USA Basketball

I'm staring to see things about the USA team and its potential roster in the media, what with the national championships coming up this summer in Japan. Given the USA's relatively dismal performance in the '04 Olympics there's a fair bit of pressure on to field a cohesive team that can play like a team, as opposed to a more or less random collection of All-Stars. To that end, the team they assemble here is intended to be the team that will play in Beijing in '08 as well--the thinking being that to be successful in the newly competitive world in international basketball the USA team must be, well, again, a real team.

So why not just field the Pistons? It sounds silly, but the Pistons are a premier team, no doubt about it, that plays defense well, that can score, and that isn't dominated by any one personality. Instead of some jury-rigged squad, why not field a squad that's been playing together--with great success--for several years? To top it off, the Pistons are pretty much the only elite NBA team that this would work with. Consider the top five teams right now, and how many of their most critical pieces are not Americans--and will presumably be playing for their countries teams, if at all:

1. (Detroit)
2. San Antonio - Ginobli and Parker
3. Dallas - Nowitzki
4. Phoenix - Steve Nash
5. Memphis - Pau Gasol

I don't guess this would (or maybe even could) ever happen, but still--don't you think Detroit could take it all?

Until Whenever