Oh, for a three

[Ryan, Patrick S Maj RES USAFR 439 MSG]

Didn't the original poem begin, "For want of a nail..."?

 

The day the US went away from its basketball roots to build worldwide fan
interest in the game of basketball with the "Dream Team" was the same day we
began down the path of becoming also-rans in a sport the US invented.  The
reason I find it so ironic is how the portrayal of the story has changed to
fit the current spin.  The original "reason" behind the Dream Team was that
the college kids couldn't compete anymore. The other countries were using
"pros", sequestered away in basketball gulags playing 24/7 with the same
personnel to become some "uberteam" used to each other...a true team. So
along come the US pros - the very epitome of basketball prowess.  This was
back when the NBA still used some of the team themes - just coming off the
eighties heyday before "Jordan rules" and "Bad Boys" and Riley thugball.
"Showtime" and "The Big Three" Lakers and Celtics teams were still team
oriented, not yet totally immersed in the iso-ball phenomenon to come.  So
now we come around to 2006, and lo and behold the story is we can't create a
"team" in our short time together. The Europeans are together too long,
knowledgeable of the team they put on the floor.  Same excuse, new players,
new spin on an old argument that has as little merit now as it did then.
There is a "reason" we lose now...it's the same reason we started losing
then.

 

It's the fundamentals, stupid.

 

The original dream team weren't just the best athletes - they were most
fundamentally sound players of a generation. They could both execute and
defend the pick and roll. They could rebound (boxing out rebounding too, not
just out jumping the other guy) and from that rebounding they could fast
break. They made the extra pass.  They could (GASP!) shoot.  The only "high
flying dunker" showman was Jordan (and he was the best defender on the
team). They moved without the ball. Picked away from the ball. Made back
door cuts. Played tough in-your-face man to man defense. The 3 pt shot was
part of the offense - not the offense itself.  They had post men that could
put the ball in the hoop and keep the other guy from doing the same.

 

But as the Dream Teams progressed - they no longer were the most fundamental
players - they were the "stars", but that's the NBA today isn't it? We reap
what we sow. Stagnant, isolation offense, poor defense for all but the last
three minutes of the fourth quarter.  

 

That's why a team of Greeks supposedly not "NBA ready" beat a collection of
NBA "stars". They were more fundamentally sound in every facet of the game.
They weren't the best basketball athletes, but they were the best basketball
players. So as long as we continue with the street style, NBA star attitude
we will continue to lose on the world stage.