So are you for or against Kobe going? I couldn't tell lol
Duncan? He isn't even in the program
I disagree, they wouldn't have won Gold in 2008 if not for Kobe. He then came back in 2012 and won Gold again
http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/4118/why-kobe-could-make-rio-olympics-cutThe assumed end for Kobe Bryant will come on a Wednesday night in April at Staples Center. April 13, to be exact, when the Utah Jazz visit Kobe’s Los Angeles Lakers for the final regular-season game of Kobe’s 20th (and farewell) season.
Our advice?
Don’t assume.
It is more than conceivable that our last dose of Kobe hooping at the highest level could come in August, with those goodbye waves and thankful blown kisses to the crowd dispatched from atop a medal stand.
In Brazil.
The sheer math of it will undoubtedly make the mere suggestion sound outlandish to some. Give a roster spot to the battered Bryant for the Rio Olympics? With such a deep pool of players to pick from?
Trust me: No. 24 will draw serious consideration from USA Basketball elders Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski -- two of the biggest Kobe fans on Planet Roundball -- if Bryant makes it to the summer in reasonably good health and makes himself available.
After Colangelo and Coach K's decade together in charge of the national team, it is well understood within the USAB inner sanctum that assembling a squad for the Olympics does not mean simply picking the 12 most talented players. Not for the competition that, unlike the FIBA Worlds, typically attracts every top American name in the game.
Not when the coach has only 40 minutes per game to dole out.
The 11th and 12th men, and maybe even the 10th man, can reasonably expect to do much more watching than playing. Which is why USAB, in similar circumstances, brought Jason Kidd to the Beijing Games in 2008 at age 35.
Kidd averaged 1.6 points and 2.0 assists per game for that Olympic team. He wasn’t there because his country needed him on the floor. He was there because Krzyzewski loved the leadership/presence/mentoring he could offer to the rest of Team USA as a virtual coach in uniform.
And that’s the same sort of role USAB would offer Bryant, at 37, if that's what makes sense for both sides at season’s end.
Colangelo, Krzyzewski and USAB executive Sean Ford have made it clear that they intend to use the whole NBA season to evaluate all of their options, since they're arguably staring at the hardest cutdown to 12 in the history of the program.
LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Paul George, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, John Wall, Jimmy Butler and Dwight Howard ... there’s a quick 20 names off the top of our heads to throw at you just to get the dissection and debate started. There are so many different ways USAB can go, while also allowing for the usual disclaimers that injuries and contractual conundrums that arise between now and the end of June will inevitably make some of the decisions for them.
In general, though, USAB officials like to see an old head (a la Kidd in 200or a fresh-faced future star (like The Brow suiting up at the 2012 Olympics before he had ever spent a minute in the NBA) on the end of the bench. It's proven to be a wiser approach than stuffing the roster with a dozen dudes who merit major minutes, which would only set Krzyzewski up to find two or three of them seething about sitting.
What the USAB folks won't (and obviously can’t) say, meanwhile, is that the threat of losing in Rio isn't nearly what it was in Beijing or London. As we've lamented in this space more than once since the 2014 FIBA World Cup, we've actually hit a bumpy patch worldwide where the gap between Team USA and the rest of the world is regrettably widening when it should be shrinking. Once-mighty Spain is aging and no other country in circulation has been able to establish itself as a foe that can legitimately steal a gold-medal game from the Yanks.
Which is to say that there is absolutely zero basketball risk in giving Kobe a seat on the plane to Brazil at the expense of a player who presumably has more to contribute numbers-wise.
We repeat: Consider this an SLL-engraved guarantee that the United States, no matter who else it sees in the 12-team tournament next Aug. 5-21, will be collecting another round of gold medals on Aug. 21, 2016.
So why not let Bryant, two days before his 38th birthday, go out in glory?
Maybe he won't be healthy enough to play top-level basketball in July (USAB training camp) and August. Maybe he won’t even have the emotional fuel to make the trip. Maybe Bryant will ultimately decide, after becoming the first player in league history to spend 20 seasons with the same team, that he wants our last meaningful glimpse of him on hardwood to come in Lakers colors.
Yet you can rest assured that bringing Bryant to Brazil isn't going to hurt the team one whit. It’s likewise a safe assumption that playing with all those American stars, as well as that shorter 3-point line, would help Kobe look a lot better than he has in this opening quarter of his swansong in Lakerland, where he's been plagued by a lack of explosion to create openings for shots on top of his own stubbornness ... but also the sort of proven talent around him to make the game a little easier.
I know, I know. I hear the Kobe Haters in the audience shouting: How many farewell tours does this guy need? The Lakers have 64 games left on their schedule. There’s every chance Bryant will be voted in to start in the All-Star Game in Toronto on Feb. 14. Do we really have to send him to the Olympics, too?
No.
We don’t have to.
It has to be right for everyone involved.
Yet if you’ve had the privilege to follow Team USA around with Ambassador Kobe decked out in red, white and blue, and to see how much he means to basketball fans abroad with his top-10-ish of all-time resume and his flawless Italian and Spanish, you can’t help but be intrigued by the idea.
Especially when you’re an unapologetically sappy basketball romantic like moi.
Duncan? He isn't even in the program
Again, there is no need for roles
Duncan? He isn't even in the program
Again, there is no need for roles
I disagree, they wouldn't have won Gold in 2008 if not for Kobe. He then came back in 2012 and won Gold again
They don't need the best team to win, if you've been paying attention to the competition
2004 was before the new regime took over and made it mandatory to enroll in the program to be considered. Plus, Duncan aint wanna play
When Kobe, Lebby etc. decided that USA was a priority, all the players followed suit. As the OG, he should have spot reserved IMO. When the new regime took over, it took buy in for the players to make USA a priority. They made it "cool" again to play for Team USA
at Kobe getting a roster spot. 2008 isn't walking through that door.
Plus as I've been saying, there's going to be injuries and other circumstances that pop up in June/July that will prevent a few or more names to drop off
