Irving was not selected for the American Dream Team, and he himself responded!
It's officially announced!
At the Paris Olympics, the 12-man U.S. men's basketball team was released.
James, Curry, Durant, Embiid, Leonard, Haliburton, Holiday , Booker, Adebayo, Edwards, Tatum, Bushy Eyebrows.
The last seat belongs to the small card. It was also his first international tournament for Team USA, which he had never competed in before.
U.S. men's basketball general manager Grant Hill recently met with most of the invited members of the Olympic team to finalize the squad. Leonard is sure to accept the invitation to join the 12-man roster of the U.S. men's basketball team for the Paris Olympics.
In order to show respect for the players of the national team, this time, the team was very ceremonial.
Most of the players' jerseys were delivered by Hill himself, and some of the players' jerseys were handed over by the U.S. men's basketball coach.
From the list of personnel to the details, there is one word, that is, attention.
Athens lost the championship, Beijing redeemed, and then London, Rio, and Tokyo defended the title, and the U.S. men's basketball team has completed four consecutive championships.
This year's Paris, the Dream Team is aiming for five consecutive championships.
Over the years, as soon as the list of the American team came out, everyone liked to use Kobe's sentence: "Don't think it's stable" to evaluate.
It's really unstable.
In the last two World Cups, they have overturned one after another. 7th in 2019 and 4th last year. Including the Tokyo Olympics, they also lost to France in the group stage, and they stumbled in the final...
But this year, seeing this list, it's hard for me to think of that classic quote from Lao Ko. If this lineup can't win the gold medal, it is recommended that these 12 people ride a shared bicycle back to the United States...
After all, armed to the teeth in every position, it is true that it can be said that "our best player is coming".
Janduku, one of the three supergiants, has been selected as an All-Star 44 times, voted MVP of the Finals 7 times, and won 10 championship trophies.
These 12 players are averaging 24.2 points, 7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game this season...
In the past, it was easy for us to "pick a bone in the egg" and say that the U.S. team was not good inside.
As a result, Embiid, who was supposed to represent the host France, chose to "mutiny" and took a difficult path.
What's even more outrageous is that some foreign media have recently exposed that in 2021, the Emperor sent a letter to French President Macron in order to obtain French citizenship, saying that he hoped to be selected for the French men's basketball team...
Returning to the American Dream Team, this roster continues the team's tradition of "focusing on the Olympics and ignoring the World Cup". So to a certain extent, it's a good thing that we didn't win the World Cup last year.
If he did win the championship, there would not be so many big names willing to join in the Paris Olympics.
And another change this year is that the normal selection of the U.S. national team is to select 12 people after the centralized training camp, which is good, skipping the playoffs and training camp, and serving jerseys three months in advance, which is also rare.
Directly selecting 12 people means that some stars will not be able to get it, after all, there are too many talents in the American men's basketball team and the positions are limited.
For example, Owen, who has a strong desire to play.
He had been asked to fight, but the team didn't choose.
Today, he himself mentioned this incident:
"When I was growing up, you had to go through the selection process to be on the U.S. team, and we as a team, as equals, competed to earn each other's respect and see who was the right fit, and I think it's a little bit different now. ”
The central idea of Ou Shenxian is that you have to be selected through competition, and there is nothing wrong with saying it.
When it comes to competition, the sense of picture comes in.
Classic clips from the 2012 U.S. Men's National Basketball Team Training Camp:
Irving: Kobe, let's go head-to-head!
Kobe: You're crazy, aren't you? Seriously?
Owen: You know, I'm not a high school kid, and when I see you, I'm just going to say, "Oh Kobe, oh Kobe", this is me, and I'm going to have a serious heads-up with you.
Kobe: Do you really want to do that?
Owen: If you're willing, I'll take out 50,000 yuan and shoot it here, no problem.
Kobe: I can give you a discount of 25,000. I know your dad won't think you can beat me. If you don't believe it, you can call your dad, and you tell him, "Dad, I'm going to go head-to-head with Kobe Bryant now, and we gambled 50,000 yuan."
He would surely say, "Son, are you crazy, are you crazy?"
Owen: But you have to guard me, you have to defend yourself.
Bryant: And then?
Owen: You can't stop me anyway...
Bryant responded: "You may not be able to dribble the ball in front of me, I suggest you go back and watch the video first." You young people always like to foul, all kinds of fouls, and I'm telling you that's not how the game is played!"
That year, 20-year-old Irving was still a sparring partner for the U.S. national team, but his competitive mentality has nothing to say.
The last time the U.S. won a World Cup was in 2014, and Irving was the tournament's MVP.
In the final, he scored 26 points alone.
At that time, the former little fan brother wore the No. 10 jersey.
......
In 2024, the world of basketball has already undergone a lot of changes.
Irving's failure to make the squad doesn't mean he doesn't have the ability. Sao Ou's technical ability, especially the level of singles hard solution, is too suitable to play in the FIBA system.
When the national team was training that year, he was a man who had Kobe, Durant, and Harden in one stop...
However, many things are not under his control.
In addition to the fact that there are a lot of talents, including the fact that the current coach is no longer his mentor Lao K, as well as some of Irving's own behaviors and turmoil in the past few years, and the brand he now endorses, to some extent, will affect his selection.
Besides, the roster is not completely certain at this time, after all, many stars have to play a huge playoff game, and there may be a possibility of replacement in the end.
But it really doesn't matter, for the 32-year-old Ou Shenxian, the most important thing is to play the next playoffs first.