. The USA team were obviously versed well by Mike K not to argue with refs as they just got on with things.

Question......is there defensive 3 seconds in international ball? If not, with the wider lanes the 1-3 positions should get to the hole a lot easier.

I was also thinking about the differences between the 2 types of games (NBA & international). I came up with only a short list of things:

• No timeouts called by a player (this is a big thing imo)
• No 20 second timeouts
• Shorter 3
• Wider lanes

I watch NBC's coverage which is excellent, they have all the old commentators they had when they showed the NBA on NBC and even the old NBA on NBC music and at least they know what they are talking about, not like the half cocked Irish attempt

BRM

Spain..

Kinetic^

I didn't see the stats but I'm presuming Lithuania rested a lot of their starts in the loss to Australia?

Kinetic^

Quarter-finals for the men is tomorrow. All games apart from USA's should be decent to watch.

0730-0915: Spain v Croatia

0945-1130: Lithuania v China

1300-1445: USA v Australia

1515-1700: Argentina v Greece

Hazys

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Quarter-finals for the men is tomorrow. All games apart from USA's should be decent to watch.

0730-0915: Spain v Croatia

0945-1130: Lithuania v China

1300-1445: USA v Australia

1515-1700: Argentina v Greece

Has it been drawn who the US will play in the Semis?

Does any1 think the Aussies have a chance? in the pre-olympic friendly Australia didnt fare too badly while missing their best player

Sea Devils

With the handy help of Wiki if they beat the Aussie's they are drawn to play the winners of Argentina or Greece

And I would a tight game with the Aussie's. That being said, I dont think the team lets up. They know this is a one and done deal when it comes to getting that gold.

I think it'll be similar to last game...around an 11 point difference, but the US wins

Kinetic^

Live stream on www.rte.ie now!!!

Kinetic^

Lithuania's ball movement is killing China. They're so fast on rotating the ball and will always make the extra pass to get the correct shot. China's ball handling is hurting them again. Lithuania up by 15 or so at the end of the 3rd.

63587614

Man I can't get the RTE coverage on my computer at work. The media player will not load up. The same thing happened yest on the laptop at home.