Naw, no way. I never thought that CP was top 3 though, so my opinion doesnt matter on that.
Here are the final stats:
http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2008/stats/USA.HTM
Wade the top scorer. And shot .671 from the field. There's your MVP.
Though Lebron with double the assists. I guess you make a case for him too.
Here are the final stats:
http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2008/stats/USA.HTM
Wade the top scorer. And shot .671 from the field. There's your MVP.
Though Lebron with double the assists. I guess you make a case for him too.
He's still a great player, and probably the top PG in the world, but he's not top three. Right now it's hard to put anyone in the top three other than Kobe, LeBron and Wade. If Howard improves his defense I would put him up there also. Duncan and Garnett are both up there in the top 5 also, so lets not forget about the players that weren't there.
Rob I have a thread addressed to you in the record tracking room.
If you get the chance let me know.
Thanks.
It's a tough adjustment for NBA stars to play in international competition, when you don't get 2 FTs every time you get breathed on going to the hole.
Perfect example was yesterday when Paul got by the defenders after using a screen and headed to the hoop. The help defender slightly bumped him on his path, but he still had an uncontested layup. In the NBA that's a foul 100% of the time; yesterday, the refs told Paul to go fuck himself, essentially saying, "that's an easy layup and you barely got touched. Finish the play, you're not getting bailed out by us."
International refs allow players to actually PLAY basketball; they don't bail them out with ticky-tack fouls and reward them when they blindly throw their body into the bigs on shot attempts that they had no intention of even trying to make. Free throws will be earned.
Stupid NBA.
Perfect example was yesterday when Paul got by the defenders after using a screen and headed to the hoop. The help defender slightly bumped him on his path, but he still had an uncontested layup. In the NBA that's a foul 100% of the time; yesterday, the refs told Paul to go fuck himself, essentially saying, "that's an easy layup and you barely got touched. Finish the play, you're not getting bailed out by us."
International refs allow players to actually PLAY basketball; they don't bail them out with ticky-tack fouls and reward them when they blindly throw their body into the bigs on shot attempts that they had no intention of even trying to make. Free throws will be earned.
Stupid NBA.
## Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
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09 Wade, Dwyane....... 8-0 150 18.8 47-70 .671 8-17 .471 26-41 .634 14 18 32 4.0 13 0 15 13 1 18 128 16.0
06 James, LeBron...... 8-8 198 24.8 50-83 .602 13-28 .464 11-24 .458 9 33 42 5.3 16 0 30 17 8 19 124 15.5
10 Bryant, Kobe....... 8-8 188 23.5 48-104 .462 17-53 .321 7-12 .583 9 13 22 2.8 19 0 17 15 4 9 120 15.0
15 Anthony, Carmelo... 8-8 153 19.1 27-64 .422 14-37 .378 24-29 .828 5 29 34 4.3 23 0 3 6 2 8 92 11.5
11 Howard, Dwight..... 8-8 129 16.1 35-47 .745 0-0 .000 17-37 .459 15 31 46 5.8 23 0 4 9 7 5 87 10.9
12 Bosh, Chris........ 8-0 138 17.3 24-31 .774 0-0 .000 25-29 .862 14 35 49 6.1 13 0 2 4 6 2 73 9.1
07 Williams, Deron.... 8-0 152 19.0 23-52 .442 9-24 .375 9-10 .900 3 15 18 2.3 21 1 22 12 0 6 64 8.0
13 Paul, Chris........ 8-0 175 21.9 19-38 .500 4-14 .286 22-24 .917 6 23 29 3.6 15 0 33 9 0 18 64 8.0
14 Prince, Tayshaun... 8-0 88 11.0 13-22 .591 6-11 .545 2-4 .500 6 9 15 1.9 7 0 2 2 1 3 34 4.3
04 Boozer, Carlos..... 8-0 48 6.0 10-18 .556 0-0 .000 6-8 .750 5 10 15 1.9 9 0 2 8 0 2 26 3.3
08 Redd, Michael...... 8-0 73 9.1 10-31 .323 5-18 .278 0-1 .000 3 6 9 1.1 1 0 4 3 0 2 25 3.1
05 Kidd, Jason........ 8-8 108 13.5 6-7 .857 1-2 .500 0-0 .000 6 15 21 2.6 13 0 16 12 2 5 13 1.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total.............. 8 1600 312-567 .550 77-204 .377 149-219 .680 95 237 332 41.5 173 1 150 110 31 97 850 106.2
Opponents.......... 8 1600 222-551 .403 60-201 .299 123-156 .788 102 185 287 35.9 184 - 85 154 29 53 627 78.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
09 Wade, Dwyane....... 8-0 150 18.8 47-70 .671 8-17 .471 26-41 .634 14 18 32 4.0 13 0 15 13 1 18 128 16.0
06 James, LeBron...... 8-8 198 24.8 50-83 .602 13-28 .464 11-24 .458 9 33 42 5.3 16 0 30 17 8 19 124 15.5
10 Bryant, Kobe....... 8-8 188 23.5 48-104 .462 17-53 .321 7-12 .583 9 13 22 2.8 19 0 17 15 4 9 120 15.0
15 Anthony, Carmelo... 8-8 153 19.1 27-64 .422 14-37 .378 24-29 .828 5 29 34 4.3 23 0 3 6 2 8 92 11.5
11 Howard, Dwight..... 8-8 129 16.1 35-47 .745 0-0 .000 17-37 .459 15 31 46 5.8 23 0 4 9 7 5 87 10.9
12 Bosh, Chris........ 8-0 138 17.3 24-31 .774 0-0 .000 25-29 .862 14 35 49 6.1 13 0 2 4 6 2 73 9.1
07 Williams, Deron.... 8-0 152 19.0 23-52 .442 9-24 .375 9-10 .900 3 15 18 2.3 21 1 22 12 0 6 64 8.0
13 Paul, Chris........ 8-0 175 21.9 19-38 .500 4-14 .286 22-24 .917 6 23 29 3.6 15 0 33 9 0 18 64 8.0
14 Prince, Tayshaun... 8-0 88 11.0 13-22 .591 6-11 .545 2-4 .500 6 9 15 1.9 7 0 2 2 1 3 34 4.3
04 Boozer, Carlos..... 8-0 48 6.0 10-18 .556 0-0 .000 6-8 .750 5 10 15 1.9 9 0 2 8 0 2 26 3.3
08 Redd, Michael...... 8-0 73 9.1 10-31 .323 5-18 .278 0-1 .000 3 6 9 1.1 1 0 4 3 0 2 25 3.1
05 Kidd, Jason........ 8-8 108 13.5 6-7 .857 1-2 .500 0-0 .000 6 15 21 2.6 13 0 16 12 2 5 13 1.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total.............. 8 1600 312-567 .550 77-204 .377 149-219 .680 95 237 332 41.5 173 1 150 110 31 97 850 106.2
Opponents.......... 8 1600 222-551 .403 60-201 .299 123-156 .788 102 185 287 35.9 184 - 85 154 29 53 627 78.4
Skins hit it right. It is a different game. You have to recognize that. Paul was certainly top 3 last year. he will be great again. That much we know. In the Olympics he came on and played real well. He is a little small and his defense can be exposed. Truly great player though still gettting better.
it is a diff game under fiba rules. another thing im tired of is guys like raj always saying these superstars are lazy by not being fully committed to D. team USA you can be fully committed to D because you got scorers like lebron and kobe and wade.
when you are your teams main offensive threat, your job is to score. the superstar gets the worst offensive player from the opponent team most of the time because the superstars job is offense primarily, putting the hoop in the basket. everybody has there role on the court.
One of the things I love about Kobe and LeBron is that they DO work on and improve their defense. Both are underrated defensive players. In big games you will always see these guys on the other teams top scorer because they want the challenge. These guys don't want to lose a game because one of their teammates couldn't guard a good scorer, so they want it completely up to them.
LeBron James will make first team all-defense sometime in his career. Count on that.
What happened at the Olympics has absolutely NOTHING to do with who deserved MVP. I didn't think he deserved it either. I thought it should have gone to James, and if not him then Kobe, but not because Paul was less than stellar in the Olympics. That means nothing. If we're just going by the Olympics Dwayne Wade is the best player in the world, and that is not true.
being a good defender doesnt hurt, wont argue that. what i want though is my superstar to save his energy for making baskets, because thats what he's best at. i dont want kobe playing the toughest assignment defensively, because i want him to do what he does best, put the ball into the hoop. exerting tremendous effort on both sides of the ball only hurts his ability to score, which is why im paying him 150 mill to begin with, to put up 25 + a night.
