Olympic Basketball

[foghorn]

On PTI they were discussing how Larry Brown benched Iverson, James, and Stoudimire (sp?) for not coming to a team meeting. And Iverson's the captain! I was sort of looking forward to watching Olympic basketball, but if Iverson's going to continue being such a moron (and I've always been a big fan of AI) -- I don't think I'll tune in. And I bet a lot of other people won't either. I can't see him being a very good influence on those younger guys -- but I guess when everyone's a zillionaire and no one's held accountable, what do you expect?

[D-nice]

i know it's not basketball. but it is an olmypic story none the less.lauren williams (rochester,pa) beaver county. will be running in the greece games and her father had no means of paying to travel overseas and a local western ,pa businessman gave her (lauren williams) father a
$ 10,000 check to cover! that is a great story. go u.s.a!!. i just read this story in beaver county times online.

[D-nice]

oh. and allen iverson is pathetic

[D-nice]

http://www.timesonline.com

[foghorn]

Real nice effort against the Italian team yesterday. The operative word there is team. What a bunch of prima donnas! Larry Brown should have taken a vacation this summer. If he can pull off a gold medal with these guys, he's not only a genius, he's a miracle worker.

[voncap]

I saw one newspaper headline refer to this team as the 'Dream Team'. Let's get real. The only player on this team who could have made the original 'Dream Team' is Tim Duncan.

The '92 team had eight sure H-O-Fers and a few others who may garner some Hall of Fame consideration. This year's team roster is dotted with a bunch of players who may not even be the best player on their respective teams. Taking a closer look at the roster I may go as far as to say the two NBA Finalists last season, if combined, could put together a better team.

Gold Medal!!! With Iverson's distraction on this extremely young team if they get any medal, Larry Brown is a miracle worker.

[once a runner]

I believe the US will still win the gold medal. They are adjusting to the international rules. These guys will pull together when they need to. They are remarkable athletes who will play defense when the games count. They do not want to suffer the embarassment of losing the Olympics.

One thing they really need to do in the future is choose a couple of pure shooters on the team. With the international teams playing zones, it makes it tougher for them to slash and cut and go 1 on 1. They need an outside threat who will open up wholes in the zone. I can't believe they didn't learn their lesson from '88 when John Thompson selected a great defensive team, but nobody could hit an outside shot.

[duckb32]

I think USA will in gold but I dont think its going to be easy. Does anyone else think that writers should quit calling Iverson the leader of that team? If any player on that team is the leader it should be Tim Duncan... a more fundamentally sound basketball player then Iverson will ever be. Dont get me wrong I like Iverson and think hes a hell of a player, but I just think Duncan is more or the "role model" type of player for younger players.

[foghorn]

I was listening to Jim Rome the other day and he made the point that this year's Olympic basketball team has achieved the dubious achievement of getting a significant number of Americans to actually root against them because of the way they play as well as their overall attitude on the court. Obviously the team was put together without any real thought toward the importance of role players -- just a collection of so-called superstars. Still, I tend to agree with a lot of the commentators who stress that the level of international play has improved dramatically in the past 10 years. That and the fact that Olympic basketball, though not a radically different game, is still different. At any rate, all would be forgiven with some big victories.

[Goodwill]

Iverson is a bad virus---everything he is around gets infected. Basically he is a chump and a punk.