Team USA is coming for our Blazers

I think we can all agree it would be very cool to see a Blazer out there representing Team USA Basketball in the Olympics someday. But what about three Blazers in the same Olympics? Either I am being an overly paranoid fan or there is nothing terrifying about the pillars of your (allegedly injury prone) team playing a ton of extra competitive basketball.

This is where I mention that Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden have all been invited to train with Team USA this summer and compete for roster spots on the national team.

LaMarcus and Oden have both reciprocated interest and one would think Roy would relish the opportunity as well. The idea of three players from the same NBA team sounds a little far-fetched at first. I mean, does Colangelo love America or just really hate Portland? It seems like someone from the Blazers would want to step in and stop such a possibility from occurring. (Or would they? Would the resulting raised profile of the Blazers be worth the risk?) 

The potential incentive for Team USA would be having three players that already know how to play with each other. After all, getting unfamiliar players to operate as a cohesive unit is one of the biggest obstacles of the USA system. OK, this idea does make some sense. Now I really am terrified.

Team USA squashes Canda, Canadian currecy still worth more

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A?

Team Nike USA didn't come for a Canadian Debate. They came to squash their over matched opponent, and they did. What does that mean?

Not a whole lot, Canada didn't make the Olympics after all. The two best Canadian players (Nash and Dalembert), aren't even on the national team. It is safe to say the real tests for Team USA are still to come.

In such a lopsided match up I'm not sure you can glean much analysis of how good this Team USA is right now. Because of sheer talent, they are favored to win Olympic Gold. I'm fine with that, but there are some concerns.

Back when it became clear that we need a more thoughtful approach to international basketball, there were some pledges made. More shooters, more defenders, more role players. This disjointed collection of All-Stars just wasn't going to cut it anymore!

Which is why I did a double take when the roster came out. The only shooter on the team is Michael Redd. There are three pointguards that will play significant minutes, which means an all-pointguard backcourt will be a regularity. This can be great, but can also be exploited by the better teams in Beijing.

There are other signs of weakness. Against Canada, USA got disturbingly little production out of the post. Team USA will be undersized under the basket against teams like Spain. In proud Team USA tradition, this group will rely heavily on players shooting the outside jumper off the bounce. This is all good when things are falling, but when the jumpers start missing, look out. Seems like they should have figured out how to fix that.

I like that the United States is taking a more serious approach, like requiring a three year commitment out of players. But thinking about this team, some of those historical flaws seem to still be lurking. It has been a long time since the world cowered at the sight of USA Basketball. They know how to defeat this team, and can just look at the film in case they forgot.

Team USA doesn't remember Greece

Last Saturday I wrote about the ridiculous praise Team USA has been getting, despite having yet to play an elite international team. A reminder: We've always been able to beat the weak teams, the decent ones give us fits. Still, the media by and large wasn't going to let this tiny detail stop the parade of puppies and sunshine.

There is hope for some logic, and it is coming as a result of Team USA beating Mexico 127-100 (box score). The U.S. beat them into submission in the first quarter, and perhaps understandably coasted a bit the rest of the game. In that period, Mexico (far from an elite international team, by the way) had some success doing the same old stuff that other teams have beat the U.S. with. Chris Sheridan thinks this is something to think about:

"This was a night when the Americans took their foot off the gas after the first quarter and went through the motions the rest of the night, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field but allowing Mexico to outscore them 28-20 in the second quarter and stay within striking distance through most of the third. Mexico, a 51½ point underdog, knocked down 15 3-point shots, almost all of them wide-open looks, and had a lot of success running the same pick-and-roll play that Greece used so effectively against Team USA in the semifinals of the World Championship last summer."

Criticism of a blow out win, even when a much larger margin of victory was expected, will almost always go ignored. But there is something to be said that the same crap that has killed Team USA in the past is still working.

It also continues another disturbing trend. Team USA has had a hard time getting motivated to play an entire game against teams that don't have guys they've heard of.

Sure, they'll get up against Brazil and lockdown Barbosa. But they can't muster this focus against Mexico, which is fine because Mexico isn't a serious threat. Then again, there are a handful of teams that don't feature NBA stars that are good enough to beat the US. That Greece Team Chris references? Thats one. There will likely be more in Beiijng.

Be wary, because while you can be content that the team has answered outside shooting issues and again has the quality pointguards to dominate, they proved against Mexico that the lesson Greece taught us has yet to sink in. The biggest threat to the U.S. is in the psyche of the team, they must learn that these teams pose a real threat even if they don't recognize the players on it. There are lots of teams that will be happy to issue reminders.

Its good to see us feeling so good about ourselves

The reaction to Team USA by mainstream American Media has been a little shocking:


"Best team since the original Dream Team."
-Woody Paige on Around The Horn

I know Woody Paige says a lot of moronic things and isn't so much an authority on anything as he is a representation of whats wrong with ESPN, but this quote I heard succinctly captures what has been the overall response of talking heads and columnists.

But why? Because we handled Venezuela and the U.S. Virgin Islands? Hey, its very likely that the team will continue to dominate this tournament. There may even be a blowout of Brazil. Then we'll feel even better about our return to the top of international basketball.

Let's remember, besides Team USA, there are two teams here that are considered threats to medal at the upcoming Olympics: Brazil and Argentina. As I ranted about here, these teams aren't exactly fully represented. Defending Olympic champ Argentina is without my man Pepe Sanchez and four of their NBA Players. Yeah, beating them will be a nice ego stroking session. Two of Brazil's NBA Players aren't playing. U-S-A! U-S-A!

I'm not saying Team USA can't be great (or that they aren't already), but maybe we should wait to measure them against top international competition instead of admiring how they dominate teams that won't even be in the Olympics, or are competing without key players. I know its a crazy notion that the media jump the gun on something, but we don't all have to be swept away in the premature ejaculation.

See you in Beijing.

USA vs Venezuela, 2

I watched a good chunk of USA v. Venezuela last night before getting bored and going back to Mario Strikers. It was one of those blow-outs where we all get to feel like the good old days of United States basketball supremacy, and try to ignore the fact that its against Venezuela.

Actually, even the better teams in the tournament aren't really going hard, so lets not get too excited: Brazil has Nene and Barbosa, but not Varejao (who is good) or Araujo (who is um, big). Canada convinced Dalembert to play, but not Nash or Magloire. It is still unknown if someone can step up and fill in for Magloires corny "no-look" dunking, seriously, I'm worried how Portland can fill such a void this season after his departure. Even Argentina, the defending Olympic champs, are without Ginobili, Nocioni, Oberto, former savior of my fantasy league team Walter Herrmann, and one of my favorite players ever Pepe Sanchez.

I have two other notes from the game:

1) Michael Redd's bald spot has gone from humorous distraction to disturbing. I think the shape reminds me of the space between your hands if you throw up a Roc-A-Fella sign. Mr. Redd, you should probably just shave it all off. Hov!

2) Bill Walton surprisingly did commentary for this game. The highlight was him throwing praise and support behind Venezuela Dictator President Hugo Chavez. I love you Bill, and don't answer your phone, its homeland security, they want to get together in Cuba for a little meeting.

When Blazers Matter This Much, I explode

Back in early July I wrote about the warm fuzzy feelings I was getting from the Blazers return to relevance in the basketball world. I was eagerly awaiting the release of the schedule, because that is the barometer for how biggadeal the League thinks you can be.

As you know, it came out. And Portland is more biggadeal than even I dared to dream. I stole these dates from Yamhill County blogger product Casey Holdhal at the OLive Blazers Blog:

Oct. 30: Portland at San Antonio, 5 PM on TNT
Yeeeeees! The League really wants to manufacter a rivalry between Oden and an established post star, so we get the champs opening night. Even though LaMarcus is better than Oden right now, the fact that the NBA wants this to develop means we can count on big games in prime-time spots.
Once the schedule-makers get an idea in their head, it lasts no matter what (see Kobe vs Shaq "rivalry"), so this is very good that the Blazers are wedged in there.

Dec. 25: Portland vs Sonics on ESPN
Wow. It isn't the morning Christmas Day showcase on ABC, but getting a national game on Christmas is still impressive.

All in all, Portland is currently scheduled to be on 11 national broadcasts. God its been so long. Its going to be amazing to hear Chuck, Jet, Ernie and guest (hopefully not Reggie, cause he kinda sucks) dissect the Blazers. This is going to be good times, people.

As if all this attention wasn't enough, there's been more. When Roy was named to scrimmage with Team USA (although he ultimately backed out due to scheduling conflicts), I posted about literally exploding with pride at the possibility of someday seeing two Blazers (Oden has a Team USA future) on Team USA at once. I have been on a crazy dream that involves Roy, Oden, and LaMarcus all on that team. Fanciful you say? Indeed, sir. Cheerio!

The crazy thing is, I wasn't that crazy. In fact, maybe I wasn't crazy enough. Because the Behind the Beat Blazers Blog reported that LaMarcus has indeed been invited to join the scrimmage team. And Channing Frye. Not only that, Oden hasn't totally ruled out going to Team USA Training Camp, which is required to play in the upcoming Olympics.

Thats 4 Blazers that have the interest of the national team. Insane. Noway is this really happening. It will be great to see Blazers for Team USA, and lets try not to complain too much when we think our guys are getting too worn down and fatigued to bring it during the NBA Season. There was a time when we were totally irrelevant, so remember and enjoy.

All this validation is bananas, Portland couldn't get any valider at this point. All thats left to do is prove on the court that all of this is somewhat deserved.

Go Blazers! I'm going to go explode now.

Brandon Roy: Not scrimmaging with Team USA

I'm sort of bummed to read this update from Chris Sheridan about how Brandon Roy won't be participating in the Team USA scrimmage after all, due to a "scheduling conflict." It would give a great sense of validation to see a Blazer out there with the game's most elite. A nice little nod from the basketball world like "hey, we know you guys are for real now, come play with us."

Oden's one of the guys in the pool of Team USA players, which means he'll probably play for them at some point. The invitation to Roy means he's on some list of theirs too, which is even sweeter. Seeing multiple Blazers on that team might just make my body explode in a big black and red pin-wheelie prideful mess. What if LaMarcus got added someday too?

Eventually, we'll be spoiled. We'll complain that our guys are getting too fatigued from all that silly international play. Lets try to keep our perspective, or maybe just appreciate it while we can.