At 1.35 USA are an excellent value lay on
Betfair.
The US have not won a major basketball champs since the 2000 Olympics.
In 2002 Yugoslavia won the world champs in Indianapolis with USA 6th
In 2004 Argentina won the olympics with USA 3rd
In 2006 Spain won the world champs with USA again 3rd.
I remember reading an article after the 2002 worlds wherein the general aftermath of their poor performance the author lamented the fact that all US players seemed intent on playing "streetball" and seemed to lack basic skills. These same skills were eveident in the other teams play. The aticle went on to note how more and more of the top name draft players were from the outside of the US as they had learned the basics.
The US squad is full of star name players but the question is whether they will be able to gel as a team. Star players for their NBA teams will now either not be in the starting 5 or be asked to play roles unfamiliar to them.
Its also worth bearing in mind that the games will be played to FIBA international rules and not NBA rules. Most of the differences are pretty trivial but one which could be a factor is the fact that the three point line is about 2 metres closer to the basket in Fiba rules than in NBA rules. This in the past has had the effect of encouraging the US players to shoot far more threes than normal. They take three point shots where normally they would not take the long two.
Another factor is that the US players are out of season.
In the previous two tournaments I laid the US at 1.50 so I was surprised to see them as short as 1.35 this time. The reason I guess is because of Kobe Bryant in the team. I still think the lay is good value though. Kobe was this years MVP but in 2006 Tim Duncan was in the US team and he too has been a MVP.
USA should qualify through their group easily enough so it is then down to the quarters, semi and final. 1.35 is I think too short for an accumaltor on those three games.
Basketball
TOTW/F/M Award(s): 2
