McGrady's deal sparked the last wave of huge talk in the NBA free market, and then the men's basketball team group stage of the 2004 Athens Olympics officially arrived.

The men's basketball team at this Olympics has attracted great attention in the United States. The reason is very simple. The Dream Team in 2002 was defeated by Argentina in the World Championships and was embarrassed that they could not even make the finals. After this World Championships, all international media said that the pace of world basketball has caught up with the United States, and this sport will no longer be the dominant American, and it is not just a national team that can pose a threat to them.

These remarks made American fans a little dissatisfied, but the scene of being knocked down by Argentina at the World Championships is still in front of their eyes, which makes them lack the confidence to say, "The Dream Team is the Dream Team, and the Olympics will prove that America is still the overlord of the basketball world!"

And it also makes them pay special attention to this Olympic Games.

Even from some perspectives, they are more concerned than when the American Dream Team participated in the Olympics before. Many media have also analyzed the potential opponents of the American Dream Team, which was something that they could not imagine in the past.

Li Yuan looked at the news and couldn't help but think of the military table tennis ball.

As a Chinese national football team, the popularity of the soldier table tennis event in China is similar to that of basketball in the United States. Generally speaking, there are not many fans paying attention to it. However, if the Chinese players in any international table tennis event do not win the championship, then Li Yuan believes that there will definitely be countless Chinese fans spontaneously paying attention to the progress of the game and the information of the opponents in the next international table tennis event.

Of course, the probability of this situation is too small. China's dominant position in the field of table tennis is even more than that of the United States in the field of basketball.

...

The concerns of American fans are really not redundant. Shortly after the group stage began, the Dream Team suffered its first defeat. They lost to Puerto Rik 73-92. Before the American fans could analyze the reason, they lost to Lithuania again... Before the group stage was finished, they lost two games first. Not to mention American fans, even fans from all over the world did not expect that the American Dream Team, which seemed so powerful, fell down twice so simply.

"This team has too many problems, especially in tactical cooperation and defense. They have begun to lag behind European countries! Their two losses in the group stage are proof!"

"The American Dream Team can no longer be called the Dream Team. They even won the German team through overtime. They really don't have the dominance!"

"The American Dream Team will be a past, and at least in this Olympic Games, I would rather believe that other national teams can win the championship!"

The Dream Team's stumbling in the group stage, foreign media, who had no longer taken them seriously, now took them seriously.

Especially in some European media, the Dream Team has been removed from the winning list before the quarterfinals even began.

The news reached the country and undoubtedly caused another big uproar. American fans have begun to look for the reason why this team played like this.

"The joint defense of international events has had a great impact on us. Allen Iverson and others cannot break through the joint defense at all. We should bring more shooters!"

"In my opinion, it's because of no cooperation. If these guys could pass more balls to each other and play more patiently, we might not have been so difficult!"

"Larry Brown doesn't like to use newcomers, which is a very wrong idea. Why not let LeBron James and Cameron Anthony go up and try it? It's not impossible!"

Some fans think that the candidates were not selected well, some fans think that the Dream Team did not cooperate, and some think that Larry Brown dared not use new players.

There are various reasons...

At the end of the discussion, all fans believed that this Dream Team should not let Larry Brown lead the team!

Because he chose the people, and his tactics were also arranged, including who is the main attacker, who will control the rhythm, and who is just taken to serve as the storefront. These are all related to him. Now that the American Dream Team is in a mess, he naturally has to take the blame!

That's it. Larry Brown, who had recovered his reputation for winning the Pistons some time ago, has been questioned by a large number of fans in the past few days.

And this is just the beginning. If the American Dream Team did not win the championship in the end, for Larry Brown, that might be the beginning of the nightmare.

...

Li Yuan was very happy because the Chinese men's basketball team entered the final quarterfinals. For this team whose combat power was not the top in Li Yuan's opinion, this has already completed their mission. If you want to step closer and break history, you should have no hope for this Chinese men's basketball team.

After all, the other seven teams that entered the quarterfinals this year are not fuel-efficient. Lithuania and Puerto Rico are all teams that can defeat the American Dream Team. Then Greece is the host, Spain and Italy are strong European teams, and there is still one team left that can still defeat the American Dream Team Argentina. They even defeated once two years ago.

In short, the journey of the Chinese men's basketball team in this men's basketball Olympics has almost come to an end... The development of things was not beyond Li Yuan's expectations. The Chinese men's basketball team fell into the quarterfinals and lost two games in succession to the fifth, sixth and seventh, and the final result was frozen at the eighth position.

This result is the worst team among the eight teams that broke through the group stage, but this is already the best result of the Chinese men's basketball team in previous Olympics!

They tied the historical record in this Olympics and also played the style of the Chinese men's basketball team in the last game against Lithuania. Especially Yao Ming, who is already a rebirth in the No. 5 position that the entire FIBA ​​cannot ignore!

The Chinese men's basketball team finally appeared in the international basketball world with a symbolic representative figure.

This is also the biggest gain of the Chinese men's basketball team in this Athens Olympics.

At the same time, for domestic fans, what they see is not only the Chinese men's basketball team has a logo in the international basketball world, but also the future of the Chinese men's basketball team!

Yao Ming, the "big killer" in the No. 5 position, and a group of domestic experts, are all at their best age, and there will be no problem in using it for another 4 years.

But this is not the whole of the Chinese men’s basketball team!

Li Yuan, a Chinese newcomer who was selected in the fifth position in the first round this year, "makes a mistake" but it is not unforgivable Wang Zhizhi... The Chinese men's basketball team and these two guys were not summoned.

Think about it, the future Chinese men's basketball team will still have this lineup for participating in the Athens Olympics and summon these two guys to the national team... What kind of performance will the Chinese men's basketball team perform in international competitions?

The glory of Chinese basketball is in the visible future!
Chapter completed!