Olympics: Showtime doesn't win anymore

There has been a lot of talk the past few weeks as to why the USA Men's Olympic Basketball team has been beaten several times by teams from the rest of the world.

This talk has turned to a roar with the decisive loss to Argentina knocking our team out of the gold medal picture.

Many reasons have been given for the failure- the wrong players went, the guys can't shoot, preparation time was too short, they can't play defense -- the list goes on and on.

All of these are factors.

The most important reason though is that for the American player the indication of success is not what kind of team player he is, but is instead the kind of show he can put on to impress his fellow players, the media, and the watching fans.

The impressive dunker has become much more the focus of attention than the consistent jump shooter.

It's Showtime all the time.

A prime example for me -- I went to an Indiana -- New Jersey game last November won by the Pacers 87-81.

Indiana's substitute guard Fred Jones played 1 0minutes in the game and made two baskets -- he didn't play when the game was on the line and was outscored by seven of his teammates.

These statistics indicate that Jones barely contributed to his team's win.

However, the following morning on the TV sports shows all of the stories about the game led off with Fred Jones.

One of the two baskets he made was a spectacular dunk that was "in the face of the defender."

The media considered this dunk the lead story when reporting about the game -- not who scored the most points, not who made the clutch baskets or the big steal at crunch time.

The lead story was who made the fanciest dunk.

This is the problem with USA basketball -- we (players, media, and fans) have become so impressed by who can put on the best show we have forgotten that the way to win basketball games is to shoot consistently, play as a team, and defend.

Indiana won that night because they defended well giving up only 81 points and because another substitute guard Anthony Johnson came off the bench and scored seventeen points in 22 minutes.

Despite Johnson's outstanding and consistent performance, it was Jones who was highlighted the next day for one flashy play.

This is what American basketball has become -- style triumphs over substance.

Until this changes, and our players and coaches return to the fundamentals of what it takes to win basketball games, we will continue to struggle internationally.