Kobe should send message, sit out season

On further consideration, maybe Kobe Bryant should sit out the season.
If the Lakers aren't serious about trying to compete, then why waste his best years? Say what you will about the Chicago Bulls and breaking up the team or any of the criticisms that endured during their championship years: They never put Michael Jordan in a position where he couldn't win every year once he did. They never experimented and never rebuilt. They brought in veterans and took chances on talent to go for it every day.
You'd have difficulty saying that about the Lakers, and while I may not have gone about protesting the way Bryant did in dialing up talk radio stations — unless I could win a trip to Tijuana by being the 15th caller to guess Jerry Buss' blood alcohol level — he may have a point.

We haven't heard much from Bryant about his plans for this season since the blowup in the spring, when he told various media outlets he doesn't intend to return to the Lakers and wants to be traded, ostensibly to the Bulls.
The Bulls, like several teams, made perfunctory inquiries, but were told Bryant was not available.
Bryant then went to play for Team USA in the Olympic qualifier. He declined to discuss his Lakers situation, saying he didn't want to detract from the U.S. team, but then his play said all that needed to be said.
He was easily the best player on the U.S. team that swept to first place in the tournament. True, the field was weak, but the U.S. team was strong and Bryant shone brightest. He was the team's only true two-way player, as ferocious on defense as he was skilled on offense. He scored from everywhere, as we've seen before, and again left little doubt that while he may not be the most popular, or certainly obliging, player, he is the most talented in the NBA today.
He turned 29 last month, and the Lakers are squandering the best part of his career.
Perhaps Bryant would be better off sitting out a year, just preparing for the 2008 Olympics, perhaps doing some commercials and appearances. He wouldn't make close to the almost $20 million he'd have to forfeit. But he'd save his body and let it recover and perhaps extend his career on the other end.
Meanwhile, it would leave the Lakers as hopeless also-rans, and raise good questions among ticket holders that perhaps their money would be better spent elsewhere. Perhaps buying more political influence and getting those good sleeping arrangements like during the Clinton administration.

Buss likes to say he is the poorest of the NBA owners, though not with teenaged dates. But it's a crime to watch the Lakers worry about paying the luxury tax and cutting corners with one of the most lucrative and valuable franchises in the NBA. They should be spending millions more, if necessary, to produce the product their market pays for like few others.
First of all, this apparent love affair with Andrew Bynum is lunacy.
Here's a 19-year-old with some pro promise who is three to four years away from being a serious contributor. This supposedly is the lost treasure of Jim Buss, the heir apparently. Jim Buss seems to be convinced he has the next, well, someone.
What he's got is a kid who might be producing when Phil Jackson is gone and Bryant is sliding downward. Are Jackson and Bryant supposed to wait patiently while some kid may develop?

It's unbelievable, especially because there appears to be a market for Bynum.
The Nets admitted they offered Jason Kidd last February, and Bryant loves playing with Kidd. But the Lakers were probably right to pass on that one. Two great guards isn't quite enough. You also need some size.
There's an obvious deal out there for the Lakers to give them a chance to compete now and give Bryant a high quality player to play with, which all the successful great ones have had and Bryant hasn't had since Shaquille O'Neal was traded. The Lakers insist Bryant didn't force out O'Neal. But even if he did, it's hardly a reason now to leave Bryant on a talent island.
Like Scottie Pippen likes to say, how many titles did Jordan win without him?
Back to Jordan, it wasn't until Pippen developed into a perennial All-Star that the Bulls began to become a serious championship contender. And when they did, they got veterans every year, not babies. Bobby Hansen after the first title, Rodney McCray, Trent Tucker and Darrell Walker in 1992, Ron Harper after that, then Larry Krystkowiak, Dennis Rodman, Robert Parish, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington, Randy Brown and Joe Kleine. They cut first round picks without inviting them to training camp. Forget potential: You try to win every year you have the best player in the league on your team.
Unless, apparently, you are the Lakers.

Bryant did keep quiet and go along for a few seasons, which he had to do after his sexual assault trail and dropped charges in Colorado.
He did so, but the Lakers hardly responded in kind.
Yes, the Lakers were decimated by injuries last season after a good start, but they hardly were one of the top teams in the Western Conference. And still Bryant was left without a true second option.

The deal sitting there the Lakers must make and which seems reasonable for both teams is for the Indiana Pacers' Jermaine O'Neal.
It's clearly time for O'Neal to leave the Pacers, which he brings up about every three to four months. The Pacers aren't going anywhere, especially with O'Neal. O'Neal's a big name player, though not quite with the game to match.
He's talented, no question. But he's one of those guys, sort of like Kevin Garnett, who needs to be with a better player. They score, rebound and make plays, but they can't carry a team or really finish a game. O'Neal has shown that since the Pacers turned the team over to him after going to the Finals in 2000. True, Ron Artest was a big distraction, but the Pacers also were at their best in that era when Artest was at his best. When he wasn't, O'Neal wasn't good enough.
But put him with Bryant and you have a comfort zone for O'Neal and finally a star to play with. And Bryant gets a teammate to score and defend and block shots, and then leave the finishing to him.
The Pacers have time, so Bynum makes sense for them. You can grow him with a young core instead of marking time just trying to get the eighth spot.
As for Kidd, it seems unlikely the Nets would deal him now that it seems like they have a legitimate chance to win the East with the return of Nenad Krstic.
Big time players who might be available, like Shawn Marion and Andrei Kirilenko, aren't quite good enough to support Bryant or provide that true additional option.
So here's the obvious deal: O'Neal for Lamar Odom (who was best in Miami when he could control the ball and the team), Bynum and someone like Brian Cook, a useful big man shooter to equalize the salaries. Perhaps Kwame Brown and Troy Murphy could be added to give the Pacers a little future salary cap relief.
If the Lakers don't do something on that scale, they'd be doing themselves and their fans a bigger disservice than they are doing Bryant. Players like Bryant come along rarely. Yet, the Lakers act like after Kobe there'll be another. They always got great players, so they assume they always will. They are wrong. If they waste Bryant's last few years with a mediocre roster or in a feud, they'll regret it for years. Bryant owes the Lakers two years and he'll have to give it to them under his contract. But they could have six or seven more years of excellence with a healthy and happy Bryant, and it's a crime to waste that. Perhaps it's the fans who should be demanding the trade to Chicago.

by Sam Smith

MSNBC

Kobe avoids the tough questions in Manila

MANILA, Philippines -- More than 7,000 miles from home, fans were chanting his name, and Kobe Bryant was loving it.
No controversy. No tough questions.
In the basketball-loving Philippines, no one was going to ruffle a charismatic icon visiting to promote the sport, encourage kids to pursue their dreams and maybe sell a few pairs of his new line of shoes.
"I love Manila," a beaming Bryant told a crowd that started gathering at 6 a.m. outside a store in Manila, nine hours before he appeared. "The energy here is off the charts."
Bryant, fresh off a gold medal at the FIBA Americas championship, kicked off his five-stop Asian tour Wednesday.
A lot has happened to Bryant since his first trip to Manila a decade ago -- three NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and a rape case that was eventually dismissed but left many wondering about his image.
The Manila public provided an answer. He was even touted as a role model for children, a tag that he didn't try to avoid.
"The important thing to remember when people talk about role models, they assume role models are perfect," Bryant said. "Nobody's perfect."
The key, he said, is not to repeat mistakes and to try to give back to the community.
Bryant was still basking in the success of the U.S. basketball team, which drew favorable comparisons with the first two NBA teams at the Olympics.
"When you have an opportunity to play for your country, it's even more special," he said. "The whole country gets behind you."
Bryant said he has taken off 20 pounds since the end of the NBA season, partly by watching his diet for the first time.
"My primary focus this summer was defense," he said. "I had to guard smaller, quicker players. I wanted to get back some of the agility I had in 2000" without losing strength.
What has he been eating?
"Grass," Bryant joked, before saying he had to give up fast food and some of his decadent favorites -- apple pie with ice cream, chocolate cake and sugar cookies.
"I can feel the results already," he said.
The Nike store, in Manila's Fort Bonifacio area, was festooned with a poster promoting Bryant's new shoe, the Kobe II.
At about $150, the shoes represent about six weeks' pay for the average Filipino. But the mostly middle- to upper-class crowd waved his jerseys and raised the old model shoe when he came out of the store. Arms went up as one, cell phones snapping photos.
Construction workers at two adjacent buildings stopped what they were doing and gathered on the roofs or clung to scaffolding as supervisors tried to get them back on the job.
Bryant, who later gave a basketball clinic, laughed as the crowd chanted his name, then "MVP." He appeared most touched when schoolchildren gave him a framed collection of crayon drawings they had done of him.
"Keep your dreams alive," Bryant said. "Keep going after it."

by ESPN.COM

Trophy In Hand, Legacy To Be Determined

The Dream Team and this summer's Team USA outfit are the very definition of apples and oranges, and the apple is a shocking 15-years old at this point; but it is only natural that we try to compare (and contrast) the two greatest collections of hoops talent we've ever seen.
The many significant changes and shifts in the basketball landscape have left us with two entirely different types of games to discuss, and an entirely different set of circumstances to ponder when heading into tournaments or breaking down the outcome post-medal round. Of paramount importance is the fact that the international competition Team USA faces today is 10 times better than what we saw in 1992, even though no actual evidence of such was on display in Las Vegas over the last few weeks. Beyond that, the attitudes of the observers have shifted the way we look at these teams. Let's start the comparison, with a look at the latter.
Attitude: Whether by the team's own fault or our evolving sense of what invigorates or enervates, Team USA has been up against it for over a decade now. America's razor-thin sense of patience when it comes to pro basketball plays a big part, but the downfall probably started with the 1994 group that won the World Championship. That group was nearly as dominant and just as haughty as the original Dream Team; but the general public seemed to afford Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan a bit more leeway to exult after a transition throwdown than, say, Larry Johnson and Dominique Wilkins.
By 1996, a less-charismatic gold-winning outfit was met with a yawn, as if winning by 58 points wasn't enough. In fact, discovered on an 11-year old cassette in my living room this summer was this exchange from SportsCenter, following a Dream Team highlight package:
Dan Patrick: Is it just me, or is it not that much fun anymore?Keith Olbermann: It's not just you.
So, by 2000, Team USA's brand of pro-style ball was lacking that imperceptible sense of "whatever" that pushes the bulk of the American public into "I'm sincerely enjoying this," and away from "I will warily regard this and make snide comments about it to anyone who will listen."
The 2000 gold medal win was met with a Saturday Night Live faux-commercial that seemed to be written before the tournament ever started, detailing the team's supposedly distasteful on-court manners (the kicker was a freeze-frame shot of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a lovely gent who probably doesn't go to see PG-13 rated movies, purportedly in an opponent's face). The 2002 team was poorly-constructed, the 2004 outfit was poorly-coached, and the 2006 team wasn't told what the rest of the world already knew: Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis cannot shoot. So here we are. Make-up time.Competition: It's much, much better. And, as we saw in 2006, it's made all the more better when you don't scout the competition properly; because overrating a player's talents is always as damaging to your cause as underrating a player's skill set. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Team USA's loss to Greece last year, when Coach Mike Krzyzewski had his guards go over the top of every screen-and-roll Greece threw at Team USA, in spite of Greece's poor precision from the perimeter. The result was Spanoulis getting sent to the line for a pair of three-shot fouls, and a banked-in three once the adrenaline started pumping. After that, Team USA started sending two players at the Greek guards while Sofoklis Schortsianitis and Lazaros Papadopoulos rolled toward the hoop for the score.It was a telling scene. The brains behind Team USA, and the coaches who ran the show in 2002 and 2004 had spent so much time underestimating the abilities of its international counterparts, that the 2006 version had taken to assuming that every international player was a made 3-pointer waiting to happen. In 15 years, Team USA had gone from not needing to know the opponent until the day of a game, to wildly overestimating its own station on the international stage, to overestimating the opponent and playing not to lose.
Team 2007: The one that got it right; and, luckily, the one that has had the easiest schedule on its way toward the medal round since Barcelona. This was a strong team, easily the most talented team since the 1992 (or 1960) model, and one that would have given the Dream Team fits with its international-style play. Instead of cobbling together a roster or jump-hook artists or lane-penetrators ill-fit for international tournaments, Team USA president Jerry Colangelo drew in a series of tall wing players that could get off a host of 3-point shots without having to run an exacting play.
This is important. In spite of iffy footwork and a perimeter touch that comes and goes, someone like LeBron James can get off a solid 3-point look on the basis of his jumping ability and height alone. Spurred on by that, and an improving stroke (LBJ isn't fading before the release), James hit an astounding 23 out of 37 looks (62 percent) from long-range.
The rest of his team followed suit, nailing an average of about 15-of-31 three-pointers per game. The Dream Team hit on about 7-of-17 per game, still nice, but nowhere near the sort of internationally-inspired barrage the 2007 model mustered. The offense is back, no worries there. It's the other side of the ball that still worries.
Defense: The D was better than the 2004 and 2006 showings, but there are still holes, and stopping opponents needs to be the first thing on Team USA's mind when it ships off to Beijing next year. It's rarely fun to read or write about defending opponents most Americans have never heard of, so you didn't hear much about this particular weakness heading into the Tournament of the Americas, but it was the reason Team USA fell short of the gold last year.Working with a smaller lineup, Coach Krzyzewski sacrificed sound interior D for the chance to go with James or Carmelo Anthony at the power forward last summer, and he paid dearly for it. With the floor spread and either Elton Brand or Dwight Howard pulled away from the basket by a sweet-shooting big, James or Anthony had to act as Team USA's help-side defender for the bulk of the game, and they had nary a clue as to how to focus on the other side of the court while guarding their man, and then having to dash into the paint to guard the rim in a moment's notice.
It wasn't their fault, James and Anthony hadn't been forced into anything close to resembling that sort of role in their basketball lifetimes, and the results were what you'd expect. This year? They improved, and Team USA's fortunes were along for the ride. And compared to the Dream Team, which couldn't be bothered to play anything more than obvious passing lane defense unless Toni Kukoc was in the building, it was an impressive feat for this batch of youngsters.
Place in history: 2007's run was not what you'd call an inspiring turn, as there were actually more eventual NBA players (seven) amongst the silver and bronze medalists in 1992 than there were (five) this summer. But the team itself, it's improving acumen at covering all parts of the floor and ability to hit for astoundingly-good percentages (47 percent, in fact) from behind the three-point line might just be the best internationally-styled Team USA we've seen.
As great as the Dream Team was, the talents were fading. Magic Johnson had just come out of retirement, Larry Bird was about to enter retirement, John Stockton was hurt, and Christian Laettner actually suited up. Talents like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin, and David Robinson would have thrived in any international setting, but you'd have to wonder how the team's leading scorer (Charles Barkley) would have fared when placed in today's tournament climate. Many who have dared doubt the Chuckster came out on the losing end, but he'd have to do his best work facing the basket, and all the flopping would leave Barkley in a pretty foul mood, so to speak.
One thing the Dream Team has over the 2007 model, and probably it's most endearing on-court quality, is the ability to score in transition.
The 2007 team gathered dozens of fast-break points, but most were off advantages that would have seen the 1992 Angolan squad throwing it down. After years of working in static NBA offenses and being told to walk the ball up court after gathering a rebound, today's NBA player is out of place in the transition game. The threat of a flopping "1" in the 3-on-1 situation doesn't help, either, in international or NBA play.

For the Dream Team, the creative pass and perfect finish came by second nature; and that's where Magic's leadership and Bird's outlet passes helped. And, though you can't qualify this as a negative on the 2007 side (unless it lost, of course), the team's overpassing and deference was an obstacle the Dream Team never had to overcome. The Dream Team knew when it was time to finish, whereas the 2007 team (as it was for several Team USA outfits preceding it) too-often overlooked an easy bucket for a chance to throw one more perfect lob to Dwight Howard.

So you have to be happy with what you have - two teams of their times. The Dream Team's charisma and willingness to dominate was precisely the sort of ambassadorship the game needed to kick an already-burgeoning (and somewhat fractured, with the Yugoslavia conflict and breakup of the Soviet Union) international scene into gear, and create the sort of style of play that the 2007 team was built to counter. The shape of things may be a turn-off to some, but to these eyes, I can't wait for Beijing.

by Kelly Dwyer

SI.COM

Dream Team still the best ever ... or is it?

LAS VEGAS -- Scattered throughout the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday were a handful of people lucky enough to have witnessed closely the 1992 Dream Team and the 2007 U.S. Olympic qualifying team.
A few of them were on the inside back in Barcelona, spending nearly every waking hour shepherding the 1992 U.S. team -- the Dream Team -- through the ins and outs of the Olympics. Others were chronicling that team's dominance for the folks back home, who got their news from newspapers as the Web was still in its infancy.
ESPN.com talked to a bunch of them over the weekend, asking them to compare what is widely acknowledged as the greatest team ever assembled to this year's version of Team USA, which steamrolled its way through the Tournament of the Americas and will be the undisputed favorite in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Of all of those interviewed, only one was bold enough to say what a lot of people are beginning to think.
That was Jose "Piculin" Ortiz, the Puerto Rican basketball legend who competed against the Dream Team 15 years ago and was still mixing it up in international competitions as late as 2004, when he was a member of the Puerto Rico team that defeated the United States by 19 points in Athens.
I reintroduced myself to him up in the top row of the media seats Sunday afternoon just before halftime of the Argentina-U.S. gold medal game and asked him the same question I had been asking everyone else I could find: How does this team stack up against that team?
"I think this team is much better," Ortiz said.
"When '92 came, Larry Bird was already coming out [of the NBA], Magic was coming out. Those guys were legends, but this team is a great, talented team."
Final judgment on this version of Team USA will have to wait another year until we see how it performs in Beijing against world-class competition, but for now we're left with the lingering image of the breathtaking display of harmony and talent this team put on over the past two weeks while decimating its competition by an average of nearly 40 points per game.
At Sunday's postgame news conference, U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed stunned by the level of awe and respect coming from the mouth of his Argentine counterpart, Sergio Hernandez.
"It is obvious that no one will ever forget the original Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, but I really like this Team USA team because they also have players of the same caliber such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant who know how to really play together.
"They have good chemistry. They play great defense, but the most important thing for us would be the respect they have for all the other teams so much," said Hernandez, who apologized for his broken English. "I tell you, and I want to say that again and again and again, because I like when teams play hard. If they can beat me by 40 points, I don't want them to beat me by 20 points. I want 40 points -- and this is what they do.
"So, I say thank you. It was a big pleasure to play against you. The game, you see the game. They shoot 20 3-point shots, 25 fast-break points, 15 offensive rebounds. They kill Argentina. They're great."

Krzyzewski, who was an assistant on the 1992 Barcelona team, said he was enjoying this experience more. His comparison of the two teams:
"It was one of those unique experiences of my life, but it's a different time. We could win on just talent alone at that time in the history of international basketball, but those days are gone."
Here's what others who were around Team USA in 1992 and 2007 had to say:
Rod Thorn, general manager the New Jersey Nets, who was a committee member for USA Basketball in 1992:
"Athletically, I don't know that we've had a team more athletic than this team. That team had some of the icons in the history of basketball on it, so you know, it's tough to compare until this team goes on in Beijing."
Russ Granik, former NBA deputy commissioner, who was vice president of USA Basketball in 1992:
"That was a more veteran team, and what you had back then is most of those guys had never had a chance to play in the Olympics. You had a couple, Michael Jordan and David Robinson, but a lot of those guys had never had a chance to play in the Olympics, and even in their 30s they all wanted to play.
"Now you have a situation where a lot of veteran guys, like Kevin Garnett, they've had their chance to play already. So it's not the same."
Terry Lyons, former NBA vice president of international public relations, who handled media relations chores for every U.S. senior national team since '92:
"I have to say it's apples and oranges. Totally different. I'd have to say the '92 team because of the experience would have the edge. But I think this team, by far, is quicker, younger and more athletic, but the '92 team could really score up the middle. Mailman [Karl Malone] and Charles Barkley inside, [Patrick] Ewing and David Robinson up the middle were a lot to handle. But I'd love to see a game [between them]."
Jim O'Connell, longtime basketball writer for the Associated Press and a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame:
"The biggest difference is the Dream Team, most of them were two exits away from Springfield [Mass.] on I-91. They had all been around for a long time, but these guys are all at the beginnings of their careers with the exception of Jason Kidd.
"But that team had a mystique and an aura to it, because everybody knew who they were everywhere in the world, and not just in the U.S. And if you look on the court, that team had more size with the two centers, Robinson and Ewing, so they could take you inside. But this team is probably a little quicker on the perimeter because of how much younger it was.

"If I had to take one of the two teams, I'd take the Dream Team because they were so much more polished. Maybe if this team stays together and in 2012 we're talking about them, these guys might be that good of a team."
Mark Heisler, veteran NBA columnist for the Los Angeles Times:
"Dream Team was tremendous on offense. We didn't notice if they played any defense, and they probably didn't. But I think the one thing the Dream Team had, besides all the greatest players, I think Magic Johnson's personality made all the difference. He made it so that everybody wanted to play their best. Magic was the rarest of all things, he was a great player who transcended all the other great players just on personality. So there were better players on that team, Michael Jordan to start with, but Magic's personality really made that team different.
"But the one thing I really like about this team, it seems like they've got really good chemistry as far as personalities. I think Kobe's personality and Jason Kidd's personality, I think it's really impressive -- as much better as they are than everyone here -- how hard they play."
Jan Hubbard, columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, who covered the 1992 team for New York Newsday:
"Other than the '96 team that had five members of the Dream Team on it, this team is the closest to the Dream Team. Probably lacking in the middle, compared to Ewing and Robinson, but with Kobe playing defense, he mimics Jordan and Pippen. They had two defenders, and this team kind of really only has one.
"The other thing is that those guys were just legends. They had Magic, Michael and Larry, and Charles, I think in the Olympics kind of became like a legend. He was the second-best player on that team. Michael was first and Scottie [Pippen] was third.
"But that team was older, I think they had five guys over 30 -- this one has two -- more Finals appearances, more championships, more of a veteran team, and just this aura that was incredible.
"But this team is a reasonable facsimile of that, and except for the '96 team, is the best international team they've had -- and has the most promise."

by Chris Sheridan

ESPN.COM

Team USA's declaration of independence

LAS VEGAS – To allow his nation gold medal aspirations again, Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez, one of the fabulous minds of international hoops, had been one of those coaches counting on the dysfunction and disarray of USA Basketball. Three years ago, the world watched Larry Brown embarrass everyone on Team USA with his selfishness, feeding a climate of division and dissension, and the world watched Stephon Marbury run a team that had little practice together, a flawed structure and a fatal understanding of the FIBA game.
The Americans had no passing point guards, no shooters and no leadership, and they turned out to be no match for Puerto Rico – never mind the peerless precision of gold medalist Argentina.
Now, Hernandez understands the trouble for the rest of the world next summer in Beijing after watching Team USA drop one of those old test A-Bombs in the Nevada desert as an unmistakable declaration delivered to the rest of the world: Once more, the gold medal goes through the red, white and blue.
Beijing is far from a sure thing, but you have to like America's chances again.
"This is probably one of the best USA teams that I have ever seen," Hernandez said. "Nobody will ever forget the first Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, but I like this USA team very much with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. They really know how to play together."
For him, there was something else too. The Americans played hard throughout the tournament – at tipoff and with a 40-point lead – and that told him they respected the world again. They respected the game. And with that kind of talent, that kind of purpose, there's no stopping them.
This had to be the highest of complements to Jerry Colangelo, the curator of the Team USA renaissance. Under his watch, the Americans have addressed their issues with shooting and defense and proper pre-Olympic preparation. As for coaching, the truest test comes in the Beijing Olympics when there's a tight game and Mike Krzyzewski has to do more than manage these riches.
Bryant is hell-bent on winning something again. James has suddenly added the final devastating element to his game – the jump shot. Carmelo Anthony is impossible to guard for international forwards. Jason Kidd has cultivated an environment of selflessness, inspiring a locker room where he said, "There's no bad apple. There's nobody that wants more shots, or more minutes."
Most of all, Team USA is determined to defend. Penetrators are stopped, and shooters are covered. Magic marveled over the way this pre-Olympic team resembled the original Dream Team in 1992 in that it turned defense into devastating fast-break points. As much as anything, here's what happened in Vegas: USA Basketball manufactured an identity again.
"We know who we are now and we didn't know that coming into the tournament," Colangelo said. "I understand the questions coming in about our outside shooting, our defense, our chemistry. We had questions ourselves and they were answered. "
As Team USA stands now, this should be the United States' best Olympic squad since the forever gold standard of Barcelona 15 years ago. In this world, that doesn't guarantee gold anymore.
Between now and Beijing, there are still players who will return from injuries, and almost assuredly, those who will go down too. From the 12-man roster at the FIBA Americas championship, most insiders believe it's unlikely that Tyson Chandler, Mike Miller and Tayshaun Prince will be asked back to play in Beijing. Dwyane Wade will be the sixth man and Chris Bosh will return for Olympic duty. Beyond that, expect the final fight for roster spots to include Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul, Shane Battier and maybe a rehabbed Elton Brand.
Still, Colangelo warned: "We can never bring enough shooters (to Beijing)."
For Colangelo, there are tough choices to make. He has decided that there will be a final minicamp shortly after the end of the NBA finals in late June to give him and the coaching staff one final look at the team. They'll use the NBA season to measure the progress of young players (Deron Williams and Paul) and perhaps the erosion of elders (Chauncey Billups) to make final cuts.
Colangelo talked about finding role players, about creating a team that used complementary parts to co-exist with stars. He didn't want an All-Star team, but let's face it: This is an All-Star team. Nevertheless, it will still be interesting to watch Wade integrate himself back into the lineup in 2008 because he's obligated now to take a secondary role to James and Bryant. Wade's attitude is marvelous, and the fact that he spent so much time with the team despite a shoulder surgery that sidelined him said a lot about his commitment to the cause.
Through it all, there were still times at the FIBA Americas when Kobe went off into Kobeland, breaking the offensive flow and forcing shots. That's Kobe, and that's what you live with. Yet, he invested far more on defense than he has with the Los Angeles Lakers in recent seasons, largely because he didn't need to conserve as much energy for offense with Team USA.
Forty million dollars wasn't enough to convince Duke's coach to oversee Bryant in L.A., but Duke's coach found Kobe motivated for utter annihilation this summer. In a lot of ways, the tone Bryant and Kidd set with the team has eased whatever tensions lingered over the debacle against Greece in the world championships last summer.
Still, there's going to be some uncertainty surrounding Krzyzewski's ability to make adjustments at the highest level of international ball until he has to do it in Beijing. Among players who were part of the USA Basketball program a year ago, there were private criticisms that Krzyzewski preached team-first mantra while catering far too much to his stars – James, Wade and Anthony.
Now, Bryant and Kidd have taken ownership of the group, and that solved that. Anthony is a great talent, but he's still more of a follower than a leader. Around USA Basketball, everyone was thrilled when Bruce Bowen challenged James for his disrespectful attitude toward staff members a year ago. Bowen never made the cut and maybe ultimately didn't have the star power to command James' respect.
There were some concerns about LeBron's commitment earlier this summer, when he suggested that he might be too tired to participate in the second of the three-year commitment. Colangelo barked back publicly, challenging James to honor his word and show up in Vegas. LeBron was genius for Team USA as its most accurate perimeter shooter and prolific passer.
"What really helped with LeBron this year," one NBA source said, "was having Kidd and Bryant there."
Krzyzewski has a great sounding board on the international game with Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni as his assistant, and the hiring of the Detroit Pistons' crack Euro scout, Tony Ronzone, which promises to make Team USA far more prepared for what's coming in the Olympics. What's more, Krzyzewski has done a terrific job connecting with his players. Unlike Brown, Krzyzewski isn't interested in publicly disparaging them. He knows that these players didn't sign up for that kind of badgering, and he will never turn on them the way Brown did. As Argentina's coach, Hernandez, and Team USA's only gold medalist, Kidd, both said: This has a chance to be one of the great American Olympic teams ever. The world game has change dramatically since the Dream Team in '92, and yet the United States still has an opportunity to be dominant again. Whatever dysfunction that stopped the Americans in the past two world championships and Athens Games, whatever marginal competition at the FIBA Americas that contributed to our inflated sense of expectation again, there is still no denying the obvious: Once again, the gold medal goes through the red, white and blue.

by Adrian Wojnarowski
YAHOO SPORTS

Kobe's pass first, shoot second attitude highlights U.S. play

LAS VEGAS -- The level of competition will be significantly more difficult in Beijing, but the United States has a blue print in place that will prove to be unbeatable if executed properly. Very simply, no one star is bigger than the team.
Credit Kobe Bryant for helping foster that atmosphere.
Kobe Bryant attempts only three shots in the title game.
Thanks in part to the close proximity between L.A. and Vegas, Bryant was the one whose jersey was everywhere and who drew the loudest cheers whenever he was introduced or managed something special. Bryant's desire to fit in helped facilitate what turned into a love-fest for the American side that must continue overseas next August when Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh integrate into the squad.
In Sunday's gold medal game, a 118-81 rout that was never in doubt, he inexplicably took a forced off-balance jumper on the U.S.'s first possession, got that out of his system and then became an assist-machine, firing off alley-oops and outlet passes, choosing to involve himself the best way possible for his team.
He put his money where his mouth is on his stated desire that this second part of his career is all about team accomplishments, and that's going to include this international portion. He took only three shots against Argentina, making one and finishing with a 15.3 scoring average, third-best on the U.S. squad, but his eight assists and unselfishness were a major reason the team thrived so easily.
"With Kobe, he brings a leader. He's a tough-minded guy," said Carmelo Anthony, who led the U.S. in scoring with a 21.2 scoring average. "It's not just him. We have Jason Kidd, we have Chauncey (Billups) we have Amare (Stoudemire) back here from working with us last summer ..."
Anthony can go on and on and name the entire roster if he wants to. Everyone is vital in his own way in what became a case of getting in where you fit in.
Kidd finished last on the team in scoring and didn't even attempt a shot in the title game, but ended up with 46 assists against just five turnovers. Dwight Howard and Stoudemire clogged up the middle and were the team's top rebounders.
LeBron James and Anthony were the primary scorers, benefiting from last season's experience at the World Championships. The game definitely becomes easier when you're familiar with all the rules. Bryant, playing international ball for the first time, smartly felt his way through it, but shouldn't get any ideas for Beijing.
If for some reason the United States needs a game-winning shot at any point in the Olympics, then it would be fine to isolate for him and let him do his thing, but in the flow of the game, going one-on-one would only work to put shackles on an imposing offense that averaged 116.7 points per game in 10 games here.
"Kobe's not just the top perimeter player which I think is a good statement to the rest of the team," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's as if he said, 'Hey I've scored 50 points a few times in NBA games but I want that good shooter or that scorer.' I've been pleased with the trend.
"I'd just like to mention Dwyane Wade. We don't have Dwyane like we did last summer. Kobe this summer helped in that regard. When we get (Wade) back, that will make us seem stronger. We sense the commitment from these guys and it shows in a guy like Dwyane Wade. He's here. He's supporting these guys and that's the type of camaraderie that we've developed."
Barring unforeseen absences, expect Wade to be integrated in a sixth-man role that he'll be happy to play, because you would hope that the precedent has been set that everyone on the U.S. roster is willing to swallow their pride and do whatever it takes to claim gold
Bryant, owner of the biggest ego of them all, checked it at the door and wound up the No. 3 scorer. Bryant came out saying he was going to focus on defense and did so.
There's no disputing that Bryant is the most talented American player in the NBA, but internationally, the versatility James and Anthony bring to the game with their ability to serve as undersized power forwards is an advantage that the U.S. must continue to exploit.
"Melo is a strange bird in the sense in that he can play the four and he gets bigger guys on him, so he can put the ball on the floor," Kidd said. "The key thing is that he's a really good shooter. That's the best thing about him. When you have bigger guys guarding you, a lot of times they won't come out on him."
That happened time and time again in Las Vegas and should again be a major advantage against Spain, Argentina, Greece and the globe's other top challengers.
Bryant recognized that and bought in. It didn't damage his popularity, either. Fans still chanted his name with 4 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the game and the U.S. up 36. Anthony, standing on the bench, excitedly pumped his fist and cheered right along with them. Hopefully, the love-fest continues in Beijing. Credit Kobe Bryant for helping foster that atmosphere.

by Tony Mejia

CBS Sports.Com

Stamp of Approval

LAS VEGAS – He’s been playing “What would’ve been?” for most of the month, and sometime Sunday night Kobe Bryant will have to return his Team USA toys on the Strip, including Jason Kidd, and rejoin the Bynum and Bailey Circus with the Lakers.
No more Pilates in his hotel room with the Nets point guard.
“I wore out his ass,” Kobe bragged.
No more clowning with Carmelo Anthony on the bench.
“He’s a fool,” Kobe kidded.
No more playing with a cast of teammates straight out of his wildest dreams, out of Mitch Kupchak’s reach.
“We’re all spoiled,” Kobe sighed.
If Bryant wasn’t the most dominant player in the United States' devastating 135-91 semifinal victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday, he sure has been it in these FIBA Americas Championships. Behind Bryant, the United States didn’t just use this tournament to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, but reaffirm itself as the gold standard in Beijing next summer.
As much as anyone, Bryant could live in this Vegas fantasy forever. Once the gold medal game against Argentina is over Sunday, Team USA’s players go home with NBA training camps starting within the month. Milwaukee’s Michael Redd, back to a lottery team of his own, confessed, “We’re going to have low tolerance for our teams when we get back to camp.”
No one will have less patience than Bryant, whose summer with the Americans has made him only more determined to chase championships again. He goes back to a Lakers team largely unchanged over a season ago, destined again for a low-Western Conference playoff seed, an early exit, and another Kobe combustion.
There’s a chance that no one will see Bryant smile again until the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing. “The athleticism, the basketball IQ – It’s really been an honor, a blessing, to be around this talent every single day,” Bryant said.
Privately, Bryant is still livid that the Lakers wouldn’t give up Andrew Bynum for Kidd at the trade deadline last season. It doesn’t make it easier that Kidd desperately wanted to play with the Lakers, and was deeply disappointed when the trade fell apart. In the time they’ve spent together in Vegas, Kobe said that Kidd has, “taught me a lot about reading the floor, about what he’s looking at on the court.”
What’s more, Kidd knows: Vince Carter is no Kobe.
“This is something that I will always remember,” Kidd told me Saturday. “This is something that could’ve been. We could be talking (with each other) about, ‘what are you going to do? Are you going to work out? I’ll see you back in LA.’
“But unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
As badly as Bryant, Kidd wanted it too. Still, he has peace of mind returning to a Nets team that could contend in the Eastern Conference. Bryant’s volatile early summer of trade demands and attacks on the Lakers organization has been tempered with this Team USA run. He’s had the time of his basketball life here. He’s been on his best behavior, trying to undo the damage he had done to his name.
Longtime league insiders were surprised to see Bryant and his wife at the opening of a club at the team’s hotel on Friday night, with one going so far to say to him, "You never go out in public. He's trying to be a part of this team, really trying, they're saying.
“He’s really befriended everybody,” Redd said. “We’ve got a chance to know him and he’s gotten a chance to know us.”
Even when he was winning championships with the Lakers, there was always some drama, always some conflict. Here, it’s so much easier. In a lot of ways, August has been the most liberating month of his life, one with which Bryant has re-established himself as the star among stars, reminded the world that no one plays the ends of the floor the way that he does. He has tortured offensive stars in the FIBA American Championship, chasing those with and without the ball like nothing anyone’s seen in years out of him on defense.
“He’s brought an intensity, an edge, to us that maybe people had only seen in Michael Jordan,” Managing Director Jerry Colangelo said.
If Bryant understands that he won’t be competing for his fourth championship in the spring with the Lakers, he knows he’ll be chasing his first gold medal in Beijing with Team USA. If nothing else, his debut with USA Basketball has been a chance to re-stamp himself as a winner. “Look at Kobe who has championships -– the one thing he is missing is the gold medal,” Kidd said. What’s more, the one thing he’s missing is showing that he can be a part of something bigger than his own ego and hubris.
No one is shrewder at recasting himself, reshaping his public image after an embarrassing episode, as Bryant. In Vegas, he’s been the most popular kid in class, charming and selfless. Slowly, surely, he’s positioning himself as the savior to bring back gold medal glory to basketball’s beleaguered red, white and blue. The best American player goes home on Sunday night, and he does so without all his favorite, shiny new toys. The Lakers camp starts in a few weeks in Hawaii, and Kobe Bryant confessed that he’s leaving Las Vegas “spoiled” now. There will be no Jason Kidd to pass the ball and work out with him, no ‘Melo to share a scoring spree and a laugh. Just Kobe and his low tolerance, just Kobe and a lost Lakers cause that has pushed him to the brink.

By Adrian Wojnaroswki

YAHOO SPORTS

Kobe making a case as game's best

Since Michael Jordan shuffled off to prove that building one team seems even trickier than carrying an entire league, the howling kings of basketball judgment have been auditioning for his successor.
For the record, the job description has little to do with marketing power or highlight credibility, although those can be fine perks. Instead, the watchdogs have been waiting for someone to definitively seize the title of World's Best End-To-End Basketball Player. As one of these self-appointed watchdogs, I believe the requisite World's-Best skills should include a competitive blaze underscored by a commitment to defense. This probably eliminates most of the candidates now lining up behind the guy who actually deserves the acclaim.
That guy is Kobe Bryant.
This week's show at the FIBA Tournament of the Americas simply serves to illustrate what most of you should have figured out much earlier. But before building Kobe's case, let's quickly review some of the suspects who are not (yet) the world's best player.
We'll start with Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony, a splendid player whose scoring outburst in Team USA's collective romp has provoked grandiose declarations from a few national pundits. Best player on Team USA? That's just silly.
While it should be noted that playing power forward for Coach Mike Krzyzewski hasn't done his defensive rep any favors, 'Melo has yet to really pick on any offensive players his own size in the NBA. But the defensive comparison with Bryant that's been the most noticeable while working for Team USA occurs off the ball; Kobe is far better at anticipating an offensive maneuver and rotating into a team-defensive help situation. Due to experience and/or DVD study, Bryant just thinks the game better.
Like Kobe and his superior Team USA cronies, Anthony's wide-ranging offensive repertoire can command a double team. Unlike Bryant (whose L.A. Lakers teammates and own ego require it) Carmelo hasn't demonstrated the ability to consistently defeat it. As a Nuggets' employee, he may not have to or even want to. That's a plus.
I just can't wait to watch what happens when a full season of Anthony, Allen Iverson, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin kicks in with George Karl. That may be some hayride.
Anyway, accusing Anthony of not having a comprehensive game that equals Bryant's is hardly intended as a slam.
Kobe's off-the-court off-season has been turbulent. But on it? He looks like the game's best player. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
The same is true when putting the comparison spotlight on LeBron James, who's been one of my favorite players since I first saw him play during a summer club tournament in Vegas six years ago.
Much like his pal Carmelo, LeBron's defense only seems to be ratcheted up when the moment suits him. That's a pity, because — as one of the world's most ridiculous combinations of size, strength, speed, quickness and agility — James should be an All-Defensive Team pick every year.
While it's true that — like Bryant — the offensive responsibilities he carries with his NBA team may inspire a few half-hearted defensive efforts, it doesn't excuse a lapse or two for Team USA.
On offense, LeBron is a more generous and skillful passer than Bryant. That's hardly a revelation. But, due to balance issues, his jump shot will continue to come and go. Sure, Kobe can be streaky and unleashes quite a few gymnastic field-goal attempts, but James still manages to lean back when his feet are set and he's wide open. He'll make some of those shots, but doesn't seem convinced that creating space when it's not necessary makes shooting a high percentage a lot more difficult.
Another serious candidate, Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade, will be spared from comparison (when he refines that jump shot, we'll talk) until suiting up for Team USA next year.
The marvelous Steve Nash is the world's best point guard, but won't be its best player unless he quits hiding behind screens on defense or pretending that playing the passing lanes is enough.
Dirk Nowitzki fails to make the cut because the world's best player doesn't back down when his team is figuratively punched in the mouth.
This brings us back to Bryant, who qualifies as the most relentless competitor the NBA has seen since MJ, who was the greatest player in league history. But despite checking in with three championship rings, Kobe's ascension often is dismissed due to perceptions (right, wrong ... how do any of us really know?) about his character.
He generally is credited with escorting Shaquille O'Neal out of Los Angeles, even though Shaq's contract demands and public attack on Lakers owner Jerry Buss did far more to expedite the trade. Kobe didn't push O'Neal out of town, but he could have stopped the deal.
Instead, he welcomed the opportunity to — like Jordan — lead his team to glory while surrounded by little more than an eager support group. We'll never know how Jordan would have responded if his career had begun as second fiddle to the league's most dominant inside presence. Maybe his quest to be the best player would have overwhelmed a sense of team that was instilled at North Carolina. Maybe his team would have won 10 consecutive titles. Had he not prematurely retired (twice), Jordan could have registered eight or nine in a row without the benefit of an above-average center.
We may never know if Bryant can win without a superior big because he has yet to be assisted by the likes of Scottie Pippen or a young Horace Grant. His task of winning with Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum is made even trickier by an abundance of powerhouse teams in the Western Conference.
As for Team USA, Kobe (to me, at least) clearly is better on both ends than his gifted young teammates. But even his presence can't guarantee U.S. gold in 2008. With Bryant, Anthony, James and Wade, Coach K will be obliged to continue hammering a ball-movement agenda that will be tested by zone-playing foes intent on slowing down the game. The stars listed above have grown into their current status by dribbling the ball through most of every offensive possession.

by Randy Hill

FoxSports.Com