If Team USA Doesn’t Win Worlds, Qualifying for 2012 Olympics Not a Lock

Filed under: Nuggets, FIBA, USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL — At a Team USA scrimmage two weeks ago at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul talked about how excited they are to play in the 2012 Olympics.

Let’s hope they have a team for which to play.

While it’s a long shot, it’s not out of the possibility Team USA might not even qualify for the 2012 Games in London.

If the Americans don’t win the World Championship, in which they face Croatia on Saturday’s opening day, they won’t get an automatic bid to the 2012 Olympics. That means they would have to go through a qualifying tournament in 2011.

No big deal, right? Team USA often has had to go through qualifying tournaments to make the Olympic field, most recently in 2007.

But there could be one big difference next summer if the Americans don’t take care of business this summer in Istanbul. An NBA lockout is very possible starting July 1, 2011. If such a lockout lingers, players under contract most likely wouldn’t be able to play in international events.

 

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The Works: LeBron in Akron

Filed under: Cavaliers, Heat, Lakers, Mavericks, NBA Fans, Thunder

In The Works today: the Positional Revolution gets defensive; Pau Gasol, médecin; and Kevin Durant pops up on a rap mixtape.

But first, LeBron James visits Akron and talks about Cleveland.

He Loves Them, He Loves Them Not: When LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach, for once the reigning MVP did not look back, or over his shoulder. He defied some of the NBA’s toughest conventional wisdom, as Michael, Magic, and Larry rushed to remind him. James also risked being seen as a man who would destroy his hometown for a few pieces of silver.

Yet as dastardly and double-crossing as his free agency may have been, it most definitely was his. For once, James didn’t act like he was watching the polls, consulting the superstar manual, or carrying around a focus group in his luggage. The story of LeBron James has been as much about his image as his successes and failures on the court.

So when James thanked his hometown of Akron in a newspaper ad, but excluded Cleveland, it was refreshing. Brutal and unfair, yes. But again, the game’s best player once again dared to make an unpopular choice.

Was there a good reason for it? I can’t call it. Cleveland and Akron are separate cities, each with its own history; closeness often leads to rivalry and ill will; all of James’s charity work has been for Akron; and who knows how he’s feeling about Cleveland these days. Or maybe it’s just another case of faulty Horsemen PR, and I’m getting all excited over nothing.

 

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Shaquille O’Neal Signs With Celtics

Filed under: Cavaliers, Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Suns, NBA Free Agents

Shaquille O’Neal signed with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, making official what was widely reported a day earlier.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but ESPNBoston.com reported that O’Neal is seeking a two-year deal for the league’s veteran minimum, which would pay him $1.4 million annually.

FanHouse was the first to report O’Neal’s interest in the Celtics last month.

“It is not every day that you can add a player of Shaquille’s caliber to your team,” Celtics president Danny Ainge said. “His past experience speaks for itself, and we believe that he is a great fit for our roster.”

That roster is brimming with experience, which, in NBA vernacular, means old.

Earlier this summer, the Celtics used their full mid-level exception to sign 31-year-old forward-center Jermaine O’Neal, a player whose skills have noticeably diminished thanks to injuries.

 

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Josh Powell Brings Depth, Championship Experience to Hawks

Filed under: Hawks, Lakers, NBA Free Agents

ORLANDO, FL. — There are veterans who spend years chasing the chance to win an elusive NBA title.

And there are veterans – like Josh Powell – who leave championship teams to prove they actually can play in the NBA.

It’s like leaving the penthouse – when you don’t necessarily have to leave. Not an easy decision.

Powell, 26, won back-to-back championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, but he opted to sign last month as a free agent with his hometown Atlanta Hawks, believing it was best for his future.

It certainly wasn’t for more money. He signed in Atlanta for the NBA minimum of $1.2 million, which is what he would have received to stay in Los Angeles.

“It was a tough decision. There’s nothing like being part of a championship team, but it was an opportunity for more playing time,” Powell told FanHouse earlier this week at good friend Dwight Howard’s Basketball Camp. “I just have to show I can play bigger, more consistent minutes than I’ve been getting.”

With the Lakers, Powell had been buried within the deepest, most talented veteran front court in the league. There wasn’t much playing time available behind Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton.

 

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Nine Trade Demands the NBA Survived

Filed under: 76ers, Bucks, Celtics, Grizzlies, Hornets, Knicks, Lakers, Rockets, Suns, NBA Rumors, NBA Transactions

Indignity! Slaughter! Fall of Rome! Faces of Death! If you thought LeBron James destroyed the NBA by over-dramatizing his free agency, get ready for the real glimpse into Hades: Chris Paul, franchise point guard, possibly wanting a trade two years before his deal is up.

Yes, we know. Paul met with the Hornets brass and came out saying that he was staying put. Maybe that’s because he didn’t feel like paying the hefty fine that comes with publicly announcing your intention to force the trade. Or maybe dude just had a mighty change of heart. Regardless, the fact remains that Chris Paul gets to decide what happens in this situation.

Wait, how is this possible? Isn’t he under contract? Doesn’t he make millions, and thus would be an unforgivable ingrate if he walks out now? He wouldn’t dare sit out, would he? No, because there’s all types of precedent for this.

Chris Paul is not the first player to consider forcing a trade. It’s like he’s being punished for being one of the best to do it — and one from a small market who has bonded so much with his adopted city. Again, though, what little memory we have. Paul’s situation will not destroy the NBA. It’s the way business has always been done. And last I checked, the NBA was only mildly demolished by each of these brazen, and illegal, transactions.

If this is a question of sabotaging the public trust by using phantom leverage and turning heel, well, they should outlaw the mini-max deal that Paul (like James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Deron Williams) signed. Otherwise, there’s always the possibility that a player can leave after three seasons of the deal like James, and the implication that — gasp — he might decide sooner that things just aren’t working out.

There’s a contract there, sure, but trading disgruntled stars is part of the rhythm of the league. Major upheavals, no doubt, but all were eventually absorbed and assimilated by the larger organic organism. Like dumping tons of oil into the ocean. It’s not supposed to happen but eventually, we’ll all get over it.

 

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America’s Got Talent, But WiIl It Equal Success in Turkey?

Filed under: Nuggets, FIBA, USA Basketball

LAS VEGAS — Just-add-water teams haven’t worked out too well in recent years for USA Basketball.

For the 2002 World Championship and 2004 Olympics, outfits were put together at the last instant after numerous top players defected. Team USA finished a disastrous sixth in 2002 and settled for bronze in 2004.

That brought about big changes in USA Basketball, with new boss Jerry Colangelo, seeking continuity, having players make three-summer commitments. But even in the first year of the project, despite most of the top players on hand, Team USA settled for bronze in the 2006 World Championship.

Normalcy was restored in the 2008 Olympics when a team used to playing with one another captured gold in Beijing. It did help, of course, that Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd were there and stars from 2006, namely LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony, had two more years of experience.

 

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Team USA Not Only Squad Missing Stars at 2010 FIBA World Championship

Filed under: FIBA, NBA Injuries, USA Basketball

That Team USA has lost its entire gold medal roster from Beijing has been well-documented. All 12 players from USA Basketball’s 2008 Olympics team have opted out of national team duties in 2010, leaving a combination of second-tier veterans (Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom) and rising stars (Kevin Durant, Brook Lopez) to take over for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey this August and September.

But while there may be fear and loathing over the losses of Team USA’s megastars, several other contenders for the FIBA World title will be missing their best players, as well.

Spain, which won the tournament in 2006, will be without star big man Pau Gasol, who is taking a break after numerous summers of duty for his home nation. Gasol was the MVP of last year’s Eurobasket tournament and led Spain to the final game of the 2008 Olympic tournament, where the Spaniards gave Team USA its greatest challenge of the Games. Spain is still well-stocked without Gasol — the nation has his brother Marc Gasol, as well as Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro in the backcourt. The guard matchup in any potential USA-Spain game will be a fun watch, with the Americans potentially sending Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry to Turkey. M. Haubs of The Painted Area considers Spain the tournament favorite, and it’s really hard to disagree.

 

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Could Miami’s Super Team Be Broken Up After One Year?

Filed under: Cavaliers, Heat, Lakers, Sports Business and Media, NBA Free Agents

LAS VEGAS — When Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert predicted that his Cavaliers would win a championship before The King and his Miami Heat Superfriends in his open letter to LeBron James, the assertion seemed about as foolish as the letter itself.

Yet Gilbert’s inexplicable confidence in making the statement — and lack of confidence in the Heat’s new star-studded core — may have stemmed from a scenario that has fast become a hot topic among the league’s owners: The notion that the Miami Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh could be down to the Miami Two after just one season.

It is, in fact, a possibility.

 

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Kobe Bryant’s Pick for the World Cup

Filed under: Lakers, NBA Videos, Interviews

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Spain and Netherlands are set to face off in the finals of the world cup in South Africa. We caught up with five-time NBA champion and Finals MVP Kobe Bryant to hear who is he thinks will win.

Check out the video after the jump.

 

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Chris Bosh as Dwyane Wade’s Pau Gasol

Filed under: Heat, Lakers, NBA Transactions, NBA Free Agents

With Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade in Miami, the Heat are thinking championships. To get there, the dynamic duo will have to run through Eastern powers Orlando and Boston, not to mention Boozer-infused Chicago and whichever franchise lands LeBron.

If the Heat do manage to slice through the East within the next few seasons, there’s a good chance Miami will come up against the two-time defending champion Lakers. L.A. has its core locked up for the foreseeable future, and two teams the Lakers had to beat on the way to the team’s most recent championship — the Suns and Jazz — have lost All-Star big men in the early days of free agency.

The Lakers, led by superstar wing Kobe Bryant and superlative big man Pau Gasol, are proven at the highest levels. This new Wade-Bosh tandem is not, despite Wade’s 2006 championship with Shaquille O’Neal. Bosh and Wade will have to prove their mettle when it counts, in April and May and June.

But there’s a reasonable expectation Bosh and Wade will be able to do so. In fact, Bosh-Wade may even be a stronger pairing than Bryant-Gasol.

 

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