Do you think the Beijing Olympics will be Rigged?

[dd24]

maybe there is thought in the USA selection,maybe they think that the likes of shaq would not cope with defending the likes of bouroussis a 7ft centre who shoots the 3 real well.Or tsartsaris,ntikoudis, or other 4-5's that can shoot well.I don't know but maybe they wanted quicker more athletic defenders for these type of european inside players who actually dont play inside!However what they are maybe being shortsighted about is that in europe players are versatile and these shooting big men can actually play inside too.

That is the thought. They wanted quick athletic guys who could play the perimeter. They didn't completely forget about the inside game but certainly could have made it better. Sure with a guy like Shaq he wouldn't be able to be put in the game against the big men who play the perimeter. But a guy like KG could. I will say in the selection committee's defense, KG is a complete jerk off the court and just won't play. They did want him. Bosh is a legit big man who will end up playing center. He can match up with Pau while Dwight matches up with Marc. Dwight will also be able to match up with Yao while there are quite a few guys who can match up with Yi. Yao is a beast, but Yi still has some growing to do. He will be a very good power forward one day but not quite yet. China doesn't scare me too much anyhow. The problem is if any one of those guys got into foul trouble that could throw the whole game into a different perspective. What we saw in 04 was Duncan being the only big man and the refs calling some very questionable fouls against him making him sit the bench. That was a big part of the USA's losses. I guess it depends on what those countries have coming off their bench. I wish I could find rosters of all the countries who have qualified.

[b.jerk]

There are some big guys in the euroleague that are going to take it to hole and neither Chris Bosh or Dwight Howard are going to stop them. The game is shifting to europe and this is team USA's last best chance to win an international tournament and team usa maybe throwing it away because not enough big men.

[dd24]

Let's not make any over statements here. This is definately not the last chance for the US basketball team to win gold. They are going to bring right in the heat of things in 2012, 2016, etc. I will agree they didn't send their best big men. I'm the one who brought it up. There are also some good big men over seas. But if there was someone who is truly the greatest player in the world that is in the Euro league I can gaurantee there are teams in the NBA that would pay him more than twice what he makes over there after the exchange rate. It's a bit of an overstatement to say there are players in Europe that nobody in the world can stop. So there's a Michael Jordan in Europe that nobody in the world knows about?

[simasu01]

Honestly, it really might be one of USA's best last chances to win something, maybe the 2010 World Championship, but there doesn't seem to be a next LeBron, Carmelo, Dwight Howard, so the so called "domination era" might end with them, because none of the drafts since 2004, besides Howard, produced anyone that's really good. I guess you could say Chris Paul and Deron Williams, but they are team players, and will need to pass the ball to someone. The 2006 draft is a total dissapointment, I think Rajon Rondo is the best player from that draft, and again, he's a point guard. Greg Oden is still a mystery, Kevin Durant is still too inconsistent and too weak for the international game. From the guys drafted yesterday, I won't comment because I haven't seen much of any of them, except for Gallinari, who is Italian. The 2012 Olympics, LeBron will be in his late 20's, same with Melo. The core of the group will still be there, meaning LeBron, Melo, Wade, Bosh, Howard, Paul. But they will also need other players, which they look pretty weak on right now, with European and South American teams looking much stronger every year.
There isn't anyone unstopable, but due to the team game in Europe, there will be unknown players to the US scoring points, a la Schortsianitis in 2006.

[la bomba]

Let's not make any over statements here. This is definately not the last chance for the US basketball team to win gold. They are going to bring right in the heat of things in 2012, 2016, etc. I will agree they didn't send their best big men. I'm the one who brought it up. There are also some good big men over seas. But if there was someone who is truly the greatest player in the world that is in the Euro league I can gaurantee there are teams in the NBA that would pay him more than twice what he makes over there after the exchange rate. It's a bit of an overstatement to say there are players in Europe that nobody in the world can stop. So there's a Michael Jordan in Europe that nobody in the world knows about?

Oscar Schmidt never went to the NBA,More recently Bodiroga,who for me was one of the best players in the world.Actually still active I would say Papaloukas and Smodiz are both great players that could play in any NBA team,they are no Michael Jordans but they are sure better than a lot of nba starters.As for team USA's chances?It will never be their last chance,they will always be favourites,I insist on that,their pool of players will always be larger than any other nation's.Even though I firmly believe that other nations have great teams that could beat USA,they are still the team to beat.

[dd24]

In 2012:

Lebron - 27 years old
Camello - 28 years old
Chris Paul - 27 years old
Deron Williams - 28 years old
Kobe Bryant - 34 years old
Dwight Howard 27 years old
Chris Bosh - 28 years old
Tayshaun Prince 32 years old
Dwayne Wade - 30 years old
Michael Redd - 34 years old

Everybody I've listed except for Redd, Bryant, and Prince would be able to play in 2016 if they wanted to. That's seven guys that could remain the same up until 2016. Do you really think we aren't going to have another 5 world class basketball players in the NBA in the next 8 years? Get real. Right now we have Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Rodney Stuckey, Andrew Bynum, Michael Beasley, LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Al Horford, and Joakim Noah all of which could be great players. That's just looking in the past couple years. Just on that list Bynum and Noah are legit centers. Durant will be an amazing player. He's tall, can create his own shot, and can shoot the lights out. He would tear up the international game. You have to remember the NBA game is more physical and is generally why Europeans don't make it in the NBA. The kid was 18 years old and put an NBA team on his back. There aren't too many people that have done that. Paul and Williams can both score and pass. I don't know why you would say different. Look at their teams stats. They were right at the top in scoring and obviously in the league for assists. They can create their own shots and penetrate as well. Did you forget the late 20's is when an athlete hits their prime?

Also as for the unknowns I don't believe there will be as many. The league now scouts Europe and the rest of the world much better than they did before. There have been so many draft busts they have been forced to. Does that mean that an unknown athlete can't step up and have 1 good game. No, but it will be more unlikely because the team will know every player on the roster. That factor which has helped Europe in the past isn't going to be such a help for them in the future.

[b.jerk]

This is team usa is the last best chance to win and team usa will never be as big as a favorite as they are for the next tournament

[dd24]

This is team usa is the last best chance to win and team usa will never be as big as a favorite as they are for the next tournament

I need more of a reason than that. How can you explain a team that has some of the best athletes and coaches in the world isn't going to be one of the favorites. I just posted over half of the athletes that could be on the 2012 roster and even some up and coming players. That's all besides the fact that in the next 4 years there is going to be even more talent in the NBA. It would be impossible to not find 5 more very good players. Even if it isn't the best the NBA has to offer (like it has been the past 4 years) they are still going to be one of the favorites. I'm not saying they will be the #1 favorite above all but they will be in the discussion of favorites every olympic.

[dd24]

Oscar Schmidt never went to the NBA,More recently Bodiroga,who for me was one of the best players in the world.Actually still active I would say Papaloukas and Smodiz are both great players that could play in any NBA team,they are no Michael Jordans but they are sure better than a lot of nba starters.As for team USA's chances?It will never be their last chance,they will always be favourites,I insist on that,their pool of players will always be larger than any other nation's.Even though I firmly believe that other nations have great teams that could beat USA,they are still the team to beat.

I agree with you. There are people over there who are talented and could be starters for most the teams in the NBA. Some of them might even be all-stars. But there isn't anybody in the world who could just score at will. There's only one person in the world who could go out and score 50 any night they want to and that is Kobe. Will he in the Olympics? Absolutely not. That isn't his role. He'll primarily be an outside shooter and a defensive stopper.

[b.jerk]

Team USA will always be one of the favorites in the near future but next tournament they won't be "the team" anymore. From the outside the american system is a wussier system than some of the european countries.

[dd24]

So even though the next team could be identical to the one this year with the exception of they will actually be better players then how can they be talked about as one of the favorite teams in 2008 and not 2012? Remember the core of the team will be in their prime in 2012. The system is irrelevant at that point. Same players, more experience, more knowledge, and in their prime and yet they are somehow going to go from the top to the bottom. There's still something missing here.

[b.jerk]

In the past euroleague competition couldn't prepare people for team usa but it's different now. The euroleague is getting better and better and in the future the better countries are going to see an elite level of competition throughout the season

[la bomba]

I agree with you. There are people over there who are talented and could be starters for most the teams in the NBA. Some of them might even be all-stars. But there isn't anybody in the world who could just score at will. There's only one person in the world who could go out and score 50 any night they want to and that is Kobe. Will he in the Olympics? Absolutely not. That isn't his role. He'll primarily be an outside shooter and a defensive stopper.

yes maybe now.But what I am saying is that it is not an exclusively nba thing,to get players who can score for fun.Oscar Schmidt ,even in the eyes of a lot of NBA commentators never played in the NBA and he could go out and score 50 points,60 if the team needed it!If not there are plenty of videos in youtube of him singlehandly destroying the US.Best scorer ever,full stop.

[dd24]

Oscar Schmidt was good but definately not the best scorer ever. The only US players he ever beat up on were college players. He definately could have came to the NBA, but his name would not be held with those of Jordan, Wilt, and Kobe among the greatest scorers of all time. The Nets actually took him with the 6th pick in the 84 draft but he didn't come to play in the NBA for a couple reasons. One was he didn't want to give up his title as an amateur so he could compete in the Olympics. The other was he didn't want to play only 10 minutes a game. He put up his numbers against amateur athletes. His great game against the US which was amateur players while he was an athlete in his prime.

He had his chance to play against the dream team in 1992. That was his chance to show he could compete with the best in the world. That is the best team that was ever assembled. If that team went today to the Olympics the results would be the same. The US beat Brazil 127-83. He had another chance in 96 but his team lost there too.

Also for those who don't like to see one person shoot the ball all the time and try to rip on someone like Kobe for shooting too much, Schmidt was really the only person on his team that ever shot the ball. Their game was to set screens and get Schmidt open so he could shoot the ball every time. I know he didn't have much of a team to play with, but think about that when you say things about Kobe. When he was shooting a lot he didn't have anybody else who could really score either.

Schmidt was good and without him we would never have this thread. He is the reason NBA players are playing in the Olympics and a big part of the world needing to play catch up in basketball as a result of that. The thing here is, he was from Brazil, which of course isn't in Europe. I thought we were talking about European players.

The best European player is Drazen Petrovic. He was quite possibly the best shooter in the NBA. Even Reggie Miller says the only player that could have had a better shot than him in his playing career was Petrovic. It seems like Petrovic scored 62 to Oscar's 44 at some point too.

I think Schmidt would have started in the NBA but he wouldn't have been an all-star.

[simasu01]

It absolutely won't be the last chance for team USA, the country is too big for that, but what we are trying to say is that their chances will be smaller and smaller every year, especially with the progress of Spain, Lithuania, and Serbia, even though they haven't been much recently, they have Milan Macvan, and are always a strong basketball country. It looks like Latvia is growing up also, together with Greece's new generation. Also, after this championship, the Lithuanian core will retire from the national team, players like Jasikevicius and Songaila won't play anymore, possibly Kaukenas and the Lavrinovic brothers. A new generation of players are expected to compete in Poland's Eurobasket.