Congratulation to Deron and Team USA for winning the FIBA Americas tournament.  I have to say that winning a gold medal for your country would have to rank right up there among anyone’s accomplishments.  And it’s my opinion that an Olympic gold medal would be better than an NBA championship.  I think there’s a lot more pride involved.  And for the USA it would have to be sweet for two reasons; we were knocked off the world basketball pedestal when we didn’t win in 2004 and the US isn’t really looked upon favorably these days.  Better to be hated for basketball dominance than for everything else non-sports going on.

And from everything we saw in the tournament, you’d have to think that Team USA is back on track as being the elite team in the world.  It’s too bad we don’t have a process that we can clone players in their current state and be able to restore them later to play the current group of All-stars.  Because when all is said and done with this team, it would be sweet to have them play the 1992 team.

Deron had a great tournament, when he played.  The only one that played less was Tyson Chandler.  And he likely won’t be around for the Olympics when Bosh or Boozer join up.  Williams wasn’t needed as much with all the other all-worlds on the team.  But I have to ask why he’s likely to get bumped for the Olympics as well.  They’ll add two new players for the Beijing games with Wade and Boozer/Bosh.  Chris Mannix thinks he’s on the outside for 2008 but a definite for 2012.  Obviously Kidd isn’t going anywhere, so that just leaves Billups and Williams.  But have you seen their stats at the FIBAs?  Here you go:

And people are just handing the job to Billups?  And of course I’m biased, and Billups doesn’t hurt the US, but it should be Kidd/Williams.  When Deron is an All-Star this year maybe he’ll change some minds.

And what’s up with Deron the only one holding is hand over his heart during the national anthem?  Even one of the Argentina players appears to have his hand on his heart (click for bigger image).

So after FIBA got its cut gave it’s blessing, a week after the team announced it had signed Fesenko, they Utah Jazz consummated the relationship with a press conference. Terms are never disclosed so how do we know he gets $750k the first year and $810k the next? Everyone finds out anyway, so why do they have this policy? One term not disclosed is that Fess receives a $1000 bonus each time Hot Rod or Booner mispronounce his name. And sadly, no car was included. That makes me wonder if LHM gave players a car, how much that would count against the salary cap. Seems like it would be a relatively cheap throw-in but would sweeten a deal. Could he get around this by giving the players a $1 lease per year? I’m not a CBA guru or student for that matter. And bloggers and MSM reporters rejoice with endless Fesenko quotes.

And now, I promise to put up something meaningful in the next bit. But until then, we have the following:

• Deron’s not going to get a lot of touches - When I was watching the USA pound on Chavez’s (dictator for life) Venezuelan team I noticed that Williams played a lot with Chaucey Billups. And since Williams isn’t going to get to shoot much, it kind of takes away from his strengths if he’s not running the point.
• Williams will be playing a lot of ball - Deron will probably be playing in many of the upcoming summers. How will this effect him for the NBA season? I don’t think it will matter too much for someone as young and that’s in good shape. Jimminy, I feel old calling him young. Also, if Boozer makes the team for the Olympics, who would get bumped? Chandler?
• Why is Chauncey Billups being picked over Deron? - Of course I’m biased, but I don’t know why Billups is #2 behind Kidd when it should be Deron. I think Chauncey is good player, but I’ll let Bill Simmons explain (#3).
• John Stockton hates Isiah Thomas - Wouldn’t he have to in order to fight a stress fracture to play in the Olympics? Of course it’s widely believed that Jordan and Malone didn’t want Thomas on the team. But for Stockton, I’d like to think his motivation was playing in the Olympics, the first time pros were allowed to compete. And I think the day of players doing something like this have come and gone. Most wouldn’t even go now if they had a hangnail. I don’t think that the world has caught up yet to USA players overall. There are countries that have very talented players, but the US should have twelve all-stars every year. I think that most players just don’t care enough. It’s been a long time since the Dream Team but I remember it was playing for something. I think this also is why the slam dunk contest sucks for the most part now. But with Kobe coming on board and other talk, I see a resurgence of USA pride.

Technorati tags: utah jazz, kyrylo Fesenko, deron williams, carlos boozer, john stockton, isiah thomas, team usa, nba

Rather than losing the position to Williams, Hinrich has withdrawn himself from the senior team for what’s being called personal reasons.  What this means obviously is that Deron should make the team.  It was likely that he would have made the team anyway, but the last spot was said to have been between him and Hinrich.

Practice resumes this Wednesday for the senior team.

More on this later.

 Well, after fires kept me from last Friday’s Revue game, the release of Harry Potter, and now flooding, I’m finally able to play ketchup and get things going again.  I’m not going to recap the Revue in this post as I want to do one on that separately.

We’ll start with the Ronny Price signing.  To which all I have to say is what?  This baffles me on so many levels.  So now we have potentially 6 guards?  So what happens if CJ and Dee accept their offers?  Maybe the Jazz have received word that they’re not going to accept.  That’s the only possible explanation I can think of.  No good fan reactions from this.  My other question is, who are we getting that can play some defense at the two?

Deron Williams is kicking can at the Blue/White Team USA scrimmage.  He didn’t shoot particularly well, but when you have the black holes that are Carmelo and Kobe, he doesn’t have to worry about points.  But I’m sure they’ll take his thirteen assists.  And if the PGs for Team USA are anyone other than Kidd and Deron, we’ll finish 3rd again.

Millsap was named MVP of the Rocky Mountain Revue.  No shock here.  He edged out Louis Williams, who was everywhere.  The Jazz could be regretting letting him go especially as they need another big man.  Have I mentioned that they just signed another guard?

I’ve uploaded a new video that I couldn’t edit about the ref scandal and Williams at the FIBA tryouts.  I couldn’t edit it, so you’ll have to forward to about 2:22.

Poca-what?  Dee Brown visited a school in Pocatello, ID where he admitted he didn’t even know Pocatello existed.  As a native Idahoan, we don’t like to admit that Pocatello exists either.  He wants to be back and should be back.  Although with the Price signing, it looks bleak.

AK loves the ice cream.  Kirilenko was spotted in St. Tropez with his family.  He seemed to blend in pretty well despite being 6′9″.  At least he’s not biting anyone’s throats.

deronwilliams.net has some info on his upcoming charity golf tourney.  Looks like the .com is a domain cybersquat.

I’ll get up a proper review of the Revue and each player.  Until then, please no more mother nature.

It’s FIBA time.  We knew that Boozer had an invite and it’s been widely speculated that Deron Williams would receive an invite, but the Denver Post confirmed that they both will try out for team USA this summer.  As I said with the Boozer announcement a couple months back, they’ll make great additions to the team and I think both will make the cuts for the Olympics.  The only drawback of course is that playing all summer deep in to the playoffs, then the FIBA America’s tournament, the 2007-08 season, the 2008 Olympics, and then get ready for the 08-09 season.  Lot’s of basketball in there.  Let’s hope they can help return our nation to its former glory and reestablish the USA as the dominant basketball country.

Bill Simmons said something to the affect that no All-Star team should be without a pure point guard ala Jason Kidd or Deron Williams.  Well, the same is true for team USA.  The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Williams will receive an invitation to tryout for Team USA.  I can think of nothing better for Team USA.  It would unite Williams and Boozer which would be a great combination for international play.  Though it’s not been made official, look for the Williams invite soon.

Boozer reportedly received the call from Jerry Colangelo to play for Team USA.

“He said, ‘We want you there,’ and I told him I’d be thrilled to play,” said Boozer,

Team USA needs an inside presence like Boozer. Hopefully it doesn’t wear him out for next season, or the season after that because of the Olympics.

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