Well, where are all the naysayers??? Please read the report, and pay close attention to the part where it talks about feeding off the defensive energy of Dwayne Wade. Wait, I thought we didn’t play defense??
Where are all the idiots that said they didn’t play team ball??
Maybe those guys knew what they were talking about when they said they’d get it done in the medal round?? First time over 100, did anyone watch the game and did they look as good as the score indicates?
I heard that Roy Williams and Oliver Purnell were trying to convince Larry Brown to play zone, but I kinda thought that would be a bad idea. Duncan was in foul trouble, though, so they may have been forced into one.
I’m upset with the lack of perimeter defense, and the selection of the team (no true distrubtor, no reliable outside shooting), but for sure I’m rooting for them. Unquestionably rooting for them.
I agree with the world catching up (surpasing but at the international style… NBA rules, we’d dominate), but not the reasons. The article is dripping with race references. I blame it on culture, not race. There is no racial basis for the disdain towards Team USA. They can’t shoot, they can’t move the ball. It’s not their fault. It’s the money spender’s fault. It’s the fault of shoe company commercials showcasing dunking and dribbling antics. It’s sportscenter for showing only 3’s, dunks, and dunks, and dunks, and 3’s, and dunks.
It’s Team USA’s responsibility though. At the player and administrative level.
But holy sh*t, don’t play the race card. The race card is so worn out, it’s unrecognizable.
---- And another thing. I’m sick of “Dream Team” references. This is not the Dream Team. There was one. It was in 1992. That’s it. Never since, never will be again. Friggin media.
I started reading it, and then I stopped once he tried to compare the character of PGA golfers with that of NBA players. Whitlock is terrible. Most of you have probably seen him on the Sports Reporters. His stance is “they’re only saying bad things about him/them because he is/they are black”, and he’s that way on every issue that comes up if a black athlete is involved, relevant or not. If he’s on the show at 10am on Sunday, I watch something else. His reverse racism routine is tired. This is America. We will, and have the right to, pull for and against whoever the hell we want to. As I stated before, Iverson on any team will not be rooted for by me. I’m not standing in front of the TV rooting against Team USA, but rather it’s that I could care less how the Team NBA’ers do.
[b]Well, where are all the naysayers??? Please read the report, and pay close attention to the part where it talks about feeding off the defensive energy of Dwayne Wade. Wait, I thought we didn't play defense??[/b]
Did you write that article Bobblin? They beat a team that has ONE player as good as any player in the US starting lineup, or for that matter most of the bench. WHOOPPEEEEEEEE!!! If I hear this crap about “they’ve played together since they were 2” as an excuse for losing again, then I’m going to puke. When your team is better at each position than the other team you can only lose if a: you get outplayed, or b: you get outcoached. Playing together for 20 years will not overcome a major talent deficit that most teams face when they play Team NBA.
I’m glad this team did finally gel and I would give 90% of the credit to the coaching staff. One thing this team cannot be crticized for is their demeanor. through close wins and embarassing losses the US team has been very even-tempered and collected. I believe spain’s coach embarassed himself last night. Maybe it was inappropriate for larry brown to call a last second TO, but spains coach used that move as a soapbox to complain about everything he considered questionable and just some routine jabs, like they’re using NBA rules, they don’t call traveling, larry brown is no dean smith. What a whiner, its not our fault you were too short to actually play, but this is your first loss, granted you were kicked out of the medal round, and you acted just like a jealous european.
I’m glad they are trying too, but I wouldn’t stamp this as the defining moment of their complete turnaround quite yet. If they handle a team that can chuck the 3 ball, then I’ll know that they’re either shooting better, playing better perimeter defense, or a little of both.
Spain was a good matchup for them. Let’s see how they play against a bad matchup.
Glad to see the old Marbury show up. Not sure where he has been, but when he is on he is as good as there is.
The Spanish coach was off his rocker, in international play you can only call a time during a dead ball, so with several minutes left and the game close Brown told the official he wanted a timeout at the next dead ball, the the US went on a run and the next deadball can with only 20 seconds left and the US had the game won. The Spanish coach is an idiot and obviously pissed he had to play the US in the first place and end his run to glory without a medal.
As far as Whitlocks article, this is my favorite exerpt:
In a poll on Page 2’s Daily Quickie on Monday, 54.1 percent of the approximately 20,000 respondents said they wanted to see the USA team lose, and another 19.9 percent said they “kind of” would like to see it lose. I’ve sat on my radio show the past two weeks and listened to alleged patriot after patriot bitch about and shred Team USA and openly admit they want the team to lose. One guy, who identified himself as a former member of the American military, said he hates Team USA because the team doesn’t “represent the America he fell in love with.” I asked him to describe the America he fell in love with, and he said, “it was a country you could walk the streets without worrying about being mugged.”
So there once was a time when a man or woman could walk the streets without worrying about a wild gang of NBA players whacking them over the head with a bottle and taking their wallet or purse? That must’ve been a glorious time, because you can hardly go anywhere these days without looking over your shoulder wondering whether Tim Duncan or Stephon Marbury is stalking you. I know it’s dangerous to make too much of the sentiments expressed by talk-radio callers. But they speak for somebody. Monday evening I wore my Team USA jersey to the Rams-Chiefs game. As I walked to the stadium, people laughed at me and my jersey and several people made disparaging comments about our basketball team."
I am a Whitlock fan and think he is one of the best writers out there and I lOVE it when he is on sports reports. He does stand up for black athletes alot, but it is usually when they deserve it. I have also seen him criticize black athletes when they deserve it. I think there is something to what he says about racism and we’ve seen it on this board. I think some people think that if they don’t use the N word than their not being racist, but if I say the USA team if full of tatoo ridden, hip hop gangsters I’m just stating a fact, a legitimate criticism. I think you can criticize the way the NBA game is played and the lack of fundamentals, fine. But I’ve always been bothered by middle aged white guys who call up talk radio shows to complain about all the black kids who skip the college they have season tickets to and go to the NBA to get paid, yet you never hear complaints about the white kids who skip college and go directly to major league baseball.
Just like it seems hypocritical to complain about NBA players getting in trouble with the law, but if a player for your school does somehow its ok and we just want to look the other way and make it go away.
If it was a team filled with white guys who could shoot but couldn’t play defense. Nobody would fuss about the lack of defense. They’d say we just don’t have enough athleticism. Nobody would question their effort, even if they didn’t play that hard. Why? Because the stereotypical white american basketball players is a good shooter who’s not athletic but tries hard and plays defense. I think Whitlock has an extremely valid point. Dwayne Wade, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and many of the other players on team USA are extremely good defenders who play very hard. Unfortunately this team doesn’t travel and train together for over 2 years like all of the international teams, unfortunately this team doesn’t have the top 15 players from it’s country all locked up to play for them. Heck this is comparable to taking your 10 best guys from the Charlotte YMCA’s and asking them to go play Davidson in an NCAA officiated game. No matter how talented these 10 guys are it’s gonna be a difficult task.
[b]If it was a team filled with white guys who could shoot but couldn't play defense. Nobody would fuss about the lack of defense. They'd say we just don't have enough athleticism. Nobody would question their effort, even if they didn't play that hard. [/b]
If it was a team filled with white guys nobody would care. Why? Because they would not have qualified for the Olympics. The best white players in the NBA would not stand a chance. Since the US so loves a winner, and a winner only, the white-boy fascination would be short-lived once they got beat, and beat again. I’m sure Whitlock would then cry racism again though, since no black guys were selected to play. :rolleyes:
[b]But I've always been bothered by middle aged white guys who call up talk radio shows to complain about all the black kids who skip the college they have season tickets to and go to the NBA to get paid, yet you never hear complaints about the white kids who skip college and go directly to major league baseball.[/b]
Since I just became a middle-aged white guy, I can defend “us” now. I don’t give a crap what the high schoolers do, but the NBA does not have the minimum age like MLB does. Therefore, kids can skip out of college early often leaving their program(s), and my (our) alma mater(s) in shambles. This is more of a rant on the NBA than these kids. Until they put the rule that MLB has in place (must stay in college 3 years if you elect to go), I/we will always complain about kids leaving early.
Ask Whitlock how many PGA golfers were accused of rape last year, have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor in the last two years, or smoke pot regularly. If the percentage is over 0.5% I would be astonished. I would also be astonished if the percentage for NBA’ers of these same acts was less than 25%. There are 336 players in the NBA, and 260 golfers who have won money this year on the Tour. Which would you rather have serve for your kids as role models? Whitlock trying to compare the morality of NBA players to PGA Tour golfers is comical, and ridiculous.
[b]If it was a team filled with white guys who could shoot but couldn't play defense. Nobody would fuss about the lack of defense. They'd say we just don't have enough athleticism. Nobody would question their effort, even if they didn't play that hard. Why? Because the stereotypical white american basketball players is a good shooter who's not athletic but tries hard and plays defense. I think Whitlock has an extremely valid point. Dwayne Wade, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and many of the other players on team USA are extremely good defenders who play very hard. Unfortunately this team doesn't travel and train together for over 2 years like all of the international teams, unfortunately this team doesn't have the top 15 players from it's country all locked up to play for them. Heck this is comparable to taking your 10 best guys from the Charlotte YMCA's and asking them to go play Davidson in an NCAA officiated game. No matter how talented these 10 guys are it's gonna be a difficult task. [/b]
I agree with that analogy 49erFan1. And frankly, from reading the posts about Whitlock’s article, I thought it was going to be way worse before I read it. I don’t really like Whitlock either, because he seems very condascending when he’s on the Sports Reporters.
But I think he pretty much nailed it on this issue. In all the criticism you hear about this team, invariably something about tattoos and hip hop always comes up. There is absolutely no reason in this world for Americans to cheer against this team. NONE of these guys denied the invitation. MANY did. HATE those guys. DESPISE the people that put the team together. But don’t cheer against this team that sacrificed a lot to go to the Olympics.
There is no reason that you should cheer for the American Women’s soccer team, for example, and against the Men’s Basketball team.
And another thing that kills me is that whenever anyone bashes the team, they always do with a caveat…something about everyone “except Duncan”. What makes Duncan any better a person than, say, Richard Jefferson, or LeBron James, or anyone other than Marbury or Iverson (who, I think are both guys who’ve worked out their off-court problems).
Well, anyway, I hope a win today against Argentina (who, after watching them play Greece, really don’t look that good) puts all this to rest and everyone can cheer for the USA in the gold medal game. I hope.
[b]Whitlock trying to compare the morality of NBA players to PGA Tour golfers is comical, and ridiculous. [/b]
I think what he was really comparing was the public’s support of the USA Men’s Basketball team and the USA Ryder Cup team. No one on the USA Men’s Basketball team was accused of rape. As for smoking pot regularly, I personally have no problem with it but understand that many people do. My response to that is do you even know if the PGA tests for that??
X-if we only start cheering for sports teams whose players all exemplify a stellar level of morality, then we might as well all start going to the opera. Sports will be off limits. Should Duke fans not cheer for their team b/c Shelden Williams was accused of sexual assault before coming to school? Ravens fans can’t cheer for the Ravens b/c of Ray Lewis’ off-field issues? We can’t like the Panthers b/c Cooper’s had off-field problems? And don’t even get me started on our beloved 49ers…
X-don’t be a hypocrite. If you don’t like the NBA b/c its stars are giving it a bad name off the court, then don’t support the Niners either.
You would be right, X-49er, if you haven’t already read a book called out of bounds, not the one about the gay basketball player, but the one revealing that 40% of US born NBA players have been convicted or tried for a felony. For instance Ruben Patterson raped his children’s nanny, there was overwhelming evidence and he got 30 days house arrest in his MANSION! The NBA is by far the worst sport for law abiding. Football players are a close second, in fact at any time in any NFL game on average there are 5 players on the field convicted of a felony.
[i]Originally posted by DownwithNBA[/i]@Aug 27 2004, 09:00 AM
[b] You would be right, X-49er, if you haven't already read a book called out of bounds, not the one about the gay basketball player, but the one revealing that 40% of US born NBA players have been convicted or tried for a felony. For instance Ruben Patterson raped his children's nanny, there was overwhelming evidence and he got 30 days house arrest in his MANSION! The NBA is by far the worst sport for law abiding. Football players are a close second, in fact at any time in any NFL game on average there are 5 players on the field convicted of a felony. [/b]
[i]Originally posted by 49erFan1[/i]@Aug 26 2004, 06:47 PM
[b] If it was a team filled with white guys who could shoot but couldn't play defense. Nobody would fuss about the lack of defense. They'd say we just don't have enough athleticism. Nobody would question their effort, even if they didn't play that hard. Why? Because the stereotypical white american basketball players is a good shooter who's not athletic but tries hard and plays defense. [/b]
Well I'd still fuss at them for not playing defense like stereotypical white players!
[b]Unfortunately this team doesn't travel and train together for over 2 years like all of the international teams[/b]
The good teams have at least one player in the NBA that doesnt play for their national team. They still come together,except their roles, and perform.
[b]Heck this is comparable to taking your 10 best guys from the Charlotte YMCA's and asking them to go play Davidson in an NCAA officiated game.[/b]
Great comparison - if the YMCA players were being paid $14 MILLION/year as ‘professionals!’
I will admit that its good to see someone of my own skin color KICK A$$ in basketball. Larry Bird said it - the NBA needs a white superstar.