Team USA Basketball & 2008 Olympics

mohammed10 · Post #1 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:13 am

OK, so no current Wiz board thread exists on this topic, so I figured we could get one started as our boys in red, white and blue go for the gold in Beijing.

Tonight, Canada is currently playing the 'Dream team' in Vega$.

Thoughts?

mohammed10 · Post #2 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:16 am

BTW - Team USA plays Turkey (hold the mayo) on Thursday, and Lithuania on Friday.

Both games are on ESPN...

closg00 · Post #3 » by **closg00** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:24 am

Pretty close so-far with Team Canada, 24-30 USA. I am worried about the size and lack of shooters on team USA.

mohammed10 · Post #4 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:26 am

closg00 wrote:Pretty close so-far with Team Canada, 24-30 USA. I am worried about the size of and lack of shooters on team USA.

Agree closg. Beyond Howard and maybe Bosh, Team USA has no inside presence. That may be their waterloo in Beijing.

FreeBalling · Post #5 » by **FreeBalling** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:38 am

Lebron eating his fingers again, will he learn.

mohammed10 · Post #6 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:40 am

You know, I am really liking how 'Melo's and Kobe's games translate into International B-ball.

:beer:

mohammed10 · Post #7 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:50 am

OK, game v. Canada is turning into a laugher...surprise, surprise

:lol:

Ji · Post #8 » by Ji » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:55 am

I hope we get crushed in the Olympics

mohammed10 · Post #9 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:57 am

C'mon Ji.... R U saying no medal for this version of the 'Dream Team'?

:-?

closg00 · Post #10 » by **closg00** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:01 am

Its turning into a laugher, but I tell ya, we won't be able to penetrate like that against the better teams.....and they are gonna force us to beat them by shooting....that will be the strategy.

mohammed10 · Post #11 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:15 am

closg00 wrote:Its turning into a laugher, but I tell ya, we won't be able to penetrate like that against the better teams.....and they are gonna force us to beat them by shooting....that will be the strategy.

Agree. Also need to play better transition D as there have been many times we got beat back down the floor AFTER scoring.

And let's not forget about TOs...argh

mohammed10 · Post #12 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:29 am

Is anyone still watching the romp over Canada?

:sleep:

FreeBalling · Post #13 » by **FreeBalling** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:04 am

mohammed10 wrote:Is anyone still watching the romp over Canada?

I watched it, once we started to play D it was over for the 51st state.

mohammed10 · Post #14 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:11 am

For those who did not stick around until the not so bitter end, the final tally was 120-65.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/col ... iew-080725

Next up, Turkey on Thursday!

closg00 · Post #15 » by **closg00** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:27 am

mohammed10 wrote:For those who did not stick around until the not so bitter end, the final tally was 120-65.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/col ... iew-080725

Next up, Turkey on Thursday!

Cool! The competition will be much better. Team Turkey has Hedo Turkey-Glue, Mehmet Okur, and rising star Ömer Aşık. I'm looking forward to checking out Ömer Aşık, Portland has his rights, even though he's under contract for 5 years. Love that Portland FO, always thinking ahead, and going the extra mile.

mohammed10 · Post #16 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:29 am

closg00 wrote:
Cool! The competition will be much better. Team Turkey has Hedo Turkey-Glue, Mehmet Okur, and rising star Ömer Aşık. I'm looking forward to checking out Ömer Aşık, Portland has his rights, even though he's under contract for 5 years. Love that Portland FO, always thinking ahead, and going the extra mile.

Very tru, closg. Even Seattle/OKC's braintrust appears to be smarter than ours...argh!

:evil:

Wiz99 · Post #17 » by **Wiz99** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:15 pm

ESPN's Chris Sheridan has a breakdown of Team USA's defense vs. Canada last night. The summary?

Great job on forcing turnovers (24)

But not so hot on defending the pick and roll - Canada got uncontested shots on 42% of its FG attempts. And that was pretty consistent thru all 4 quarters, so its not like they showed they could play good D and then eased up on the Canucks.

When Team USA runs into a team with decent guards who can handle the pressure (Spain, Argentina), we will get shredded if they also continue to give up so many open looks.

Moral of the story: still a long way to go on improving the team defense. That's what I'll be watching in their remaining tune up games before Beijing.

pancakes3 · Post #18 » by **pancakes3** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:10 pm

ha, from jailblazers to smart forward thinkers in less than a decade. though mostly true.

mohammed10 · Post #19 » by **mohammed10** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:18 pm

pancakes3 wrote:ha, from jailblazers to smart forward thinkers in less than a decade. though mostly true.

Isn't it amazing what an aggresive GM will do for you?

Ernie, are you listening?

:evil:

Kanyewest · Post #20 » by **Kanyewest** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:39 am

It's amazing what an owner with bigger pocketbooks will do for you too. Grunfeld could do so mouch more if his owner was willing to buy 1st round picks instead of selling them for cash.