who do you think is the best countru at playing basketball, i think my country, serbia and montenegro
Most countries do not put that much of an emphasis on Basketball. In the USA, our main sports are (Football,NFL), Basketball, and Baseball. In your country, and most other countries, the most watched sport is (football, soccer). Most countries do not have the same facilities as the United States and that puts them at a disadvantage. Still, despite the odds, the rest of the world caught up to the USA. Serbia and Montenegro is a great basketball force, but for now I would have to go with Argentina. They won the olympics so the Argentinians get the nod until someone knocks them out.
Clearly the United States. Don't let the Olympic results fool you. The ten best US players were absent. The gap is closing rapidly, but the US is still the best.
Exactly. It's at least reached the point that the US realizes that they can't just send 12 NBA stars and expect to win. Two words: Michael Redd.
i wasnt talking about the olympics, we finished like 12th, if you looka t history youl see that, S&M are the ebst country ever, 11 attempts 9 medals then its u.s then i think argentina. Il post the table when i find it
this is going to be a long and meaningless post but I love these types of threads - International basketball. what's your criteria for judging the best country? Sebia and Montenegro is definately in the top 3....most likely #2. However most of the best players in the world are American. The percieved problem with the U.S. is that we are slipping while other Countries are imrpoving and that is true but the reality, and alot of Americans miss this too, is that the U.S. still can beat teams by 30 points per game when/if they put their best players together. Even just adding a player or two would have had a huge impact in the olympics, someone said Michael Redd earlier. Michael Redd may have been the differece between bronze and silver. Add Brent Barry (assuming he played like the Brent Barry on last season and not this seasn) and the US might be wining gold. Had Ray Allen played and I am certain the U.S. wins because outside shooting would have opened things up for Duncan. We sent a bunch of slashers and poor shooters to the olympics. In International basketball you need shooters, and the ignorant US selection commitee thought we could just send a bunch of atheletes and still win. You need shooting so we sent.....Allen Iverson, one of the worst shooters in the history of the game (and he responded by shooting a whopping 40%).......Richard Jefferson, another terrible perimeter player......Carmelo Anthony (another guy capable of 2 for 15 shooting).......etc etc. Anyway the main point is that if the US ever sent it's best team then we wouldn't eve be having this conversation. Anyway I think this pool of players would be great, of course some guys would play slightly out of position: point guard: Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Sam Cassell, Chauncy Billups shooting guard: Ray Allen, Michael Redd, Reggie Miller, Kobe Bryant, Tracey Mcgrady, Lebron James, Rip Hamilton (I would possibly play Kobe or TMac at the "3" so I could have pure shooters at the "2" - oh and Reggie is proving he can still shoot a little.) small forward: Brent Barry, Tayshaun Prince, Dwayne Wade power forward: Tim Duncan, Elton Brand, Kevin Garnett (Duncan can play center) center: Shaq, Ben Wallace Of course Serbia has some great talent as well, just in the NBA alone you have Vlade Divac, Peja Stojoikovic, Darko Milicic, Zeljko Rebraca
You were spot on with your assessment of the 2004 US team's perimiter players but I'm very confused with several of your picks, especially at Small Forward. Tayshaun would be a good backup/role player but Dwayne Wade can't play the 3, the Miami coaches didn't think he was big enough to even play the 2 last season and they made him a point guard. At this point in his career Barry isn't much more than a shooter and he wouldn't be needed if players like Ray Allen, Kobe, and Redd were on the team. I would list Lebron as a Small Forward, and I would play two guys from the Olimpic team: Shawn Marion who is an excellent defender and rebounder who is pretty damn good on the offensive end, and Lamar Odom who was one of the few players who actually played well at the olimpics. Rashard Lewis would be good for international play as well, he's a career 38% 3 point shooter and he's more athletic than older guys like Miller and Barry. At point guard I'd take Bibby and Francis over Miller and Cassel, I would say Marbury but he's a street baller and Athens proved his game isn't suited to international play. I'd love to see Garnett, Brand, and Duncan on the same team though; I can just imagine Duncan at center and Garnett playing the 4, that would be incredible.
you are right about Wade at the 3, I meant to put him at the number 2 guard. Rashard Lewis is someone I thought of after I made my list but I still stand behind Barry and Miller being in the pool. Miller is still the guy who is most feared with under a minute left...even at 40 years old or however old he is. In international basketball having 2 big men, 1 slasher and 2 shooters is the perfect formula. So to me, having Kobe and Mcgrady on the floor at the same time doesn't make sense - having Kobe and Ray Allen together means more. I put Tayshaun because he is a great permiter defender and he would have altered or blocked alot of those 3 pointers that other teams made against us last year.
You know that KG's position is actually Small Forward right? doesnt really matter. I think that Shawn Marion is a better choice than Tayshaun Prince. I think this lineup would cause some trouble for international teams. PG Jason Kidd SG Kobe Bryant SF Kevin Garnett PF Tim Duncan C Shaquille O'Neal
KG plays power forward for the Twolves. He was once listed as a SF in the Twolves media guide but this year he is listed as the PF. He almost always guards the opponents #4 as well. And Marion didn't help USA last summer while I think Prince would have helped limit the opponents 3 point chances. Marion is obviously the better all around player but with other good players, Prince's niche would have been more valuable in my opinion. Your team doesn't have enough shooters, one reason why I wouldn't play KG at the #3 position. You don't have anyone who shoots over 40% from the 3 point line, and that's a key in international basketball. Ray Allen might be better for USA than Kobe Bryant, depending on who else you have on the team.
11 attempts?serbia montenegro have been around for what 10 years,give me a break don't take credit for the yugoslav teams of the 70s and 80s those teams were stocked with croats.
Bzzzzz. Wrong answer. The US has participated in 15 Olympics and medaled in all 15 (including 12 gold medals). S&M has never medaled, and Yugoslavia only has one gold.
I think he may have been talking about the World Championships, in which Yugoslavia has 10 medals. And like Adega mentioned, those teams had lots of Croats on there. Even so, now that the US realizes that they have to put together an actual team, tehy will be back on top, provided most of their players are willing to play.
What kind of question is this? Serious there is no dabating this, the answer is clearly the US. When any other country can begin to match the gold medals and World Championships the US has accumulated then we can begin to discuss this. Of the top 50 players in the world how many are not American?, maybe 7 or 8. That said, Argentina right now has the best "team", there sum is better than it's parts. They play as a unit, as a true team and it will be interesting to see what kind of unit the US sends to Japan in '06. If we keep making the same mistakes, we won't win, but we still clearly have the best players, but we don't always send the best team.
Yugoslavia? FIBA's favorite pet. They cheated in the 2002 final against Argentina, because in fact they couldn't put up with the pressure of the event (Divac is the prime example). Besides, they no longer exist. Now it's Serbia & Montenegro, and they couldn't even go through the first round at the Olympics in Athens. Other European teams such as Lithuania, Spain and Germany are much better. Right now, I'll have to go with Argentina for the best TEAM (Olympic champions and true World champions ) and USA for the best players (even though they don't even compare to what they were 10 years ago).
I'll agree with that. If the US actually put together a team based on International rules and style of play, we could have the best team as well. As of now, Argentina's national team is the most cohesive unit in International ball.
USA is easily the best, they should just try to bring players to the olympics that have played with each other before, if you watched the olympics you would see that there is no chemistry. Just bring players that know each other's styles. If that doesn't work bring college players. The NBA is just a place where one player has the ball every time. College players know how to pass the ball. No country could match up to the talent of even our best college players.
USA. They just had a really unorganized team and they didn't practice much before the Olympics started. I think Marbury should still be in the pool of players. You guys may think that he's a street baller..but he's really improved since he joined the Knicks. The other night he had 34 points and 11 assists. There's also been some nights where he'll focus more on passing the ball. I think the real problem was the front court. Duncan was the only true center on the team, and he was coming off of his first season as a starting center. Odom kept on getting into foul trouble. Jefferson missed everything he put up. A players like Shaq and KG would have changed the entire result around.
Larry Brown ************ed up by leaving LeBron on the bench. If LeBron had been starting and playing serious minutes, the USA would've taken the gold.
Exactly. They thought they could street ball their way though. Ain't happening. None of these street ballers can shoot well, therefore, they lose an option when they can't dunk, which obviously happened too many times.
The US wasnt picking players they were picking which jerseys they could sell the most of and the NBA helped by giving them players to help hype the future of their league.