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RE: JasikeVICIOUS
--- You wrote:
I don't think the world is catching up, but the way we select the olympic
team is very flawed, and will eventually result in our getting beat.
Basically, the way they set it up is as a marketing exercise -- an all-nba
team, minus guys with attitudes/tattoos/posses. But that only results in
having 12 guys who are all used to being the man, who are often
spectacularly talented by deficient in fundamentals, and who don't, as
The Rock says, "know their role." A big reason we struggled the way we did
against Russia and Lithuania is that our guys can't shoot free throws,
aren't used to zone defenses, and tend to get fouls called on them. The
obvious answer to this olympics is to have Shaq play at center; but in the
long run, I think we would be better served to put together a
defensively-oriented team with multiple teammates on it -- guys who are used
to playing together, and who trust each other on offense and defense. And
after the top seven or eight stars, I would add all-star role players -- a
big he-man, a shot-blocker, a ball-hawk, a pure outside catch-and-shoot
specialist. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?
--- end of quote ---
Interesting. Do you think that a decent (or maybe any) NBA team would do better in this situation? NBA teams *have* struggled occasionally - I think the Knicks and the Nuggets had to go to overtime and barely won in the early or mid-90s in those McDonalds tournaments. The Hawks *lost* to the Soviet Union in 1987, but that was in the offseason, so the Hawks may have been somewhat out of shape. On the other hand, the Soviets were playing without injured Sabonis.
As for Shaq's solving Team USA's putative problems, I think he'd be LESS effective in international play, because of the wider lane, zones, and probably less license for bulling his way through defenders on the way to the basket. One would think 'Zo would be the most effective center in this situation because he has most of Shaq's game AND a midrange game.
Kestas