Stern had indicated he would like to see the Olympic Commitee only pick players under the age of 23.
I hope all countries do this.
I do think Ray Allen and DWade are somewhat inline that the olympic committee makes huge amounts of money and its wrong. Now I think to some extent the money goes to training and costs for dozens of "non revenue" sports like fencing, water polo, etc etc. The players doe lend their star power to fuel a dream team following. It does raise their commercial value and branding.
I can see both sides to the arguement.
The best way is to have an under 23 rule for all countries so we get youthier players less prone to injury and wear.. We don't need grumpy vets whose bodies don't want to do it but are obligated by image and branding. Imagine if Kobe said he don't want to play? There would be back lash.
Let the young guys play. It generates new "stars" from lessor known players both here and abroad. It also helps guys that don't play deep into college to take leadership roles.
If we want dream teams to play do a "world cup" kind of thing and let whomever play. Let the revenue go to charity of some sort.
Collangelo has done such a good job on the olympic team s we are beating the snot out of teams and its no fun.
I like it...Under 23 sounds good...
That seems fair. The only issue is the Euro teams who are playing 30 y/o who have much more experience.
Doubt any country would go by this. If you want to win Gold, then you gotta play the best players, or whoever makes a commitment. USA barely beat Spain in the Gold medal game in Beijing 118-107. Remember, before the 2008 Olympics, USA basketball didn't win squat for 8 years.
ChuckBuck wrote:Doubt any country would go by this. If you want to win Gold, then you gotta play the best players, or whoever makes a commitment. USA barely beat Spain in the Gold medal game in Beijing 118-107. Remember, before the 2008 Olympics, USA basketball didn't win squat for 8 years.
If you can get countries to abide, it would really help.
You don't get our big big stars either so maybe it evens things out.
We did not win for 8 years because we had malcontent me firstBury type players until they figured out we needed players to fill roles instead.
We used to play soviet block 30 year old players and beat them with our under 22 college players.
I think we'd still have some really strong teams. A guy like Shumpert could could had made the team with his lock down paremter play and filled that role. Mozgov can play for Russia, Gallo for Italy, Lin for USA, Kyrie Irving, Durant, Griffith, etc etc.
I think it would be more fun to see younger guys, and maybe allow some of the younger players for spain do their thing. Gasol and Rubio would still be for Spain if it was this year.
Nalod wrote:ChuckBuck wrote:Doubt any country would go by this. If you want to win Gold, then you gotta play the best players, or whoever makes a commitment. USA barely beat Spain in the Gold medal game in Beijing 118-107. Remember, before the 2008 Olympics, USA basketball didn't win squat for 8 years.
If you can get countries to abide, it would really help.
You don't get our big big stars either so maybe it evens things out.
We did not win for 8 years because we had malcontent me firstBury type players until they figured out we needed players to fill roles instead.
We used to play soviet block 30 year old players and beat them with our under 22 college players.
I think we'd still have some really strong teams. A guy like Shumpert could could had made the team with his lock down paremter play and filled that role. Mozgov can play for Russia, Gallo for Italy, Lin for USA, Kyrie Irving, Durant, Griffith, etc etc.
I think it would be more fun to see younger guys, and maybe allow some of the younger players for spain do their thing. Gasol and Rubio would still be for Spain if it was this year.
I hear what you're saying to even out the field and to prevent injuries to some of the sport's superstars. Remember the 2004 Olympic Squad had Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony on it's roster, but Larry Brown chose not to use his phenoms for whatever strange reason.
Yeah try getting the African nations real birth certificate.
