Charles Barkley says Team USA too reliant on isolation players | Syracusefan.com

Charles Barkley says Team USA too reliant on isolation players

Eric15

Eric15

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Barkley critical of Team USA's roster construction

I often don't agree with Barkley's opinions, but I think there is some truth to this. Could this team possibly be better if it had a few less talented role players. Like a Mike Dunleavy or Shawn Livingston, for instance. Cerebral players who won't make mistakes and will play within themselves.
 
Yeah, agreed. Are some of these guys still going to the brothels?
 
I would go back and ask Charles how the Dream Team was constructed. You know the one that won the gold in 92... I didn't see any role players on that team.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
I would go back and ask Charles how the Dream Team was constructed. You know the one that won the gold in 92... I didn't see any role players on that team.
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True but Stockton, Pippen, Magic, etc., were great facilitators, cerebral, and all could do so much out there. Not one dimensional guys.
 
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Cusefan0307 said:
I would go back and ask Charles how the Dream Team was constructed. You know the one that won the gold in 92... I didn't see any role players on that team.
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True, but 92 did have more non-score-first players than this roster currently has. Stockton, Magic and Pippen were facilitators. Lowry and Irving are score-first point guards.
 
Eric15 said:
True, but 92 did have more non-score-first players than this roster currently has. Stockton, Magic and Pippen were facilitators. Lowry and Irving are score-first point guards.
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They have Draymond and Paul George who are both good passers, but barely play. That is on K.
 
How much do we really care about the Olympic basketball team? I know it's the off-season, but does anybody really put much stock or emotional investment in watching Team USA bball? I think it's obvious that the team hasn't been giving 100% effort on the court. I can't say I blame them really.
 
Eric15 said:
It's just something to get us to football season. And it's 100x more interesting than baseball.
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Sharing a brain with this take as well ;). Plus, your avatar is Omar. Good stuff.
 
SoBeCuse said:
True but Stockton, Pippen, Magic, etc., were great facilitators, cerebral, and all could do so much out there. Not one dimensional guys.
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Sure, but I also think if this team played the competition the Dream team in 92 did the games wouldn't be close.

That being said, I don't think Chuck is wrong. We've talked about this is in different threads. Chris Paul or Lebron would help a lot. Going down a level or two, John Wall would be an asset to the team as well.
 
I haven't seen any games yet but I keep reading that their problem is defense, not offense. Any validity?
 
Knicks411 said:
Sure, but I also think if this team played the competition the Dream team in 92 did the games wouldn't be close.
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That's a fair point. The competition in 1992 was a joke. Today France, Spain, Argentina, Australia are very formidable opponents.

I actually prefer competitive games with quality opponents rather than having every game look like Syracuse vs. Marathon Oil.
 
Knicks411 said:
Sure, but I also think if this team played the competition the Dream team in 92 did the games wouldn't be close.

That being said, I don't think Chuck is wrong. We've talked about this is in different threads. Chris Paul or Lebron would help a lot. Going down a level or two, John Wall would be an asset to the team as well.
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Would love to see Wall on this team. Huge fan of his game.
 
Dream Team had an Alpha Dog in Jordan and elder statesman of epic stature in Bird and Magic. Stated it earlier - LeBron is missed because the pecking order is now askew. Also the ultimate team guy - kawhi leonard opted out. We are dealing with the hand dealt to us, though I agree K has seemed a little Larry Brown-esque on rotations.
 
Newhouser said:
Dream Team had an Alpha Dog in Jordan and elder statesman of epic stature in Bird and Magic. Stated it earlier - LeBron is missed because the pecking order is now askew. Also the ultimate team guy - kawhi leonard opted out. We are dealing with the hand dealt to us, though I agree K has seemed a little Larry Brown-esque on rotations.
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Barkley lead the Dream Team in scoring FWIW. Jordan was second followed by Malone and Mullin.

Magic actually played the 2nd least amount of minutes besides Stockton. I can't believe Chuck Daly actually played Laettner every game.

As people have said above the competition was a lot weaker then. France/Spain/Australia/Argentina didn't have the NBA players they have now.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
Barkley lead the Dream Team in scoring FWIW. Jordan was second followed by Malone and Mullin.

Magic actually played the 2nd least amount of minutes besides Stockton. I can't believe Chuck Daly actually played Laettner every game.

As people have said above the competition was a lot weaker then. France/Spain/Australia/Argentina didn't have the NBA players they have now.
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How much did Isaiah play? Oh, oh yeah, I forgot.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
Barkley lead the Dream Team in scoring FWIW. Jordan was second followed by Malone and Mullin.

Magic actually played the 2nd least amount of minutes besides Stockton. I can't believe Chuck Daly actually played Laettner every game.

As people have said above the competition was a lot weaker then. France/Spain/Australia/Argentina didn't have the NBA players they have now.
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I feel like "90s NBA guy" (which is my derogatory term for people from my generation who allow their nostalgia to fog their brain) would likely bring up Larry Bird in an argument about how great the original Dream Team was. When in reality, he was a shell of himself at that point and could barely practice at times due to his back.
 
Eric15 said:
I feel like "90s NBA guy" (which is my derogatory term for people from my generation who allow their nostalgia to fog their brain) would likely bring up Larry Bird in an argument about how great the original Dream Team was. When in reality, he was a shell of himself at that point and could barely practice at times due to his back.
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It might be something like if Kobe was on the team this year.

Hard to say, Bird was still effective in 92 when he could get on the court, but that didn't happen much.

The crazy thing is how far we have come when it relates to limiting guys minutes. Bird was 35 int he 91-92 season and had all the back issues. He only appeared in 45 games, but averaged 37 minutes per game! Or how about Jordan, during their second threepeat, he was 32, 33, and 34 years old. He didn't miss a game in any of those seasons and played over 38 minutes per game! Hell, in 2003, when he was 40, he didn't miss a game and played 37 minutes a night.
 
Sir Charles says some looney things, but he is 100 pct right on this one.
 
Charles is always anxious to let you know about the Dream Team and how bad other teams look in comparison.
 
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