USA vs Germany

[George O'Brien]

I'm not sure Amare is really comfortable playing center, but I'm sure he is the best backup center the USA team has. Maybe by the end of the Olympics he'll accept that he really can play the position.

The USA team seems to lack understanding of what they are trying to do against the zone. They simply pass the ball around the rim, without using cutters. Another problem is that Marion is the only guy who seems to be in position to get offensive rebounds. Everyone else is siting on the outside rather than attacking for rebounds.

I'm not sure the USA team is quite ready for the energy their opponents have. The Germans beat the Italians on Sunday, but it was clear the Italians were juiced for the game against the USA. I'm guessing they did not play as hard on Sunday.

Considering that the Germans did not have their regular starting guards and really did not shoot well (other than Dirk), the USA team did not really shine. Larry Brown has a lot of work to do.

 

[elindholm]

Was anyone else somewhat impressed with the Germans' big center, the sort of goofy looking guy with a name like "Schmetterlink"? (Sorry slinslin, that's just a joke.) I doubt he'd play major minutes in the NBA, but he didn't look like a total stiff, and I bet he'd have a job over here if he wanted it.

 

[George O'Brien]

Was anyone else somewhat impressed with the Germans' big center, the sort of goofy looking guy with a name like "Schmetterlink"? (Sorry slinslin, that's just a joke.) I doubt he'd play major minutes in the NBA, but he didn't look like a total stiff, and I bet he'd have a job over here if he wanted it.

He looked very quick and beat Duncan on a couple of drives to the basket.

 

[F-Dog]

Was anyone else somewhat impressed with the Germans' big center, the sort of goofy looking guy with a name like "Schmetterlink"? (Sorry slinslin, that's just a joke.) I doubt he'd play major minutes in the NBA, but he didn't look like a total stiff, and I bet he'd have a job over here if he wanted it.

Femerling played for Washington, actually. He was part of a 'twin towers' lineup with Todd MacCulloch.

MacCulloch was the star of the team, though. I think Femerling never averaged more than 6/6 at UW.

 

[BigBuddy]

Was anyone else somewhat impressed with the Germans' big center, the sort of goofy looking guy with a name like "Schmetterlink"? (Sorry slinslin, that's just a joke.) I doubt he'd play major minutes in the NBA, but he didn't look like a total stiff, and I bet he'd have a job over here if he wanted it.

Geez, forget that guy. He's just a mid-european level center, with neither athleticism nor post-up moves. Not another Dirk, definetely not an NBA material for sure, not even a top-half Euroleague team starter.

 

[elindholm]

Femerling played for Washington, actually. He was part of a 'twin towers' lineup with Todd MacCulloch.

Interesting, thanks F-Dog.

 

[Joe Mama]

For the most part I liked Amare Stoudemire's defense today. He did get beaten badly once by that center, but otherwise he was quite good. On the boards team USA just needs to start going over the back every time. They also need to start using a lot more moving picks and their off arms to push off defenders on their drives. Basically they need to learn what these officials are allowing.

Shawn Marion really didn't do much of anything today. I like Marion, but IMO Anthony has clearly been the best small forward for this team so far.

This team is going to get absolutely slaughtered by Serbia Montenegro.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

For the most part I liked Amare Stoudemire's defense today. He did get beaten badly once by that center, but otherwise he was quite good. On the boards team USA just needs to start going over the back every time. They also need to start using a lot more moving picks and their off arms to push off defenders on their drives. Basically they need to learn what these officials are allowing.

Shawn Marion really didn't do much of anything today. I like Marion, but IMO Anthony has clearly been the best small forward for this team so far.

This team is going to get absolutely slaughtered by Serbia Montenegro.

Joe Mama

I didn't get a feel for how long Marion was in the game. It looked like he actually did OK defensing Dirk, but it was not clear how long he was in. What was missing was the passes to him slahing to the basket like he had against Italy, but I'm not sure he was to blame.

I agree that Anthony has played pretty well, although he took some early offense shots during crunch time that were very ill advised. Jefferson has not really shown much on offense which surprised me a bit. I think he misses having a real distributor at point guard.

 

[F-Dog]

Anthony got the gold star for this game, but I had Marion and Jefferson over him for the first two games. In those games, Anthony was giving points away faster than he was scoring them.


Thinking back on this game, the thing that gets me is that the US team's crunch-time offense consisted of Anthony and Iverson jacking up shots from the perimeter. Have I mentioned yet that the US is completely screwed?

 

[slinslin]

For the most part I liked Amare Stoudemire's defense today. He did get beaten badly once by that center, but otherwise he was quite good. On the boards team USA just needs to start going over the back every time. They also need to start using a lot more moving picks and their off arms to push off defenders on their drives. Basically they need to learn what these officials are allowing.


Joe Mama

How much did Amare play? 5 minutes or less?

I only saw a hour summary of the game so far but it looked like Amare contested every shot and when he actually touched the ball good things happened (assist to Wade for the 3 and a bucket). Did they ever let him touch the ball outside of those 2 occasions?

Also Femerling schooled Duncan as bad or worse than Amare several times in this game.

Duncan sure looks a lot less special when you take away San Antonio's system and role player shooters.

 

[George O'Brien]

How much did Amare play? 5 minutes or less?

I only saw a hour summary of the game so far but it looked like Amare contested every shot and when he actually touched the ball good things happened (assist to Wade for the 3 and a bucket). Did they ever let him touch the ball outside of those 2 occasions?

Also Femerling schooled Duncan as bad or worse than Amare several times in this game.

Duncan sure looks a lot less special when you take away San Antonio's system and role player shooters.

Obviously the wider lane and the absence of the defensive three second rule gave the Germans a big advantage in defending the low post. Duncan was not getting the ball in as close as he is used to and there were always three guys around him.

Of course, not having a bunch of fawning NBA refs giving Duncan all the calls made a difference too.

 

[F-Dog]

Duncan sure looks a lot less special when you take away San Antonio's system and role player shooters.

Yeah, it's hard to look good when you've got lousy teammates and no system.

 

[PhxGametime]

If nearly every team gets up to play US - then perhaps the US will come out strong against Serbia Montenegro (aren't they rated #1 now?). When is that game BTW?

 

[George O'Brien]

Friday on ESPN
7 p.m. (EDT) - USA men vs. Serbia & Montenegro

nba.com

 

[Nate]

Geez, forget that guy. He's just a mid-european level center, with neither athleticism nor post-up moves. Not another Dirk, definetely not an NBA material for sure, not even a top-half Euroleague team starter.

Definitely top Euroleague material. For a reality check, just look at his resumee at Euroleague.com:

won the 1998-99 and 1999-00 German National Championship with Alba Berlin Basketball Team...won the 2002-03 and 2003-04 Spanish National Championship with FC Barcelona...won the 1999 German National Cup with Alba Berlin Basketball Team...won the 2002 Greek National Cup with Olympiacos Piraeus...won the 2003 Spanish National Cup (King's Cup) with FC Barcelona...won the 2003 Euroleague with FC Barcelona...member of the German National Team...won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championship...played at the 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003 European Championship.

Last year Femerling was Barcas third best player behind European legend SG/SF Dejan Bodiroga and former Euroleague and European Championship MVP SF/PF Gregor ****a.

While I dont agree with your assesment on his European reputation, I agree with you about him not being anything more than weak filler material for the NBA. Apart from being foul prone, he really doesnt have good hands...and as you already wrote, he is lacking athleticism and post-up moves.

 

[BigBuddy]

Definitely top Euroleague material. For a reality check, just look at his resumee at Euroleague.com.

We both know that winning Spanish Championship with FCB or German C'ship with Alba isn't anything extraoridinary - even we could do that What I wan't to say is not that he's a poor player, but he's not as good as it is believed. He wasn't even able to fight his way to the first five through Duenas, who's EXTREMELY raw.

Last year Femerling was Barcas third best player behind European legend SG/SF Dejan Bodiroga and former Euroleague and European Championship MVP SF/PF Gregor ****a.

You should have written 'Gregor F.'
I don't think Femereling was any better than Navarro and he had a very hard time against Reyes in the Spanish Finals. He pulled some nice numbers a few times, that's true, but I would expect much more from a guy who want's to be a starter.

While I dont agree with your assesment on his European reputation, I agree with you about him not being anything more than weak filler material for the NBA. Apart from being foul prone, he really doesnt have good hands...and as you already wrote, he is lacking athleticism and post-up moves.

He has size and he tries to build on this, but it's clearly too late for him to improve his strength or game habbits. He's already 30...

 

[slinslin]

Btw

Carmelo #1 in FGA
Carmelo #10 in FG%
Carmelo #3 in TOpg
Caremlo's assist/turnover ratio < 1

 

[Joe Mama]

Btw

Carmelo #1 in FGA
Carmelo #10 in FG%
Carmelo #3 in TOpg
Caremlo's assist/turnover ratio < 1

that may be true, but in the games I've seen he's been one of the best players for the USA. His defense has been good for the most part. He's one of the only guys aggressively trying to score. Outside of Tim Duncan he's probably been the best player for team USA so far.

Joe Mama

 

[F-Dog]

that may be true, but in the games I've seen he's been one of the best players for the USA. His defense has been good for the most part. He's one of the only guys aggressively trying to score. Outside of Tim Duncan he's probably been the best player for team USA so far.

Joe Mama

I guess you can say he's been one of the best by default, but Anthony's defense has been much worse than Marion's and Jefferson's--he's been especially bad away from the ball, where he seems to specialize in the Casey Jacobsen Memorial "collapse to the ball unnecessarily and lose track of your man on the perimeter" move. He's also been lousy on the boards, where he's been beaten pretty much every time he's had a 50/50 ball, and he's one of the prime offenders in running out on the break when he should be helping out on the defensive glass.

LB loves the headcases, so my guess is that Anthony will have plenty of minutes to try and fix his game up. I think the team would be better with Jefferson and Marion showing a little more sack, though (and possibly even a LeBron sighting), instead of playing Anthony heavy minutes and him taking most of the shots when he's out there.

 

[elindholm]

where he seems to specialize in the Casey Jacobsen Memorial "collapse to the ball unnecessarily and lose track of your man on the perimeter" move.

I'm pretty sure that the naming rights on that move belong to Penny Hardaway.

 

[George O'Brien]

I'm sure the only reason Larry Brown is playing Anthony is make Dumars look bad.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

I'm sure the only reason Larry Brown is playing Anthony is make Dumars look bad.

Based on SlinSlin's numbers he isn't doin that to well

To tell you the truth, this is what I expected of Melo (except I expected it in like 4 minutes a game). A lot of scoring, on bad shooting.