Yep.

Remember what Shaquille O'Neal said?

"If Larry Brown is head coach, I won't be able to play on Olympics because I will be injured."

USA finished 3rd.

They beat Lithuania today.

Interesting fact is that Lithuania made 21 3-pts.

That says it all right there.

Personally I think pros should be kept out of the Olympics, no matter where they're from.

Who's gonna play then?

It doesn't help when some of our players don't take their role seriously. Only a few players showed how important it was to them and knew how important it was to our country. Tim Duncan should have been captain, he is more mature then A.I. Oh, and Duncan is far from old.

Who's gonna play then? [/b][/quote]
There are hundreds of NCAA guys who would do us proud in the Olympics.

I'm sure if you got together a team of the best in the country, those boys would be ready and more than willing to go for the gold. That's one reason I often-times prefer NCAA football over NFL: Winning is everything in college. Those guys play their hearts out the whole game, and most don't have to worry about getting a career-ending injury. Just because those guys are in the NBA, it doesn't mean they're the best possible team for us. Christian Laettner was on the '92 Dream Team fresh out of college.

There are hundreds of NCAA guys who would do us proud in the Olympics.

[/b][/quote]
They're not good enough. You probably don't watch or follow international basketball, but I do. Last World Cup in basketball that NBA stars didn't play was World Cup in 1998 in Athens, Greece. If you remember, that was season when NBA season didn't start on time, because of something between players and owners (money I guess). USA finished 3rd, Russia was 2nd, Yugoslavia (now called Serbia & Montenegro) was 1st.

That was five years ago. At that time Lithuania, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany ... were not as good as they are today. If USA sends college players to play for national team on next World Cup, I'm 100% sure that USA would't even finish in first 6. International basketball is now better than ever. 10 years ago you couldn't even imagine that foreign player would be NBAs 2nd leading scorer (Predrag Stojakovic, Serbia&Montenegro and Sacramento Kings), or that foreign player would be one of best forwards in the NBA (Dirk Nowitzki, Germany and Dallas Mavericks), or even that foreign player would be starting center on all star game (Yao Ming, China and Houston Rockets).

USA if wants to win gold, must send Duncan, Garnett, both O'Neals, Iverson, Bryant, Kidd ... not Marion, Odom, Marbury ...

Just look at Ginobli and the others Red Star mentioned, we recruit from around the world now because the talents out there. Less attitude in "most" cases and better fundamentals for the game, less showboating. It's a lesson learned and I think the future NBA lead teams will have the players it should, the NBA players don't want to look like they aren't the elite.

First of all 'Nique wasn't on the '92 team. He probably should've been along with Isiah. Especially with Chuck Daly as the head coach. I remember the NBA in the mid to late 80's. That was the peak of talent and respect throughout the world. This Olympic team was horrible. Not one proficient, consistent shooter out of all of them. All streaky slashers, mostly "me" players. That's just the state of the NBA today. However, you can not send college players anymore. One reason is because apparently the talent isn't in college (as the NBA drafts of recent years have shown). Another reason is these international players are professional grown men, playing for their livelihood and the pride and respect of their country. An Emeka Okafor would get pummeled by a Yao Ming (as you will see this coming season). Why do you think they started sending NBA players in the first place? In 1988, we had NBA teams where some of the worst players in the league would be stars in Europe. We sent college players to the Olympics, and got punked. NBA players now, play to get paid. College and high school players play to get drafted...to get paid. There's no money in playing for national pride. Bronze in just about any other event is awesome, but when expectations are so high in a sport that America created, bronze is a huge disappointment. So hopefully with this lackluster performance by the "NBA stars" and the Pistons championship victory, the concept of "team" will return to the NBA. I'm not holding my breath though.


Speaking of the Pistons. Darko is going to be a good player. Larry Brown has a long history of not playing rookies very often. If the Pistons would've drafted Carmelo, he wouldn't have played either.

Make no mistake. THERE IS ONLY ONE DREAM TEAM.

In America, real basketball ends at the college level. The NBA is a show, nothing more.
It didn't used to be that way, but then again, our professional athletes used to be people I would look up to.

Um, the team won bronze, it's over.