Reminder: Team USA game - 5:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN2

[MilfordHusky]

The crowd did look bad in a 19,000 seat arena. Some of us tried to be loud. The time of the game was something of a factor--5:30 is a little early. POTUS set a bad example by coming after the game, though he did visit the team in the locker room. Geno noted that some of the players had met him before. couch ones was he talking about? Well, Maya is a regular at the White House.

In the B game, LeBron missed a dunk. He needs to get with Syl and Angel and work on things.

So one USA team played without the best PG in the world, took an early lead, and won by 32. The other team trailed most of the first half and needed some stellar defense by Kobe et al. to win by 11.

The young girls (and even boys) know who Maya Moore is. She was very popular in the cheap seats. (Well, not cheap, but Section 432, Row P was the very last row.). Fans appreciate Maya's effort and athleticism. She busts her butt, and she does things on the court that no other woman does.

Catch played within herself. She made me think of Kelly--impacting the game with not much scoring.

Sylvia is a fabulous defender and good offensive player.

Tina is a fabulous offensive player and good defender.

Diana threw the ball away about 3 times, but still looked very good, even on defense.

Lindsay uses her strength to score inside and has made a career of it. She now weighs more than Diana. Her decision making was mostly very good.

Angel wreaks havoc on defense but can't keep her defender in front of her. Geno was right. She is also unbelievably athletic.

Candace is very long and skilled, but even more of a finesse player than I thought.

Swin brought energy tonight, which is part of her role.

Seimone is smooth with the dribble and has a jumper to die for.

The list of colleges tonight was interesting:

6 UConn, as we know

2 Tennessee

2 LSU

1 Minnesota

1 Louisville.

On the men's side, the only school with 2 players was UCLA--Love and Westbrook.

 

[UcMiami]

I think it will be really interesting to see the progression of USA basketball over the next 4 years.
WC 2014 - I think AJ and Swin will be gone, probably replaced by two of Griner, EDD, and NO. Not sure if, without injuries there will be any other changes.
2016 Olympics - Sue? Whalen? Catch? Augustus? They will be the elder statesmen if they are still playing. That is a lot of perimeter play to replace in a short period.
It is funny - following WCBB you start think in four year increments, but with USA basketball it is 12+ years of prime playing, and each year there is a new crop of the young players coming into the pro ranks trying to push past their elders. But even with all that talent coming up it is hard to think of players like Sylvia or Dee being displaced until they decide to leave the game. I do not envy the USA committee the job of choosing teams.

 

[Icebear]

I said I saw her play MORE.

And yet you gave no indication of how much viewing might be enough. You used a non " many" are tweeting. Many believe there is no climate change or global warming, too, despite firm agreement by 98% of professional climate scientists. And the credibility of tweets is probably even less than the credibility Dutch tulip investments and Beanie Baby real values today.

Your assumptions in this have been somewhat odd. Many players are better than many other players or all others players in some aspect of their game. That still doesn't mean they are the right choice among all others in a given moment. Virtually, everyone here considers Nneka a tremendous talent and player but they simply do not think the timing and circumstances were right this time. That's all. She was not in the available pool which was established long ago. No one is saying she isn't good enough.

 

[Icebear]

and when the say "the "Women" was such extra emphasis, like surprised the women have a team.

That's OK Rebecca Lobo's is surprised that boys play.

 

[OneTrickPony]

That's OK Rebecca Lobo's is surprised that boys play.

Anyone that watched the two games last night knows the truth about men's and women's basketball. The men are bigger and excellent athletes, but the women know how to play the game. Maddening watching the men!

 

[Icebear]

Card fan, I want to say, also, that I have no problem with anything you have said or you valued participation. I just disagree with some of your conclusions about Nneka's current place on the team.

I think the possibility of a frontline of Britney, Nneka, and Elena should terrify those on the international scene.

 

[alexrgct]

Anyone that watched the two games last night knows the truth about men's and women's basketball. The men are bigger and excellent athletes, but the women know how to play the game. Maddening watching the men!

The men weren't hitting outside shots, and other than LeBron, they don't really have a guy who can go inside and score whenever (though Durant is improving in that area). Carmelo shouldn't be getting the minutes he is; I'd like to see Kevin Love play more.

Other than that, the main problem some of these NBA teams have is that sometimes they're trying to play an all-star game, whereas their competition is just trying to play basketball. The NBA guys know how to play, but they get into this mode of trying to blow everyone out of the building with every possession. The President being there might have also been distracting in a number of ways. It was too bad Durant culdn't put on more of a show in his home town. LeBron was special, though.

 

[OneTrickPony]

The men weren't hitting outside shots, and other than LeBron, they don't really have a guy who can go inside and score whenever (though Durant is improving in that area). Carmelo shouldn't be getting the minutes he is; I'd like to see Kevin Love play more.

Other than that, the main problem some of these NBA teams have is that sometimes they're trying to play an all-star game, whereas their competition is just trying to play basketball. The NBA guys know how to play, but they get into this mode of trying to blow everyone out of the building with every possession. The President being there might have also been distracting in a number of ways. It was too bad Durant culdn't put on more of a show in his home town. LeBron was special, though.

Precisely...an all star game where everyone gets the spotlight for a few minutes, but no one runs a play...!

 

[Kibitzer]

I can understand Cardfan's loyalty to Nneka and I respect his desire to express his view here, that she should have been one of the twelve players selected. Surely a similar case could have been made for Kara Lawson (or perhaps some others) but no one stepped up with Cardfan's zeal and persistence.

Speaking of persistence, sometimes (as on this board about this topic) it is not only futile, but ultimately counterproductive. Think about what W.C. Fields had to say about it:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If that doesn't work, quit! There's no point in being a damned fool about it."​

 

[Coler]

I still think EDD should have been at least in the pool of players looked at for the team. I mean how many 6'5 players have guard like skills? I don't think any team that USA would face could guard her. Yes Nneka would have been a good choice. But if it came down to her or Elena. I would choose Elena, without blinking twice.

But oh well, I believe EDD will be on the 2016 team.

Go USA!

 

[JoePgh]

Cardfan, I think your position is very defensible, and I would say that there is no question that Nneka's performance in the WNBA this year has exceeded Swin's and probably at least equalled Asjha's. But you have to remember that 11 out of 12 members of the Olympic team were chosen in April, before the WNBA season had even started, so you really can't use her WNBA performance as evidence for your case. You've said that she should have been chosen after Griner declined to participate, but at that point you are talking about the 12th member of the team, who will be mostly a practice player in any case. For that purpose, someone who knows the coach's system and his expectations in practice is probably a better fit than someone who would be new to both.

If the WNBA season had been played when the roster was originally chosen, I think it is quite likely that Nneka would have been chosen.

The other factor is that some decisions in Olympic play are made to recognize a career achievement more than current skill. In 2004, Bird and Taurasi made the roster but played behind Dawn Staley, which was questionable based on their relative skills in 2004. But it was right to recognize Staley's whole career by giving her a premier role on her last Olympic team. I think that choosing someone like Asjha over Nneka this year may fall in the same category.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Anyone that watched the two games last night knows the truth about men's and women's basketball. The men are bigger and excellent athletes, but the women know how to play the game. Maddening watching the men!

Exactly! Though the Brazil men's team knew how to play.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Assists: men 11, women 27.

I like Chris Paul, but he's not Magic or Stockton.

Melo shot 10% and Kobe and Kevin shot 30%. LeBron got his points based on his athleticism.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Exactly! Though the Brazil men's team knew how to play.

They did, and if we play like we did last night we won't beat Spain...

 

[meyers7]

They did, and if we play like we did last night we won't beat Spain...

Well give them a little time together.

 

[alexrgct]

Assists: men 11, women 27.

I like Chris Paul, but he's not Magic or Stockton.

Melo shot 10% and Kobe and Kevin shot 30%. LeBron got his points based on his athleticism.

LeBron for the longest time didn't do what he did last night, which is simply drive to the damn post every time he wants to unless he has a wide open shot from outside. He simply can't be stopped around the basket; his physical strength, hang time, and ability to utilize multiple release points, are just unfair. Team USA is going to need him to be that guy in the Olympics...and Durant is going to need to hit more shots from beyond the arc. Which he will, BTW. I think he was too jacked up about repping PG County at the Verizon Center with the President there. He was a force of nature at the 2010 FIBA championships.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Well give them a little time together.

Fingers crossed...!

 

[HuskyNan]

I still think EDD should have been at least in the pool of players looked at for the team. I mean how many 6'5 players have guard like skills? I don't think any team that USA would face could guard her. Yes Nneka would have been a good choice. But if it came down to her or Elena. I would choose Elena, without blinking twice.

But oh well, I believe EDD will be on the 2016 team.

Go USA!

The problem isn't so much that EDD wasn't good enough to make the team, the question is - which guard or guard/forward do you remove from the roster to make room for her?

 

[Coler]

The problem isn't so much that EDD wasn't good enough to make the team, the question is - which guard or guard/forward do you remove from the roster to make room for her?

Swin Cash perhaps. She hasn't had the best year. So I would replace her with EDD.

 

[speedoo]

Swin Cash perhaps. She hasn't had the best year. So I would replace her with EDD.

Right, she has not had a great year in the W. But she is one of the tri-captains, which says she brings a lot to the team that can't be measured.

 

[JoePgh]

If you are going to (hypothetically) replace Swin, then I would have to agree with Cardfan that, at this point, Nneka has shown more at a MUCH higher level of competition than EDD. I think Nneka (as of today) could defend EDD and hold her to about 10-12 points, and score 20-25 against her while outrebounding her by a wide margin. In a few years, that may not be the case.

 

[UConnChapette]

Assists: men 11, women 27.

11? Why, that is completely unacceptable! The men's team better cut down on the "near turnovers" and "bad shots" or risk looking like they are playing a team sport.

 

[meyers7]

All this talk about EDD and Nneka is silly. (yea I said it)

Here is the player pool for the 2012 Olympics:
Bird, Taurasi, Whalen, Harding, Lawson, Montgomery, Poindexter
Augustus, Cash, Brunson, Catchings, Dupree, Jones, McCoughtry, Moore, Parker, Young
Fowles, Charles, Appel, Griner

EDD and Nneka are not in the pool. They cannot be picked to replace anyone one the final 12. They are not even in the pool to be picked.

Now if people want to talk about 2014 WC when a new pool is established, then they can be talked about (without sounding silly)

 

[Coler]

If you are going to (hypothetically) replace Swin, then I would have to agree with Cardfan that, at this point, Nneka has shown more at a MUCH higher level of competition than EDD. I think Nneka (as of today) could defend EDD and hold her to about 10-12 points, and score 20-25 against her while outrebounding her by a wide margin. In a few years, that may not be the case.

Nneka was on the same team World University team last summer, and the coach raved about how EDD was the best player on the team. EDD has tools that Nneka doesn't. EDD is 6'5, can handle the ball, shoot anywhere on the floor. Nneka is a better rebounder, yes. But EDD is a hands down better offensive player. And again she's 6'5.

 

[OneTrickPony]

All this talk about EDD and Nneka is silly. (yea I said it)

Here is the player pool for the 2012 Olympics:
Bird, Taurasi, Whalen, Harding, Lawson, Montgomery, Poindexter
Augustus, Cash, Brunson, Catchings, Dupree, Jones, McCoughtry, Moore, Parker, Young
Fowles, Charles, Appel, Griner

EDD and Nneka are not in the pool. They cannot be picked to replace anyone one the final 12. They are not even in the pool to be picked.

Now if people want to talk about 2014 WC when a new pool is established, then they can be talked about (without sounding silly)

Why do you hate silly people so much...?

Oh wait...sorry...thought this was the Cesspool...never mind!