No fuckin' with the US basketball team next time around.

[Ripper 0]

Well, we aren't putting the second best scorer in the world on the TEAM.

[Guest]

I know, and it's wrong.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Yeah, let's put the best scorer in the world on the bench.

 

Kobe's not playing this summer, didn't you hear already?

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Well thats why I don't understand why Ron Artest didn't get invited.

 

You really want WWIII?

[Guest]

I know, I'm talking about in the actual Olympics. If you weren't, I'm sorry. When Kobe's healthy, it would possibly be ok to take Bosh out, put LeBron at PF, and slide Kobe in at SF. I don't see a reason why not to do it that way.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Bosh plays the PF position better then LeBron, it'd be better to have some who is an actual PF, starting the role.

 

With Kobe, I'd take Arenas out and have Wade running point...

 

Here would be my full roster, with Kobe, and A.I.:

 

C - Dwight Howard

PF - Chris Bosh

SF - LeBron James

SG - Kobe Bryant

PG - Dwyane Wade

 

Gilbert Arenas

Allen Iverson

Carmelo Anthony

Chris Paul

Amare Stoudimare

Elton Brand

Shawn Marion

[Ripper 0]

Post offense means nothing in the Olympic games where they play a real Zone and just collapse on a guy on the blocks. Bosh would get swarmed. Lebron would be playing offense against the other teams PF and internationally, the PF's don't have back to the basket games. So basically you get a PF trying to take Lebron off the dribble on the offensive end and trying to stop him on the defensive end. Thats more of a ass kicking than people realize.

 

Plus, people might not no this, but Bosh really isn't a good defensive player. Howard in the middle...fine, but Bosh would not be as effective on the court as Lebron at the PF.

 

Plus...a healthy Amare takes the Center or the PF spot.

[alfdogg 0]

This is the team I'd take. I've got 13 here, I can't decide which guy to drop off. So I'm just going to list them all.

 

Gilbert Arenas - Great scorer & shooter, can handle the ball if need be.

 

Shane Battier - Perimeter defense, shooting, very coachable.

 

Elton Brand - Dominates the paint in every aspect, has a bit of a mid-range game.

 

Kobe Bryant - Great scorer, good enough defender, great competitor.

 

Kirk Hinrich - A *real* PG, not the "score a lot of points with some assists sprinkled in" kind we've become accustomed to.

 

Dwight Howard - Excellent rebounding & post defense, very coachable.

 

LeBron James - Will pretty much do anything needed at four different positions, at least offensively.

 

Shawn Marion - Mostly for defense, both inside and out, but is a good slasher and decent shooter.

 

Brad Miller - Banger who's a great passer and has a nice touch from the post position.

 

Chris Paul - Pretty much the same as Hinrich, except a much better defender.

 

Michael Redd - Shooting, shooting, shooting. A big problem in '04, a team I thought Redd should have been on.

 

Amare Stoudemire - Presuming his injuries don't linger, obviously. Has still yet to reach 100% according to some reports. But he's just unstoppable inside.

 

Dwyane Wade - Same as LeBron, but won't play as many positions. Slightly better defender, but less passing ability.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I'd say Shane Battier would be the odd man out there.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Post offense means nothing in the Olympic games where they play a real Zone and just collapse on a guy on the blocks. Bosh would get swarmed. Lebron would be playing offense against the other teams PF and internationally, the PF's don't have back to the basket games. So basically you get a PF trying to take Lebron off the dribble on the offensive end and trying to stop him on the defensive end. Thats more of a ass kicking than people realize.

 

Plus, people might not no this, but Bosh really isn't a good defensive player. Howard in the middle...fine, but Bosh would not be as effective on the court as Lebron at the PF.

 

Plus...a healthy Amare takes the Center or the PF spot.

How many Chris Bosh games have you seen?

 

He's a better shot blocker then LeBron, and is pretty good defensively. And he has more then just a post game, his mid range shot is pretty good, there's no way you can convince me that LeBron plays a better power foward then Chris Bosh.

[Ripper 0]

Post offense means nothing in the Olympic games where they play a real Zone and just collapse on a guy on the blocks. Bosh would get swarmed. Lebron would be playing offense against the other teams PF and internationally, the PF's don't have back to the basket games. So basically you get a PF trying to take Lebron off the dribble on the offensive end and trying to stop him on the defensive end. Thats more of a ass kicking than people realize.

 

Plus, people might not no this, but Bosh really isn't a good defensive player. Howard in the middle...fine, but Bosh would not be as effective on the court as Lebron at the PF.

 

Plus...a healthy Amare takes the Center or the PF spot.

How many Chris Bosh games have you seen?

 

He's a better shot blocker then LeBron, and is pretty good defensively. And he has more then just a post game, his mid range shot is pretty good, there's no way you can convince me that LeBron plays a better power foward then Chris Bosh.

 

I have watched him since he was at Tech. Damn good player. But he aint a defender.

 

In international play...yeah. You could put Lebron at PF and he would be more effective.

 

Plus, Bosh is not good defensively really. He only blocked 13 more shots than Lebron this year by the way.. He has a good midrange shot, but that plays its part in his face up game offensively. And if you had two players facing up the oppsing 4 man, who would you put money on scoring or making the right pass 9 out of 10 times? I don't think you can honestly say Lebron.

 

The US can try to have the bigger and stronger team(and bosh isn't exactly big or strong) or they can have a freakishly atheletic team with humoungous mixmatches at every position.

[Brett Favre 0]

For this, it sucks that Steve Nash is Canadian. It would have been nice to see him run with LeBron. Is Mike D'Antoni one of the assistant coaches?

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

According to ESPN this will be the 15-man team heading to the tour of Asia, with three more cuts to be made before the World Championships begin

 

Carmelo Anthony,

Gilbert Arenas,

Shane Battier,

Chris Bosh,

Bruce Bowen,

Elton Brand,

Dwight Howard,

LeBron James,

Antawn Jamison,

Joe Johnson,

Brad Miller,

Chris Paul,

Amare Stoudemire,

Dwyane Wade,

Kirk Hinrich.

 

Adam Morrison and Luke Ridnour appear to be the final cuts with everyone else out with injuries or persona

matters.

 

Official Annoucement tomorrow morning

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Any guesses as to who the final three cut will be? I say Antawn Jamison, Shane Battier and Joe Johnson.

[Guest]

Final three cuts will be Carmelo, Jamison and Bowen. There's no way that Coach K will cut Battier.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I don't think there's any way he'd cut Carmelo, either. I see them using Jamison as a great defensive player.

 

I'll say it SHOULD be Bowen, Joe Johnson, and Battier. If Battier is kept around, switch him around for Brad Miller. I have a feeling they're going to try to go at this with a small lineup.

[alfdogg 0]

The thing with Battier is, you want a guy who can play lockdown D without worrying about it sapping him on offense. Battier's sole purpose on offense is to hit the open 3 and keep the defense honest.

 

Carmelo's not getting cut. The media will cry if he does. Apparently they need one guy who's not really good in any area of the game other than scoring a lot.

[Ripper 0]

You would have to be crazy to cut Joe Johnson to keep Kirk Hinrich, Bruce Bowen, Antwain Jamison, Shane Battier or brad miller on the team. CRAZY.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

You would have to be crazy to cut Joe Johnson to keep Kirk Hinrich, Bruce Bowen, Antwain Jamison, Shane Battier or brad miller on the team. CRAZY.

 

Brad Miller is lock to make this team. He's the only legitimate center with the skillset needed for the international game. One of Battier or Bowen will make the team to give that 3-point/defensive specialist off the bench. As for Hinrich, I would certainly take him over Joe Johnson, but it could go either way.

[alfdogg 0]

I'd keep JJ on this team, but you don't really need him under normal circutstances when you have LeBron. LeBron does everything JJ does and does it all better, aside from 3-point shooting.

[Mole 0]

Did I see Adam Morrison trying out for the team?

[Ripper 0]

I certainly can't see how anyone would take hinrich over johnson when joe is a better shooter, playmaker(yeah, I said it) and probably the best overall defender on the team.

 

the reason brad miller should be expendable is that he is chris bosh and amare stoudimire without the back to the basket game...or the defense...and abot half the rebounding ability. between howard, bosh, brand, and stoudimire, brad miller should never be on the floor.

[Precious Roy 0]

Miller is a better passer, has more range as a shooter and is a better "international style" (zone/rotation) defender than Bosh or Stoudemire.

 

Battier is a much better, more versatile version of Bowen. He's one of the best rotation defenders in the league, he understands the zone inside and out, he can knock down open shots, he can pass, he's vocal....you definitely want him on the team. Cut Bowen.

 

And honestly, I'd probably cut Melo and Arenas, I don't really see a need for either one of them on that team. Paul and Hinrich make more sense at the point and both Wade and LeBron can do a lot of ball handling, and even though Melo is one of my favorite players they have enough scoring out there. It's a toss up between cutting Melo or Jamison for me, Melo is more dynamic, Jamison is a more consistent rebounder and outside shooter and seems to have less of an ego. I could see Melo pouting if/when he doesn't get the minutes/shots he wants, like he did the last time. I'd probably cut him for that reason.

[alfdogg 0]

The rumored final cuts are looking to be Miller, Hinrich, and one of Battier, Bowen, or Jamison.

[Brett Favre 0]

That sucks. Hinrich is a better defender than mostly everyone on the team (did well on Wade this year in the playoffs), he can hit from anywhere on the court, and rebounds well for his position.

 

It should be Bowen, Battier, and Miller (well or Jamison). Miller's alright, but you already have Bosh, Amare, and Howard. I know Miller's a better passer and shooter than all of them, but you don't need five shooters on the court.

[Ripper 0]

Plus amare is a very underrated jump shooter and so is Bosh. Yeah, Miller is a better passer, but he rebounds like a guard, and is slow on rotations in zone defense and can't man up on anyone.

[alfdogg 0]

Amare's out. Apparently the knee's acting up or something, plus he's expecting a child.

 

US vs Puerto Rico is getting ready to start on ESPN2.

 

EDIT: Whoops, it's halftime. US is leading 48-35.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Started off a little rocky, but now they're rolling.

[Ripper 0]

He had a "sore hip". Also known as "haven't regained explosiveness and wouldn't have been a factor" itis.

[alfdogg 0]

US is on a 31-4 run going back to the 2nd quarter. This is just a total bitch-slapping.