"if I hear one more commentator complain about "lack of fundamentals" and "not playing as a team", I'm gonna scream. Of COURSE they have trouble playing as a team; they're an all-star grab-bag with less than a month of practice time and under ten games together. It's to be expected, and it's not a moral failing, it's a preparatory one. Take it up with the organizing body. As for fundamentals, if these guys are missing "them", then surely some of these commentators will be able to tell me WHICH fundamentals are missing. Are they not setting picks well, not finding the open man well, bad footwork in the post? When someone tells me WHICH are missing we who care about basketball can have a useful discussion about it. Until then, hush you lot."
All these U.S. players America wants to call malcontents and uninterested don't come close to comparing with Brown. He's the biggest headcase of them all. He ripped the construction of his roster, ripped his players, and his message had been delivered. This has nothing to do with me. Unless we win, of course.
While many European stars would be awful in NBA, the reverse is also true. There are some NBA stars who wouldn't see the light of day on a good Euroleague team. Jefferson and Marbury are prime examples.
"Anyone who thinks NBA players over there don’t care or aren’t trying is an idiot, plain and simple."
"None of this changes my mind that we shouldn’t have NBA players in international competition. Congrats to NBC for what they have accomplished in their marketing and results, turning a profit on a billion dollar investment. A smack in the head to the NBA for providing our most valuable players, at risk of injury and full subsidy by our teams, to enable a competitor to sell to the same advertisers that could be buying from the NBA and our partners."