Becoming Colangelo...
It's no secret that the past few U.S. olympic basketball teams have failed to meet the high expectations set by their transcendent predecessors in the early nineties. Instead of fusing the NBA's greatest into a star-studded team, the U.S. team has taken a different approach. This
may have been a successful formula for the original Dream Team (meshing Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley, Robinson, Malone, Stockton, and others), but it actually seems to be counter-productive with today's players. The reasons for this are a topic in and of themselves (which I wouldn't mind taking up sometime in the near future on this blog), but the fact is: in 2008 we're going to see a completely different Olympic team than we ever have before. Whether this leads to America's doom or success, we'll soon find out.
Jerry Colangelo, Suns chairman and CEO, will be overseeing the drafting for the team's roster. He has decided to steer clear of the "star-studded" blueprint of the past and put together a conglomeration of All-Stars, defenders, and role players. The unfortunate part is that likely candidates are now getting snubbed - case in point: Allen Iverson. '04 Olympic co-captain and easily the most passionate player on the team was not invited to attend Colangelo's try-out. Granted, not everyone is going to get to play, but this raises a few questions that are a slight variant of my last post...
If you were Jerry Colangelo and you had to put together the 2008 Olympic team, who would you select to compete in Beijing?
Keep in mind:
> There are NO salary restrictions
> Although many players turn down the opportunity to represent their conutry, assume you could have whomever you want
> Remember that chemistry is very crucial to success
> This team MUST be able to not only compete with other countries, it must reclaim the glory of the Dream Team by outclassing most other teams
> Lastly, don't forget that players like Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Ilgauskas, and the like will most likely play for their home teams and are therefore disqualified from joining the U.S. team!
Make America Proud!!
may have been a successful formula for the original Dream Team (meshing Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley, Robinson, Malone, Stockton, and others), but it actually seems to be counter-productive with today's players. The reasons for this are a topic in and of themselves (which I wouldn't mind taking up sometime in the near future on this blog), but the fact is: in 2008 we're going to see a completely different Olympic team than we ever have before. Whether this leads to America's doom or success, we'll soon find out.Jerry Colangelo, Suns chairman and CEO, will be overseeing the drafting for the team's roster. He has decided to steer clear of the "star-studded" blueprint of the past and put together a conglomeration of All-Stars, defenders, and role players. The unfortunate part is that likely candidates are now getting snubbed - case in point: Allen Iverson. '04 Olympic co-captain and easily the most passionate player on the team was not invited to attend Colangelo's try-out. Granted, not everyone is going to get to play, but this raises a few questions that are a slight variant of my last post...
If you were Jerry Colangelo and you had to put together the 2008 Olympic team, who would you select to compete in Beijing?
Keep in mind:> There are NO salary restrictions
> Although many players turn down the opportunity to represent their conutry, assume you could have whomever you want
> Remember that chemistry is very crucial to success
> This team MUST be able to not only compete with other countries, it must reclaim the glory of the Dream Team by outclassing most other teams
> Lastly, don't forget that players like Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Ilgauskas, and the like will most likely play for their home teams and are therefore disqualified from joining the U.S. team!
Make America Proud!!
posted by Blair, Heidi, and Treysen at 2:04 PM
1 Comments:
Good catch DV! Didn't realize the discrepancy between Bryan and Jerry. I've fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out...
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