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Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
China has far from the strongest basketball team on the world stage, but they have the largest fanbase of the sport in the world, and Yao ended the season in order to get healthy for the Olympic games. The basketball tournament is hyped up in China and the fans are expecting alot. I think China will get put into a weak basketball pool and even then have the refs throw the game in their favor until the semifinals in which case it will be too obvious to throw the game in their favor, China will get blown out and they will have to settle for the bronze, which they will win in another rigged game. Am I the only one who thinks that will happen?
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
They can rig every game and China still won't get a medal.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
The home team always gets put in a weak pool. Look at Germany in the last World Cup. Such a breeze.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=Bruinlove]China has far from the strongest basketball team on the world stage, but they have the largest fanbase of the sport in the world, and Yao ended the season in order to get healthy for the Olympic games. The basketball tournament is hyped up in China and the fans are expecting alot. I think China will get put into a weak basketball pool and even then have the refs throw the game in their favor until the semifinals in which case it will be too obvious to throw the game in their favor, China will get blown out and they will have to settle for the bronze, which they will win in another rigged game. Am I the only one who thinks that will happen?[/QUOTE]
I loled. I heard Heat is still paying the refs for the 06
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Lets say they get put in the pool with Australia, the lowest Euro seed and the lowest American region team. They advance from that, only to meet up with the top Asian team (whoever that is, they suck probably).
Next they will go against someone like Croatia and it will be impossible to cheat that game and they will get blown out. In the bronze metal game, they will be against some Eastern Euro team like Lithuania, who will get payed off to throw the game, and even then, they will only lose by 4.
China will get a bronze and declare their rellevance on the world stage. That is the scenario I see playing out.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=dirkdiggler41]I loled. I heard Heat is still paying the refs for the 06[/QUOTE]
:cry:
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
US team will stomp the China team if need be. No way that game could be rigged without people noticing. They would essentially have to foul out the entire US squad.
In other words, I don't care if it is rigged. I just want the US to show up ready to play.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
so much hate on Chinese basketball.
it's Olympic. no corrupted NBA refs.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
I don't think so, because basketball isn't the only sport that China is hoping to succeed in, afterall, we're pretty good at table tennis, diving, and another random sport which I can't remember. It would not be worth it to 'rig' the Olympic basketball games, because of the magnitude and importance of them. If discovered, boom, China's reputation, already fragile, will be blown open. So I don't think so.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
You can rig a game all you want, that's not going to stop Kobe and Lebron from completely dominating China. Then there is Dwight Howard, KG, Melo and other super stars.
I think after next season if Greg Oden can complete season he will also be on the Olympic team. This isn't soccer...USA >>>>>>>>China
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Right now USA got nothing before they show what they can do in the OL. Every year we talk about not if they are going to win, but by how much.
[img]http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/09/03/sports/03Hoops.1.600.jpg[/img]
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=jason816]so much hate on Chinese basketball.
it's Olympic. no corrupted NBA refs.[/QUOTE]
I hope that isn't a joke. There has been corruption in the Olympics in the past.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
First off, just to get it out of the way... China WILL get preferential treatment in the Olympics because they're the host country. Probably in both the matter of having a weak group or in terms of getting "hometown calls". This usually happens with every Olympic(or other world-wide competition like World Cup) host country.
But to say things will be rigged is going way too far. And if it does get rigged, it will be due to mafia/sports betting rather than some government conspiracy.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=jason816]so much hate on Chinese basketball.
it's Olympic. no corrupted NBA refs.[/QUOTE]
agree their way stricter int he olympics, china wont win if they have yao! i ahte yao:banghead:
us team will dominate, but go the aussies
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
pff. yao will easily avg 50 ppg once he gets back from his injury, no rigging required
but they will probably rig it anyway
seriously though, team china will win the gold medal i reckon (LOL)
ok seriously from now on
USA can't beat the europeans anymore so i don't think they will win... Seriously
my tip: Argentina to win gold
Australia..are we even in the basketball event?...pointless, we will even lose to china..
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=Bruinlove]China has far from the strongest basketball team on the world stage, but they have the largest fanbase of the sport in the world, and Yao ended the season in order to get healthy for the Olympic games. The basketball tournament is hyped up in China and the fans are expecting alot. I think China will get put into a weak basketball pool and even then have the refs throw the game in their favor until the semifinals in which case it will be too obvious to throw the game in their favor, China will get blown out and they will have to settle for the bronze, which they will win in another rigged game. Am I the only one who thinks that will happen?[/QUOTE]
Here is how it works, according to the Chinese officials, basketball is the fourth most popular sport in the olympics behind track, gymnastics and swimming, so it is important, but not the be all and end all you make it out to be. The Chinese Olympic officials (their sporting federation whatever...) actually backed out of a few ventures to promote hoops from 2006 to 2008 because they deemed it not worthwhile, I know this because my old company bid on a few projects.
There will be some shenanigans, tomfoolery or chicanery, but it will probably not be in basketball. My bet is gymnastics or diving where judges are vulnerable to bribery. Koreans are the masters of this:
-In 1988 a Korean boxer defeated Roy Jones Jr. in a split decision despite getting out punched by almost 100 punches.
-In the 2002 world cup reliable sources heard rumors that the prostitutes and large sums of US Dollars were sent to the referees hotel rooms the night before Korea match against Spain, where in which dodgy officiating gave Korea the win.
I don't think China will cheat because they are a force in the Olympics already, and all the demonstration sports will be weird ass games that are only played in China so they will own those too.
The Chinese are very keen to win it all however, so you can bet that if it is close there will be some judges at the pool or the gymnastics venue looking a little too favorably on China.
In hoops they realize their limitations.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
of course, it's gonna be rigged.
that's why teams have to blow out china by quite a margin or else you can be sure there's gonna be a lot of bullsh.t calls late in the game.
a missed whistle here and a bullsh!t foul call there can easily change the outcome. and these phantom calls can be very damaging to opposing teams because china can shoot their free throws.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
If you're going to say that the Chinese team will easily beat the Australian team, please do some research first. China (with Yao and Yi) can't even beat teams from the Australian NBL competition - the last time they played against a NBL team, the Sydney Kings, game ended in a draw when the Kings coach told his team to leave the court before overtime, feeling they were Kobe'd by the refs.
It won't be all Chinese refs at the Olympics though so it'll be hard to rig it. And the refs would have to really, really, really work hard to get the Chinese hoops team a medal.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=Hawker]The home team always gets put in a weak pool. Look at Germany in the last World Cup. Such a breeze.[/QUOTE]
Well, Germany is far better compared with the Koreans, who clinched the Semi-final by abusing their Home court's referee power.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
the home team always gets the benefit of the doubt from the refs. in all the competitions and sports. just the way things work.
though, i wouldn't call it outright "rigged"...in most cases it doesn't amount to that much. they'll probably get a few doubtable calls here and there, along with the easier seeding...but i still can't see them winning a medal.
and yeah, south korea in 2002 WC was a bit more extreme example.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
somebody said it right.
China dominates in a lots of field.
for years, China holds more gold medals than any other countries except USA.. this year, we may have a good competition~ especially it's in our home.
Basketball, we know our limits, we are improving.
don't say things like you know all about we chinese just because you watched TV. especially propaganda kind of sh*t
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Olympic refs are from varying countries, not just the host country.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=insidehoops]Olympic refs are from varying countries, not just the host country.[/QUOTE]
money is spent everywhere
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
This thread is a load of pish1you guys are all paranoid,it won't be rigged,China don't stand a chance,it would need to be more than rigged for them to do anything.All the european teams in the comp and Australia are better than China,and no refereeing decisions is going to help them.Yes Yao is good,Yi is still green but there is nothing else.I have seen Spain destroy them twice in a week in a couple of friendlies that was with Yao and Yi ,and I also saw that game that someone else was referring to against the sydney Kings.
Guys stop being so Paranoid,nothing will be rigged.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
china has absolutely no chance, just about every team that qualified is better than them. dont talk **** about lithuania, we're gonna be win it, and for that matter, we're in NORTHERN Europe.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
China Are A Really Good Team But Riggin The Compition Won't Do Much HAHA
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Let's be serious.
Spain would destroy Chinese team.
Argentina would destroy Chinese team.
USA would destroy Chinese team.
Lithuania would destroy Chinese team.
Greece would win Chinese team.
France would win Chinese team.
Italy would win Chinese team.
Germany would win Chinese team.
Brazil would win chinese team.
etc...
Chinese would be good when they get 10 NBA players... but not now.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=LutherHeadJob]
ok seriously from now on
USA can't beat the europeans anymore so i don't think they will win... Seriously
my tip: Argentina to win gold
Australia..are we even in the basketball event?...pointless, we will even lose to china..[/QUOTE]
USA hasn't sent their best players for quite some time. Even this year some of the best are missing, but at least Kobe will be there, even though he'll be playing through an injury.
Here's the thing that I can't believe most people don't talk about. The European basketball rules are different so a less athletic player has a better chance against a more athletic player. I can't wait until FIBA adopts more of the NBA rules. I believe that happens in 2010. Just wait until European athletes have to run a longer court, shoot a longer 3, and don't have a trapezoid for a lane. It's no coincidence that many of the Europeans that come to play in the NBA are busts, but we can send our second rate college athletes to go play in the euroleagues.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=dirkdiggler41]I loled. I heard Heat is still paying the refs for the 06[/QUOTE]
That is funny. I'm not a fan of the Heat or the Mavericks but I've been saying that for the past couple of years as well. I think there is even something to be said about this years playoffs. Instant replay would fix a lot of problems.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=dd24]USA hasn't sent their best players for quite some time. Even this year some of the best are missing, but at least Kobe will be there, even though he'll be playing through an injury.
Here's the thing that I can't believe most people don't talk about. The European basketball rules are different so a less athletic player has a better chance against a more athletic player. I can't wait until FIBA adopts more of the NBA rules. I believe that happens in 2010. Just wait until European athletes have to run a longer court, shoot a longer 3, and don't have a trapezoid for a lane. It's no coincidence that many of the Europeans that come to play in the NBA are busts, but we can send our second rate college athletes to go play in the euroleagues.[/QUOTE]
That is probably the most derogatory and inaccurate piece of dribble I have ever read in here.First USA have had,Wade when he was ta his best,Iversen,Duncan,Garnett,Howard,etc Pretty much allstar players.FIBA rules are just changing some of the dimensions,the rules will remain fiba and i hope they remain that way and not the pathetic nba rules which dont allow you to defend as a team,or those stupid time out cop outs that players are allowed to abuse when good defence has put them in a position that they are about to turn the ball over.Europeans flopping?Nowitzki,Stojakovic,Gasol,Sabonis,Petrovic,illgauskas,etc all flops? and americans in europe?wow I could name hundreds of flops!!as could most people in here. If europeans did so badly there wouldnt be that many in the NBA!
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
The euroleague has caught up with the five star teams that nba has but because qualification was last year, you won't really see it until the fiba tournament in two years
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Go ahead send your players from college to Europe. You still can't win anything for 8 years, everyone is hoping it will go more than that. FIBA rules are basketball rules meant for defence and team basketball, NBA rules are show rules so Americans would watch the game and be excited about the show, not basketball. Celtics played like a FIBA team, while Lakers played like an NBA team. See the results? Seriously, if Europeans are this bad, how come they win awards in the NBA and more and more keep coming?
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Just seen the USA team,not too different to previous years.Shouldn't worry some of the other teams too much.Loads of ball huggers in there,they will be fighting for shots,the likes of Wade,Lebron and Howard have already been there and have been humbled.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=la bomba]That is probably the most derogatory and inaccurate piece of dribble I have ever read in here.First USA have had,Wade when he was ta his best,Iversen,Duncan,Garnett,Howard,etc Pretty much allstar players.FIBA rules are just changing some of the dimensions,the rules will remain fiba and i hope they remain that way and not the pathetic nba rules which dont allow you to defend as a team,or those stupid time out cop outs that players are allowed to abuse when good defence has put them in a position that they are about to turn the ball over.Europeans flopping?Nowitzki,Stojakovic,Gasol,Sabonis,Petrovic,illgauskas,etc all flops? and americans in europe?wow I could name hundreds of flops!!as could most people in here. If europeans did so badly there wouldnt be that many in the NBA![/QUOTE]
Same could be said for this post. Wow you named five players out of hundreds. Speaking of flopping and the NBA rules it seems that the people from Europe have been the ones that do it the most. Is there Americans that go to Europe and flop. I'm sure of it, because all you get are our second and third rate players. You get all of our flops. That is the point I was making. Thanks for helping me out. Our scrubs who can't make it over here go to Europe. While I'm sure not all make the team, there are plenty that do. There is no way those teams in Europe have near the talent an NBA team does.
The roster was just announced today. There's only 4 people who were on the 2004 team. Garnett hasn't played on the team since 2000, when they won gold. You've never seen Garnett, Duncan and Howard on the same team. Don't try to make it sound like the best possible team the USA could put together has went to the Olympics besides 1992. Heck, if Garnett would have been on the team in 04 that would have made enough of a difference for them to win gold. It wouldn't have been blow out wins but they would have went undefeated. Then when the refs called all those horrible fouls on Duncan to get him out of the game, the team would have actually had a back up to play center. Or you probably conveniently forgot about how the 2004 team didn't have a back up at center. Or you may think that Okafur is an elite player in the world. Yeah right. AI are you kidding me even bringing that one up. Iverson's style of play hardly fits most NBA teams let alone international play. Marbury is hardly an elite PG in the league anymore. Wade is good but he isn't a true PG. He plays shooting gaurd in Miami. You must have just forgot that even the couple of nice pieces we had were playing out of position. Carmello is a SF but was playing PF. This year you will find that with a much different team the results are going to be much different. This years team is going to be different than what people saw in 2006. There's no Joe Johnson, Antawn Jamison, Shane Battier, Kirk Hinrich, Brad Miller, etc.
There still is one thing that does concern me with the 2008 team. Again we don't have a back up at center. If KG, Duncan, and Howard would play on the same team together the games would all be blow outs. Since they only have Howard there may be a game or two they are tested but with guys like Kobe, Paul, James, Redd, etc they will still come out on top. Only 6 of the players on this team are from that 2006 team and only 8 are from the 2007 team.
I never said all Europeans were bad. Don't even try to throw that label on me. Is there a few in the NBA that have done well and won a couple of awards, absolutely. How many of those great European players started in the All-star game again? Zero. How many of those great European players even made it to the All-star game? One, Dirk is an obvious choice. Typically that is the one time where we have all of our best players together. Unfortunately, we don't mesh the two together for the Olympics. So where are all these great European basketball players the one time of the year we get together the greatest athletes in the NBA? The point is the majority of them are busts. It's a fact. How many Europeans since say the 2002 draft are even starters in the league. I'd be impressed if there's more than two. Sasha isn't near a starter but finally had a decent season this year. Before that everybody wanted him out of the league. Udrih starts in Sacramento. Bargnani starts but is looking to be a bust. #1 pick in the draft and he averaged 10.2ppg and 3.7rpg last year. Now Toronto is looking for another big man to put next to Bosh. Remind me again how many great Europeans there are currently playing in the NBA. Don't throw names like Petrovic into the conversation. That was a long time ago. If we really wanted to go back that far there would be too many busts to go through. Is the world catching up in basketball? Sure, because our coaches and players have went to other countries and taught them how to play. Is Europe catching up in basketball? Not as fast as the rest of the world. When you say there wouldn't be that many Europeans in the NBA you're right. There isn't very many. They get drafted and then cut. For every name you give me of a great European player I can give you the name of an American player that is better.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=la bomba]Just seen the USA team,not too different to previous years.Shouldn't worry some of the other teams too much.Loads of ball huggers in there,they will be fighting for shots,the likes of Wade,Lebron and Howard have already been there and have been humbled.[/QUOTE]
Not too different???? Work on your reading. There are only 6 players on the team from 2006 and only 8 from 2007. It's still not even close to the best roster we could put together, but it's enough to win the gold.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=dd24]Not too different???? Work on your reading. There are only 6 players on the team from 2006 and only 8 from 2007. It's still not even close to the best roster we could put together, but it's enough to win the gold.[/QUOTE]
6 or 8 players is for me a substantial part of a basketball squad.
Why the hell do you mention the all star game?that has nothing to do with the best players,its about the more spectacular players,more athletic,showtime players voted by the fans.Fans of NBA like spectacular athletic players.A.I who you dish,always goes!so you prove my point.The FIBA rules provide the basis for a better team sport,with great team defences if you dont like that type of ball,thats fine,I dont like the type of ball played in the NBA,with KOBE ball hugging,taking 35 shots and bollocking any team mate that doesn't pass the ball to him!You think all european players are flops? Maybe a lot of them don't cut it in the NBA because their game doesn't suit the NBA,doesn't mean they are worse players than those in the NBA.Spanoulis wasnt given a chance at the rockets,and the few chances he was given,he probably didn't take,yet he raped Team USA in the world championship,ripped a new arsehole in chris Paul's ass.Just like Papaloukas,diamantidis,schortsanitis etc,yet most of these players wont play in the NBA,so what? Papaloukas is one of the best p.g in the world,it doesnt matter if he doesnt play in the NBA.The NBA is not the only way of playing basketball.I hope that European players start realising that its not the be all and end all (like Navarro) and return to europe,that will make me happy and of course you too,so in that we both agree.
BY the way team USA are and will always be favourites for any of these tournaments,they have an inmense pool of talent,but they need to be more respectful of their opponents as it has been proved that they can compete.Puerto rico,serbia,spain,greece,argentina to name some of the teams that have beaten USA of late.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
[QUOTE=la bomba]6 or 8 players is for me a substantial part of a basketball squad.
Why the hell do you mention the all star game?that has nothing to do with the best players,its about the more spectacular players,more athletic,showtime players voted by the fans.Fans of NBA like spectacular athletic players.A.I who you dish,always goes!so you prove my point.The FIBA rules provide the basis for a better team sport,with great team defences if you dont like that type of ball,thats fine,I dont like the type of ball played in the NBA,with KOBE ball hugging,taking 35 shots and bollocking any team mate that doesn't pass the ball to him!You think all european players are flops? Maybe a lot of them don't cut it in the NBA because their game doesn't suit the NBA,doesn't mean they are worse players than those in the NBA.Spanoulis wasnt given a chance at the rockets,and the few chances he was given,he probably didn't take,yet he raped Team USA in the world championship,ripped a new arsehole in chris Paul's ass.Just like Papaloukas,diamantidis,schortsanitis etc,yet most of these players wont play in the NBA,so what? Papaloukas is one of the best p.g in the world,it doesnt matter if he doesnt play in the NBA.The NBA is not the only way of playing basketball.I hope that European players start realising that its not the be all and end all (like Navarro) and return to europe,that will make me happy and of course you too,so in that we both agree.
BY the way team USA are and will always be favourites for any of these tournaments,they have an inmense pool of talent,but they need to be more respectful of their opponents as it has been proved that they can compete.Puerto rico,serbia,spain,greece,argentina to name some of the teams that have beaten USA of late.[/QUOTE]
Changing 6 players on a team is a substantial change.
Why do I bring up the all-star game? I believe I already mentioned this. The reason I bring it up is because like I've said we don't send our best players to the Olympics. It really does have to do with the best players. The best players are the most popular so they get voted in. Sure there are a few snubs every year but that's going to happen. Look at the rosters for last years all-star game. Those are certainly the best players in the NBA. KG, Tim Duncan, Shaq, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, and Vince Carter all aren't on the Olympic team. Who in the world could match up with Team USA if they had Howard, KG, Duncan, and Shaq in the paint? But if we limit that to just Howard now the gap closes a little. Puerto Rico didn't beat the best players in the United States. Carlos Arroyo has gotten every opportunity in the world to be a star in the NBA. It hasn't happened and it won't happen. He can't even crack a starting line up on a team that is dying for help at the PG position.
I do disagree that the FIBA rules promote more of a team sport and this is pretty much what started this whole discussion. I believe the rules were needed to be made different because it gives players who are less athletic more of a chance. One of the results of this could be taken as that would force the players to work as a team but I don't see it as that. The way I see it is like this. It's kind of like when you are little kids and you are playing a board game. There's that one person who always wins, so you change the rules to give yourself a chance to win. Since there wasn't enough athletes that could completely take over a game it wasn't fair, so the rules were changed. I don't believe NBA rules are supreme and the only way to go. I truly think a combination of the two would be good for basketball as a whole. I don't like to watch players flop. I don't like when stupid touch fouls get called. No true NBA fan does. But I also dislike a trapezoid lane that forces teams with great centers to not use them. I dislike the fact that a team who can't play interior defense doesn't half to. If a team can't stop someone slashing into the lane they don't need to. There's certain aspects that are killed with both the rules, which is why I hope FIBA and the NBA work together to take the best from both. I love basketball in general and think it is in the best interest of the sport.
We can bring up Spanoulis, but again that is a team that didn't have it's best players on the court. Chris Paul then and now are two completely different things. Paul had only been in the league for one year at that time. The teams in 2004 and 2006 are by far the worst teams we've sent since 1992. In 2006 I would expect Spanoulis to tear him up in international play. In 2008 it will be much different. We can talk about Kobe too if you would like. He's really not a ball hog and really he's a pretty good teammate. When he was shooting a lot it's because he had to. He didn't have a team. He didn't have good players around him. It makes it tough to play a team game. You probably don't get to see the things about how Kobe takes the team out to dinner and picks up the tab all the time. If you really think he's a ball hog be sure to watch him play in the Olympics this year. You'll see how efficient he is and how ferocious he is on defense. Not to mention he'll be doing that with a hand that requires surgery.
It doesn't make sense for some Europeans to enter the NBA draft. One of the NBA's biggest mistakes is the rookie salary cap. There's players who would make more staying overseas than they will playing in the NBA as a rookie. I think if they started to realize this we would have less busts. If someone is good enough to be a lottery pick they can probably make more money. But it makes no sense for someone to enter the draft if they are going to be a late first round or second round pick. With the US dollar weakening added into that equation a mediocre player is better off in Europe. Let's face it second round picks no matter where they come from are all busts with just a few exceptions. Then there's the flip side of that too. There are teams in Europe that are willing to pay star athletes. Look at the offer Webber got from Olympiacos. He wasn't going to get anywhere near that here.
I actually don't understand the lash out against team USA. Basketball isn't even the #1 sport in Europe. When the USA loses in soccer you don't see us getting all upset. Our best athletes play in baseball, basketball, and football. Moreso basketball and football than anything. We should be winning at basketball and football, not that football is even a world wide sport. We should be losing at soccer. We can put out a team that is decent but obviously not a favorite. It's just the opposite for Europe. A European team should win at soccer. Many of your best athletes play soccer instead of basketball. You can put some decent teams on the floor for basketball but most are obviously not going to be favorites.
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
1)We arent talking NBA refs here
2)You really think a team can stop Kobe and Lebron......you have lost it
and Melo is insane in the olympics
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Re: Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?
Honestly, dd24, you know that there also are Euro teams that play with weak teams. In 2000, Lithuania almost beat team USA. A country of 3 million people. Shouldn't you be blowing teams out like that? And Lithuania never plays with their full squad. Only 2 NBA players, and Songaila isn't even that good. Ilgauskas last played for the national team in 1993. That means we haven't played with a full squad at least since then. For some reason, the NBA did send of their best players in 2002, 04 and 06. LeBron, Melo, and Wade were on 04 and 06 teams, and they are the faces of the NBA right? KG played in 2000, and as I mentioned, they were a shot away from losing. In 2002, USA was 6th in the world champs, and the team featured no superstars, but they should have still done much better, because they're NBA players and all stars, right? Same goes to 04 and 06. I watched most USA games in 2007 Americas, I was impressed, but also not convinced that they were good, because they faced no competition. Argentina had their scrubs, and Puerto Rico was dissapointing. I wish Canada had Nash, that would have been fun to watch. USA played like it was an all star game, throwing no look passes, alley oops and all that. That's fun to watch sure, but what will they do when they see defence? Spain should be the biggest problem, and then Lithuania and Argentina come next. USA has only Spain to compete with in the group, and hopefully they will get 2 top qualifiers there, like Croatia, Greece, Slovenia or Brazil. USA underestimates the world, likewise with the American citizens. They think the world is scared of them and that they are the best. Neither is true. I'm hoping for Lithuania, Spain and Argentina in the top 3 this year, hopefully in this order. Nobody wants to see the USA with medals, I hope they would get knocked out in the group stages, which is almost impossible, but then again, France didn't get out of their group in this years Euros. Never know what might happen.