USA Basketball won't address tweets from coach Cheryl Reeve that referenced Caitlin Clark

[hawkedoff]

Magic was actually already retired from the NBA. He had tested positive for HIV shortly after the 1991 Finals and as I recall there was some issue with players from other countries threatening to not play against Magic for fear of getting infected.

Bird was limited by a back injury. Strictly in terms of putting the best possible team on the floor, Larry Johnson or Dominique Wilkins would have been a better choice than Bird at that point in his career. And Isiah Thomas or Tim Hardaway probably were better options than Magic, although Jordan might not have played if Thomas was on the team. Kevin Johnson and Mark Price also would have been good options.

But they didn’t have to worry about putting the absolute best team possible on the court because it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to win gold with ease.

That team was assembled as much for the star power as it was the talent. They wanted the biggest names, even if they weren’t necessarily still the best players.

It was also the first team where professionals were selected to play. The purpose of selection was to give hall of Fame players a Gold medal that hadn't had the opportunity to win one. It was also a flex to the rest of the world that had beaten the US by playing their pros against our amateurs.

 

[Urohawk]

Tired of this argument. Taursi has emeritus status, is still playing well and has earned the right to have one last run thru the Olympics. League was also in its infancy when she was a rookie compared to now, not really a fair comparison when looking at stats.

The only player there an argument for imo is the Chelsea gray player who’s still recovering from injury and hasn’t played yet.

Interesting take. She has five gold medals. Is the sixth going to make that big of difference in her life. She had all the benefits of being from Uconn in an era while there was little competition outside of a few elite schools in women's basketball. She is/was an amazing player but at some point you have to step away. This isn't a Larry Bird moment where they are honoring him on the dream team and it's his only shot.

 

[Urohawk]

I've grown really tired of the phrase "grow the game".

Yes it's as if no one heard of women's basketball until now.

 

[sober_teacher]

Interesting take. She has five gold medals. Is the sixth going to make that big of difference in her life. She had all the benefits of being from Uconn in an era while there was little competition outside of a few elite schools in women's basketball. She is/was an amazing player but at some point you have to step away. This isn't a Larry Bird moment where they are honoring him on the dream team and it's his only shot.

It would be different were she just a shell of herself, but she is still playing at a fairly high level so I don’t have a huge complaint with her being on the roster one last time.