Team USA basketball now has its spot back on the World Map. Sunday at 2am EST the "Redeem Team" as they've been dubbed, ended their 3 year quest to capture the elusive gold medals. Spain was the final team to be taken out by USA, with a closer than expected 118-107 victory Sunday morning. D-Wade had 27 points with Kobe Bryant adding 20. Kobe's Laker teammate Pau Gasol scored 21 in a losing effort. Gasol's teammate Rudy Fernandez lead the way with 22. After the victory, Team USA was quick to extend hugs and obligatory handshakes and pats to their opposition. During their steamroller trip to the Gold medal game, Team USA took down various foreign opposition including familiar NBA players. Dirk Nowitski, Yao Ming, Manu Ginobli and others were among the casualties.
This team had been carefully crafted by NBA GM Jerry Colangelo, and practiced together for a solid 3 years to make sure they could co-exist. Initial cuts were made to wittle the team down into one capable of demolishing international opponents. Gilbert Arenas, Bruce Bowen, Amare Stoudamire and Kirk Hinrich were amongst those not part of this team that finally appeared in Beijing. The final roster read like a "who's who" of the current NBA, minus the 3 superstar Celtics who are definitely up there in age. Kobe and Lebron have been the 2 most talked up superstars in the league for several years now, with debates as to who's better. In this competition, they were teammates, setting up each other for layups and spectacular dunks. Add in players such as Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, and you've got the makings of gold medalists.
Of course the debates started as to whether or not this team eclipses Dream Team 1992. That legendary team consisted of the well-respected forefathers of today's basketball: Bird, Barkley, Jordan, Ewing, David Robinson, Malone, Stockton, Pippen. You'd be hard-pressed to find a player on the 2008 roster who doesn't choose one of these 92' stars as their idol growing up. Lebron, Kobe, Melo, D-Wade and others on this team will be those legends one day, but for now they continue to achieve more milestones.
Congratulations again to Redeem Team 2008 for achieving Gold in Beijing!
Read more about Team USA winning the gold including pictures at CBS News!
Minggu, 24 Agustus 2008
Jumat, 08 Agustus 2008
Can Team USA Recapture Gold?
When pro ballers were first put into the Olympics about 16 years ago, they were dubbed the "Dream Team". It was a who's who of the best of US basketball, not only for that time but for generations. Jordan, Barkley, Ewing, Magic, Bird, Stockton, Malone, & the Admiral David Robinson were amongst the squad that completely destroyed each and every opponent. Team USA captured the gold easily and the US held bragging rights in the World of Basketball. But all that changed within a span of about 10-12 years.
The influx of European talent began to show in the NBA with stars like Manu Ginobli, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitski and Tony Parker. Soon that carried over to the worldly competition in the Olympics and the once "Dream Team" became runners up to other nations such as Argentina, who just had a better handle of the European version of basketball. They simply played more of a balanced team game, used the foreign rules to their advantage and outplayed our stars who seemed to coast at times. The US was soon considered second rate in terms of its players, making Europeans a hot commodity for upcoming NBA drafts.
Now we have what's been dubbed as the "Redeem Team". General Manager Jerry Colangelo assembled the best of the best which includes stars like Kobe, Lebron, Melo, D-Wade, and legendary Duke coach K at the helm. Notably the team has just one gold medal winner in Jason Kidd, who assists with its other two bright young point guards, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. The emphasis here is on re-establishing the United States as a dominant player in world basketball. They have their work cut out for them, as they surely don't have the experience of a Dream Team. During their last exhibition game against Australia they won by a paltry sum of 11 points. We've come to expect our NBA stars to completely pulverize opponents and it's seeming to get harder. Our team has plenty of flash and highlights, but may lack in pure shooters, outside of Michael Redd's talents. It's also notable that opponents can employ a "Hack-a-Howard" strategy similar to the way NBA teams foul Shaq in the late stages of games. Howard's free throw shooting is a glaring problem for our team at this point, as is the concept that possibly many of the stars we have want the spotlight.
Overall the team needs to focus together and work as a team, not trying to showboat individual talents so much. We have a sum of great talent, but it needs to be put to proper use in order to return our stars to the gold medal stand. And there's always that "Great Wall of Defense" from the Houston Rockets looking to defend his home team as they host the Olympic games...
The influx of European talent began to show in the NBA with stars like Manu Ginobli, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitski and Tony Parker. Soon that carried over to the worldly competition in the Olympics and the once "Dream Team" became runners up to other nations such as Argentina, who just had a better handle of the European version of basketball. They simply played more of a balanced team game, used the foreign rules to their advantage and outplayed our stars who seemed to coast at times. The US was soon considered second rate in terms of its players, making Europeans a hot commodity for upcoming NBA drafts.
Now we have what's been dubbed as the "Redeem Team". General Manager Jerry Colangelo assembled the best of the best which includes stars like Kobe, Lebron, Melo, D-Wade, and legendary Duke coach K at the helm. Notably the team has just one gold medal winner in Jason Kidd, who assists with its other two bright young point guards, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. The emphasis here is on re-establishing the United States as a dominant player in world basketball. They have their work cut out for them, as they surely don't have the experience of a Dream Team. During their last exhibition game against Australia they won by a paltry sum of 11 points. We've come to expect our NBA stars to completely pulverize opponents and it's seeming to get harder. Our team has plenty of flash and highlights, but may lack in pure shooters, outside of Michael Redd's talents. It's also notable that opponents can employ a "Hack-a-Howard" strategy similar to the way NBA teams foul Shaq in the late stages of games. Howard's free throw shooting is a glaring problem for our team at this point, as is the concept that possibly many of the stars we have want the spotlight.
Overall the team needs to focus together and work as a team, not trying to showboat individual talents so much. We have a sum of great talent, but it needs to be put to proper use in order to return our stars to the gold medal stand. And there's always that "Great Wall of Defense" from the Houston Rockets looking to defend his home team as they host the Olympic games...
Jumat, 01 Agustus 2008
NBA Movers & Shakers: Childress & Artest
Two interesting moves have gone down recently in the NBA, with the former Hawk Josh Childress deciding to play overseas, and with the Houston Rockets trading for Ron Artest.
First up is the move Josh Childress made as he moved away from the NBA to play ball in Europe. Childress liked the amount the European team was offering and he was soon packed and ready to go. While Childress isn't exactly the best player on the Atlanta Hawks, he definitely brought them a lot of his talents in the playoffs. The Hawks took it the full 7 games before losing to eventual NBA champs, the Celtics. There was recent rumors that Ben Gordon might head overseas as well, as the Bulls may not be able to pay him what he wants either. According to the latest ESPN magazine, we may see even more NBA players make the move overseas, while the NBA brings in more European players.
The other interesting move was a trade with the Houston Rockets acquiring star defender and former fight-starter, Ron Artest. Artest brings Houston even more defensive toughness now, as they have Yao Ming manning the middle and then Artest and Battier down low for rebounds and scrappy plays. With that sort of solid defensive trio, the Rockets have a great shot to go deep in the 2008-09 playoffs out West. Of course that is if Yao Ming can remain healthy enough to give them some help in the playoffs...
First up is the move Josh Childress made as he moved away from the NBA to play ball in Europe. Childress liked the amount the European team was offering and he was soon packed and ready to go. While Childress isn't exactly the best player on the Atlanta Hawks, he definitely brought them a lot of his talents in the playoffs. The Hawks took it the full 7 games before losing to eventual NBA champs, the Celtics. There was recent rumors that Ben Gordon might head overseas as well, as the Bulls may not be able to pay him what he wants either. According to the latest ESPN magazine, we may see even more NBA players make the move overseas, while the NBA brings in more European players.
The other interesting move was a trade with the Houston Rockets acquiring star defender and former fight-starter, Ron Artest. Artest brings Houston even more defensive toughness now, as they have Yao Ming manning the middle and then Artest and Battier down low for rebounds and scrappy plays. With that sort of solid defensive trio, the Rockets have a great shot to go deep in the 2008-09 playoffs out West. Of course that is if Yao Ming can remain healthy enough to give them some help in the playoffs...
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