Re: Could an all world team compete?

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Roy Enrile wrote:
> 
> >Someone on the list was saying the international 
players aren't really 
> >catching up because even an "all world" team would 
have no chance of
> >staying within 20 pts of the U.S. if they sent their 
best players:
> >Shaq, Duncan, KG, Kobe, Kidd.
> >
> >I would disagree and say that a healthy team of
> >Ilgauskas,Divac,Ming
> >Gasol
> >Nowitzki,Kukoc
> >Stojakovic,Kirilenko
> >Nash,Parker
> >
> >could compete with the best from the U.S..   The 5 
starters are
> >better than alot of U.S. allstars.  They'd be favored 
over the current
> >team USA (clipped).
> >

Roy's got me. That's a good "All World" team with a 
realistic chance to compete against Shaq/Kidd/Duncan etc. 
It only takes 8 or 9 top guys to compete, and the "World" 
does have that talent today.

But what I originally wrote, or THINK I wrote ;-), was 
that if you took the All Tourney rest-of-the-world team 
and formed a pick-up team, they shouldn't be expected to 
play any better than what was a US "pick-up" team in 
Indy. 

In simple terms, there is mucho difference between the 
words "Team" and "All Star Team". 

For instance, if an Ivy team like Princeton played 
against the winner of the McDonald's H.S. All Star game, 
they would probably win easily. But if the McDonald's 
kids all attended the same college, by mid-season they 
would likely spank Princeton and by March, they'd be a 
Final Four type team. 

By the same token, if a nowhere-near-NBA-All-Star like, 
say, Joe Johnson, Joe Forte or Kedrick Brown had played 
in the Argentinian or Yugo national programs for the same 
length that the others have all been together, I feel 
they would be starting on those teams (possibly 
starring). That's how damn deep USA basketball is in 
talent, if you ask me. In terms of depth, no single 
nation is anywhere close.

So in conclusion, Mr Enrile, I wish you would just try to 
work on the quantity and quality of your posts, learn the 
gender of the various posters etc. etc. Just kidding. :-)

Joe

BTW, did you guys read that long Yao Ming interview with 
David Arledge (sp?)? He sure sounds like a kid with the 
right sense of priorities. If he has a healthy NBA 
career, he'll do his country proud I'm sure.


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