Out Of Leftfield
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel Riordan, Times-Union Sports Writer
USA Basketball: A Greek Tragedy?
How quickly one can go from the outhouse to the penthouse.
Allen Iverson spent the United States Men's Basketball team's exhibition opener against Puerto Rico on the bench for all 40 minutes along with Lebron James and Amare Stoudamire for showing up late to a team meeting.
A meeting? We're talking 'bout a meeting?
With one heave from just inside half court on Wednesday, Iverson silenced critics and saved the U.S. from an international embarrassment.
The three-pointer gave the US an 80-77 win over a Dirk Nowitzki-led German squad in Cologne, Germany.
Germany will not join the U.S. in Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Olympics. However, Italy will, and they pummeled the U.S. 95-78 in Cologne on Tuesday. Italy's roster has not a single NBA player on it.
The U.S. men's basketball team is quickly approaching zero hour and they aren't engendering a lot of faith that they deserve to win gold.
On Aug. 15, the likes of Tim Duncan, Carmello Anthony and James will begin defense of a gold medal that was nearly captured by a group of upstart Lithuanians four years ago in Australia.
At the 2002 World Championships, the U.S. lost three times to finish in sixth place.
What a far cry from Barcelona in 1992, when the original and only true Dream Team rode into Spain like kings conquering the land. After the opposition asked for pictures and autographs they gladly took the trashing that was coming to them.
In 1992, the likes of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and John Stockton filled up the roster.
In 2004, the likes of Carlos Boozer, Lamar Odom, and Richard Jefferson are charged with capturing the gold.
The more things change, the more things change and, perhaps for the worse.
This is no slight against the current roster. When Tim Duncan retires he will go down as one of the 50 greatest players of all time. Iverson is the best sub 6-footer of the past 20 years. Lebron, Carmelo, Amare and Dwayne Wade represent the future of the NBA but share just five year of NBA and three years of college basketbll among them.
The world has caught on to this basketball thing and they are on our heels.
No longer are our foreign basketball adversaries star struck. Many of the rising stars in the NBA come from the countries that just one decade ago served as the Washington Generals to the Dream Team's Harlem Globetrotters.
Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Yao Ming, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol are stars both at home and abroad, and they've come to snatch the gold from the USA's neck.
Without the services of Shaq, Kobe, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett, this year's team is quite beatable.
Can this year's squad of NBA all-stars defend a gold medal that has been held on U.S. soil since 1992?
Yes. Despite the fact they've played together for only a few weeks and the motivation of other countries to beat the U.S. is greater than we'll ever know, the U.S. on paper is still the favorite.
And after the ticker-tape parades and morning show interviews are over, USA basketball as an organization needs to sit down and make some substantive changes.
International basketball has become streamlined in how it churns out players. There are no restrictions on when, where and how long players play. In China, they find the most talented of players and ship them off to eat, sleep and breathe basketball. That's an extreme, but the U.S. may be at the other end of that spectrum.
The relationship between high school, college and pro basketball is non-existent. The wealthiest and most resourceful nation in the world hasn't figured out a way to harness its basketball talent to its fullest extent.
The NBA, college, and high school should adopt international rules and the trapezoid lane that is used in International play to let young players acclimate and also relax the restrictions on how much teams can practice and play in the off season.
Whether this year's Olympics holds gold, silver or bronze for the U.S. squad, changes need to be made.
If the U.S. isn't careful, four years from now in Beijing when China hosts the 2008 Olympics, the U.S. could be playing for pride rather than gold. [[In-content Ad]]
By Daniel Riordan, Times-Union Sports Writer
USA Basketball: A Greek Tragedy?
How quickly one can go from the outhouse to the penthouse.
Allen Iverson spent the United States Men's Basketball team's exhibition opener against Puerto Rico on the bench for all 40 minutes along with Lebron James and Amare Stoudamire for showing up late to a team meeting.
A meeting? We're talking 'bout a meeting?
With one heave from just inside half court on Wednesday, Iverson silenced critics and saved the U.S. from an international embarrassment.
The three-pointer gave the US an 80-77 win over a Dirk Nowitzki-led German squad in Cologne, Germany.
Germany will not join the U.S. in Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Olympics. However, Italy will, and they pummeled the U.S. 95-78 in Cologne on Tuesday. Italy's roster has not a single NBA player on it.
The U.S. men's basketball team is quickly approaching zero hour and they aren't engendering a lot of faith that they deserve to win gold.
On Aug. 15, the likes of Tim Duncan, Carmello Anthony and James will begin defense of a gold medal that was nearly captured by a group of upstart Lithuanians four years ago in Australia.
At the 2002 World Championships, the U.S. lost three times to finish in sixth place.
What a far cry from Barcelona in 1992, when the original and only true Dream Team rode into Spain like kings conquering the land. After the opposition asked for pictures and autographs they gladly took the trashing that was coming to them.
In 1992, the likes of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and John Stockton filled up the roster.
In 2004, the likes of Carlos Boozer, Lamar Odom, and Richard Jefferson are charged with capturing the gold.
The more things change, the more things change and, perhaps for the worse.
This is no slight against the current roster. When Tim Duncan retires he will go down as one of the 50 greatest players of all time. Iverson is the best sub 6-footer of the past 20 years. Lebron, Carmelo, Amare and Dwayne Wade represent the future of the NBA but share just five year of NBA and three years of college basketbll among them.
The world has caught on to this basketball thing and they are on our heels.
No longer are our foreign basketball adversaries star struck. Many of the rising stars in the NBA come from the countries that just one decade ago served as the Washington Generals to the Dream Team's Harlem Globetrotters.
Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Yao Ming, Tony Parker and Pau Gasol are stars both at home and abroad, and they've come to snatch the gold from the USA's neck.
Without the services of Shaq, Kobe, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett, this year's team is quite beatable.
Can this year's squad of NBA all-stars defend a gold medal that has been held on U.S. soil since 1992?
Yes. Despite the fact they've played together for only a few weeks and the motivation of other countries to beat the U.S. is greater than we'll ever know, the U.S. on paper is still the favorite.
And after the ticker-tape parades and morning show interviews are over, USA basketball as an organization needs to sit down and make some substantive changes.
International basketball has become streamlined in how it churns out players. There are no restrictions on when, where and how long players play. In China, they find the most talented of players and ship them off to eat, sleep and breathe basketball. That's an extreme, but the U.S. may be at the other end of that spectrum.
The relationship between high school, college and pro basketball is non-existent. The wealthiest and most resourceful nation in the world hasn't figured out a way to harness its basketball talent to its fullest extent.
The NBA, college, and high school should adopt international rules and the trapezoid lane that is used in International play to let young players acclimate and also relax the restrictions on how much teams can practice and play in the off season.
Whether this year's Olympics holds gold, silver or bronze for the U.S. squad, changes need to be made.
If the U.S. isn't careful, four years from now in Beijing when China hosts the 2008 Olympics, the U.S. could be playing for pride rather than gold. [[In-content Ad]]