I Thought The Rest of the World Caught Up?

[saibnel]

A Canadian invented Basketball.

That is like saying a german invented the Atom Bomb, technically you are correct but...

[Celtics17]

The world is far from catching the U.S. if you are speakind about overall basketball talent. If you are talking about how a team which plays together under its rules plays a group of NBA superstars who are thrown together without enough time to practice and are playing under rules they are not use to, then yes, maybe the world has caught up. All the same, we will win gold this year.

Think of the top 5 international players, if you even can, and compare them to Lebron, Kobe, Howard, Paul and Tim Duncan and tell me that they would stand a chance playing under the NBA rules. They wouldnt, in fact, they would lose by an average of 30. The world has caught up, ha ha, I cant even think of the top 10 non-U.S. players and I love basketball.

[Tradetime]

The world is far from catching the U.S. if you are speakind about overall basketball talent. If you are talking about how a team which plays together under its rules plays a group of NBA superstars who are thrown together without enough time to practice and are playing under rules they are not use to, then yes, maybe the world has caught up. All the same, we will win gold this year.

Think of the top 5 international players, if you even can, and compare them to Lebron, Kobe, Howard, Paul and Tim Duncan and tell me that they would stand a chance playing under the NBA rules. They wouldnt, in fact, they would lose by an average of 30. The world has caught up, ha ha, I cant even think of the top 10 non-U.S. players and I love basketball.

Top 10 Non- U.S. players

Dirk Nowitzki
Steve Nash
Yao Ming
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker
Mehmet Okur
Hedo Turkoglu
Andrei Kirilenko
Peja Stojakovic
Andrew Bogut

[wolfceltic215]

If the 10 or 12 best basketball players in the United States get together, compete hard, and play to win, there's no international squad in the world that can even hang with them.  I firmly believe this.

The United States' problem in recent years has been 1) sending inferior players, and 2) not taking the competition seriously enough.  That has changed this year, and I expect to see the U.S. carry its results through to the medal round.

(In terms of the "caught up" question, no, the world hasn't "caught up" to the United States.  It has closed the gap quite a bit, as there are a number of legitimate international teams with top-tier NBA talent.  However, I think its off-base to think that other teams can put the same talent on the floor as the United States if the U.S. stars decide to show up.)

Yeah, 100% true. And I'm not an American citizen. Even the Celtics squad last season will pawn international squads.

[Bankshot]

The world is far from catching the U.S. if you are speakind about overall basketball talent. If you are talking about how a team which plays together under its rules plays a group of NBA superstars who are thrown together without enough time to practice and are playing under rules they are not use to, then yes, maybe the world has caught up. All the same, we will win gold this year.

Think of the top 5 international players, if you even can, and compare them to Lebron, Kobe, Howard, Paul and Tim Duncan and tell me that they would stand a chance playing under the NBA rules. They wouldnt, in fact, they would lose by an average of 30. The world has caught up, ha ha, I cant even think of the top 10 non-U.S. players and I love basketball.

Top 10 Non- U.S. players

Dirk Nowitzki
Steve Nash
Yao Ming
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker
Mehmet Okur
Hedo Turkoglu
Andrei Kirilenko
Peja Stojakovic
Andrew Bogut

And they'd still get blown out by the current U.S. team.

[guava_wrench]

Many people say that non-US players have an advantage due to the FIBA rules. Are leagues in other countries using FIBA rules?

Also, are other teams preparing as much as the US team for this Olympics? I doubt it (except China maybe).

Still, none of this changes the fact that we have the best players.

[RockinRyA]

 ::)typical

[Celtic]

The world is so far from catching the USA in basketball. There are only 2 players at the olympics that would have a chnace of making the US squad, Yao and Dirk, don't say Gasol or Ginobili both are good for their teams but aren't close to a USA talent level. Everyone got all excited when the USA lost, when they sent the wrong team and the wrong coach, and suddenly the rest of the world is so much better, but now when the US is killing teams everyone is stepping back and saying well look at their all star team. The world can not compete with the US in any way, and the rule changes are ridiculous, it's an American sport the games should be played by the real rules, and get some real refs while your at it, these guy have zero understanding of the game of basketball.

Team USA is sending a message and punishing anyone crazy enough to get on the court with them, now that they have gelled even more, I expect even bigger blowouts to come.

[Amonkey]

The Celtics didn't suck two years ago.  It's just because they didnt send their best players and coaches.  Now we see how good the Celtics really were when you send the best players that play well together and are trying.

That's basically what these arguments sound like.

[crownsy]

If the US could put together a real team that spent as much time as the teams from other countries do (including the top players the US has to offer), yes, US would be by far, the best team. 



This team is still just one bad shooting night away from being a disappointment. 

come on WDl, every team is one bad shooting night away from a loss, from HS teams to last years celtics. We were "one bad shooting night" away from disaster agaisnt atlanta. Wha if we had shot 25-30% in one of those home games?

its not an inditment on the current team to say if they can't score one night, they won't win.

this team, barring a bad night shooting, will romp through the medal round. there's no team that compares to them 1-5, nevermind 1-12.

[wdleehi]

If the US could put together a real team that spent as much time as the teams from other countries do (including the top players the US has to offer), yes, US would be by far, the best team. 



This team is still just one bad shooting night away from being a disappointment. 

come on WDl, every team is one bad shooting night away from a loss, from HS teams to last years celtics. We were "one bad shooting night" away from disaster agaisnt atlanta. Wha if we had shot 25-30% in one of those home games?

its not an inditment on the current team to say if they can't score one night, they won't win.

this team, barring a bad night shooting, will romp through the medal round. there's no team that compares to them 1-5, nevermind 1-12.

But teams that spend a lot of time together can overcome a bad shooting night.  Teams like that can create offense that lead to easy baskets.  Team USA only have one on one moves to try and create, and the zone neutralizes most of that. 

[Bankshot]

The Celtics didn't suck two years ago.  It's just because they didnt send their best players and coaches.  Now we see how good the Celtics really were when you send the best players that play well together and are trying.

That's basically what these arguments sound like.

What you wrote here makes absolutely no sense.  The Celtics did suck 2 years ago because they DID NOT HAVE any other great players other than Paul at the time.  The US team sucked because they DID HAVE superstars in the league, but didn't send them to the Olympics because they didn't want to play.  HUGE DIFFERENCE.

[Celtic]

The Celtics didn't suck two years ago.  It's just because they didnt send their best players and coaches.  Now we see how good the Celtics really were when you send the best players that play well together and are trying.

That's basically what these arguments sound like.

What you wrote here makes absolutely no sense.  The Celtics did suck 2 years ago because they DID NOT HAVE any other great players other than Paul at the time.  The US team sucked because they DID HAVE superstars in the league, but didn't send them to the Olympics because they didn't want to play.  HUGE DIFFERENCE.

Second the notion, the argument used above has no merit. Celtics were locked in with their players whereas the USA had an open canvas and chose the wrong players. Now that they have brought the right players a lot of people are simply bitter, they thought their countries were finally better than the mighty powerhouse USA, but now all those dreams have been crushed and reality is setting in, no one can compete with the USA in basketball, period.

[crownsy]

The Celtics didn't suck two years ago.  It's just because they didnt send their best players and coaches.  Now we see how good the Celtics really were when you send the best players that play well together and are trying.

That's basically what these arguments sound like.

worst argument of 2008.

One team had one good player and a few develping ones, and no way to turn the roster over signifcatly at the time.

The other could pick any players they wanted, and sent an all star team, which vastly underpreformed.

This is literaly the poorest analogy ive seen all year.

[ACF]

The world is so far from catching the USA in basketball. There are only 2 players at the olympics that would have a chnace of making the US squad, Yao and Dirk, don't say Gasol or Ginobili both are good for their teams but aren't close to a USA talent level. Everyone got all excited when the USA lost, when they sent the wrong team and the wrong coach, and suddenly the rest of the world is so much better, but now when the US is killing teams everyone is stepping back and saying well look at their all star team. The world can not compete with the US in any way, and the rule changes are ridiculous, it's an American sport the games should be played by the real rules, and get some real refs while your at it, these guy have zero understanding of the game of basketball.

Team USA is sending a message and punishing anyone crazy enough to get on the court with them, now that they have gelled even more, I expect even bigger blowouts to come.

Not to nitpick or anything...
But isn't basketball a
CANADIAN invention?

I think it's good to see the
American players finally owning
up to their potential. I've kind
of missed that approach since '92.
Team first, "me" second. Kind of
like our beloved Celtics.
I like it.