The POP EXPOSE ‘Olympic Basketball’ by Mitchell Smith!
Should the US change their Olympic basketball rosters?
After the 1988 Olympics it was decided that active NBA players could compete in the Olympics starting at the 1992 games. A team of some of the greatest basketball players of our time was assembled. The Olympic comity began their team selection. There was no surprise on quite a few, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, David Robinson, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler, and Christian Laettner was the final pick that made up the Dream Team. Chris Laettner was still a college player but they wanted to include one college player as they transitioned from the 1988 Olympics where college students were the only ones who played on the team. The biggest argument about the selections was Isiah Thomas getting left off the team. I’m not sure who they would have bumped though. Isiah had already peaked before 1992 and I thought Dominique Wilkins should have been more upset about getting left off then Isiah. Never the less the US went to the games and mauled everyone they faced to win gold. Since the original dream team, there have been potent teams put together to compete in the Olympic games.
Since 1936 the US has only been absent 1 medal in men’s Basketball. It came at the 1980 Olympics when the US boycotted the Olympic games do to a controversial gold medal game in the 1972 Munich Olympics. No US player has claimed their silver medal to this day. Since 1936 the US has dominated the gold, winning 15 out of 19 and they have only lost the gold once since 1992. Most of the games have been extremely lop sided as well. So should the US consider using college players or a mixture of college and NBA? I have always kind of considered the Olympics a place for young stars to showcase their talents where they might not get a chance other wise. NBA stars highlight their talents daily, especially the all stars that get chosen for the Olympics. I think it shows the gluttony of the US, when we continue to send teams like this year after year that win the gold medal running away. The game isn’t fun to watch and the players don’t even have to try. In today’s college programs, I’m sure we could put together a gold winning team and give kids a chance to do something they may never get another chance to do so.
One thing is for sure they wouldn’t be staying on a cruise ship and sneaking into brothels at night. Even if you put a few NBA guys on the team to mentor, I think the US would still dominate, but the games would be fun to watch. One of the best games I watched at this years Rio games was the Women’s beach volleyball matchup to go to the gold medal game. Even though the US lost it was an exciting competition and you felt good about losing. I don’t feel good about winning when I watch these dominating basketball teams. The US is so fixed on winning that they have taken the true meaning of the Olympic games away. That is competing. There is no competing in any of these games. Even this year the one game that was close, they didn’t have to try and win. So maybe the US should consider using other players then NBA all stars.
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