Olympic Expectations
Monday, July 7th, 2008 by Mike Franco
The games in Beijing are approaching, and I am expecting BIG things from Team USA basketball. No more bronze medals, no more disappointing finishes, and no more close games. We the United States of America have not won a major world basketball competition since the year 2000!!!! Are you kidding me? I find that pathetic and shameful. We have the best athletes, best coaches, and should win every year. Is the rest of the world getting better? Yes. It still doesn’t matter, we should still be the best. I remember watching America lose to Greece in the 2006 FIBA tournament, I sat there holding my head in my hands in shock. How can the likes of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony lose to the likes of Vasileios Spanoulis and Michail Kakiouzis. It just makes me sick to my stomach seeing that 101-95 score, and a “1″ in the loss column for USA.
Big things are going to happen this year, and as much as I dislike Coach K at Duke, he is a damn good basketball coach. He has all the tools this year, and anything less than a gold medal is a disappointment. Heck, any game not won by ten points or more is disappointing to me. OK, that may be a little extreme, but thats just the expectations I have for our country and our players.
The 2008 12 man roster is…
Carmelo Anthony-F
Carlos Boozer-F
Chris Bosh-F
Kobe Bryant-G
Dwight Howard-F/C
LeBron James-F
Jason Kidd-G
Chris Paul-G
Tayshaun Prince-F
Michael Redd-G
Dwayne Wade-G
Deron Williams-G
This team is STACKED, absolutely no reason to lose. There is leadership, youth, experience, shooters, slashers, everything you can ask for in a team is right there. There are no weaknesses, there are no holes, this is the year, and this team will lead our country to the gold. USA basketball needs to get back to dominating the rest of the world. Nothing is more important than the Olympics, God Bless America, and lead us to the gold Coach K.
Tags: Mike Krzyzewski, USA Basketball
tkitna
Theres no legitimate Center on the team. I still see DH as a power forward. I’m not complaining and I realize the Center position is weak right now (especially for the US), but I thought i’d point that out.