Team USA Primer IV

Photo from AP.

It's that time again, and there's some serious chatter surrounding everyone's favorite pros turned national sports saviors.

Still, Dwyane Wade found the time to enlighten us with the status on his injury. From the Associated Press, via The Chicago Tribune:

My knee is feeling good. I went through my first day with the team and did
everything everyone else did at practice. I worked hard to be here today. I have
been in the gym five days a week since the first week of May -- training,
rehabbing conditioning, getting my explosion back for you guys and for me. I
want to continue to be the player that some of you guys like and some of you
fell in love with.

Also notable is Wade's comments on his teammates, in which he categorizes LeBron as the "craziest," Melo as "very silly," and himself as "one of the funniest guys on the team."

And of course, The L.A. Times had a nice Q&A with Kobe that has received a bit of buzz because of Kobe's thoughts on the quality of international players (from Jonathan Abrams):

Q: What was going through your mind when you saw the USA walk away with
only bronze?

A: I saw it coming, to be honest with you. Teams internationally have just been getting better. Since '92 and '96, after that, teams have been getting better. They've had a chance to play against us and see what we do and how we train and how we work. They go home and work on that stuff and come back and they're better ballplayers. So now you have an even playing field where those players over there aren't looking at us and being intimidated by us. They feel like they can compete with us and should beat us.

Abrams also asked the big question surrounding Team USA these days...

Q: Is there any concern that Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic is the
only true center on the team?

A: The European game is a little different. What we're trying to do here is use our strengths to our advantage, which are size, speed. We're one of those teams, when you look at Dwight and Chris Bosh, even though they're big, they have the mobility of a guard at 6-2. So, we're trying to use that to our advantage as much as we can.

I don't think it needs a quote, but Tyson Chandler was added as an alternate for the team, and rightfully so. Chandler has been invited to the camp in Vegas and is likely to travel ti Beijing; Jeff Duncan of The Times Picayune mentions that it's still a possibility for Chandler to snag one of the 12 roster spots, but I have to say it seems awfully unlikely. Chandler made the most sense for the alternate if he didn't make the team, but don't get too excited about adding another big man just yet. At this point, Chandler's role is to provide a practice center and an insurance policy, which makes sense considering Dwight Howard's fractured sternum.

Besides the inclusion of Tayshaun Prince over Tyson Chandler, the most criticism has come regarding Jason Kidd's involvement on the team (because of the presence of Williams and Paul). But, despite a lot of outsider perspectives, those within Team USA only praise Kidd. From Aditi Kinkhabwala of The Record (Hackensack N.J.) (via The Boston Herald):

...And yet, after an embarrassing 2004 Olympics, when Kidd was named one of nine "core" players then left home with a knee injury, and the U.S. managed only a bronze, the one-time Net’s presence has been openly appreciated as well.

Team architect Jerry Colangelo said "he’s everything you want in a leader," Chris Paul said he and Deron Williams "are learning so much from him," and Williams - who calls Kidd "Pops" - rattled off Kidd’s USA Basketball stats without any hesitation.

The stats aren’t of course the key for the triple-double machine with this team. He took just 10 shots in 10 games during Olympic qualifying last summer, but with an assist-to-turnover ration of 9.20, 3.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game, he led the team to a 39.5 average margin of victory for Team MVP honors.

"That," Dwyane Wade said, "just shows his greatness."

Kobe was also asked to make a suggestion to his first round opponent, the Chinese National Team:

"You want me to make suggestions?" he asked with mock incredulity. "Don’t play
Yao, don’t play Yi. That’s a great suggestion."

But don't forget -- if Team USA flops, we won't discredit Kobe, or LeBron, or Dwight as all-world talent. On the flip side though, if the team flops, Jerry Colangelo will be evaluated very harshly. From ESPN's Chris Sheridan:

And make no mistake, even though this could be termed Coach K's team or LeBron's team or Kobe's team or the Redeem Team, it is really Colangelo's team -- with his legacy at stake here more than anyone else's.

...Colangelo was the man who decided the Americans' needed a change in direction that began with a change of attitude, noting that 15 players had withdrawn because of injury or disinterest in 2004 before the Americans came up with their final 12-man roster for Athens. Colangelo decided he wanted to go only with players who were 100 percent committed.

When Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan gave him their "been there, done that" speeches, Colangelo left them alone. When Gilbert Arenas and Bruce Bowen reacted
grumpily to being cut from the 2006 team, he jettisoned them from the program.
And when Amare Stoudemire wavered in his focus by admitting he was worried what impact playing for Team USA would have on his long-term financial health, Colangelo decided having one fewer big man was a small price to pay for having an extra body in Beijing who was buying into the bigger concept.

...Colangelo? His three-year commitment expires when the team plane gets back from Beijing, and he has not entertained questions looking beyond that date. He is the national team czar, for lack of a better term, and whatever happens to this team in Beijing will stick to his legacy -- the way his name was affixed to the building where the newest Team USA, whether it turns out to be a Dream Team or a Nightmare Team, was unveiled.

And for what it's worth (not much), Nike is doing their part to make sure that Team USA is not only outfitted in quality, stylish products (Nike reps, you can make your check out to Rob...). From The FINANCIAL:

...Nike will showcase Team USA’s new Nike Swift System of Dress basketball uniform. The new Nike designed uniform for the USA Men’s and Women’s teams
eliminates 25 centimeters of material and reduces the weight by 31 percent when
compared with current uniforms. Nike’s new uniform also features Nike Aerographics, an engineered mesh providing zoned cooling that reduces up to half
the yarn, making it more lightweight and breathable. An exclusively designed “We
the People” graphic, inspired by USA’s rich history, is also integrated into the uniform.

...In addition to Team USA’s uniform design, Kobe Bryant will be wearing the new USA Nike Hyperdunk colorway. The Nike Hyperdunk is 18 percent lighter than the average Nike basketball shoe and is the lightest and strongest basketball shoe Nike has ever created. Key products inspired by the USA Basketball uniform and Nike Hyperdunk footwear featuring Flywire technology will be available to consumers beginning July 26th.

But not everyone is loving this whole olympic gig, as Mark Cuban has made incredibly apparent. The central thesis of most of the criticism seems to be about the dolla dolla billz, y'all, whether it's NBC, Nike, or the NBA doing the money grubbing. But Jamie Samuelsen of the Detroit Free Press wrote in his blog about something that I'm surprised isn't mentioned more:

Overall, I’ve never been a fan of the pros playing. I get the reason why. And I get that all Olympians are now pros to some extent. The days of the grubby college kids stealing gold at Lake Placid are long gone. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t covet the notion, does it? I was just never comfortable with the Dream Team concept. We lost the gold in 1988, so we decided, “We can’t LOSE in basketball, let’s send our NBA stars!” I just never liked that mentality. But I am certainly in the minority on that one and there’s no doubt that Olympic basketball is more popular with the pros out there. I just never liked the message all that much.

Given the huge fanbase of the college game and our country's general distaste for the "selfish" drama kings of the L, why don't we hear more calls for a return to college athletes? If my memory serves me correctly it hasn't been done since 1984 (as Filip Bondy so expertly chronicled in a chapter of his book) when the likes of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Chris Mullin were along for the ride under Bobby Knight. I don't think this should even be considered a possibility and I don't think even the most elite college players would be ready to take on the best teams from around the world, but I'm just surprised my opinions aren't met with more opposition.

And finally, Tom Knott of the Washington Times is not convinced of Team USA's greatness in '08:

Team USA is destined to be vulnerable to a lane-clogging zone defense that implores the Americans to take perimeter shots. That prospect will limit the potency of Jason Kidd and Dwyane Wade, if not stifle the gold-medal bid of Team USA at the Beijing Games.

...That [lack of outside shooting] has not been necessarily addressed this time around, with Michael Redd being the only shooter extraordinaire on the roster.

...Some players seemingly can hop out of bed and make shots while rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Redd fits the type. No one else on the U.S. roster does. Not Carmelo Anthony. Not Chris Paul. And not Deron Williams.

...The international game plan to defeat the Americans is fairly obvious: Run multiple zone defenses that cut off the driving lanes to the basket, limit their fastbreak opportunities, emphasize good ball movement and execute backdoor cuts that penalize their propensity to gamble on defense and make shots.

The U.S. often ends up having to accept a hard truth: No matter how dynamic the roster looks on paper - its 10th player possibly a significant step up from the 10th player on any other roster - the game is restricted to five players and one basketball.

...This U.S. team seems susceptible to having at least one poor-shooting game in Beijing. And that is sometimes the difference between gold and bronze, as it was for the U.S. team two years ago.

Knott's points are legitimate gripes, I guess, but they really are just rehashed ones from any post-2004 Team USA piece. It's well-documented that Team USA "can't shoot from outside," and it seems like Knott's article drives that point home. What is often ignored however, is the fact that although few of these players are true three point shooters in the NBA, the doctored three point line is all well within their range. Also, you can look at the 2007 Tournament of the Americas stats to see that Michael Redd was only the the 4th best on the team among those that took over 30 attempts:

LeBron James: 23-37 (.622)

Carmelo Anthony: 26-45 (.578)

Kobe Bryant: 17-37 (.459)

Michael Redd: 29-64 (.453)

While Redd did make the most threes on the team, he also only made 3 more than 'Melo -- despite 19 more attempts. The three that rank above Redd in percentage are more than capable three point threats in the international game, and the rest of the roster doesn't slouch either. Deron Williams and Tayshaun Prince are both good shooters from long range, and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can both step out to hit from there if need be. I know this is a common complaint that will face Team USA all summer and even longer if they get anything less than gold, but it really does seem a little unfounded to me. Redd is a good three-point shooter, but James, Anthony, and Bryant can shoot too; the fact that they can drive too shouldn't change that.