No gold for the Garbage Men in Shorts. When you let Iverson and Marberry represent your country in the backcourt you are screwed. Two of the biggest Me players of all time I feel bad for Duncan, he is a class act the rest of these thugs look more like a prison road gang than representatives of our great nation.
Wet Dream Team
- Thread starter Clem D
- Start date
Iverson is a great player, he just needed some guys to pass to that can hit a 3 pointer. All we needed was a 3 point shooter. I think if Freddy Hoiberg had been on this team, we would be getting a gold.
Hell ya, 65!
While "The Mayor" might have played at the other state U here in Iowa, once he moved on from Moo U to the NBA, I've followed his career closely. Even went to an NBA pre-season game here in town when him and the T-Wolves played the Bulls.
He got his nickname while playing at Iowa State, as he went to High School right there in Ames and then played for the Cy-clowns, er, Cyclones.
I really don't hold it against him though, as the only reason they were in that backwater burg in the first place is because his father was a professor at the school......lol.
Can you tell the Hawkeye and Cyclone fans in the state really like taking shots at each other?
While "The Mayor" might have played at the other state U here in Iowa, once he moved on from Moo U to the NBA, I've followed his career closely. Even went to an NBA pre-season game here in town when him and the T-Wolves played the Bulls.
He got his nickname while playing at Iowa State, as he went to High School right there in Ames and then played for the Cy-clowns, er, Cyclones.
I really don't hold it against him though, as the only reason they were in that backwater burg in the first place is because his father was a professor at the school......lol.
Can you tell the Hawkeye and Cyclone fans in the state really like taking shots at each other?
ESPN Radio played a tape of an interview they had between Dan Patrick and Reggie Miller from some time back.
Miller said the easiest way to break a European packed in D was to hit those three's from the outside. He was basically saying (in his way) that he is the best shooter the world has ever seen and that it would be like asking the wolves over for dinner to allow someone as good as he is to shoot from there all day.
I guess the "closenest" of this line really foiled the US team. :142lmao:
I don't know why they didn't have more of an able presence from the outside for this competition.
It all worked out in the end IMO. I didn't want those NBA dopes (Duncan not included) to feel justified by at least getting a medal of some sort in this Olympics after playing the way they have. :moon:
Nice to see water find it's own level.
:sadwave:
Miller said the easiest way to break a European packed in D was to hit those three's from the outside. He was basically saying (in his way) that he is the best shooter the world has ever seen and that it would be like asking the wolves over for dinner to allow someone as good as he is to shoot from there all day.
I guess the "closenest" of this line really foiled the US team. :142lmao:
I don't know why they didn't have more of an able presence from the outside for this competition.
It all worked out in the end IMO. I didn't want those NBA dopes (Duncan not included) to feel justified by at least getting a medal of some sort in this Olympics after playing the way they have. :moon:
Nice to see water find it's own level.
:sadwave:
absolutely loved it. i spent all of my younger years playiing hoops with all kinds. i am a big believer in fundamentals over athleticism. unfortunately i never made it to 6' tall and my "short career" ended in hs. call it bitterness - i'm fine w that. but my game was respected for being able to box out, pass well, and most of all shooting. i will never understand how a player cannot shoot the ball well. there is time to learn for all. how can you not be able to shoot when that is the object of the game you are being payed to play ?
as far as the thugs, with the wide variety of jail house tats, f'm. abunch of overhyped,overpayed, and underachieving ba$tard$. tim d being the only excused party here. i am tired of these guys. i am so happy to see them lose game after game. oh, its another press conference with the "practice" guy. how stupid these guys really are. the defense is deplorable at best. do you think carlos (drunk) i mean boozer is worth all that $$. maybe the cavs got a break when he signed with the jazz.
oh well, i could go on forever. but today was a day for all the guys who watched the 70's and 80's and part of the 90's. maybe the 60's but i didn't see any of it. would love to hear jim rome's take on today. :142lmao:
as far as the thugs, with the wide variety of jail house tats, f'm. abunch of overhyped,overpayed, and underachieving ba$tard$. tim d being the only excused party here. i am tired of these guys. i am so happy to see them lose game after game. oh, its another press conference with the "practice" guy. how stupid these guys really are. the defense is deplorable at best. do you think carlos (drunk) i mean boozer is worth all that $$. maybe the cavs got a break when he signed with the jazz.
oh well, i could go on forever. but today was a day for all the guys who watched the 70's and 80's and part of the 90's. maybe the 60's but i didn't see any of it. would love to hear jim rome's take on today. :142lmao:
we should have just sent the pistons, they were actually the only team in the nba. these players should have a stipulation in their contracts were if david stern says they have to do something they have to do it. period the end
then we could have sent our best team, the bottom line is every country sent their best players except for us. the olympics are for the best althletes in the world and unfortunately we didnt see it the same way.
oh well
spider
then we could have sent our best team, the bottom line is every country sent their best players except for us. the olympics are for the best althletes in the world and unfortunately we didnt see it the same way.
oh well
spider
Put any combo of Ray Allen, Wesley Person, Reggie Miller, David Wesley, Michael Redd, paul Pierce, Billups ect out there and we win the gold
I love it!! :142lmao: Iverson is being interviewed again and the piece of chit has hit hat "banged" so far to the right the son of a beeatch is almost on sideways......don't know about the rest of you, but I don't have any respect for him or the person who put people like him on a team and allow them to claim they are representing the USA....hey AI, wanna represent the people of the USA....start by putting your phucking hat on right you piece of chit....show some respect you dirty bastard!!! It's time to send the college kids back......at least you can demand a certain amount of respect and discipline from them unlike you can from these overpaid egomaniacs......hope they take another beating today!! :yup
I can't believe I feel this way but, I was pulling for our basketball team to lose! I know that is bad, but I'm embarrased by these guys, not only how they act/look,,,but how they play.
If I didn't bet on some of the NBA, I'd never watch a game, period.
They need to rid the hip-hop image immediately!
If I didn't bet on some of the NBA, I'd never watch a game, period.
They need to rid the hip-hop image immediately!
Nice article in today's paper ripping this team...they should be ripped!
A moment of silence for American hoops
August 28, 2004
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
ATHENS, Greece -- The death of American basketball came pathetically, as we knew it would. While giddy Argentines hugged and Eurofans reveled in America's misery, Larry Brown raised his arms and wondered why his lunkheads had stopped playing defense. Forward Luis Scola then threw down the final demoralizing dunk, launching a world party as Lamar Odom chased after a referee who was running off the court.
Snap the picture and post it in the U.S. Hall of Athletic Shame. A heartless, aimless, pulseless collection of soft, whiny, overpaid players have embarrassed their nation. Consumers pay absurd ticket prices so NBA superstars can make enormous salaries, yet these same men care little about giving back to the game and maintaining our longstanding reign in global competition.
That explains why an infamous Friday night in the Indoor Hall ever could happen. An NBA-loaded group that was assembled hastily, following a series of Chicken Little defections, reverted to its sluggish, poor-shooting, defensive-matador ways and became the first U.S. men's hoops team with professionals to fall short of Olympic gold. After being humiliated by Puerto Rico and rocked by Lithuania, Bad Dream Team I was bounced from the championship round by Manu Ginobili and Argentina, which gave the Americans a departing lesson in chemistry, preparation and team ball with an 89-81 victory.
One by one, the losing players slogged through the hallway by their locker room, wearing beaten looks that suggested they know their lives back home never will be the same. "I couldn't ever imagine not winning the gold medal -- until right now,'' said Stephon Marbury, who drew whistles from the crowd when he decked Ruben Wolkowyski with a shot to the face in the final minutes. "I can't even explain it.''
I can. This will be recalled as the team that exposed NBA ball as flawed, shoddy and lackadaisical, not nearly as sound and beautiful as other nations play it. The object of the game is to shoot an orange, pebbled ball through a round basket, something our pros can't do well after spending their formative years perfecting dunks and other forms of showboating. The rest of the world hasn't ascended to our level; we have descended to theirs. And don't let anyone claim differently, even if U.S. assistant coach Gregg Popovich arrogantly tried to give the American public an ill-timed lecture during a heated, disjointed postgame rant.
"It's the American way. If America doesn't win something it is supposed to win, there's got to be something to blame. It's childish and misplaced,'' popped Popovich, who may coach Bad Dream Team II in 2008. "Blame the [selection] committee, this or that. Blame the coaches, this or that. Blame the players, this or that. You have to give credit to basketball around the world and to Argentina, end of story. But the American media and American public don't understand that. If people don't see how the rest of the world has gotten better, they are ignorant and have been living in a phone booth. That's the world we live in and the society we live in.''
So it's our fault, huh? Never mind that Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille and Jermaine O'Neal and others snubbed opportunities to play. Never mind that the NBA selection committee tried to sell shoes instead of naming two or three role players, not to mention a jumpshooter or two. Never mind that the team wasn't brought to camp until late July. Yep, the American public is the problem.
Clearer thinkers understand the real trouble is a lack of commitment at all levels. Once again, despite a close call in Sydney and a royal whipping two years ago at the world championships, the collective U.S. governing body thought it could squeak by. Shame on all of them, with the exception of coach Larry Brown, who tried to force jagged pieces into a puzzle in a single month and actually made some progress. But it wasn't enough to survive balanced, talented Argentina, which sported an impressive front line that includes small forward Andres Nocioni, a bruiser who can shoot -- exactly what the U.S. missed and what the Bulls will inherit this fall when he joins the roster. "To beat players I've been watching my whole life is a dream come true,'' said Nocioni, who had 13 points and five rebounds.
His dream is America's horror show. The foundation built by the original Dream Team -- Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and the gang -- has been burned down by the next generation of ballers. If they don't win tonight's rematch with the Lithuanians for the bronze, they'll go down as the first U.S. men's team not to win a basketball medal. You say Jordan has been working out casually at Hoops the Gym? My guess is, MJ is sending a message -- at 41, he'd have fared better at the Games than all these losers staying on the Queen Mary 2.
Not even Tim Duncan, rock of the NBA, was himself in Athens. He constantly was in foul trouble, and while the officiating was bizarre, to put it kindly, he didn't play with much intelligence and fire. When he fouled out with five minutes left, the American demise was official. "I've never seen him foul out in 19 minutes in any game in our league,'' Brown said. "He never got to play.'' Popovich also defended his San Antonio big man, saying people would "have to be in a bubble'' not to understand Duncan's challenge adjusting to international calls. But blaming the refs is sour grapes when the Bad Dreamers were plagued by so many other ills.
The issue now is how our humbled basketball nation recovers. I mean, America was outhustled in the second half by Walter Herrmann, some guy wearing a ponytail. As one who has predicted this team's demise for two years, allow me to help. Pressure must be placed on the league's greatest players to participate in the Olympics, even if clauses are placed in their $100 million-and-up contracts. They will face heavy fines if they bow out. They will be required to show up for periodic training sessions over a two-year period and will report to camp in late June, even if they participate in the NBA Finals. As for the committee, it will choose more role players and avoid roster decisions for marketing reasons. How about Fred Hoiberg instead of Carmelo Anthony, for instance?
"We can't put together a team idly,'' said Brown, who failed to become the first man to win NBA, NCAA and Olympic titles as a head coach. "We've got to really think about the people we're putting on a team. Think about the preparations that are needed to give us the best opportunity. We played against some great teams.''
America is now a basketball underdog. Driven by that shocking reality the next four years, maybe the U.S. dynamic will change by the Beijing Games. But I doubt it.
A moment of silence for American hoops
August 28, 2004
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
ATHENS, Greece -- The death of American basketball came pathetically, as we knew it would. While giddy Argentines hugged and Eurofans reveled in America's misery, Larry Brown raised his arms and wondered why his lunkheads had stopped playing defense. Forward Luis Scola then threw down the final demoralizing dunk, launching a world party as Lamar Odom chased after a referee who was running off the court.
Snap the picture and post it in the U.S. Hall of Athletic Shame. A heartless, aimless, pulseless collection of soft, whiny, overpaid players have embarrassed their nation. Consumers pay absurd ticket prices so NBA superstars can make enormous salaries, yet these same men care little about giving back to the game and maintaining our longstanding reign in global competition.
That explains why an infamous Friday night in the Indoor Hall ever could happen. An NBA-loaded group that was assembled hastily, following a series of Chicken Little defections, reverted to its sluggish, poor-shooting, defensive-matador ways and became the first U.S. men's hoops team with professionals to fall short of Olympic gold. After being humiliated by Puerto Rico and rocked by Lithuania, Bad Dream Team I was bounced from the championship round by Manu Ginobili and Argentina, which gave the Americans a departing lesson in chemistry, preparation and team ball with an 89-81 victory.
One by one, the losing players slogged through the hallway by their locker room, wearing beaten looks that suggested they know their lives back home never will be the same. "I couldn't ever imagine not winning the gold medal -- until right now,'' said Stephon Marbury, who drew whistles from the crowd when he decked Ruben Wolkowyski with a shot to the face in the final minutes. "I can't even explain it.''
I can. This will be recalled as the team that exposed NBA ball as flawed, shoddy and lackadaisical, not nearly as sound and beautiful as other nations play it. The object of the game is to shoot an orange, pebbled ball through a round basket, something our pros can't do well after spending their formative years perfecting dunks and other forms of showboating. The rest of the world hasn't ascended to our level; we have descended to theirs. And don't let anyone claim differently, even if U.S. assistant coach Gregg Popovich arrogantly tried to give the American public an ill-timed lecture during a heated, disjointed postgame rant.
"It's the American way. If America doesn't win something it is supposed to win, there's got to be something to blame. It's childish and misplaced,'' popped Popovich, who may coach Bad Dream Team II in 2008. "Blame the [selection] committee, this or that. Blame the coaches, this or that. Blame the players, this or that. You have to give credit to basketball around the world and to Argentina, end of story. But the American media and American public don't understand that. If people don't see how the rest of the world has gotten better, they are ignorant and have been living in a phone booth. That's the world we live in and the society we live in.''
So it's our fault, huh? Never mind that Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille and Jermaine O'Neal and others snubbed opportunities to play. Never mind that the NBA selection committee tried to sell shoes instead of naming two or three role players, not to mention a jumpshooter or two. Never mind that the team wasn't brought to camp until late July. Yep, the American public is the problem.
Clearer thinkers understand the real trouble is a lack of commitment at all levels. Once again, despite a close call in Sydney and a royal whipping two years ago at the world championships, the collective U.S. governing body thought it could squeak by. Shame on all of them, with the exception of coach Larry Brown, who tried to force jagged pieces into a puzzle in a single month and actually made some progress. But it wasn't enough to survive balanced, talented Argentina, which sported an impressive front line that includes small forward Andres Nocioni, a bruiser who can shoot -- exactly what the U.S. missed and what the Bulls will inherit this fall when he joins the roster. "To beat players I've been watching my whole life is a dream come true,'' said Nocioni, who had 13 points and five rebounds.
His dream is America's horror show. The foundation built by the original Dream Team -- Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and the gang -- has been burned down by the next generation of ballers. If they don't win tonight's rematch with the Lithuanians for the bronze, they'll go down as the first U.S. men's team not to win a basketball medal. You say Jordan has been working out casually at Hoops the Gym? My guess is, MJ is sending a message -- at 41, he'd have fared better at the Games than all these losers staying on the Queen Mary 2.
Not even Tim Duncan, rock of the NBA, was himself in Athens. He constantly was in foul trouble, and while the officiating was bizarre, to put it kindly, he didn't play with much intelligence and fire. When he fouled out with five minutes left, the American demise was official. "I've never seen him foul out in 19 minutes in any game in our league,'' Brown said. "He never got to play.'' Popovich also defended his San Antonio big man, saying people would "have to be in a bubble'' not to understand Duncan's challenge adjusting to international calls. But blaming the refs is sour grapes when the Bad Dreamers were plagued by so many other ills.
The issue now is how our humbled basketball nation recovers. I mean, America was outhustled in the second half by Walter Herrmann, some guy wearing a ponytail. As one who has predicted this team's demise for two years, allow me to help. Pressure must be placed on the league's greatest players to participate in the Olympics, even if clauses are placed in their $100 million-and-up contracts. They will face heavy fines if they bow out. They will be required to show up for periodic training sessions over a two-year period and will report to camp in late June, even if they participate in the NBA Finals. As for the committee, it will choose more role players and avoid roster decisions for marketing reasons. How about Fred Hoiberg instead of Carmelo Anthony, for instance?
"We can't put together a team idly,'' said Brown, who failed to become the first man to win NBA, NCAA and Olympic titles as a head coach. "We've got to really think about the people we're putting on a team. Think about the preparations that are needed to give us the best opportunity. We played against some great teams.''
America is now a basketball underdog. Driven by that shocking reality the next four years, maybe the U.S. dynamic will change by the Beijing Games. But I doubt it.
agree, djv, but I'm not as critical of our men's team as these other guys. They at least went and played hard. Not their fault that the team wasn't selected very wisely.
In cdn. our olympic hockey team lost in a shootout. every two bit journalist took shots at cdn. hockey.
our system was bad, we were no longer the best, not even the top 3. the truth is team cdn. lost in a shootout which is BS for an important game.
anyways since then cdn. has won every major tournament and the last winter olympics. it was the dream team. except for the junior tournament
the US dream team would lose at one point, talent gets better throughout the world. these games mean everything to the other countries for pride and money (more players / international will be in the NBA). they have a lot to play for.
in hockey like basketball you can have a hot shooter/goalie and that can help a team win one game.
Iverson showed up and played with a broken thumb, that shows character.
thanks
selkirk
our system was bad, we were no longer the best, not even the top 3. the truth is team cdn. lost in a shootout which is BS for an important game.
anyways since then cdn. has won every major tournament and the last winter olympics. it was the dream team. except for the junior tournament
the US dream team would lose at one point, talent gets better throughout the world. these games mean everything to the other countries for pride and money (more players / international will be in the NBA). they have a lot to play for.
in hockey like basketball you can have a hot shooter/goalie and that can help a team win one game.
Iverson showed up and played with a broken thumb, that shows character.
thanks
selkirk
agree selkirk, he might have a lot of hood in him, but he plays with heart.
the Canadian comments reminded me. I saw a Simpsons episode last night and Bart and Millhouse made the Canadian basketball team, lol.
the Canadian comments reminded me. I saw a Simpsons episode last night and Bart and Millhouse made the Canadian basketball team, lol.
selk- With all respect sir a hot shooter did not do this team in, not in a long shot. Lazy over paid millionaires. There is some credence that they didn't choose correct players & they had limited practice time. But these guys don't practice anyway, few work endlessly on their game in the off season like Magic Jordan & Bird. There much to busy getting high or cutting rap albums, or simply shooting people like the dude in New Jersey.
6/5, I think Iverson is possibly the most over rated NBA player ever. I watched 2 below average Celtic teams end there playoff hopes as underdog s 2 straight seasons. And Philly had a far superior team.
War Eagle-I agree with Michael Redd and Ray Allen, but you honestly considered David Wesley, Billupps, Wesley person good outside shooters?? Reggie Miller is finished, did you watch him this season?
6/5, I think Iverson is possibly the most over rated NBA player ever. I watched 2 below average Celtic teams end there playoff hopes as underdog s 2 straight seasons. And Philly had a far superior team.
War Eagle-I agree with Michael Redd and Ray Allen, but you honestly considered David Wesley, Billupps, Wesley person good outside shooters?? Reggie Miller is finished, did you watch him this season?
I know this could not happen, but I'd like them to let the college national champions play in the world championships and olympics. This would solve the no team play concept.
I agree with 6/5 they did GO & for the most part played the best they could & didn't lay down after losing chance for the gold. Re: Iverson sure would like him on my Piston's.
------This will be recalled as the team that exposed NBA ball as flawed, shoddy and lackadaisical, not nearly as sound and beautiful as other nations play it-------
It took this for this dope, Mariotti to guess that NBA basketball has become a complete joke?
It took this for this dope, Mariotti to guess that NBA basketball has become a complete joke?
