I figured with salaries in many cases over $10,000,000 a season, our guys would be pretty good. How come Argentina kicked their asses? What is the average salary of the Argentina players? If there are free markets, why isn't the NBA recruiting some of these international players who have proven to be better than NBA players?

I think the situation is quite analagous to how this years NBA finals played out. The team with the higher paid players, the better talent (lakers) did not win. The better team won. The pistons played great TEAM ball. Their egos were in check and they played like a team. They had a better gameplan.

The NBA players in the olympics, for starters, we had maybe 2 superstars of the NBA, the rest were indeed NBA players, but not the 'cream of the crop.' But secondly, they had like a week of practices before the exhibition tournaments started. The other countries have teams which are year rounds. (and have some NBA players as well)

Now in the NBA, you see a lot of the top 50 guys being international players, so they end up not being on the USA team. That wasn't the case in 92, 96, 2000. You also see major superstars not involved, Kobe, KG, Shaq, Jason Kidd, TMac, to name a few. That wasn't the case in 92, 96, or 2000.

Basically the starting 5 of the team didn't play. You would have seen Shaq, Tim Duncan, KG, Kobe, Jason Kidd be the starting 5. With all those other starters coming off the bench. Would have been totally different story.

But your premise that 'these international players have proven to be better than NBA players' is just ridiculous. One game? Two games? And that proves it? The clippers have beaten the lakers before. The cavs won 19 games before getting Lebron. DOes that mean those teams were better than the 19 teams they beat?

Iverson is a killa...same with lebron and carmello

They didn't lose because of all of the people who refused to go to the games. They didn't lose because of the lack of shooters and the inability to play defense. That was part of it, but they lost because they had only played with each other for a couple of games before the Olympics.

...they lost because they had only played with each other for a couple of games before the Olympics.

Shouldn't they have been practicing instead? :p ;)

LOl Snouter.

H2g2-

Largely, thats what I was getting at. I mean, there are tons of 'other variables' but the main thing is the time the players have together.

Darly Dawkins was interviewed by Foxsports before the Olympics. He was quite the visionary predicting the failure of the African-American Olympic basketball team. Read it here (http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2638592).

I was watching a re-play of a game about a week ago. It showed a guy diving for a loose ball.

They described the play as "putting everything on the line".

Hmmm. Practice time is no excuse. Look at the baton race (can't remember the name). Those guys had almost no time to practice, they won I believe. The regular who got booted from the race tested positive for pot. Real classy.

I'm glad the USA didn't win. These basketball athelete's should be ashamed of their performance. They get paid million upon millions of dollars. All I ever hear from them is whining.

I haven't watched the team, but my hunch is that Iverson probably blew it for the USA. I believe that is the most overrated player paying in the USA. Just notice how many times he shoots & misses.

Hmmm. Practice time is no excuse. Look at the baton race (can't remember the name).
Practice? We talkin practce? With a bronze on dee line we talkin 'bout practice? Practice? Mo fo's be shootin at mah wife an' we tawkin bout practice?

The money earned by players in many sports at the top levels is crazy, I say put a cap on it, infact to make sure it is capped make it a law. It is just not sustainable.

Practice? We talkin practce? With a bronze on dee line we talkin 'bout practice? Practice? Mo fo's be shootin at mah wife an' we tawkin bout practice?

Your statement is extremely racist and is totally uncalled for.

Your statement is extremely racist and is totally uncalled for.
:hmm: I never mentioned race in this post. Perhaps your latent racism is showing, racist?

Why has no one complained about the lack of diversity in the American team? :p

:hmm: I never mentioned race in this post.


Total BS.