The Olympics are over. Not surprisingly, the Americans won the gold medal and Spain got the silver (although they went through a few more bumps than most expected).
ESPN has taken the time to reflect on what transpired over the last two weeks and named the all-Olympic first and second teams.
First team: Pau Gasol, LeBron James, Manu Ginobili, Kevin Durant, Andrei Kirilenko
Second team: Patty Mills, Luis Scola, Joe Ingles, Carmelo Anthony, Marcelinho Huertas
Honorable mention: Carlos Delfino, Kevin Love, Alexey Shved, Yi Jianlian, Joel Freeland, Leandro Barbosa, Chris Paul, Nicolas Batum, Marc Gasol, Boris Diaw.
Clearly, the ESPN writers wanted to spread the wealth and not name too many Americans to the team, otherwise I think Kobe Bryant probably should have made it. Maybe even Tyson Chandler as well.
For the San Antonio Spurs, getting two guys on the all-Olympic team and one as an honorable mention is quite the honor. Actually, the first team doesn’t even include a point guard, so I think they should have had Mills up there instead of Kirilenko, but it’s their decision.
Either way, these are the best basketball players in the world and the Spurs have landed three in the top 30. Surprisingly, even though Tony Parker has snuck his way into the top tier of NBA players, he didn’t play well enough in London to earn a spot on this team. I guess it was the goggles.
I didn’t watch France play enough to tell you whether or not Diaw deserved his spot on the honorable mention list, but I do like the selections of Mills and Ginobili. Mills was the highest average scorer in London and the only one above 20 points a game. At times Manu would put the whole Argentinian team on his back and will them to victory. Ginobili proved once again why he’s one of the best international players in the world.
The Spurs continue to showcase their talent from around the world, now they have to hope it all comes together for a great NBA season.
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