These landmarks stick out -
1. As David Friedman reported in his Team USA Exhibition Tour Report Card, Dwayne Wade has been mighty impressive lately.
He's shooting .723 FG & and, surprisingly to me, is shooting better from deep (5-7 3 pt. %) than Deron Williams (1-6).
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2. Meandering through a past blog about Team USA's 2007 evisceration of Argentina, David also mentioned something that I had never known about the genesis of the 1992 Dream Team. In the late 1980s, when FIBA proposed that the US inject professional players into future Olympic competitions, the US evidentally "was the one country that was initially opposed to the idea. The fact is that sending college players to compete against other countries' professionals is pointless; the college players cannot win in these kind of events and it is better for the development of the game for the best to play against the best."
A USA basketball article clued me in that:
"In 1986 - two years before Americans lost in '88 - the rules were nearly changed. FIBA Secretary-General Stankovic introduced the resolution for open play at a FIBA convention, and the vote to allow all professionals to play was 31-27. At the time, Stankovic said 18 or 19 countries abstained from voting, but if only five had changed and voted "yes," the resolution would have passed and the original Dream Team could have debuted in 1988 rather than 1992."
3. In a recent prognostication article, CNN SI's Ian Thomsen writes, unsurprisingly, that Spain is favored for silver. He said one reason for this because the fleet, full-court oriented Spanish squad "lost the European championship final last summer when the Russians slowed the tempo. By trying to push the ball up the court, the Spaniards will be playing to the preferred pace of the Americans."
Then, almost shockingly, he quotes Ettore Messina, the highly respected coach of CSKA Moscow, saying that Spain would be content to settle for silver: "Their goal realistically has to be nothing more than to make the final. I remember they were so happy when the draw put them in the same group with the U.S., meaning they [are likely to] face the U.S. only in the final. I think they are thinking of second place.''
I can understand why Messina said Spain was glad that they are in a situation where they will not (in the elimination games) likely face the US until the finals, but I cannot fathom a team with 6+ NBA-caliber players not considering gold as a realistic goal. If anything, after last year's loss in the Euro Championships in Madrid, I would expect Spain to be more hungry for gold than ever. The possibility of one nation holding the FIBA and Olympic championships in basketball, and the Euro Cup in soccer, as Spain has a chance to do, is unreal.
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