I’d like to tell you that I was upset about the United States losing last night, but that would be a lie. I wasn’t. And it has nothing to do with the bet with the Cavalier, although that is awesome, and I’m sure will be talked about more a little later.
But if you were just some random dude with no allegiance to any country, and you turned on the game last night… I don’t know how you wouldn’t be rooting for Greece. They clearly played better basketball, they executed better, were better prepared, had bigger nutsacs, and deserved to win in every possible way. That’s just the way things were.
And I say that not to slam Team USA, or the players that comprised it. This had nothing to do with poor attitudes, or lack of effort, or lack of team unity… none of those things that get unfairly applied to NBA players. The fact of the matter is that the Greeks play with a continuity and intelligence that takes literally years for a team to develop, and that they had better fundamentals. And it was just proven, beyond any doubt, that you can’t put an all-star team together and make up for that difference, no matter how talented those all-stars are, in three or four weeks. You just can’t.
And it also wasn’t a case of, despite what Jim Durham would have you believe, the Greeks just having a hot shooting night. They did make some shots they probably don’t normally make, but… they shot over 70% in the second half, and most of those were on easy looks around the basket that they earned. Their offense was so… sophisticated. Option, after option, after option, accompanied by the patience and passing the pick the right one. Those ugly Greek bastards play some very attractive basketball. In no way was this a fluke.
In fact, if Carmelo Anthony wasn’t on Team USA, this probably would’ve been a blowout. That’s the one positive I’ll take from this tournament on the US side of things: Carmelo Antohny is a man. Of course, the negative is that no one else was. LeBron James never, with the lone exception of meaningless points and a show-off dunk at the end of this game, made himself stand out. He was a bystander. Maybe we’ll get more into Carmelo vs. LeBron a little later.
You know, I once said that I think Team USA got it right with the coaching staff they selected for this thing. And I still believe that. The trouble is, though, that if they didn’t get it done with this group… they’re never going to. These guys were all willing to play unselfishly, they all played very hard, they were all committed to defense, they were all committed to each other… with the exception of some issues I had with the team selection, you really can’t do it much better than this. And it wasn’t good enough.
Our approach to this, to take our best players and try to mold them into a team in a month, just doesn’t work. We’re still the best basketball-playing nation in the world, don’t let there be any confusion about that. But we just do things ass backwards from the way the rest of the world does them in these international competitions. They have national teams, with some continuity in the coaching, that never really stop existing. We decide to put a team together everytime we need to.
Somewhere, Ben Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal, Paul Pierce, Michael Finley, and George Karl are sitting around thinking, “Ah, screw you guys.” After the 6th place finish in the 2002 World Championships, they, and the rest of Team USA’s roster, were called selfish, lazy, and everything else you can think of. You know, maybe they tried their best, and everyone else was just better.
You’ve just gotta give it up for the Grecians. They were extremely deep, extremely sound in the fundamentals, and just very very good at what they do. In terms of sheer athleticism, if the United States is a 100 on a scale of 0-to-100, then Greece is still like a 58. But they know what they’re doing. They can ball. How many times last night did they bring a guy in, ice cold off the bench, and then see him make a perfect play to get a lay-up? It was beautiful. It really was. And it made our game look ugly.
Mark Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 8:17 am
“Our approach to this, to take our best players and try to mold them into a team in a month, just doesn’t work. We’re still the best basketball-playing nation in the world, don’t let there be any confusion about that. But we just do things ass backwards from the way the rest of the world does them in these international competitions.”
Perfectly said, MJD. Maybe we should just start sending the previous year’s NBA champions, replacing the foreign guys on those teams with an NBA star or two.
weaz Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 8:45 am
Nice write-up.
Honesntly, I’m kind of happy that we lost, only because I don’t want Coach K to be the guy that comes in and “fixes” our world/olympic basketball program. The hooplah would have been unbearable during college basketball season, especially from Dick Vitale.
DookieStyle Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 9:04 am
You might be surprised brother, but I couldn’t sleep, remembered this was on, and actually watched the entire game.
The announcers were definitely trying to enforce the point that the U.S. was playing good D in the first quarter.
What they didn’t count on was Greece scoring 85 in the next three quarters.
Congrats to Greece. I think if Mamba and Gilbert (yes, Gilbert) had been there, things might have been a little different. There are two people in the NBA that can say, Hey, my team isn’t losing this game. And I think they are Kobe, and Gilbert. (Yes, Gilbert)
BigV Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 9:21 am
Good write-up MJD. Having followed all of Greece’s games in last year’s Eurocup and this year’s tourney, this one didn’t surprise me at all. They find your weakness and step on it, no matter who the opponent.
I think a question that needs to be asked is whether the Rat is the right coach for this. When the going gets tough, instead of adjusting he reverts to his pinched-face cussing at the officials mode. The dude hasn’t even drawn up an offensive play since like ‘93 at dook.
Moonshine Mike Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 9:42 am
Mamba isn’t walking thru that door…Gilbert isn’t walking thru that door….we’re going to have to win this ourselves.
Interesting about Carmelo growing up in the world classics.
Unsilent Majority Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 9:43 am
Fuck bitches, get money
Bill Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 9:46 am
ugly greek bastards?…..nice.
Jason Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 10:14 am
It’s probably true that an unbiased viewer would have been rooting for Greece … unless he had to listen to the Fran Fraschilla commentary. His ‘I told you so’ attitude and countless ‘high IQ’ references were unbearable.
Others have probably said this, but to me, Carmelo’s performance in this tournament was similar to Barkley’s in the ‘92 Olympics. Neither was the best player on the team, but they were the most valuable.
Jeff Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 10:21 am
I agree that we can’t just round up our best players and hope they become a team within a month. It’s an overconfident strategy anyway. However, I do think we should keep these guys together and watch them grow.
I’m glad you made the point about the 2002 squad. I think those guys got a bad rap.
Obu Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 10:29 am
Congrats on the free hooker mate.
Hopefully this will quench the idea that USA will win the FIBA Championship with a team assembled weeks before. And just maybe the NBA will get their head out their arses and be more committed to the FIBA and create a permanent national side that plays friendlies, if u will, so players can get accustomed to international basketball and gel together better.
twoeightnine Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 10:33 am
themightymjd.com is the first Google result for “Disease-Free Whore”. Where the bitches at?
rob Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 10:34 am
From the box score -
Free Throws:
Greece - 23/33, 69.7 percent
Shaq-like USA - 20/34, 58.8 percent
I hate to take the Andy Rooney argument, but bball in the USA has long moved away from fundamentals. That makes even more difficult slamming a bunch of All-Stars together and giving them a month to “re-learn” the game.
If only Gilbert had been there ….
Bouj Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 11:15 am
A few things:
1.) I like that Carmelo is getting his props, but did every basketball fan in America just up and forget that he was absolutely clutch for Denver last season? He & D-Wade were the only guys in the NBA you could count on in the final seconds. Lebron has spent the last couple of years refusing to take the last shot, but Carmelo wants that shot. So let’s not pretend he magically got good. He’s been good since that unfortunate second season.
2.) 3rd- or 4th-place is better than 6th-place, so the 2002 guys can continue to be on the shit list for how they played and acted. Karl blew 2002 so bad it wasn’t even funny.
3.) Hire Rudy T as a full-time National Team coach. He actually enjoys scouting and coaching the international style, and he’s pretty popular with the players, so it wouldn’t be hard to get guys to play for the team.
King Dan Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 11:34 am
I was pretty much the only person I knew who was paying attention to this tourny, and to be honest, I’m shocked they lost. I thought team selection killed the 2002 team and I figured all it would take is hard working, selfless basketball to get back to the top. Apparently not.
I still think we need to coax Steve Kerr out of retirement and suit him up.
Also, you used the term Grecians. That’s probably the correct term, but it still makes me laugh.
Fan's Attic Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 12:01 pm
i thought pick-and-rolls were basic offensive plays. how come our players/coaches can’t even defend this simple play?
Mr. Bojangles Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Hey, is that Ryan Reynolds going for the lay up?
Anyway, fuck this tournament. When Americans don’t win.. it’s just unAmerican. Basketball is now on my terrorist shit list, with soccer.
charlie Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I was mostly rooting for the US to win just so I wouldn’t have to hear people rant on and on about how we’ve “lost our fundamentals.” It’s an international game now and that’s a good thing and doesn’t mean necessarily that the NBA has gone bad. Whether b-ball was better in 1992 we don’t know and won’t know b/c their international competition sucked. Does England still freak out every time their cricket team loses?
Another thing, I think it should be factored in that these tournaments are single-elimination. I don’t know if US would’ve beat Greece in a 7-game series, but they probably would have at least figured out the pick and roll at some point. In general though, it makes me uncomfortable to crown a single-elimination champion “the best” (or the 76ers and Mavs would be NBA champions now).
Socraticsilence Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Am I the only one who finds it a little bit ironic that we contiune to lose to team that have all the earmarks of K’s Duke teams: realtivley unathletic, tight teamwork, good outside shooting, I mean for gods sakes you think a man who contiually drill this shit ad nauseum at the college level would have considered carrying a shooter, (admittedly Micheal Redd and J.J. were out due to injuries and they as well as Gilbert might now get a shot in the Olympics if for god skaes we at least trim Jamison’s sorry ass) why isn’t Ray Allen on this team (in 08′ he might be too old but right now he would have been great off the bench).
Socraticsilence Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 2:21 pm
One more thing, out of curiousity does anyone think if we just sent an actual NBA (obviously not the Mavs what with Dirk) and just added the All-Stars to fill in the holes Foriegn BOrn Players left we’d do better? I mean maybe not this years Heat, because obviously you can’t count of Ref’s giving us a title in International play, but what about the Spurs, with say Chris Paul and Melo for Manu and Parker?; or the Pistons, then we’d have a fully gelled team (something which if we just tinker a little bit we might not have to worry about in ‘08) anyway.
UC Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I don’t buy the argument that says we lose to teams like Greece because they have more experience playing together. Their schedules aren’t that much different than that of the U.S. They play for their club teams in a long Euroleague season just like NBA players. And then they get together here and there for an international competition. Just like NBA players.
Granted, I’m sure the Greek players have played with each other more than the Americans. But too many people make it sound like these guys play for Greece - and only Greece - year round. That isn’t true. (Same goes for other countries. Spain, Turkey, etc)
These players play with their club teams first and their country second.
Just like NBA players.
the mighty mjd Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 3:33 pm
You’re right about that, UC, but the difference is that it’s the same guys, year after year, and in competition after competition. They’ve got a ton of experience in that system, with that coach, with those teammates. We have a new group of guys and a new coach every time another tournament comes along.
Ryan Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Ya know, I don’t want to say that I’m better than coach K or anything, but one of the first things I taught my middle school team was how to defend the pick and roll…..And they picked it up fairly quickly…..But like I said, I don’t want to say that I’m better than coach K.
P.S….I had no idea there were black people in Greece. I got a bruh man in Greece. word
KP Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Thank God it’s over. Maybe now basketball will stop hogging all of the posts. Bring on the NFL.
PS, I take back what I said in a previous post about stereotypes. Blacks are not better at basketball than whites.
Arthur Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 5:41 pm
As much as we talk about how the team has too many scoring superstars, I really think Gilbert would have helped us in that game. There was a point where only Carmelo could score, and that’s pretty shocking on a stacked team like this.
And yeah, the pick and roll was obviously a huge problem. But I was more surprised by the fact that Spanoulis could just take our guys off the dribble, drive to the hole, and lay it up… seemingly with ease. Our D had some serious problems.
And Ryan - I was surprised to see him too, and immediately came out with the “no way he’s Greek” reaction. But his name is Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and according to Google he has a Greek father and Nigerian mother. Which makes him legit. This isn’t like Santos, the Brazilian left back on the Japanese soccer team…
UIUC-Chief Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 6:03 pm
I agree with Bouj. We need a full time coach running the US program, as soon as he is back from Japan Coach K will only be worried about Duke recruiting, getting Duke ready to underachive at next years tourney etc..etc…
We are now less than 2 years away from the Beijing olympics, our final 15 need to be named now, and this group has to work together for the next 21 months, they need to play exhibition (more like practice) games with top college teams, play European and South American national teams in the summer, hell even play an exhibition game during All Star Weekend, Team USA against Argentina for example (non of this US vs. the world non-sense the NHL does).
That being said the only players I would keep off this current team are: Melo, Paul, Hinrich, Brand, and Bosh. Maybe Wade.
UIUC-Chief Says:
September 1st, 2006 at 11:22 pm
That last sentence should have read as follows: (Im just atoning for all of the semi-drunk, grammatically incorrect typing that i am responsible for, across all the internet.)
“That being said the only players I would keep from our current team are: Melo, Paul, Hinrich, Brand and Bosh, maybe Wade.
Mr. Bojangles Says:
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:04 am
Full-time coach is a great idea. It’s worked very well for the World Cup.
asilv Says:
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:14 pm
“they were Hellas good”
haha the picture quotes are great
Thom York Says:
September 4th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Look, the whole idea was a success, albeit at a level that fell one game short. We represented ourselves as a basketball country, we showed a great set of nuts in putting away whay was widely thought to be the best team in the tournament. We weren’t playing Lithuania, we were playing the defending World and Olympic Champs. Stew on that for a moment.
Significant effort was placed into learning their game, and that is an important thing to remember that we are entering a tournament that is their game. Their court, their ball, their rules, their differences in rules. So for our nba players to play in this environment includes a large learning committment, and one of the most difficuly things to do in athletics is change instinctual reaction. Foreign players ahve a relationship with the officials, as they see them all the time, much like our players do with the NBA officials
So as you can see, there are many areas to be addressed to ultimately make this a successful project over the long haul.
But let me pose this question to you, had we missed only 8 instead of 15 freethrows, we would not be having this conversation. There would be no questions about appropriate coaches which players wee “should have taken”. We are talking about free throws, and no coach, management, or any remote issue can affect that point. It is up to the playerrs, and they know it.
Let’s remember it is basketball, and while we can point to all types of organizational decisions, once they are between the lines, it comes down to execution of fundamentals, every single night.
That is why from what I seem in the demeanor of these players and the coaches that they have committed, this is hte beginning af a new era about what we think about this team. Mark my words.