More Team, Less Dream

The invitees to USA Basketball's Olympic team tryouts have been leaked out. Thankfully, it seems that the powers-that-be have opted for a more balanced approach to roster building than just tossing whichever All-Star Game participants are willing to show up together and assuming victory will follow. (Just ask Larry Brown how well that went.) No, the team that dons the red, white and blue in Beijing in 2008 may actually be a team.

Sure, the usual assortment of highlight reel members are going to be in USA Basketball's Olympic camp. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, and Dwayne Wade are present and accounted for. However, role players like Bruce Bowen, Brad Miller and Shane Battier are vying for roster spots, too. It appears that USA Basketball has finally learned a lesson--a team is more than just guys all wearing the same jersey. It's something their hockey brethren to the north have understood for quite a while.

As long as I can recall, when Hockey Canada assembled a national team, they have always included role players. Yes, the big scorers get the media attention, but the Canada squad has always had defensive defensemen, shorthanded specialists and a checking line. A darn impressive checking line, mind you, but a checking line nonetheless.

This more "team" centered approach, while leaving some stars at home, is how guys like the Red Wings Kris Draper gets to wear the maple leaf in the Olympics. Wayne Gretzky knows hockey is about scoring, but it's also about killing penalties, winning faceoffs and beating your opponent to lose pucks. It's the reason that Canada generally does rather well even when suiting up NHL players. They don't forget to take guys along to do the dirty work and who aren't going to whine about sitting too much.

(A side note: I discount this year's Olympic result for Canada. They are in transition. Guys like Joe Thornton, Rick Nash and others are dynamic players, but have never had the pressure of being "The Man" in a big situation. Few situations are bigger for Canadian players than putting on that sweater and some of them just weren't ready. They will be next time. Sorry, for the unrelated tangent, but I had to get that in.)

Ironically, this is the same approach to assembling a team that USA Basketball used of years when the college kids represented the country. They gathered a wide group of players, held real tryouts and selected the best unit. That sometimes meant some big names didn't make it. More often than not, you had some lesser known players on the roster selected to play specific roles. This method yielded decades of success. Perhaps, now that the rest of the world has caught up to the US in basketball success, the NBA driven squad will follow the old formula of putting together a team.

Now, picking which 12 players go to China will be a challenge. To see for yourself, go to this ESPN.com poll and pick your twelve. While we don't agree on every single slot, Bill Simmons has chosen a team that basically I would have. We also agree on a number of very specific items in regards to the roster.

We both think Kobe Bryant will make the team even if it's not the best thing for the team. We both think Chauncey Billups should start. We both believe Chris Paul needs to be on this team. Neither one of us, nor any reasonable person, can figure how Luke Ridnour got the nod over Kirk Hinrich? It makes no sense. (No offense, Luke, Kirk's just better. That doesn't mean you aren't good, though.)

In addition to the points Mr. Simmons and I concurred on, I also thought that Tayshaun Prince could have been a valuable guy for the USA (he can play D, multiple positions and hit a three), but I realize there are only so many invitations going out. I also am a bit disappointed that Alan Iverson didn't get a call. I'm not an Iverson guy, per se, but whenever USA Basketball went looking for volunteers, A.I. was the first to raise his hand. That's more than I can say for Shaq, Kobe and a number of other NBA stars. For that, I thought The Answer earned an invitation at minimum.

Now, all this said, Jerry Colangelo and the honchos over at USA Basketball, in cooperation with the NBA, of course, could still opt to make this Dream Team XVIIXL or whatever number we are on now. (Note: There was only one Dream Team regardless of what anyone, anywhere tells you.) They could take the traveling circus that would be Kobe vs. Shaq to China. They could opt for Amare Stoudemire's unproven, as of yet, knee over a healthier Chris Bosh. They could opt to leave the role players at training camp. However, I am hopeful with the announcement (ok, leak) of this list of players that USA Basketball has it's priorities in order. Build a team first, worry about marketing opportunities later.