http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-us-worldchampionshiproster&prov=ap&type=lgns

I was a little surprised by this. The article says that battier had outplayed bowen, and coach K did coach battier at duke, but I felt that bowen should've made it over a guy like antawn jamison. Without Kobe around, the only other realy good defensive players are battier and wade...jamison imo is overrated and unnecessary with guys like melo, lebron, and bosh. maybe the committee thought that bowen would get called for a lot of fouls in international play.

[Edited by - nyballer on 08-17-2006 09:30 AM]

Jesus wept.

Now the basketball players can relax a little knowing that the butcher of san Antonio won't be suiting up.

Dysfuction? I don't call benching wade, lebron, amare, and carmelo dysfunctional.

I actually think Bowen is slightly overrated. He's very good on defense but I don't think he's a DPOY level player. He's not in Artest's league on D and he obviously contributes little on offense. Sure, I'd take him on the Knicks but I think he's a little overrated.

Posted by nyballer:

Posted by wsdm:

I actually think Bowen is slightly overrated. He's very good on defense but I don't think he's a DPOY level player. He's not in Artest's league on D and he obviously contributes little on offense. Sure, I'd take him on the Knicks but I think he's a little overrated.

I can see how people say that, but i still think he's a top 3 defensive player on that US team. I just don't understand why they'd take jamison over him - jamison seems more redundant on the roster.

I agree with you. Maybe Battier being a former player of his has something to do with it and Jammison was a ACC player. I think these factors come into play. Maybe he didn't want it to be like this but subconciously coach K chose them over Bowen probably for that reason.

Is Bowen getting old? Could that have something to do with it?

I think someone else pointed out that his style of play may not translate into world competition well - they might call more fouls when he puts players in lockdown which would render him useless in a lot of ways. I trust Coach K's judgement, the guy knows what he is doing.

Posted by Bippity10:

I also think players tend to go with the types of players they are comfortable with. Coach K probably was deciding between Bowen and Battier and Battier is someone he's obviously very comfortable with.

I can see that angle but Battier goes down with an injury and you really don't have that 1 lockdown type of guy at the 2/3, whereas Jamison (while a good enough drink) was redundant all over again.

Posted by nyballer:

i think if gilbert doesn't go down hinrich gets cut, even though i think hinrich is a great fit for the team. i haven't been catching many of the games - does anyone know how evenly coach k is splitting playing time?

I think he will coach the worlds and playing time a little different than he has these preview games. These preview games are like exhibition season for a roster that's been overturned. You see what you have, who works well together, who needs to be cut, how can you get better 2 years from now, etc. So I think we will see different minutes regardless of how he coached these previous games.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by martin:

Posted by Bippity10:

I also think players tend to go with the types of players they are comfortable with. Coach K probably was deciding between Bowen and Battier and Battier is someone he's obviously very comfortable with.

I can see that angle but Battier goes down with an injury and you really don't have that 1 lockdown type of guy at the 2/3, whereas Jamison (while a good enough drink) was redundant all over again.

I'm in agreeement with you here. I also think he wanted to keep one of our key strengths which is offensive rebounding and Jamison is great at that. Also in a short tournament you can't coach for injuries. My guess is that he won't be around for the Olympic team when guys like Kobe are playing.

fair enough. I forgot about kobe

I didn't even expect him to be on team. So yes I'm not surprised that he is cut.

Kobe had knee surgery?!?!?!?!?!?!

Since when would Kobe even think of playing for team USA btw? He's Kobe Bryant and too almighty and powerful for the Olympics, remember? He's even more godly than Shaq, Michael Jordan, Ewing, Bird, Magic, Hakeem and all them.