USA Basketball Announces 44 Finalists For 2020 Olympic Roster

[mrhonline]

Ugh. The Pierce comment isn't a good look.

[bleachkit]

1 hour ago, EazyRoc said:

Why did he go off ?

Said he's the worst defensive player in the NBA, and his omission is an indictment on his poor play on defense.

[EazyRoc]

9 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Said he's the worst defensive player in the NBA, and his omission is an indictment on his poor play on defense.

It’s funny cuz this dude is actually from Atlanta

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I keep telling ya'll that people don't like Trae.  When the Hawks become good, he's going to be really hated like Steph Curry is at times.

[capstone21]

Add chip to shoulder and yes often the guys who play in the Olympics are worn out the following season

[sturt]

Well said, Coach Pierce...

 

 

 

[mrhonline]

Agree to disagree...

This whole idea of tenure doesn't work when the team Pop put out there was embarrassed.

[sturt]

@mrhonline, I missed the first thing he said that evidently prompted this second thing he said. But I concur specifically from the perspective that the other stuff is peripheral really at this point in his career, and by inference, that the focus has to be on developing the part of his game that remains a work in progress. The "end all" is not a matter of any individual achievement but this team's level of success. Or, at least, that's how I took the things Pierce said.

[enrique]

11 hours ago, bleachkit said:

Said he's the worst defensive player in the NBA, and his omission is an indictment on his poor play on defense.

Well I can name one player on the 44 man invite with worse defense. Mr. “watch out for my woman’s handbag” Beal

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Schlenk's take:

[terrell]

18 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I keep telling ya'll that people don't like Trae.  When the Hawks become good, he's going to be really hated like Steph Curry is at times.

Good. IT keeps us relevant.....

[pimp]

 

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, PSSSHHHRRR87 said:

Schlenk's take:

Full interview:

 

 

[Buzzard]

20 hours ago, sturt said:

Well said, Coach Pierce...

 

 

 

This is why you keep your team criticisms in the media generic to the word "team". When you openly criticize a star player by name in the media, it will bite you in the ass.

You do not "grow" your players through the damn media.

[enrique]

20 hours ago, pimp said:

 

Wow!!! These guys get it!!! I feared this was a “Trae is an empty-stat-bla-bla-blech” tirade Almost didn’t even click so I would stay in a good mood today. Glad I did. Thanks for posting!

Edited February 12, 2020 by enrique

[AHF]

12 minutes ago, enrique said:

Wow!!! These guys get it!!! I feared this was a “Trae is an empty-stat-bla-bla-blech” tirade Almost didn’t even click so I would stay in a good mood today. Glad I did. Thanks for posting!

Thanks.  Didn't watch it for the same reason.  Much more realistic, reasonable discussion than I expected.

[enrique]

Well there is finally a little Colangelo explanation on why Trae was not invited. 

 

 For those who prefer to avoid reading anything on Yahoo, the money quote on Trae's omission from the invite list is:

 

Colangelo said it was only because they wanted players who had paid their dues with Team USA.

“So, what we decided to do was –  first of all, there were no first-year players on the list. Or second-year players. One three-year player,” Colangelo said. “Basically, because we think you have to earn your keep, earn your spurs, pay your dues, etc. And there’s a lot of good young players, but not for this Olympics. We took the players that we felt had equity. In other words, they had played for us in previous competitions.”

Edited February 19, 2020 by enrique
added a quote from article to make it easier to avoid reading the whole thing:)

[AHF]

Colangelo is a moron not to have reached out with an olive branch to the young stars in the league.  The natural reaction from both the media and players will always be to focus on the people who were left off the list and seemingly worthy of being on it.  If they were going to do this, it should have been part of the announcement.  It is actually more problematic than that since these young guys can't start getting "equity" unless you do things like show up for camps, etc.  At a minimum, he should have said something like:

"First of all, I want to address the many  young stars who will be a part of the Olympic program in the years to come.  The fact that your name is not on this list does not reflect on how excited we are about your future.  For this Olympics, we concluded that our best 12 man roster would be selected from the guys who have paid their dues and been with the program in the past.  So you won't see any first or second year players or anyone who hasn't been a part of the program for this Olympics.  You will get your chance.

Second, we aren't going to have try-outs.  Etc...."

Get ahead of and cut off the backlash and don't risk pissing these guys off.

[enrique]

7 minutes ago, AHF said:

Colangelo is a moron not to have reached out with an olive branch to the young stars in the league.  The natural reaction from both the media and players will always be to focus on the people who were left off the list and seemingly worthy of being on it.  If they were going to do this, it should have been part of the announcement.  It is actually more problematic than that since these young guys can't start getting "equity" unless you do things like show up for camps, etc.  At a minimum, he should have said something like:

"First of all, I want to address the many  young stars who will be a part of the Olympic program in the years to come.  The fact that your name is not on this list does not reflect on how excited we are about your future.  For this Olympics, we concluded that our best 12 man roster would be selected from the guys who have paid their dues and been with the program in the past.  So you won't see any first or second year players or anyone who hasn't been a part of the program for this Olympics.  You will get your chance.

Second, we aren't going to have try-outs.  Etc...."

Get ahead of and cut off the backlash and don't risk pissing these guys off.

Totally agree with you...a lack of proactive communication is surprising at this level of the sport. Wherever there is a vacuum of info, many creative minds (i.e., almost every human I know) will create their own narratives to answer all the questions of why. The end results are never what the leadership would desire in the long term. It really is Old Skool thinking and doesn't play well with younger generations. 

[RedDawg#8]

27 minutes ago, enrique said:

It really is Old Skool thinking and doesn't play well with younger generations. 

Especially considering ever since they have revamped USA basketball they have almost always involved the most promising young players in the country as a means of giving them a head start in to the program.

Theyve built this up on the backs of guys who were invited way before they accomplished anything in the NBA, so why change now.

The bigger question is why 44 players in the first place. Why not invite 48 or 50 or just 30 for that matter. When we know you’re only going to pick 12 in the end, why have that many invitees if you’re just going to cap if at such a random number.