Wow, did the U.S. Basketball team look terrible yesterday at the Olympics. I missed the Puerto Rico game assuming that the U.S. would waltz through as usual, but watched yesterday once I learned there was some drama to this. This team is a joke–can’t shoot, can’t pass, and can’t play team defense. Michael Wilbon’s column today reports that they missed 15 straight shots at one point–during warm-ups! They really do just dribble around and throw up off-balance runners and have no clue how to play team defense. As a fan of college ball who rarely watches the NBA, it is amazing how much the quality of fundamental basketball has declined due to all those guys bypassing college and going to the NBA. The varying styles that teams play in college, I think, would help these guys to learn how to adapt to the different styles that these international teams throw at them.
As a soccer fan, it is interesting to compare the experiences of the U.S. in soccer versus basketball. In basketball, the rest of the world has worked hard and selflessly and has gained on the spoiled, fundamentally weak U.S. team. In soccer, a youthful, talented, driven U.S. team with a chip on its shoulder keeps gaining and gaining on the rest of the world. The U.S, is now 7th in the FIFA World Rankings (ahead of England, Italy, Argentina, and Portugal, among others), and advanced beyond many traditional powers at the last World Cup.
So here’s my suggestion: (1) only send to the Olympics players who have 3 or more years of college basketball experience and have shown they can actually learn how to play a team game and are fundamentally sound, and (2) stop supporting guys like Rip Hamilton, Jason Kidd, and Shaq who refuse to play for the national team. In soccer, it is considered a great honor for players to play in the World Cup; American basketball players need to feel the same sense of urgency about the Olympics. Meanwhile, I’ll be tuning into the U.S. Soccer team’s World Cup qualifying game against the Reggae Boyz tonight.
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