Which of course leads
us to men's basketball. Now I realize that if you're a regular MAMBINO
purveyor, you probably have some interest in hoops. However, I've realized that
in the next few weeks, unlike diving or equestrian, there's going to be quite a
few people who can talk basketball up and down, all day and night.
Us being the magnanimous writers that we are, the MAMBINO
team wanted to throw up a crash course post on everything you'd need to know
about the US Olympic Basketball squad, and the competitive field in
general. After reading this post, those
of you that are casual fans can sound like the psychopaths that reside on the
digital high horse that is this blog. Presenting "Team USA For
Dummies". How many teams are there? And which countries are in it?Basketball starts off with two separate "pools" of six teams. After a week of games between the squads in each pool, the top four teams with the best records will be filtered into an eight-team, single elimination tournament . The top two countries will play in the gold medal game, with the runner-up getting the silver, while the third and fourth-place teams will play a consolation game for third-place.
The two pools consist of the following teams:
Pool A: USA, Argentina, Lithuania, France, Nigeria, Tunisia
Pool B: Spain, Great Britain, Australia, China, Russia, Brazil,
I feel like a lot of
sports, for example swimming and archery, take a matter of days to finish up.
How long does basketball last?
Basketball is unlike almost all Olympic competitions, with
the tournament lasting nearly the entirety of the games. Men's hoops starts on
the third day (the 29th) and last all the way up to mere hours before the
closing ceremonies.
What's different
about the international type of basketball that everyone's talking about? Are
there different rules?
Yes and no. On the surface, this is still basketball: five
guys playing five guys, and the main objective is to put more balls in the hoop
than the other guys. All basic rules apply: you must dribble the ball, there is
"out of bounds" lines, a three-point shot and six fouls put you out
of the game, to name a few. However, here are the wrinkles:
·
Once the ball has touched the rim on a shot, the
defending team is allowed to grab the ball, even if it's "within the cylinder".
In NBA basketball, once the ball hits the rim, it needs to be clearly out of
the imaginary boundaries of the iron hoop in order for a team pull down the
rebound. While this might seem like a small change to the game, it's actually a
rather large factor.
·
The three-point line is slightly shorter than NBA distance.
Stylistically, international ball is much different than the
NBA game. There is a much larger focus on ball movement (passing), transition
points (running the ball down the court quickly after a miss by the opposition
to score a quick bucket), perimeter shooting (three pointers) and free throw
shooting. There is less of an emphasis on half-court offense, meaning a guard
taking the ball at the half-court line and running set plays, especially
attacking from a player in the post, making an offensive move close to the
basket.
In a nutshell, the game is much faster, and focuses greatly
on athleticism, quickness and shooting, rather than the physical, grinding
basketball that is employed in the NBA.
Okay, well, who's on
Team USA then?
The roster rolls out as follows:
Guards: Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers), Chris Paul (LA Clippers),
Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets), Russ Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder), James
Harden (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Forwards: LeBron James (Miami Heat), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma
City Thunder), Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks), Kevin Love (Minnesota
Timberwolves), Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers), Anthony Davis (New Orleans
Hornets)
Center: Tyson Chandler (New York Knicks)
Wait, wait...Oklahoma
City has a team? Seriously?
Yes, Oklahoma City has a team. They're actually the former
Seattle Supersonics, and they relocated to Oklahoma five years ago. For the
reasons why, go to "www.google.com".
Anthony Davis? The
guy with the unibrow in the March Madness tournament? Is Tyson Chandler some
sort of model or rapper? Why is a guy named Andre Iguodala on this squad? Where
is Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose? The guys I see on commercials
and TNT games?
Throughout the 2011-2012 NBA season, Team USA was supposed
to look something like this:
Guards: Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers), Chris Paul (LA Clippers),
Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets), Russ Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Dwyane Wade
(Miami Heat)
Forwards: LeBron James (Miami Heat), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma
City Thunder), Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks), Kevin Love (Minnesota
Timberwolves), Chris Bosh (Miami Heat)
, LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland
Trailblazers)
Center: Dwight Howard
(Orlando Magic)
However, a litany of injuries
knocked out the following players:
Derrick Rose: Tore his ACL in the
first game of the playoffs. He's expected out until at least March, 2013.
Chris Bosh: Pulled his abdominal
muscle in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Managed to come back and play
an important role in the NBA Finals for the eventual champion Miami Heat, but
decided to take the summer off and not risk further injury for a disability
that should have sidelined him for months, not mere weeks.
LaMarcus Aldridge: Had hip
surgery late in the season. Will be ready for the beginning of the 2012-2013
campaign.
Dwight Howard: Missed the
playoffs and end of the regular season with back surgery for a small hernia in
his back. Will be ready for the beginning of the season.
Blake Griffin (LA Clippers): Griffin was brought on a replacement
for Bosh, Howard and Aldridge, but he partially tore his meniscus after making
the team during a workout in Las Vegas. He recently underwent surgery and will
be ready for the beginning of the season.
In short, Team USA has suffered a
lot of casualties throughout the shortened NBA schedule this year, and thus the
team of replacement players (Harden, Iguodala) and rookies (Davis) you see
before you.
But that still
doesn't explain why some of these nobodies are on the team. What about Rajon
Rondo? Or Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce? They're all American and amazing!
There are a few great NBA players that aren't on the team
for reasons not pertaining to recently sustained injuries.
Rajon Rondo (Boston
Celtics) is universally regarded as one of the top five point guards in the
game. However, he's a rotten three-point and free throw shooter (keys to the
international game, as I pointed out), and quite frankly, he doesn't play nice
with others. He's kind of a dick.
Andrew Bynum (LA
Lakers) has the standing as the second-best center in the league behind
Howard, but has been susceptible to injuries his entire career. He declined the
invitation to the team mostly on those grounds, but also that he's just a
strange fellow.
Paul Pierce (Boston
Celtics), Kevin Garnett (Boston Celtics), Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) and Amar'e Stoudemire (New York Knicks) are
all established names that could definitely have made the team, but all
declined due to their ages and injury history. Before you ask, Steve Nash (LA Lakers) is Canadian.
Not all white people were born in America, you arrogant Yanks.
Who's the best player
on Team USA?
The answer is the same as it at the end of June, and in the
middle of May when he got his third MVP trophy. LeBron James is the best player
in the world, and without a doubt the best player on this squad. Kevin Durant
and Kobe Bryant follow, in that order.
Let's get down to it:
Who's going to win the gold?
America, of course. No other Olympic team is composed entirely of NBA players, nor can any of them boast either the sheer talent or explosiveness that Team USA has. For a more detailed account of why we here at MAMBINO HQ think the US is capable of a gold medal victory, check out The CDP's excellent examination of the Pool A teams (and his Pool B preview, while you're at it).
I've heard that "the rest of the world is catching up with the US" though. How can you so definitely call a Team USA victory with those type of sentiments floating around?
That's not an untrue statement. In 1992, the Dream Team won
by an average of 44 points. Last Olympics, that wasn't the case, with the US
Team going undefeated, but only winning a hotly contest gold medal game by a
mere eleven points against Spain. America, of course. No other Olympic team is composed entirely of NBA players, nor can any of them boast either the sheer talent or explosiveness that Team USA has. For a more detailed account of why we here at MAMBINO HQ think the US is capable of a gold medal victory, check out The CDP's excellent examination of the Pool A teams (and his Pool B preview, while you're at it).
I've heard that "the rest of the world is catching up with the US" though. How can you so definitely call a Team USA victory with those type of sentiments floating around?
Some teams, Spain especially, will match up well with
America, but even in a bad matchup, the sheer talent of LeBron, Kobe and Durant
(who will all be on the floor during the end of games) is better than any
advantage another team can throw at them. I know that's not a technical
explanation, but the truth is that this US team is better constructed to play
the international style of ball than any team we've ever fielded. Expect a
clean sweep from Team USA as they work their way undefeated towards another
Gold. Then who's the biggest threat to Team USA repeating as gold medalists?
Spain, Argentina and Brazil. Again, The CDP summarized their teams excellently, but those teams have the most NBA talent that can compete with the US. Brazil and Spain in particular have a definite size advantage, while Argentina is experienced, though growing older.
Set the record straight: I've heard Kobe's quotes. Could this team really beat the Dream Team?
Uh, no. I would love to leave it at that, but let's take a quick look here: The Dream Team featured 11 Hall of Famers, 9 of which were playing at the peak, or near the peak of their powers (Jordan, Pippen, Stockton, Malone, Barkley, Drexler, Mullin, Ewing, Robinson). More importantly, 8 of those guys were in their primes and ended up being one of the top five players ever at their positions (Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson). Yes, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were both on the team as well, but Magic had retired almost a year earlier after his announcement that he was HIV positive, and Bird had just played his last season due to a severely injured back. Also, Christian Laettner was on the team, but amounted to little in the NBA compared to his halcyon days at Duke University.
On the flip side, the 2012 team could potentially host 10 Hall of Famers (which is reaching a lot for Anthony Davis, who hasn't even started his rookie season, and Kevin Love, Russ Westbrook and James Harden have just started their ascent into superstardom). However, only LeBron, Carmelo, Durant, Kobe, Deron and Paul are in their primes, or close to it, while the other guys are still improving. This doesn't even get into the equation that I'd only consider LeBron, Durant, Kobe and Chris Paul as having a chance to end up as one of the top five players at their positions.
The Dream Team could play at any speed, any size and had no weaknesses. Their confidence and fortitude was punctuated by three of the greatest gamers of all-time, including Barkley, Jordan and Magic. Looking at the 1992 squad, I'd agree with Charles; only Kobe, LeBron, Chris Paul and Durant could even fathom making the Dream Team.
Kobe backed off his statement saying that the 2012 team
could beat the 1992 team, if only in one game, rather than a seven-game series.
I disagree. Yes, anything can happen in one game, but I think that the Dream
Team wins 10 times out of 10. This blog is named after the greatness that is
the Black Mamba, but not even Kobe, not to mention LeBron and Durant, could
beat the Dream Team even once. With Howard, Wade and Rose healthy though, that's another question entirely.
I feel educated. Now
I won't be embarrassing myself in the lunch room tomorrow. Thanks, MAMBINO!
You're welcome.
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