Question:

Why didn't any of the Celtics play on the US basketball team?

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I was just wondering if there was some sort of rule that the NBA champs couldn't be on the Olympic team. Does anyone know? And which would you rather have, and NBA title or a gold medal?

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OOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD... GET OVER THE CELTICS!!
Report (0) (0) | earlier
No there isnt a rule, they just werent good enough They pick the team way beofer the finals anyway there going to have to do alot more than winning one title to get to the dream team,,
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Still celebrating.

No rule like that. And I would rather have gold medal.

Gold medal you can only get every 4 years but the NBA Title, every year you get a chance. Gold medal = represent your country. NBA title = Nba fame. So own opinion from everyone.
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no, they are just kinda old and prefered to focus on NBA career.... unlike Manu.........
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The big 3 either weren't interested or they couldn't commit to the multi-year deal, and the rest of the team isn't talented enough to be on the USA Olympic team. KG and Allen already participated in the 2000 Olympics so I don't think they really feel the need to represent their country anymore. I hear that Pierce didn't want to commit a few years back. Also it may be speculated that he wants to spend time with his kids.

Personally as of now, I'd take the NBA title because it's harder to win all the way in the NBA compared to the Olympics. It's a lot longer road where injuries, slumps, and breakdowns can happen much more frequently. The Olympic gold is just playing 8 official games. An NBA title is playing at least 98 games.
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They want to take a rest, and they never been selected for team USA roster.

Its great to have young players in team USA roster..
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KG and Paul already won gold medals in 2000
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no there isint
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I'm not really sure exactly why. But after the failure in 2004. Colangelo was hired as manager and he asked the top NBA players to give a three year committment to USA Basketball. Kobe and Lebron signed up and helped recruit the other top players in the NBA. This roster of 12 or so is actually chosen from a larger pool of players who have committed to USA Basketball over the last three years. Like Amare Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups, a lot of others. I think that KG and Paul Pierce and other aging NBA stars declined to accept a THREE year committment because of the wear and tear on the body that summer basketball would do. Most USA players are young and Kobe and Jason Kidd are the exceptions (And Kobe wanted a Gold medal)

I think which hardware is important is changing. A while ago NBA players easily would have said NBA title (because international play was such a joke). But now more people are equating an olympic gold medal with NBA championship (or close) because of the greater international competition. And you have a chance at the NBA title every year but the Olympics only come around every four years and the competition to make the team is tough especially for USA where players like Kaman and others joined foreign teams to participate in the Olympics.

The Gold medal is revered more so than ever now that NBA players see how much pride international players have trying to win the Olympics. Basically Doug Collins or the other broadcaster put it best NBA players grew up thinking the NBA title was the ultimate prize and international players thought the olympic gold medal was the ultimate prize now NBA players are realizing the value of the Gold. The USA celebration after their epitomizes how three years of hard work finally resulted in success for NBA's elite players.
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No there isn't a rule and here is a couple of reasons why they didn't play,

1.They have just won an NBA Championship.

2.They just played more games then any team in nba history, in the playoffs.

3.The Big 3 are all getting a little old.

4.NBA Championships are better to an NBA player then a gold medal.
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I think this team was chosen 3 years ago...when KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce were all on horrible teams and nobody noticed them
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They were probably tired from the long season. Kevin Garnett went in 2000 and won gold.
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