The roster for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team is set:
MVP Kobe Bryant will be heading to his first Olympics, and he’ll have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with him.
They will lead a U.S. Olympic basketball team that was announced Monday — one that hopes to capture the gold medal in Beijing in August after a third-place showing in Athens four years ago. They’ll have plenty of help.
Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd were among the 12 players placed on the squad. They were joined by Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Michael Redd and Deron Williams.
I applaud those guys for representing our country and shooting for Olympic gold. Unlike 1992, the Olympics aren’t a coronation for Team USA. They will have to play their asses off and play together (could be tough for Kobe) to win. They are sacrificing much needed rest for their country. Injuries might not heal or new ones could occur. With that said, I’m extremely pleased that not a single Celtics player is headed to Beijing. I’m going to get real selfish and say Banner 18 means much more to me than an Olympic medal.
Prince??????should have got another shooter or a lockdown defender not a under-weight mid-range guy!
“Banner 18″?
Take a drink of water, a long breath and look at that phrase again.
Now delete it before every Lakers fan in California posts a comment, because it is waaaaaay too early
Bring ‘em on.
Kobe just went to 6 games in the Finals…. now he’s going into international competition….. and then he’s got to come back and play another 100 games.
Sorry… that’s going to take a toll.
The U.S. needs to bring back the gold. But it’s so hard to root for any team with Kobe on it. I think I’ll be happy either way.
Maybe China can get a NO MEANS NO chant going.
I donno where else to put this but its incredible, Shaq went on stage and did a freestyle rap ripping Kobe apart.
Story: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3457917
Video of Shaq Clowning Kobe: http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1626146951
Good call, bostonstrangler. But too late. I saw it.
The Lakers will get banner 18 before the Celts will. In fact, in June of 2011, the banner count will be Celts – 17, Lakers – 17. By then, Ray Allen will be a great grandfather.
Right you are green in LA, why do you think Kobe signed up. The chinese maids are off the mutherf*ckin’ chizain.
I don’t feel too good about this team:
Kobe is a terrible teammate.
Wade is injured.
Redd is a jacker who doesn’t play defense.
Melo is a jacker who doesn’t play defense.
And Kidd’s major strength from the PG position is rebounding, which shouldn’t be a problem for a team with Howard at C, Bosh/Boozer at PF, and LeBron at SF.
My rotation would be:
PG – CP3, DWill
G – B. Roy
SG – Kobe, K. Martin
SF – LeBron, Prince
F – Josh Smith
PF – Bosh, Amare
C – Howard, Chandler
B. Roy > Jason Kidd (when he’s with premier rebounders)
K. Martin > Michael Redd
Josh Smith > Melo
Amare > Boozer
And Chandler would bring more to the team than Wade, especially considering the chemistry he has with Chris Paul. How many oops did they connect on this year?
Alot of ‘me first’ players. I’d like to see them win for the USA but we have seen very talented teams lately made up of players w3ith their attitude that have not done it. Teams winand not individuals. Celtics proved it once again.
Hey… I”m with Chuck. I’m rooting for Gold… in a steady progression of grinding, very physical, multiple-overtime games.