There is so much to say about Olympics basketball, how sweet it is that that final game was competitive, how sweet it is that the Basketball seems to be on track for a European Football like international groundswell, how sweet it is that in that rosy future the ones playing the beautiful game come not from the South but from our own fertile soils, or maybe how sweet it is that we will see the best players from the USA play together more than once a decade.
But I don’t want to discuss any of that. What I want to do is use the Olympics as a lens through which posturing and the unbearable weight of career expectations are filtered out, leaving only the stark, naked reality of individual ability and basketball acumen; in the context of playing with the best I think we can see more clearly now than ever before what each player means. With no further ado:
Kobe: This guy is stone cold killer, the way he dominated, and successfully, at the end of the second Spain game was memorable. But the deeper truth is that it may very well be that Kobe is nothing more than an assassin, an ace to be played when kings are showing. Kobe requires a cast to put him in position to unleash his arsenal, while in ordinary circumstances he struggles to chain his indomitable offensive potential to the shackles of a team game.
Lebron: Although it is the ultimate injustice to Lebron to say that Mo Williams might be the one to prove me right, King James is the most gifted player on earth and can elevate the talent of anyone, anyone, around him. To be able to make the best players in the world better is the ultimate compliment. He’ll get his when it’s needed, but he had more astonishing passes over the course of the tournament than Paul and Kidd combined. And when the dude drives, there is quite literally no comparison to it in the sport. Maybe Ali or Jim Brown, but it is poetic domination, brute force constrained. This brings me back to James. He doesn’t need any specific player, he just needs a guy who knows he’ll be a hell of a lot better on the floor with James (see Boozer vs. Ilgauskas).
Wade: Maybe better than Kobe? Maybe the guy who doesn’t need the world to think he can’t in order to can. He has the interior game to match, maybe not the shot, yet, but I think he was the most impressive defender on the ball and in the passing lanes. And while Kobe seemingly put the game on ice with a four point play, there was heat, and it was Wade who popped the cork. And the look he had was pure.
Melo: The world is not his, but oh what multitudes the future may hold. Think about Rasheed and the endless horizons of potential. How many moons glowing before the sun engulfs them. There are ideals and there are shadows in caves, and Anthony dances in the light of that fire. Melo has the game right now to go from 2 to 4, not in a crowing defiance of humanity like Lebron, but rather more like a chameleon inhabiting niches as it pleases nature. Think Rasheed.
Kidd: Hard to place this guy, maybe just a guy who understands his place. I don’t believe he missed a shot for the duration. But with age, like a Washington insider, his edge has waned and only a few passes go off the backboards. The real question is whether the Mavs provide the kind of fireworks that can survive such a dim flame.
CP3: This is probably the toughest call out here. I think he might be Spanish. He is clearly a different player coming off the bench than starting. And the type of chemistry you see from Navarro and Gasol is the type of fluidity that would have come with Tyson Chandler on the team. In the absence of this well developed and flourishing connection Paul was reduced to a blind man clawing for vision, Monet wishing for his youth . He would endlessly direct the best players on the planet to fulfill his vision of a living offense. If he stays with team USA then one day the four horsemen will have a challenge stouter than God.
Derron: He is not a point guard, though his talent his enough to fool you. Were it that he were, Boozer would have been playing. But this is not a libel, he turned out to be the purest combo guard out there (well, let’s be real, the purest combo not named Kobe or Dwayne), he probably had the purest will to drive and some of the best creation out of the zone.
Bosh: KG with an inside game? Not a dominant player though, not Duncan or Olajawon, but sufficient to be great. Dude needs to develop the midrange jumper and he will elevate.
Howard: I wasn’t too impressed, he needs to learn to put the ball on the floor. As it is, he’s Shaq without the girth or the instinct. A needless waste of resources Dwight should be busy redefining the alley oop, rather than committing rote memorization of the put back.
Prince: One of my favorite players, Durant minus the hype or the mean streak. I am endlessly satisfied that Prince was the guy hitting the threes in the early games, playing D in the late games, and filling in as needed when it mattered. Detroit isn’t Detroit without Tayshuan.
Boozer: Vindication for the masses, never should have been on this team. Further he is a testament to the greatness of Lebron and Derron, having been fortunate enough to play with two guys who understand creation.
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