Previewing Team USA’s Matchup with Turkey Tomorrow
Dwight could have his hands full tomorrowAfter Team USA nearly did to the Canadians last Friday what the Dream Team once did to the Angolans in ‘92 (embarrassed them by 68 in the opening round), what can they expect for an encore? Well tomorrow at 8 AM ET, they’re going to square off against the Turkish National Team in Macao for what will undoubtedly be a better test.
Without the Dalembeast, Canada really didn’t have any size. That 6-10 dude Jesse Young that the announcers kept trying to hype could have gotten bullied around inside by former Sixer George Lynch. And he was the biggest and strongest guy Canada had on the floor.
The Turkish squad is a completely different animal. Aside from their five guards, every other player on this roster is 6-10 and up. That’s nine guys. And it’s not just like they’re giant cardboard cutouts. Five of those guys have been selected in the NBA Draft - Hedo Turkoglu (’00), Mehmet Okur (’01), Ersan Ilyasova (’05 to Milwaukee), Omer Asik (’08 to Portland, then traded to Chicago), and Semih Erden (’08 to Boston).
But the Turks won’t be headed to compete in the real Games in Beijing, partly because their guard play pretty much stinks. With this exhibition game and the real matchups in August, Coach K will sick Chris Paul, Kobe and LeBron on questionable ballhandlers, hounding them until they hit the panic button. Canada’s Carl English was the first victim when Kobe ripped him crossing half court last week. Who’s next?
If you’re at work tomorrow at 8, head to ESPN360.com, where they’re streaming the game live online.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Harvey Dent says:
They win by no less than a Curtis Jackson….50!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
E.J. Rios says:
Can’t wait, I gotta set my alarm to watch this.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Chaos says:
if all the Turkish team is is size then i am not too worried. hedo can be handled by tayshaun and lebron and mehmet okur isnt as good as people think. the bigs for turkey will be in foul trouble from guarding Howard, Bosh, Melo and LBJ (if they let melo and lebron run the four at points during the game).
July 30th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Young Lebron 23 says:
When USA beats Turkey then our size questions will be less questioned because Turkey has so many big guys.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
weezy f says:
so i heard theres a game in europe…..between the nets and heat….why are we gonna show europe the worst basketball anyones ever gonna see?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Celts Fan says:
Don’t see a 50 piecing in their future. Too much NBA talent on Turkey. Something more like a comfortable 30-40 pt. W. 50’s A LOT to win by. Turkey’s got enough talent they shouldn’t get punked that bad…
July 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
shake&bake says:
109-87 USA wins. Hedo and Okur can get hot from outside and cause some problems but the US should handle them.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
YOUNGFED says:
So why are we scrimmaging against them when china gets Austrailia and we get this trash. They trying to dumb down our game or something.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
YOUNGFED says:
CUUURTIIIIISSSSS!!!
FIDDY
July 30th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
weezy f says:
arenas’ million dollar pool
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Gilbert-Arenas-million-dollar-pool-and-mountai?urn=nba,96965
July 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
daquest?on says:
@ young lebron the size question will still be there because the turks suck and they are not quality low post big men, hedo is an overgrown sg
July 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
AB_40 says:
win by 10 - 20 points.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
doc says:
Ass whipping number 2
July 30th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
doc says:
@daquest it aint no size question.Everybody team sucks next to ours.Only size question is from the dudes who want us to lose so bad they making weaknesses up.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
GEE...them young kids don't trouble me says:
Remember that old basketball game, I think it was NBA Jamz when you was up by so much dude would say
“It’s a blowout!”
Precisely.
Like I said before the fun after the fun is going to be watching the battle for second. That is going to be competitive.
Watching USA is just ooohss and aaaahhss.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
hahns says:
the thing about this team is that they’re going to roll through all the exhibitions/prelims etc…blowing ppl out by 40 on the regular. but when they end up playing spain/argentina, its going to be a tight game, and THATS when we’ll find out what the team is made of.
i have a feeling that this team will be prone to panic and start going 1on1 when they get down. anybody can play well when theres momentum and youre crusing w/ a 40 point lead…however, thast when it helps to have a veteran like jason kidd. this is also when itd be helpful to have billups.
kobe, wade, lebron, melo, dwil, cp3…all these guys are used to having the ball in their hands in crunch time and know they can probably take anyone 1on1 in the entire world..will they stick to team play when their team is down 2 w/ 2 min to go? thast the big question for team USA and theres no way of knowing that until we see it happen
so i think all these early games arent indicative at all how team usa is giong to play against the better competition in the world, and eveyrone trying to analyze the game against canada are wasting their breath.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Kudabeen says:
Big up to Doc on mention in local paper:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20080730_Dawan_Robinson_taking_hoop_dreams_abroad.html
Good luck man…
July 30th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
daquest?on says:
@ doc i wasnt the one who made the size weakness point
July 30th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
daquest?on says:
dwight howard is a beast but there are ppl saying that size might b an issue, ive heard the everywhere and i just said that turkey isnt a true test for that because turkey sucks
July 30th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Ross says:
Turkey FTW!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Amar says:
thanks for following the nba off-season so well . . . memo’s not playing for his national team, Dime. keep up the stellar work!
July 30th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
doc says:
@daquest I aint say you said that.I was just saying we wont get that test everybody waiting for.@kuda thats good looking.They aint have to put my six figs in there though.I dont let dudes in the hood know what i make.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Celts Fan says:
@Amar, sure they made a mistake, but are you really dying to read about the Turkish national team?
July 30th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Celts Fan says:
Congrats Doc, keep us in the loop when you decide where you’re heading…
July 30th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
doc says:
I got u Celts.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
aaron says:
gonna be tight for awhile. memhet and hedo are dangerous. eventually the USA will just wear them out. It’d be ice to see team USA outplay someone before the other team just gets worn out.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Allan says:
Team USA 2012
Guards- Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Brandon Roy
Micheal Redd
Andre Iguadala
Forwards- Lebron James
Carmelo Anthony
Kevin Durant
Bigs - Dwight Howard
Greg Oden
La Marcus Aldrige
Al Jefferson
Alternates - Andrew Bynum
OJ Mayo
July 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
doc says:
@Allan Looks like a bunch of ass whippings in 2012 too.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Allan says:
@DOC
If the current trend in forming up a US team in future competitions continues, the teams of the future will only get stronger as the older guys affect a turn over period with the younger players. The US will be invincible in International play if all these players commit to another 3 year program and there is not indication that they will not.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Amar says:
No, i’m not a fan of the Turkish national team, but well, isn’t one of the major tennents of journalism ‘accuracy’? Who fact checks for Dime? the same guy who writes about sneakers? It takes one simple click to Okur’s webpage to get the run down on if he’s play (or not) with the rest of his peeps this summer. Is that hard? Hardly. Emergency trauma surgery is hard. That’s what I did last night.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Jim says:
Trust me guys, that Turkish team would kill the current Aussie team. Aussie basketball is in a fairly average condition right now. Our pro comp just lost two teams through debt and lack of sponsors, big city teams to that have been successful recently in Sydney and Brisbane. So we are now down to 10 teams, with two of them based overseas.
As for the national team, it just never seems to click. They try to act big and physical but only end up doing it when it doesn’t matter, they take three after three and just have no direction. It could get embarrassing come Olympic time, I have heard we are in the easier of the two groups but I still see no more than two wins.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
erdinç says:
Firstly, I want to make something clear for all readers.
Mehmet Okur won’t play against USA because he isn’t picked for this roster. Hidayet Türkoğlu has injury problems and we don’t know whether he will play.
Ömer Aşık has injured and now he isn’t in that roster. He could make a big impact.He is a important player and we can see him in Chicago’s first 5 two or three years later.
Although Turkey has problems ,it will be a tough game.I think it is a good preparation for USA before the Olympic games.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
weezy f says:
hey i turn to espn2 and theres wack ass world series of poker whats going on?!?!
July 30th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
weezy f says:
wait its not today is it? haha my bad
July 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
JRUF says:
I traveled all the way to Macau to watch this live!!!! of course I only flew an hour to get here! Go USA!
July 31st, 2008 at 1:37 am
Ernesto says:
Well in, Amar. Classy critique.
Bit of a shame about Memo and likely Hedo, but it won’t matter to either the result or my interest in the game. I can’t wait to see the boys trot out again.
USA by 20-odd.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:07 am
daquest?on says:
i did now know the portuguese had a city in china, u learn something new everyday
July 31st, 2008 at 4:22 am
Borgs says:
Jim, your comments on the merits of the Australia basketball team, as well as the state of the NBL, are uninformed at best, even though you’re clearly an Australian basketball fan. True, the NBL isn’t in the best condition, but the Sydney club was the latest victim of an infamous NZ conman, and Turkey would most definitely not easily beat the Boomers, as both teams are currently constituted. If anything, Australia would win.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Young Lebron 23 says:
@11
Even though this is late some of the turks can play 5 were drafted but the guards suck ass
July 31st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Young Lebron 23 says:
Who on turkey can guard bogut? IDK Aussie would win
July 31st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Jim says:
The NBL is in far worse condition than just a little bit below its best. How many teams are actually making money? Or at least drawing even?
Quick, name the biggest drawcard player in the NBL? Not easy is it?
And explain to me how Shane Heal still has a job? Not to mention the way a future Hall of Famer in Mark Price got treated when he came out here.
The guys that are big names in the NBL are for the most part the same guys who were big 10 years ago and that can not be a healthy situation.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Borgs says:
How many teams in any of the professional sports in Australia generate a positive bottom line? If News Limited were to go bust tomorrow, only the Super 14 - not a purely Australian revenue source and with only four domestic teams - and the AFL (with half the clubs) would survive. The NBL is not unique in that case.
I’ll concede your point if the comparison is the halcyon days of the early to mid- nineties, when the league was one of the first ports of call for undrafted NCAA players. Biggest drawcard - probably Chris Anstey or Julius Hodge.
I was more concerned with your assessment of the Boomers, which led gold medallists Argentina by nineteen points in the second half overnight. And you want to espouse that Turkey would ‘kill’ the Boomers?! Come on.