‘Just another ‘Dream Team’?’ (Nike Basketball)

I was lucky enough to attend the 2008 version of the Rocky Mountain Revue last week. It’s a great opportunity to get a live basketball spectator fix during the summer. A few of the tangents that I will probably wander off on, are as follows:

1. The Jazz “veterans” were extremely disappointing. Fesenko, is-um-was a crowd favorite, until the first two games were over, then Fes fizzled in the popularity department. I wish he understood how important his performance in this tournament was. Morris Almond wasn’t great either. I think we all feel that these guys can and should play much better. I think they both feel the same. (They did improve in the last game). It was just a summer tournament though, at least it wasn’t during the NBA season. Now they’ve had a chance to knock some of the rust off, they should be great come early fall.

2. International basketball is fun to watch. The Iranian team brought with them an intensity that was evident in the way they played, and in the way that their crowd cheered. They would be losing by 30 points and the Iranian crowd continued to roar and chant, and the basketball team continued giving it their all. I would love to see some of that work ethic and passion from team USA in 2 weeks.

3. Speaking of team USA and roaring; I wonder if Carlos Boozer will be as vocal as he became during Jazz games during the last season. I know that it’s become the new thing to rail on Boozer for last season’s performance, but this isn’t part of that trend. I’ve frequently wondered out loud during games, if his incessant “and-ones” were affecting the desire of referees to call more fouls in his favor. I think not. I think referees tend to swallow the whistle when it comes to constant whiners. I’m wondering if it’s any different when it comes to international referees. If they don’t have as much experience with the same players over and over again as they would in the NBA, I wonder if they will have less or more tolerance then say, Joey Crawford dealing with Tim Duncan.

Don’t worry, I’m not down on Carlos, probably because it is so popular to be so with Utah Jazz fans right now (always got to fight the trends). I’m very psyched to see him play with Deron Williams in Beijing, and for the Jazz in the next year. The Jazz are going to rock it in the next season, mark my words. As for the Olympics, I have high hopes, but I can’t count out some of the other teams. International play has really improved in past years and the disparities between skill level and scores has continually become smaller and smaller. All the more reason to be excited to watch every minute possible in the coming weeks!