Team USA - Shawn and Amare

[boisesuns]

A friend and I ate at Delux burger tonight (32nd and Camelback), Amare was sitting two chairs over from us at the bar. He is very tall. The owner of the place kept hounding him and being a tool, so I tried to leave him alone. I did hear him say, (I believe referring to Banks) "he has poor shot selection, but he can drive to the bucket really well. You have to respect his penetration." Also, I overheard him saying the Team USA stuff is going "great".

That is all.

EDIT: I should also mention I was wearing an orange Suns hat (with the sweet original logo), which made me feel a bit awkward sitting kitty corner from him.

Tell him about this guy you know named Skkorp, and his thoughts on his recovery from knee sugury on a certain message board. Maybe Amare an have a one on one talk with him

 

[Nash]

You should have walked over and wished him well....








and then asked about team USA, the knee, defense, rebounding, Banks, Nash, D'Antoni, and pretty much whatever else you could think of.

 

[jbeecham]

We commit many imperfections and we did not have a good income in the departure of today. The teams did not produce and our exploitation in the arremessos of three points was low. Still we need to make right some things, but I believe that with the series of games and the matches we go to be prepared for the World-wide one of Japan - commented the Leandrinho shipowner, that marked 24 points, five rebotes and three assistências

That sounds like a direct quote from LB......I don't think the language translation program had anything to do with it.

 

[Nash]

Schedule and TV coverage of 2006 FIBA World Championship

http://www.nba.com/nba_tv/nbatv_fiba_060731.html

Schedule and TV coverage of 2006 FIBA World Championship

http://www.nba.com/nba_tv/nbatv_fiba_060731.html

EDIT:
I found this on the US Olympic Committee's website www.usoc.org
ESPN schedule for FIBA games that will be broadcast:
FIBA Worlds

Aug. 20
USA vs. China
>>>ESPN2 // 6:30-8:30 a.m.
Aug. 22
USA vs. Slovenia
>>>ESPN2 // 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Aug 23

USA vs. Italy
>>>ESPN2 // 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Aug. 24

USA vs. Senegal
>>>ESPN2 // 8:30-10:30 a.m.

 

[Azlen]

Schedule and TV coverage of 2006 FIBA World Championship

http://www.nba.com/nba_tv/nbatv_fiba_060731.html

Unfortunately that only shows the games that will be on NBA TV on a tape delayed basis, not when ESPN will be airing the games live.

 

[Cheesebeef]

just looked up my local TV schedule - says ESPN2 is gonna have the first game against Puerto Rico Thursday night at 8:00.

Interested to see Amare's movement for myself for the first time.

 

[zett]

just looked up my local TV schedule - says ESPN2 is gonna have the first game against Puerto Rico Thursday night at 8:00.

Interested to see Amare's movement for myself for the first time.

Does this piticular thursday have a date?

 

[Chaplin]

Does this piticular thursday have a date?

In 2 days.

 

[zett]

In 2 days.

TY

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I will have to DVR it.

Thanks,

 

[Errntknght]

cheesebeef, "just looked up my local TV schedule - says ESPN2 is gonna have the first game against Puerto Rico Thursday night at 8:00."

Is that 8pm Phoenix time... we're sure a picky lot aren't we?

 

[Chaplin]

cheesebeef, "just looked up my local TV schedule - says ESPN2 is gonna have the first game against Puerto Rico Thursday night at 8:00."

Is that 8pm Phoenix time... we're sure a picky lot aren't we?

Maybe you should look it up in your own local TV schedule...?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Maybe you should look it up in your own local TV schedule...?

what he said.

 

[Muggum]

There was some sort of scrimmage against Puerto Rico already, wasn't there? Not sure about results...

 

[Kolo]

A piece from the Boston Globe:

Bright forecast for this Sun

Peter May
Boston Globe
Aug. 1, 2006 07:20 PM

LAS VEGAS - You watch him and you are immediately guilty, guilty of expecting something that still cannot be. You wait for the explosive lift, the thunderous dunk, and, well, you continue to wait. And wait. You know it's there. But where is it?

Amaré Stoudemire is out here in the desert, practicing with the US national basketball team for this month's World Championships in Japan. He still isn't close to being the destructive force that terrorized the NBA in 2004-05, when he threatened to supplant Shaquille O'Neal as the single most menacing, frightening force in the league.

Right now, he's more like Amaré Stoudemire as he continues a rehabilitation from two surgeries, which forced him to miss all but three games of the 2005-06 season. He's handling the competition. He's handling the daily wear and tear. But no one can say when he will return to the Stoudemire of old. Everyone, however, uses the word "when" in discussing such a return, which sounds a lot better than "if." advertisement

Stoudemire made the list of 15 players who will practice here this week, then head to China, Korea, and Japan. He has to be considered a long shot to be among the final 12 for the actual World Championship roster for two reasons: His health issues and the fact that he is soon to become a father and he wants to miss no part of that.

"It's going to be tough for him," said USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo, who also is the Phoenix Suns CEO and thus has more than just a casual interest in Stoudemire's situation.

Colangelo selected Stoudemire for the team last season, when the 23-year-old one-man wrecking crew was recovering from left knee microfracture surgery. A three-game return in March ended when he felt pain in his right knee. A second operation April 5 removed what's known as a Baker's cyst, a pocket of joint fluid that forms a lump behind the knee and causes swelling and discomfort. He had to start the rehab process anew.

Stoudemire has been given a clean bill of health by all the doctors who've checked him out. Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, an assistant on the US team, said, "He just needs to get the rust off his game and get in shape. It's an uphill climb for him now. It's understandable.

"But we're really happy he's here. You need this kind of competition to spur you on a little bit and show you where you've got go. It's a long road back. He still gets stiff because he's not in the greatest shape and he still has a lot of work to do. Hopefully, by training camp, he'll be that much further ahead. But, it might be a half a year, it might be a while."

Or, as Colangelo said, "The real question is, 'How long it will take?' And no one really knows."

The Yanks won't get to see the Stoudemire that averaged 37 points a game in the 2005 Western Conference finals against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, a pretty strong defensive team. After that series, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said, "We had no answers for him. And he knew it."

If that Stoudemire had been on display at the Athens Olympics in 2004, who knows what would have happened? (The same might be said for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who, like Stoudemire, were given limited roles by Larry Brown.) "I guess he thought we were too young," Stoudemire said.

Stoudemire is still young, but he may have to wait until Beijing 2008 - when he'll be all of 25 - to show his stuff on the international stage.

"It was a great experience the last time at Athens but, this time, it's much more organized," Stoudemire said. "We have a set plan on what we're trying to accomplish. And we feel good about it."

The training sessions here have been therapeutic for Stoudemire, who gets to play against the likes of Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, and Chris Bosh. Colangelo and D'Antoni both endorsed Stoudemire's participation in the sessions. To date, Stoudemire has a perfect attendance record, if not a perfect lower body.

"It's still rehab right know," he said, icing both knees after a recent practice at UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center. "It's all part of the process. I am looking forward to getting better.

"This is a big plus for me, playing against all these All-Stars. It puts me back in the class that I used to be in. I just need to elevate my game a little more, get more explosive, and become the player that I was. Or even better."

In 2004-05, Stoudemire was fifth in the NBA in scoring, second in field goal percentage, 17th in rebounding, and 20th in blocked shots. He played in the All-Star Game. He was named second-team All-NBA. But then came the surgery from which some do not recover fully and then a year of endless rehab and one aborted comeback. Still, he looks exponentially better now than he did in March, when he played his three-game season.

"I had a Baker's cyst that slowed me down," he said. "That was the only setback I had when I came back. Now, that's gone. I'm able to play back-to-back days. And practice. There's still a lot of strengthening that needs to be going on. It's been hard. Really hard. I definitely have to get stronger in the legs to get the explosiveness back. That's the next step."

It's a step the NBA in general and the Suns in particular can't wait to see. As for the Argentines, Spaniards, Italians, Serbs, and everyone else ticketed for Japan, they may catch a break. If they see Stoudemire at all, it likely will be the condensed version.

 

[Errntknght]

Astounding! cheese agrees with Chaplin for the second time in as many weeks! It must have been an inspiration from on high that caused me to pose such a question.

 

[Nash]

There is footage of the USA team's practice and also the scrimmage with Puerto Rico.
IIRC, it was 116-82 for USA.
Carmelo - 23 or 24
Bron - 20

Team USA forced 30 turnovers and won every quarter.

http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/usab/usab_allaccess_060731.asx&video=blank&video=blank

 

[Nash]

Some more links to articles on Team USA

Complete TV schedule and Sheridan on Bryant

Report on scrimmage with Puerto Rico
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...s&id=2536800&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

 

[Errntknght]

Thanks for post those links, Nash.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

I was able to get into the private practice today. The team looks really good. They did a lot of defensive drills, they are really trying to play a Duke style defense by covering all the passing lanes.

I also realized how much I missed JJ - it was just nice watching him play up close again... Also, when the team took a 10 minute rest, JJ just sat on the court taking shots. He sat down for all of 30 seconds to get a cup of water. Guy is just a workhorse.

Carmelo is really really into it. Everyone knows I am not a fan of his, but I was impressed. He was first up and down the floor in their sprints every time.

Also, Amare looked pretty bad. He didn't get off the ground at all on his jumps, and didn't seem to be very enthused about practice. He was often off by hiself, while players like CP, Lebron and Wade were always together.

Not to mention he only practiced like 40 minutes, then sat on the sidelines with a bag of ice the rest of the time. It looked like he was icing his groin, definitely not the knee at least. From the reports it seems like this wasn't a normal occurance though.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I was able to get into the private practice today. The team looks really good. They did a lot of defensive drills, they are really trying to play a Duke style defense by covering all the passing lanes.

I also realized how much I missed JJ - it was just nice watching him play up close again... Also, when the team took a 10 minute rest, JJ just sat on the court taking shots. He sat down for all of 30 seconds to get a cup of water. Guy is just a workhorse.

Carmelo is really really into it. Everyone knows I am not a fan of his, but I was impressed. He was first up and down the floor in their sprints every time.

Also, Amare looked pretty bad. He didn't get off the ground at all on his jumps, and didn't seem to be very enthused about practice. He was often off by hiself, while players like CP, Lebron and Wade were always together.

Not to mention he only practiced like 40 minutes, then sat on the sidelines with a bag of ice the rest of the time. It looked like he was icing his groin, definitely not the knee at least. From the reports it seems like this wasn't a normal occurance though.

does anyone here REALLY believe that Amare would have made the cut here if JC wasn't running the show? I'm really anxious to see tomorrow night's game as well as the rest of them. It's not just this - but everything else I've read - I'm expecting VERY little from Amare this season. Micro-fracture is a bitch, not to mention trying to comeback from micro-fracture on ANOTHER gimpy knee.

(now, I'm sure I'll be ripped to shreds for saying the above, but hey, it's like I wouldn't LOVE to proven wrong! Let's hope I am).

 

[mribnik]

Chris Paul was on sports talk radio today and the hosts asked him about Amare. He said that Amare was progressing really well and that everybody is going to be amazed at how good of a shooter he is. Chris Paul was really impressed by Amare's shot and his extended range.

 

[George O'Brien]

does anyone here REALLY believe that Amare would have made the cut here if JC wasn't running the show? I'm really anxious to see tomorrow night's game as well as the rest of them. It's not just this - but everything else I've read - I'm expecting VERY little from Amare this season. Micro-fracture is a bitch, not to mention trying to comeback from micro-fracture on ANOTHER gimpy knee.

(now, I'm sure I'll be ripped to shreds for saying the above, but hey, it's like I wouldn't LOVE to proven wrong! Let's hope I am).

Since this team is preparing for 2008, it seemed reasonable to assume he'd be healthy by then (unless he gets attacked by Skorp who stands to lose a huge amount of money betting that Amare won't return. )

For Amare to make the 12 man squad this year would be awfully surprising due to the expected birth of his child.

From a basketball standpoint, Amare is not competing with the old Amare, but with Brad Miller (IMHO Brand, Howard, and Bosh are locks). Miller is not hugely athletic, so it is Miller's experience against Amare's physical strength.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Since this team is preparing for 2008, it seemed reasonable to assume he'd be healthy by then (unless he gets attacked by Skorp who stands to lose a huge amount of money betting that Amare won't return. )

uh - who cares about the 2008 team? I'm talking about next season and being and making the cuts so far. The 2008 team is pretty irrelevent to the conversation.

For Amare to make the 12 man squad this year would be awfully surprising due to the expected birth of his child.

huh? For Amare to GO abroad in the light of the above would be surprising. To MAKE the 12 man roster wouldn't be surprising because of the above, it would be surprising because he's coming off two knee injuries within a one-year period.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Chris Paul was on sports talk radio today and the hosts asked him about Amare. He said that Amare was progressing really well and that everybody is going to be amazed at how good of a shooter he is. Chris Paul was really impressed by Amare's shot and his extended range.

that's great and all, but if Paul is asked about Amare, is he really going to dog him? I don't think so. We've all heard about Amare's shot, that ain't a big concern. His explosiveness (or lack thereof) is what worries me.