anyone have any updates on this thing? i can't find a score for it online anywhere, and the aussies were giving us a run when i left home this morning. thanks in advance
usa vs. australia
- Thread starter CYVADER
- Start date
I'll be impressed with the USA team when they actually win a gold medal. It's not that I believe that being #1 is the only thing that counts, it's the point that most US pro athletes think that they are the center of the universe. Then, in international competition, they fail to get the job done. Play for he team and the country instead of yourself....
Not for long ... European/mideast teams are starting to make plays for decent NBA talent now, won't be long before the money gets big enough to grab a few stars. And the NBA thought the ABA was competition....
Josh Childress just signed for $20 million to play overseas, they don't have salary caps so the money can get really big.
Also, the dollar is so weak now that 20 million is not what it used to be, at least not in Europe.
Maybe a close game is good for this team to show them it isn't easy. On the other hand, it could be a sign that this won't be an unbeatable team.
I have it on my DVR and just started to watch it. I heard Melo played like a dog. I wanted to see for myself.
It'll be a sad day when professional athletes can make more playing in Europe than in the US. It's getting close...
Lots of players jumping ship from the NBA to go play in the Euro League. I don't blame them. Make comparable money, and get more playing time.
Couldn't agree more. While I have no doubt that the NBA has the most talented athletes in the world, they really don't play the sport well. NBA games exist for the purpose of selling shoes and filling up the highlight reels on SportsCenter. There is no team concept, and fundamentals are completely neglected. Nobody plays good defense. Offense consists of 1 on 1 isolation plays with everyone getting out of the way while the star player takes someone off the dribble. I'm not sure traveling has been called by an NBA official in this decade.
The lack of team play in the NBA is the reason I don't watch, and I think it is also the reason we are having problems in international play. I don't think it is an issue of international teams having more talent, I think it is an issue of them playing better fundamental basketball than us. You don't have to look much farther than UNI or Drake to show what a well coached, disciplined team that buys into the system can do. And they don't need a team of future draft picks to give the big boys a run for their money.
Fixing Team USA basketball boils down to fixing the professional game in this country. I just have no idea how you do that.
It would be interesting to see what kind of ratings some of the Euro leagues would get in the states. It's a better brand of basketball and probably has alot of recognizable faces...
I would like to see Euro League games on ESPN during the day. Would be a good change from 8 hours of Sportscenter, bass fishing, and bowling.
If ESPN or Fox were to jump full bore behing Euro basketball the NBA would be in serious trouble...
I also think that a big reason for our lack of success in international play recently is that most NBA players just don't care that much about the Olympics/World Championships. It might not be in the top 5 most important thing for those guys. They're more interested in getting ready for the upcoming season, negotiating a new contract, scoring a big shoe deal, having 22" rims installed on their new, pimped-out H2, etc.