Enjoy the 2012 "Dream Team"

It might be the last team of it's kind. It's looking more and more likely Stern is going to establish an U23 rule. Both Stern and Colangelo have hinted at it recently. Dan Wetzel wrote an article about the mystique of the current Olympic team even 20 years after the original dream team.




And USA Basketball director Jerry Colangelo notes, "I sense that change is in the air."

USA Basketball gets Beatles-like welcome by Olympics media in London - Yahoo! Sports

The send-the-college-kids crowd?

"They are not getting how big this is," Krzyzewski said. "It's way beyond that now."

Twenty years into the Dream Team experiment, the world still sops up every last bit of the hype.

This was the biggest media conference in the run-up to the Olympics, the players needing security just to get into the building. And they were still stopped for pictures and autographs, swarmed as they rode up an escalator from the parking garage.


I love this line...

"I love our spirit, our camaraderie, the way these guys are so willing to adapt. They get along great. They listen. … All of this talk about big egos? They do have big egos. They are great players. But it doesn't supersede the USA ego."

It shows in they way they play.

Originally Posted by HammerTime

"I love our spirit, our camaraderie, the way these guys are so willing to adapt. They get along great. They listen. … All of this talk about big egos? They do have big egos. They are great players. But it doesn't supersede the USA ego."

I completed agree about loving this line, especially the last part. I love the "USA ego" that comes out during the Olympics! I think they should stop Toby Keith's concert tomorrow night at Riverbend and show Phelps winning his race!

Why not let the superstars play if they want to?

There's no doubt we can still put together a solid team of young players at the U-23 level. It'd probably be a really fun exhibition of young stars.

Truthfully, the "dream team" era has solidified that when the USA sends its best players, nobody in the world can touch us. I'd be curious to see matchups between our younger guys and some of talented young players from around the world.

Originally Posted by Big Slick

Why not let the superstars play if they want to?

My own guess is that David Stern hates the idea that any international tournament might in any way detract from the NBA Playoffs being the premier basketball event on the planet. He wants to keep his stars in his own backyard.

But I don't particularly care for David Stern and I understand this this doesn't cast him in a very good light.

The other alternative is simply that him and the owners would like their older and occasionally aging stars to have a full summer break between seasons to recover from any injuries or general weariness.

How could David Stern stop an NBA player from playing for his own country? If he stops them from playing in USA, the international guys better not be able to play for their country either, and good luck with that.

Originally Posted by Getslow

The other alternative is simply that him and the owners would like their older and occasionally aging stars to have a full summer break between seasons to recover from any injuries or general weariness.

I think that is has more to do with the owners not wanting their players to play, and Stern basically works for the owners. Mark Cuban is completely against his players playing International ball.

Originally Posted by MJAlltheWay24

I think that is has more to do with the owners not wanting their players to play, and Stern basically works for the owners. Mark Cuban is completely against his players playing International ball.

Bingo. If I were an owner I would not like it either. Sure the Clippers were happy that while the ink was drying on Blake Griffin's contract, he is injuring himself all in the name of USA pride. I do not have to see our guys in action to know we have the best players in the world.

I think its more about Stern trying to establish a "World Cup" type event for basketball to coincide with the Olympics. He envisions a tournament as big as what the world cup is for soccer but that's just not going to happen IMO. His idea is to make Olympics 23 and under and have the world cup style tournament to showcase the established superstars.

I'd hate to see them go to the new format. If the other teams get to use professionals of all ages and the USA doesn't then I think we are dreaming if we believe the USA would take the gold with any regularity. Sure, they could, but it isn't like they haven't been challenged in the recent past with the bigger name guys.

Tyson Chandler was quoted as saying he didn't like this idea either. I understand the owners' viewpoint, but which one would be willing to be first to publicly tell his players not to play or even put it their contracts?

^ Cuban pretty much said that the other day. He's not a fan of it at all. He feels like the NBA owners are providing the financing for the IOC to make money.

Originally Posted by HammerTime

^ Cuban pretty much said that the other day. He's not a fan of it at all. He feels like the NBA owners are providing the financing for the IOC to make money.

And he is right.

I have no issue if individual NBA teams, work into player contracts no Olympic play, however I do have issue if the NBA says their players can not play for their countries.

Can you imagine the international backlash if the NBA tried to banish its players? Don't most international teams have at least one NBA player on their team, the good ones anyway. Does the NBA really want to **** off their international market.....Wait this is David Stern............ugh

Teams would use that vs. teams didn't allow Olympic play during free agency. Media would make those owners out to be unpatriotic.

I'm not necessarily against it as long as there's strong promotion of the World Championships as an exhibition of the best international basketball. I actually like the idea of promoting the World Championships as a showcase for basketball rather than an event that's secondary to the Olympics.

Originally Posted by HammerTime

^ Cuban pretty much said that the other day. He's not a fan of it at all. He feels like the NBA owners are providing the financing for the IOC to make money.

And while he is right, the ironic thing is that Cuban has benefited more than anyone from the influence of NBA stars promoting the game world wide. They were saying on Mike and Mike this morning that Dirk did not fully focus on basketball until the '92 Dream Team played in Barcelona and it made him want to become an NBA player.

I like the question posed on PTI yesterday. The owners are in a roundabout way asking for money, financing, compensation....what ofthe players were saying this? What would the fallout be then?

Originally Posted by PurplePride92

I like the question posed on PTI yesterday. The owners are in a roundabout way asking for money, financing, compensation....what ofthe players were saying this? What would the fallout be then?

Some players have already been asking for money.

Originally Posted by bugatti

Some players have already been asking for money.

And how were they treated?