I’ll be up!

Lets blog it out

Its amazing how much Kobe sucked that whole tournament and now all we are going to hear is about how he won the gold medal for team USA

Was watching a game where the stars didn’t get special treatment from the refs. How nice would it be to see those guys called the same way as the rest of the players in an NBA game? It was a fun game. Very competitive.

the entire tournament was just a joy to watch (Bill Walton voice). But seriously, it was pretty amazing. Team USA did a complete turn around not only from how they looked two years ago but even from how they looked three weeks ago in Shanghai.
  Those two games against Australia and Russia they looked terrible. I really applaud Coach K for realizing what changed needed to be made personel wise and making them. In the Shanghai games Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard were both playing heavy minutes and just getting KILLED defensively. Jason Kidd couldn’t keep up with anyone, and the bigs for both teams were shooting over/ driving past Dwight Howard like he wasn’t even there. Both got increasingly less playing time as the tournament went on although they both kept their starting positions as to not rock the boat too much. Perfectly played by Coach K.
  The best lineup became clear in those Shanghai games with Deron Williams/ CP13 playing the guard positions, Kobe/ Wade/ Melo/ Lebron playing forward, and CB12 at Center. To see that as a fan, then see the coach see the same thing and act on it was very pleasing. I can’t count the number of times and entire fan base has seen an ideal lineup with their team and because of outside forces (money, reputation, stubbornness) see the coach refuse to make the obvious changes needed to win (cough cough, Bibby over Beno, cough cough).
  More obvervations: I didn’t realize how good Chris Bosh is. I would LOVE to have him on the Kings. He can shoot, rebound, and defend inside. Maybe more importantly, he can defend on the wing and not get beat off the dribble, he can run the court (all things Howard sucked at). He also seems to be a great team guy. Above everyone, I don’t think it is a stretch to say he was the most important player on this team. By that I mean that if you took him away but kept everyone else, we might not have won the tournament. If you took away CP3 we still have Deron Williams, ditto for Kobe, Lebron, Melo, Wade. If you took away Bosh we have Boozer and Howard. Even if you replaced him the next guy on the list was Tyson Chandler, who I am not too fired up about.
  After watching the whole tournament, I think that Rasheed Wallace would be PERFECT for the FIBA style. He and Bosh playing together would dominate. Unfortunately he will never make it because of his history. Beyond that I can’t think of too many other American bigs we can turn to in the future. Demarcus Aldridge? Ideas anyone?
  On to Spain, Ricky Rubio is a pretty solid prospect, but their best player (including Pau Gasol) is Rudy Fernandez. He consistently stepped up all tournament. He plays with poise (Rubio has none), under control and his athleticism is monstorous.
  Marc Gasol is Bill Wennington without the 15 foot jump shot. He is Ostertag without the height. He is Scot Pollard without the talent. He is Oliver Miller without the SlimFast. He sucks. I have to completely disagree with you TZ. I watched five or six Spain games and never saw one flash of anything out of Marc Gasol. He is slow, fat, a bad shooter, a sub-par rebounder, an AWFUL freethrow shooter and generally doesn’t ever seem to have a clue what is happening on the court. By the second half of the gold medal game my friends and I came up with one way to ensure a Spain victory: USA rides Jason Kidd, and one way to ensure a loss: Spain rides Marc Gasol.
  Throughout the tournament I thought the Australian team was the most likeable and the most fun to watch. All hardworking guys with huge attitudes. Their style of play resembles the American’s toughness to the European finesse game. And Patrick Mills is sick.
  Ok, that’s all out of me for now. I might think of more later though. Stoked about the whole tournament and can’t wait for 2010.