maradro wrote:GREY 1769 wrote:But it is clear that this is pretty much the team they were left with ("...you deal with the cards you're dealt..."), and nowhere near the one they'd envisioned having in projecting various potential line-ups. The article also mentions that this is the first time since '67-'68 that the World Cup and Olympics are in consecutive seasons. People will point to international players showing up, and that's true, but they're also raised and developed with the importance of international play, so there's greater desire and also greater pressure to do so.
All of that is once again taking nothing away from the guys who committed, bonded, and went through a challenging situation together. I have no doubt they all benefited from the experience and it will show this season. But we can put to bed the 'why didn't they choose player X instead' as the article indicates the options were largely taken away due to players backing out of commitments made. Again, huge respect to the players who committed, kept their word, and saw the experience through.
sorry to quote you specifically but i keep reading posts like these, complaining about who commits and prep time and preseason etc etc, when every other team is under the exact same constraints IF NOT MORE.
who has more clout with NBA teams, nigerian federation, slovenian federation, the argentine federation, or USA basketball? Which of those federation has more resources for coaching staff and camps and tournaments? USA basketball x3000
Do foreign players age less, does the world spin at different speeds depending what part of the planet you are on? no, everyone has the same amount of time. How you use it is your problem (and largely dependent on available resources which the US has far more of, in terms of facilities, players, coaches, money)
if you think more international players feel the importance of international play, that could be (though if you are honest you know you have no idea about players declining to play from other teams)- but who or what is stopping US players from caring? Other guys (including americans), from roleplayers to superstars, have done it regularly, why do we have to give excuses for american players when they dont do it?
Instead of blaming FIBA or prep time, just recognize that USA basketball is less effective at their jobs even though they have more resources, your federation is at fault and the excuses are tiresome, neither serbia nor france nor spain nor argentina have any structural advantage beyond actually having done the work and planning done with less resources. I really feel sorry for pop because this team was effectively third rate but if he doesnt take the situation more seriously, the olympics could be a real disaster EVEN IF he gets to add a couple mvps / all nbas to this roster. but like in 2004 there will always be apologists with more excuses for the disorganized superpower.
That's ok. Though it's not a complaint, it's taking a look at factors that affected this particular Team USA this time around, based on the info the article provided. I don't know the ins and outs of international teams, and they also have NBA players who committed, but it is also clear that their POV on FIBA play is based on how they've grown up ie/ FIBA play and their subsequent cohesion.
Having followed what Team USA has done to create a program in this transition year, I disagree that USA basketball is less effective in terms of the preparation that went into putting a team together. It's really not about framing FIBA schedule changes and prep time as excuses - this is not constructive to the discussion at hand. But saying they were not factors when some players specifically pointed to the former as a contributor to backing out cannot be ignored. And prep time for a brand new team IS a factor, especially when competing against teams with more ingrown cohesion. International teams in general have the cohesion advantage, whereas Team USA in general has the talent advantage.
The article was really about how the USA basketball program did everything they were supposed to. The main crux of the article is that so many players didn't just not accept invitations, but accepted them and then dropped out. This is the central issue. Your assertion that the USA basketball program just winged it and didn't take it seriously, and lumping Pop in that too - really underestimating the detail and work ethic and how much it means to him - when in fact he's been doubly busy for over a year with both the Spurs and Team USA is really an inaccurate conclusion based on a lack of information.
