What's interesting is that the guys on the team are absolutely KILLING the NBA this year. Lebron, Melo has just recently come out of a funk, Amare is DOMINATING, and even Boozer is playing really well.
I think the team was handicapped by a coach who refused to play the most gifted player on the team(Lebron) and in a Joe GIbbs-like fashion, refused to bench players that were performing poorly like Marbury and Jefferson through most of the tournament. He also was WAY too intent on getting guys to play "his way" instead of the way that would INSURE they play the best they could, which are NOT the same things.
But true, throwing guys together, especially all those 19-20 year old guys and then getting jobbed by the refs over and OVER(they were calling travelling on HEAD FAKES, for godssakes) and the refs in the NBA are actually SUPERIOR to the non-FIBA ones used in the olympics---all that will result in losses.
Hell, if the team just had Michael Redd for shooting, they probably would have won the Gold.
It's odd how we expect perfection in basketball, but Tiger and the Ryder Cup Americans with better players don't get razzed for stinking up the joint...
Basketball is a global game and Manu Ginobili is a top player in the game---the NBA game isn't worse, otherwise Ginobili and Nowitzki wouldn't be as good as they are---it's different and the rest of the world is no longer in awe and we sent inexperienced guys and a bad coach(for that setup)