Jeff: Piling On...

I'm not here to call out Lebron and Melo and Coach Larry Brown. I'm not here to call out Shaq and KG and Kidd and all the others who skipped the Olympics. I'm calling out David Stern.

The "experts" had been saying ever since the US Olympic team was finalized that it was poorly constructed, and that despite the "big names" this team wouldn't be successful in the Olympics. Well after the Italy game everyone else SHOULD see that--everyone else, that is, except the man that counts: NBA Commissioner David Stern. Did you see Stern's comments a couple of days ago? He's excited about this young team and says this is the way the team will be put together from now on--with younger players. HUH?!?!?!? (Allow me to clear my throat so I can get my point across here...) the ENTIRE point of putting NBA players in the Olympics is so the USA would clean up. Period. Allow me to explain how we've gotten to this point, and why those comments from Stern means he doesn't care one bit about whether the US wins or loses. All he cares about is the bottom line and how much money he can rake in.

Let's go back to the 80's. Hair bands. Bad clothes. And probably the best era in NBA history. Problem was, the best players weren't playing in the Olympics. People were losing interest in Olympic basketball when the college kids started getting worked. Real American basketball fans were tired of seeing the team lose, knowing that with the best players in the world--aka NBA players--the losing would stop. Stern also knew that with NBA players involved, he and his cronies would be in line for some big-time $$ from TV dollars and jersey sales. Match made in heaven. Stern used his strong-armed tactics to get the pros in.

And 1992 went off better than anyone could have expected. I mentioned that in my last post too: out and out dominance from the best basketball squad ever assembled. Of course all of that dominance also set a standard; an impossibly high standard. A few problems with this: at the same time the Dream Team was demolishing opponents, the Berlin Wall had been demolished too, and suddenly all of these Eastern Block countries were being exposed to a whole new world. True, the rest of the world was being exposed to American basketball that year, but I think what REALLY happened was the rest of the world was being let out. The rest of the world always HAD talent--it just hadn't been exposed. Now with a "freer" world, the door was suddenly wide open. Again, yes, the rest of the world got closer to "American Basketball" in '92 thanks to the Dream Team, but to say it's been the influence and reason for all the success of these other countries is ignorant at best. Just look at that Italy game and the World Championships 2 years ago--these teams aren't playing the American style of basketball!!! They're playing a different game--AND THEY"RE WINNING!!!!!!

Maybe it's American basketball that should start taking some pointers from the rest of the world. I'm dead serious when I say this--the worst thing Michael Jordan did was dunk a basketball. Because now that's all any of the kids care about doing. Don't believe me? When basketball season starts up again, stick around for the commercials. Watch the basketball related commericals, and see how many jump shots you see. How many passes you see. Block outs. Screen and rolls. I can tell you already you'll be waiting a LONG time to see any of that in an American basketball commercial. All you'll see is dunking and one-on-one moves trying to dunk. "Streetball" is killing the game of basketball but nobody wants to talk about it. Gone is the idea of the team concept, passing, playing defense, and hitting an F'ing jump shot. "Schooling" your opponent is all they care about now.

Don't believe me? Look at the US team, heck look at the all-stars who didn't show up. How many NBA "SuperStar" guards can you name who are great shooters? How many? Kobe when he's REALLY on can knock down outside shots. T-Mac? Nope. Kidd? That's funny. Francis? Baron Davis? Not a ONE!!! Most of the best shooters in the league now aren't Americans. And the ones that ARE Americans, like Michael Redd, aren't going to sell enough jerseys to get on the team.

The blame for this has to fall on Stern. How else does Marbury make the team? How else are the 12 "best available names" making up this squad, and not the 12 best guys they could get that would have made the best TEAM? This team was put together with $$ in mind, not winning. Don't blame Larry Brown. It's not his fault he has a team that's not geared to win. No team, college or pro, that's built like this one has much of a chance to win. 3 point guards (none of which who can make an outside jumpshot), ZERO TWO GUARDS, 4 or 5 small forwards (again none who are consistent from the perimeter), and an utter lack of size in the post outside of The Big Fundamentals Timmy Duncan. This is not a recipe for success--but it is for David Stern's bank account, and that's all he cares about.

And getting back to Stern's comments about "this is the future of USA Olympic Basketball, the young guys"; well it just cements the fact the man does not care about winning. Granted, you can't put a gun to the head of NBA Superstars to make them play in the Olympics. Honestly, I think if these Olympic games were played in the good ol' US of A, most of the guys that backed out for "security reasons" would have found some other excuse not to play. It's sad but that's where were at. But you can still find a superstar or two (like Duncan and Iverson) who would be willing to play. And then if you simply follow the blueprint for building a good basketball team, whether it be the NBA or some Eurpean league. The US should STILL be the best team in the world. Get a couple of stars, a point guard that actually plays like a point guard (which would mean keeping Dwayne Wade on the floor and telling Stephon Marbury the Olympics are in Egypt or Siberia), extending invitations to guys who can hit an outside shot (they're called shooting guards, and have that name for a reason--or at least they used to), a small forward who can shoot, and some solid rebounders in the post. ROLE PLAYERS. Such an easy recipe and yet Stern refuses to see the writing on the wall.

And that's what makes Stern such a hypocrit. He pushed for NBA players so the fans could see the best of the best: now that the best don't want to come anymore, he's going to put "exciting young players" that will still sell merchandise, instead of trying get a couple of stars and round it out with role players so the team had a shot at winning. What's the next step? When they couldn't win, the USA got the pros. Now that the pros aren't winning, maybe they'll want to go back to the college kids? Oh wait, except our best high school kids don't want to play college ball anymore. Or shoot. Or pass. Or play defense. But boy they sure do make some great dunks. Welcome to the New World Order of American Basketball.