I'm back, and for good this time. After a summer out in the boondocks with nothing more than a dial-up internet connection, I'm back in civilization and in the high speed world. As much as I would have loved to use the Jay-Z line "Allow me to reintroduce myself" as the title, I figured that would be too predictable and my creative ego would not allow me. So The Life blog is back and will be back for good. I don't see any breaks in the foreseeable future. When we first started here, I tried to have new posts up everyday, but with my schedule, I don't believe that will be feasible now. But there will be new posts up every couple of days, in no way will I neglect my duties here. Moving on...
The big news in basketball right now is the current Team USA and the World Championships. I have watched every televised warm-up game so far and I have to say, I'm very impressed. I was a little skeptical of the players selected to comprise the pool for Coach K to choose from for the Worlds and 2008 Olympics, and I was also very critical of Coach K as the choice to coach the team, but after watching this team play I am now under the impression that everyone involved knows what they're doing.
Coach K has these guys playing pressure defense and getting out in transition, all of which plays into Team USA's strengths of depth and athleticism. Who has impressed me the most thus far this summer? First and foremost, as most people have mentioned, Carmelo Anthony. When he came into the league he was being talked about almost as much as LeBron James. But after some bad decisions got his name in the headlines in negative ways and the rise of Dwyane Wade, he has been the forgotten man of the top 3 of '03. But after hearing rave reviews during the latter part of this past season from SLAM Magazine's Lang Whitaker, I began to pay a little more attention to him. Carmelo, to me, has been the best player on the court so far this summer. Wade and James have looked great, but Carmelo has been hitting consistent jumpshots and been able to create offense for the team. The majority of what I've seen from Wade and James is easy opportunities in transition. But regardless of how this team is scoring, they've been doing a lot of it and made it fun to watch at the same time.
Who else has impressed me so far? Joe Johnson has been a very excellent player thus far, and makes me wish I had League Pass so I could watch Atlanta Hawks games next season. Dwight Howard has looked like a beast, very reminiscent of a young Shaquille O'Neal as many people have pointed out, and I am interested to see how he will do playing alongside Darko Milicic for a whole season. Brad Miller has looked like he's loving the international game out there. I always liked Brad Miller, ever since he was asked what he would be doing during All-Star Weekend if he hadn't made the team and he responded that he'd probably be welding crap together. I even thought he should have been on the 2004 Olympic team as I wrote here for Insidehoops.com in 2004. But even now, after watching how well his game has fit into the international game, I'm surprised. He looks like he spent years overseas working on his game.
After watching Team USA play its warm-up games, I honestly believe they will win the Gold Medal at the World Championships. I believe with the exception of a couple of games, Team USA will roll through this tournament. Will I be surprised if they lose a game? Actually, yes, I will. I don't think any other team has the talent, depth, athleticism and maybe even basketball IQ of this team. As long as this team keeps playing tough defense, nobody should be able to hang with them, and we might even think of calling these guys a Dream Team. All that starts for real on Friday. We'll see you in a few days.
