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What do people think about the USA basketball Olympic teams roster? Does anyone agree with the decision to leave Allen Iverson off the list of picked players and those that were invited? People like Shaq and Tim Duncan still have standing open invitations even though they have already said they do not want to be on the team, while Iverson who wants to play on the team will not even be allowed to try out for the team.
I do not agree with the to not let Iverson at least try out for the team and I do not believe USA basketballs reason for leaving Iverson off the team. The manager of Team USA claimed that Iverson was left off the team in that they wanted someone who would distribute the ball to people. I watched Iverson play today for a short while and he seemed to distribute the ball well and a rather large amount in my opinion. Also, in the game a few days ago where Iverson scored 47 points he also had 12 assists and today he had at least 31 point with at least 9 assists. I do not hate Kobe, but how many of Kobe 30+ and 40+ games has he had double digit assists. I know that Kobe is a shooting guard and Iverson is mainly a point guard, but in my opinion if Kobe can be on the team than Iverson can be on the team. Also, Iverson is normally tagged as a bad guy; however, some of you may remember that a few years ago when Jordan was left off the ALL-STAR game starting list it was Iverson, not McGrady, who was first to offer his spot to Jordan although people ignored Iverson gesture, but greatly and gleefully reported about McGrady being willing to give up his spot in favor of Jordan.
Another question I have is this: Is the problem with USA basketball really that NBA basketball players do not play on the Olympic team or is it just that other teams just have more heart and want to win Olympic gold more than the American team? If you look at Argentina I think Manu Ginobili, at the time of the Athens Olympics, was the only NBA basketball player on the team and that team still won gold. On the other hand the US had multiple NBA players and they were only able to win the bronze. It seems that things might be a little better this time around because the players on the roster want to be on the team, but I just do not completely accept the idea that the problem is the lack of NBA basketball players on the team.
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