How many US teams would be favored for gold?

[sipclip]

You can only build teams with players not on the current US roster. You also cannot use the same player on differant teams. I put together 9 teams that I feel would be favored to win the gold if we sent them to the olympics.

C- Oden, Foster
Pf- Amare, Harrington
Sf- Butler, Granger
Sg- Mobley, Childress
Pg- Billups, Bibby

C- Chandler, Brad Miller
Pf- West, Noah
Sf- Igoudala, Dunleavy
Sg- Rip, Bowen
Pg- Baron,Felton

C- Camby, Dampier
Pf- Al Jefferson, Beasley
Sf- Richard Jefferson, Thornton
Sg- Vince Carter, Mike Miller
Pg- Devin Harris, Stuckey

C- Perkins, Curry
Pf- Garnett, Kenyoun Martin
Sf- Pierce, Gerald Wallace
Sg- Allen, Posey
Pg- Rondo, Mo Williams

C- Okafor, Josh Boone
Pf- Rasheed, Randolph
Sf- Maggette, Kevin Durant
Sg- Tmac, Ben Gordon
Pg- Andre Miller, Randy Foye

C- Bynum, Jermaine O'neal
Pf- Aldridge, Collison
Sf-Marion, Gay
Sg- Roy, Korver
Pg- Arenas, Jameer Nelson

C- Shaq, Sean Williams
Pf- Horford, Milsap
Sf- Rashard Lewis, Stephen Jackson
Sg- Joe Johnson, Salmons
Pg- Hinrich, Rose

C- Duncan, McDyess
Pf- Jamison, Wilcox
Sf- Josh Smith, Josh Howard
Sg- Jason Richardson, Ronnie Brewer
Pg- TJ Ford, Rafer Alston

C- Haywood, Gooden
Pf- Brand, Odom
Sf- Artest, Outlaw
Sg- Kevin Martin, JR Smith
Pg- Iverson, Jason Terry

[Death Knight]

Again, you don't win on paper.

[sipclip]

All I'm talking about is being favored. Winning the gold is obviously another matter.

[joew8302]

Good lists. Again, I am sure all of these teams wouldn't win it, but it is a good bet they would be favored.

[amb1ent]

C- Shaq, Sean Williams
Pf- Horford, Milsap
Sf- Rashard Lewis, Stephen Jackson
Sg- Joe Johnson, Salmons
Pg- Hinrich, Rose

talentwise, that might be one of the weakest teams

[Apollo64]

Slim chance that any of those teams would win gold or even a medal the first time they come around.

[Ancalagon]

1 or 2 of those teams at most would win a medal. None would be favored.

If you look at oddsmakers, we are only slightly favored with a squad that is way better than any of those.

[Malinhion]

Hornets, Lakers, Pistons, Celtics, Mavericks, Spurs, Suns, etc.

I realize that these squads have international players. My point is that a lot of NBA teams would be favored in the Olympics. You can throw a mishmash of talented all-stars in there, but they still lost because the european teams have a lot more chemistry from playing together.

[jt142]

Just send the Celtics.

Also, don't listen to the NBA hating Europeans. Jealousy's a b___. Any one of those teams would compete for gold, not saying they'd win though. And they'd certainly be the favs. It depends on which one could develop the best chemistry in the shortest amount of time. If you threw any one of those teams on the court after training for two weeks, they'd have a tough time winning gold, but they could still do it off talent alone. Give any one of those teams a year of training together and they'd win it all.

The doubters come from countries that can only compile one strong NT. They lack the talent and depth that we take for granted in this country. It's a fact that drives 'em crazy.

The amount of talented bball players America produces is insane.

[And 1 Amare]

PG: Chauncey Billups | Baron Davis | Derrick Rose |
SG: Brandon Roy | Joe Johnson | Kevin Martin |
SF: Paul Pierce | Josh Howard | Rashard Lewis |
PF: Kevin Garnett | Elton Brand | Amare Stoudemire |
C: Tim Duncan | Tyson Chandler | Andrew Bynum |

[OzThunder]

Also, don't listen to the NBA hating Europeans. Jealousy's a b___. Any one of those teams would compete for gold, not saying they'd win though. And they'd certainly be the favs. It depends on which one could develop the best chemistry in the shortest amount of time. If you threw any one of those teams on the court after training for two weeks, they'd have a tough time winning gold, but they could still do it off talent alone.

ok so a team of

Iverson/ Marbury
LeBron/ Wade
Anthony/ RJ/ Odom
Marion/ Amare
Duncan/ Okafor/ Boozer

struggled through to a bronze medal after a couple of months of training,

but any of these worse teams could 'win off talent alone' after a couple of weeks together.

Sure the USA side is good, and a strong favorite for gold this year (and i'm sure you could substitue players with no great loss), but lets not get carried away.

[Apollo64]

Also, don't listen to the NBA hating Europeans. Jealousy's a b___. Any one of those teams would compete for gold, not saying they'd win though. And they'd certainly be the favs. It depends on which one could develop the best chemistry in the shortest amount of time. If you threw any one of those teams on the court after training for two weeks, they'd have a tough time winning gold, but they could still do it off talent alone. Give any one of those teams a year of training together and they'd win it all.

I like how you contradict yourself in your post.

And no, none of the above teams would have a serious chance for gold the first time they play in international tournament, they would be embarassed far worse than the Athens Olympics team was. The transition from the NBA to FIBA basketball is huge, that's why USA Basketball planned years in advance the Beijing Olympics team. *No* team in the international competitions can win on the individual talent of players alone anymore.

[fivas14]

C - Duncan/Amare (he could play C in the olympics)
PF - KG/Brand/West
SF - Caron Butler/Marion/
SG - Tmac/Roy/Joe Johnson
PG - Chauncey Billups/Baron Davis

Do I win?

[durden_tyler]

All of them will lose. Ok maybe not. Still, it's not just about creating a team.. it's developing a real team...

[Mumbles]

1. Billups/Alston
2. T-Mac/Rip Hamilton
3. Caron Butler/Artest/Danny Granger
4. Horford/ Love or Beasley
5. Oden/Bynum

[PP34RA10]

PG-Baron Davis-Billups
SG-Ray Allen - Joe Johnson
SF-Paul Pierce- Ron Artest
PF-Kevin Garnett - Amare Stoudamire
C- Tim Duncan - Kendrick Perkins

[jt142]

Also, don't listen to the NBA hating Europeans. Jealousy's a b___. Any one of those teams would compete for gold, not saying they'd win though. And they'd certainly be the favs. It depends on which one could develop the best chemistry in the shortest amount of time. If you threw any one of those teams on the court after training for two weeks, they'd have a tough time winning gold, but they could still do it off talent alone. Give any one of those teams a year of training together and they'd win it all.

I like how you contradict yourself in your post.

And no, none of the above teams would have a serious chance for gold the first time they play in international tournament, they would be embarassed far worse than the Athens Olympics team was. The transition from the NBA to FIBA basketball is huge, that's why USA Basketball planned years in advance the Beijing Olympics team. *No* team in the international competitions can win on the individual talent of players alone anymore.

And yet a poorly constructed USA team, without one decent shooter, was still able to win the bronze medal and beat teams that have been playing together for years and are accustomed to the FIBA rules. Does the win against Spain ring a bell? The USA team won that game on talent alone. There wasn't any team chemistry and none of those players could shoot, but they still won and caused the Spanish coach to lose his freaking mind. Any one of those teams mentioned above could compete for gold. It just depends on which one gells the best. If any of them had a shooter or two, they'd do even better. Also, that '04 team was supposed to have consisted of Kobe, McGrady, Kidd, Carter, KG, and Allen, but they backed out at the last second for personal reasons. I can assure you the 2003 USA team that competed in the FIBA Americas Championship - which blew out the eventual gold medal winning Argentina team by 35 pts - would have done a much better job in Athens. Watching Richard Jefferson and Marion become 3 pt shooters on a poorly constructed USA team was a horrifying experience, one I'm sure we'll never see again. You also need to keep in mind Howard, Lebron, Paul, and Anthony aren't 20-21 anymore.

But, you're right, FIBA rules are much different than the NBA's: No 3 second rule, no illegal defense, hand-checking, no charge zone, no offensive goaltending, smaller court, different ball, shorter games (40 minutes). The list goes on.

We're playing European style basketball, not the other way around. Over the past decade, the two leagues (FIBA and NBA) have been moving farther apart because of thes rule differences. Install NBA rules, give the Euros a month to prepare, and you'd have a much different outcome in these tournaments.

Two days ago Argentina beat Iran by only 10 pts in a tournament in China. What the heck is wrong with them?

[jt142]

Also, don't listen to the NBA hating Europeans. Jealousy's a b___. Any one of those teams would compete for gold, not saying they'd win though. And they'd certainly be the favs. It depends on which one could develop the best chemistry in the shortest amount of time. If you threw any one of those teams on the court after training for two weeks, they'd have a tough time winning gold, but they could still do it off talent alone.

ok so a team of

Iverson/ Marbury
LeBron/ Wade
Anthony/ RJ/ Odom
Marion/ Amare
Duncan/ Okafor/ Boozer

struggled through to a bronze medal after a couple of months of training,

but any of these worse teams could 'win off talent alone' after a couple of weeks together.

Sure the USA side is good, and a strong favorite for gold this year (and i'm sure you could substitue players with no great loss), but lets not get carried away.

Still, that '04 team, led by Marbury, won a bronze without a shooter and with poor team chemistry. That's what happens when you throw a team together a month before competition. Duncan and Iverson were the only two NBA superstars on that team. Iverson was undersized and couldn't shoot, and Duncan was called for a foul every time he moved. Moreover, Wade was only 21, Anthony was 20, and Lebron was 19. I'm surprised they even won bronze with Marbury running the point.

As I said before, that wasn't the team that won the FIBA America tournament in 2003. Just having Ray Allen would have made a huge difference.

[Apollo64]

And yet a poorly constructed USA team, without one decent shooter, was still able to win the bronze medal and beat teams that have been playing together for years and are accustomed to the FIBA rules. Does the win against Spain ring a bell? ?

Actually, that Spanish team was still young and inexperienced at that time and illustrates perfectly how important having experience playing in those tournaments is. Spain is a monster now and after those four years wouldn't have a problem against that US team. And another good example from those Olympics: the American team beat also Greece in their homecourt (by only a few points difference, but it doesn't matter). It was a new team, with a new coach, that played with an obvious lack of confidence and eventually lost the quarterfinal game to Argentina which went on to capture gold. The exact same Greek team two years later had dramatically improved and beat a far better US team in Japan. My point is that there is a growing number of teams that have that significant advantage of having the experience from playing together in years, a hastily assembled mismash of NBA players, however good they are individually, can't win all the games against them.