Remember when the US was eliminated - from the world basketball championships

[The Jays]

Ya, i just looked it up

To find some redeeming value in Team USA's early exit from the 2002 World Championships, let's stop by the Player Cred Department and see who added to their account and who may be overdrawn. While this week as a whole will live forever in infamy in the minds of today's basketball fan -- meaning about a month -- there actually were a few players who walked away with their reputations bolstered. Most, of course, didn't. Here are the notables from one man's scorecard:

Michael Finley. Tainted with that no-D stigma that attaches itself to every Mav these days and beaten down by trade-bait innuendo out of Dallas because he wasn't a leader, Fin showed different in every way possible. First in the gym and the last one out during training camp, he logged the most minutes in pre-elimination competition, communicated better than anyone, adjusted to the quicker ball movement needed and played through his mistakes like a foreign pro (stings a little at first, but you'll get used to it). If the U.S. team had a few more like him, it would be playing for gold.


Jermaine O'Neal wasn't much of a threat in the low post.
Andre Miller. Started off slowly, but the coaching staff believed he'd rise to the challenge while keeping his composure and he did exactly that. Unless, of course, you count blasting Paul Pierce's head off after Pierce yelled from the bench that Miller was holding the ball too long in the first quarter of the Argentina loss. Miller, who by all accounts is unfailingly quiet, blistered Pierce after being subbed out, much to the quiet admiration of the rest of the team and then singlehandedly tried to avert disaster. OK, maybe there was a little too much singlehandedness, but he tried to step up.

Paul Pierce. Became a fan/media darling because of his stats and despised by his teammates for the way he got them. Pierce put the Germany game out of reach with his eight-point burst in 50 seconds to close the third quarter and led the team in scoring, but his fourth-quarter battle with Milan Gurovic decided the Yugoslavia game. His defense left a lot to be desired throughout the tournament, but never more than here. Gurovic scored 10 of his 15 points in the final 10 minutes, including three 3s in Pierce's grill. Pierce, meanwhile, not only went scoreless but he didn't get open on the U.S. team's last two plays, both drawn for him. (Draw your own conclusion.)

Baron Davis. He's still a on-the-cusp-of-greatness NBA player until proven otherwise, but his basketball IQ and fundamentals took a big hit. Reduced to launching 3s or making a kamikaze run at the rim, he averaged more turnovers than assists and had surprising trouble staying in front of his man.

Jermaine O'Neal. He was the team's best low-post threat but put that in the damned-with-faint-praise bin. Woeful defensive decisions. O'Neal is obviously talented but it's equally obvious he hasn't figured out what to do with it yet. He's been around long enough now and has enough shooting form that going 0-for-4 on fourth-quarter free throws against Yugoslavia -- nearly airballing the last one -- isn't acceptable anymore.

Elton Brand. Clippers owner Donald Sterling has told several people already that he won't pay Brand the max, and if he needs any ammo, World tournament tapes will do quite nicely. He's a hard worker and a nice guy, but matched against versatile Euro big men, he looked like a guy on the subway platform as the train blows through. Give Brand and Reggie Miller credit for being the lone USA players who observed international protocol by congratulating the Yugoslavs before leaving the court, but manners don't get you $80 mil.

Shawn Marion. Didn't play against Yugoslavia after injuring his groin vs. Argentina but wasn't missed. As with Baron, Shawn may prove still to be a great NBA player but the drive-and-kick, split-a-seam, spot-up-in-a-passing-lane nuances that are vital in the international game are not in his repertoire.

Ben Wallace. I'm reluctant to put him here because he's a second-round pick who has made himself into an All-Star Defensive Player of the Year, but nothing was as shocking as seeing him get served by several Argentines, including Fabricio Oberto on a baseline inbounds play with three seconds on the clock. He offered proof that no player can be great defensively without a good system and committed teammates. He didn't have either of those here.

George Karl. Based on my e-mail and the words of advice from Jay Williams' parents behind the USA bench, Karl is at the heart of this historic demise. This certainly doesn't look good after the Bucks' collapse last season, but he was handcuffed by the same problem -- bad team chemistry and a roster with too many holes or duplicative talent. Maybe he should've switched starting lineups sooner -- replacing Brand and O'Neal with Wallace and Antonio Davis -- to end the slow starts and send a message about earning minutes. And maybe not having a shootaround before playing Argentina encouraged the overall lack of urgency. But I'm still not sure anyone could've short-order cooked this group into a gold-medal team.

USA Basketball Selection Committee. They put together the highest-profile talent that wasn't likely to cause an international incident, but the roster's flaws became evident in training camp -- streaky shooters, score-first point guards, big men who were either a liability offensively (A.Davis, Wallace) or defensively (Brand, O'Neal) and a stunning lack of fundamental basketball acuity. Big decisions lie ahead as to how to make our program -- dare it be said -- world-class again.

AND ONES: Spurs owner Peter Holt sat behind the Team USA bench for the Argentina game and had a hard time muting his excitement over rookie Emmanuel Ginobili. "Wow," he said after Ginobili scored over Wallace. "Boy, are we smart." ... Harbinger: In between quarters, a Yugoslav kid beat an American kid in a shooting contest ... Argentine Andres Noccioni, best remembered for dunking on Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan three years ago in pre-Olympic qualifying, has caught the Houston Rockets' eye ... Anybody wondering about the "B-T B 4 L" headband worn by Germany's Misan Nikagbatse, it stands for B-Town Ballers for Life, a message to those he grew up with in Berlin. Man, those Euros are taking everything from us ... The Yugoslav fans showed they could cut just as sharp and quick as their team. Minutes after the loss, a fan held up a sign that read, "58-2."

Well, it looks like we're heading back to the same thing. the best players sit out, while we get our ass kicked