Greece just beat USA 101-95

[Russ Smith]

That's why I hate the AND 1 and streetball tapes. Streetball gets you nowhere in the international game. It's all traveling, carrying, and palming(circus tricks). I'm more impressed with a player that can shoot, and has good fundamentals.

Compare the way players dribbled in the 70's and prior compared to now. It's almost comical. They dribbled straight up and down while their hand never even touched the side or the underneath of the ball. The NBA refs need to start calling the game correctly.

Yep and now they're actually making a movie about Streetball. Those guys are basically modern day Globetrotters, if you watch a few shows you'll see EVERY guy on the team tell you that he should be in the NBA but he's not because of some crazy reason. They're all convinced they've been blackballed etc.

But I do agree they glorify so much of what's wrong with the game today that we've got a generation of kids thinking it's legal to tuck the ball behind your shirt and some of the other stuff they do.

They're all extremely gifted players but there's a reason none of them have made the NBA except Rafer Alston.

 

[Chaplin]

They're all extremely gifted players but there's a reason none of them have made the NBA except Rafer Alston.

And Alston had to radically alter his game in Toronto. There really is no place in organized basketball for the razzle-dazzle of the playground.

 

[George O'Brien]

And Alston had to radically alter his game in Toronto. There really is no place in organized basketball for the razzle-dazzle of the playground.

I tend to agree, but I think the real problem is that it is razzle dazzle at the expense of fundimentals. Dr. J and Michael Jordan had razzle dazzle beyond anything anyone today can show, but they were also fundimentally sound ball players.

 

[NugzFan]

For all of LeBron, Wade, and Melo's talents, none of them have a reliable jumpshot nor can they play any defense like the stars of the past.

 

[NugzFan]

Yeah, Carmelo put on a clinic, and we're now competing for the Bronze medal. Granted, some of this is my inherent dislike for Carmelo Anthony, but for a team that has been ingrained in the media as being a team-first squad, Carmelo's performance does not fit. Don't you think that's a big difference in this team and the one in '92?

unfortunately, you cant blame melo for the bronze. hes the last guy who should be blamed.

 

[George O'Brien]

unfortunately, you cant blame melo for the bronze. hes the last guy who should be blamed.

Let's blame JJ. It's always fun to dump on Joe Johnson.

My guess is that it was a group failure. Coach K did a good job of getting the players to think more like a team but somehow they never figured out how to play half court defense.

 

[Russ Smith]

Let's blame JJ. It's always fun to dump on Joe Johnson.

My guess is that it was a group failure. Coach K did a good job of getting the players to think more like a team but somehow they never figured out how to play half court defense.

I actually think the defensive problem is a direct result of the way US officials call games in the US. If you allow palming and travelling as our refs do, it's impossible to stop a really good offensive player. So US players get used to playing a certain style of defense, they go for blocks, they gamble for steals, and for the most part they don't stay in front of their man because it's damn near impossible to do that in US "rules". but in international ball where you can't palm or travel, all of a sudden guys who play defense correctly can stop better athletes.

It's just like how Pac 10 fans complain every year that the way Pac 10 refs call games hurts the conference in the NCAA's because guys aren't used to how the rest of the country calls games. I'm convinced that happens to the US in international ball we're the only country to my knowledge that has this warped version of basketball right now, so we have to adjust and they don't.

 

[nowagimp]

I tend to agree, but I think the real problem is that it is razzle dazzle at the expense of fundimentals. Dr. J and Michael Jordan had razzle dazzle beyond anything anyone today can show, but they were also fundimentally sound ball players.

One difference is that Dr. J did not play in the era of permitted palming that Jordan played in. Dr. J was not a great ballhandler, but the rules back then required that you didnt "lift the ball" on the dribble. Jordan palmed the ball very frequently during his career in a way that I was never allowed when I played. If I had been able to do that I would have been going to the hoop alot more, instead of pulling up. The way guys palm today, the ball handling does not slow them down at all, its like a wideout and a cornerback situation. Tim Hardaway was the fastest "non carrier" off the dribble I ever saw(KJ was real fast, also).

 

[nowagimp]

unfortunately, you cant blame melo for the bronze. hes the last guy who should be blamed.

This is true, but you blame melo for lousy D that led to 101 points by the greeks. You can also add Lebron and most of the others to the "lousy D" team. This team was a poorly formulated team, lots of one-on-one guys with mediocre permiter shooting and interior defense. Congrats to the greeks and spaniards, they showed better team effort. I guess bobble head superstar types have trouble in a team concept. I'm glad that the NBA cant defend the pick and roll, thats part of why the suns are so efficient on offense with less-than-superstar players.

 

[George O'Brien]

This is true, but you blame melo for lousy D that led to 101 points by the greeks. You can also add Lebron and most of the others to the "lousy D" team. This team was a poorly formulated team, lots of one-on-one guys with mediocre permiter shooting and interior defense. Congrats to the greeks and spaniards, they showed better team effort. I guess bobble head superstar types have trouble in a team concept. I'm glad that the NBA cant defend the pick and roll, thats part of why the suns are so efficient on offense with less-than-superstar players.

Having a point guard with eyes in the back of his head helps too.

 

[NugzFan]

This is true, but you blame melo for lousy D that led to 101 points by the greeks.

uh blaming one guy for the points given up? especially when his D wasnt THAT bad. definitely not one of the worst defenders on the team.