Report: Anthony Davis to be included in team USA’s finalists to make the Olympics’ squad!

Yeah, this was posted already.  Regardless, I really hope he makes it.  This could be a huge learning experience for someone of his age to be able to play with guys like Bosh and Chandler, two guys who he can be like in the future.  Not to mention, anytime you’re coached by Coach K and play with Kobe, LeBron, Wade and those kind of players, it’s a great learning experience.

 what’s the chances he makes the final cut? I’d really like to see him be a part of this team.

This isn’t surprising to me. It’s a no brainer.

played in the NBA = Olympic team finalist.  Makes sense. 

Congrats to him, but team USA is on a mission to win gold. It’s not like the dream team that basically tossed in Laettner with a team full of hall of famers and 3 guys that probably finish in the top 10 basketball players of all time. I put his chance of making the final cut at zero percent. I’m glad he gets this opportunity, but he’s far too raw and far to weak to compete at this level for this country. Not a diss, just the truth. This team doesn’t have an automatic win in it’s sights like it used to and a lot of guys that are not complete players, so no roster spots to play with in order to keep maximum flexibility.

Demarcus Cousins is going to be furious about this. Look for Cousins to absolutely beast the first time they meet in the pros.

 Why would he be a bad choice?  Team USA needs big men.  Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, and Kevin Love are hurt, so the team is thin.  Sure, he may not start, but he looks like the best option.  Probably better than Cousins, since Cousins is, despite his experience advantage, a worse defender and a black hole on offense.  Davis won’t be asked to create on offense, just step in to provide rebounding, interior defense, and finishing at the rim.  He also runs the floor really well, which is important for the Olympics.

I’m guessing you did not watch much college or pro basketball. I saw Davis getting pushed around in college. NBA players and international players are much bigger and stronger. While strength isn’t the only thing in basketball, it helps when playing both offense and defense in the post. In the Olympics there is also far more contact that is allowed. There is an adjustment period for most guys and he’s one of them. He’s not coming in his first year and putting up 20, 10 and 2 blocks a game.

The last couple of years it seems like the college pool of players has been incredibly weak. I think it makes these guys much harder to guage. Is a guy really this good or are the players he is going against this bad? In his case he dominated, but it’s like comparing men to boys when you look at the NBA and most college basketball players. 

He’s not a consistant threat to score. Tyson is the leagues defensive player of the year and I’m not really sure how much time he will get. Lamar Odom snapped up a lot of his time the last time he was in an international event. There are plenty of better, more ready options available. Guys that are liabilities are harder to play because you can run real zones and sag off of guys. Space on offense is going to be tight enough if you have a bunch of non-shooters out on the court at one time. You cannot get away with playing 4 on 5 for big stretches like they do in the NBA.

 I watched quite a bit of Davis and I am confident in my observations.  I don’t expect him to put 20 and 10 as a rookie, but I do expect him to be capable of being a reserve big on an Olympic team with few good interior defenders.  In the Olympic games the lane is wider so his lack of strength will be partially masked to a certain extent.  They don’t need to match him up against Mark Gasol and Kevin Seraphin, either.  They can put him in with certain line-ups.

 He also is much longer than most international 4s.  Many of their Olympic competitors will be outstanding pick and roll teams and Davis could defend the pick and roll well while still guarding the rim.  I don’t expect him to play 30 minutes per game and be their go-to offensive option, I expect to be an energy player off the bench who fits well on a talented team.

Basketball team building is not about assembling purely the greatest individual talents, either.  You want players who can fill a specific role and I think Davis can. 

When you have a team that is as talented and exclusive as this roster is you should not give a roster spot to someone based on their potential and how they played against inferior competition. I fully expect Davis to be a beast in the nba but unless you make him try out against other bigs from the nba who want to be considered as well, such as Cousins, you should not just give him a spot in the main player pool.

 Congrats to Davis, not sure if he will make it though.   Also you don’t have to be very big or strong to play in the Olympics. That’s just like when people said Durant couldn’t do much because he couldn’t bench 185 once. In euro ball you can play zone and you don’t need to be very strong to do that. Also something called help defense. Euro teams have plenty of bigs who aren’t that big or strong.  You don’t have to be strong to block shots and rebound and that’s exactly what Davis would bring to the team.  Obviously he can score as well or he wouldn’t have lead the title winning team in scoring, just because he doesn’t score the same way as other means nadda because scoring is scoring no matter how you do it