Closed, due to the fact my Live 08 sucks balls.

[Skills]

Let me start off by saying, my dynasty mode is a bitch. My last two dynasties came crashing down due to technical errors. Which is why I'm trying something totally different with Team USA. As many of you may know, the Beijing Olympics are just around the corner. So I've decided to start a brief 'dynasty' story until I get my Live worked properly. How will this work? I will play 20 games against the other national teams in Live. The top teams will qualify for the tournament. I will be using the FIBA World Championship mode as a base. So the game may say 'FIBA World Championships' but the dynasty story will be 'Beijing Olympics'. As for the team I'm using. I was thinking of putting together an elite team of american NBA superstars, but instead I'll make due with realism and use the current men's senior national team. Well, hopefully you'll like this!




STARTING FIVE

PG - Jason Kidd | 6-4 | Dallas Mavericks
SG - Kobe Bryant | 6-6 | Los Angeles Lakers
SF - LeBron James | 6-8 | Cleveland Cavaliers
PF - Carmelo Anthony | 6-8 | Denver Nuggets
C - Dwight Howard | 6-11 | Orlando Magic

BENCH ROTATION

PG - Chris Paul | 6-0 | New Orleans Hornets
PG - Deron Williams | 6-3 | Utah Jazz
SG - Dwyane Wade | 6-4 | Miami Heat
SG - Michael Redd | 6-6 | Milwaukee Bucks
SF - Tayshaun Prince | 6-9 | Detroit Pistons
PF - Carlos Boozer | 6-9 | Utah Jazz
C - Chris Bosh | 6-10 | Toronto Raptors



Team USA Announces 2008 National Team
USA Rewind: A Change Of Scenery
USA Rewind: Training Camp
Player's Prospective: Volume 1

[Skills]

USA Basketball Announces 2008 National Team




COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 23, 2008) -- Featuring Olympic gold medalist Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks) and four 2004 Olympians, USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo today announced the 12-players who will represent the United States in the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China. The player selections were approved by the USA Basketball Executive Committee, and will be nominated to the United States Olympic Committee to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Named to the 2008 USA Basketball Senior National Team were: Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz); Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kidd; Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets); Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons); Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks); Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat); and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz). Duke University Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski is head coach of the USA Senior Team program. Serving as assistant coaches are Syracuse University and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

“This has been, to say the least, an extremely difficult selection process. The 33 players who committed to be part of the USA Senior National Team program and have been involved in our various training camps and competitions the past two summers deserve recognition and acknowledgment for their contributions and for their commitment to their country,” said Colangelo.

“Our team has excellent athleticism and great versatility. We have players who are experienced in the international game thanks to the last two summers’ training and competitions. I feel really good where we are, we have the foundation in but we have a lot work ahead.” added Colangelo

“The past two summers’ experiences will definitely help our team. As we have learned, the international teams we will face in Beijing are also extremely talented and they play very well as a team. Our Senior National Team program has helped us achieve confidence, continuity and excellent chemistry too. This summer’s Olympics are going to be an unbelievable competition,” stated Krzyzewski.

Of the 12 selected players, six were part of the 2006 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team, and eight were part of the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship that qualified the U.S. for the 2008 Olympics. Three players - Anthony, Howard and James, were members of both teams. Players on the 2006 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team were: Anthony; Bosh; Howard; James; Paul; and Wade. Members of last summer’s FIBA Americas Championship squad were: Anthony; Bryant; Howard; James; Kidd; Prince; Redd; and Williams.

*This wasn't written by me, it's an article from NBA.com. A semi-introduction if you may.

[Chaser7]

Good idea, nice to see something unique here. Looser use to do this Italy, but I'm there's a USA story now. BTW Skillmatic where are you from? Are you from the US?

[nekejin]

Good idea, nice to see something unique here. Looser use to do this Italy, but I'm there's a USA story now. BTW Skillmatic where are you from? Are you from the US?

what do you mean by "looser"?

[Skills]

Unavailable at the moment.

[StupidBoy]

Hey, I'll be following this one also. Its unique, you know. Btw, did you write "A Change Of Scenery"?

Nekejin, Looser is a fellow member of NLSC and he wrote a similar story with Italy

[nekejin]

oh man! Guys I'm really sorry!!
It's a long time I do not read this forum, so I couldn't know!
And you know, since I'm from Italy and our country did not qualify to the 2008 olympic tournament I believed it was a sort of "offence" against our team (I thought Looser standed for Loser, reffering to Italy team). I hope you'll understand my error

returning ON topic, this seem interesting Skillmatic! Really a good idea, and I hope USA team won't need "this" kind of redemption this year
I go for you!

[bee-boy]

nice i will be following this one

[Chaser7]

lol nekejin I didn't say Italy was a loser (which doesn't make sense anyways), haha.

Nice update Skillmatic, hopefully this dynasty lasts though (I.E. your dynasty doesn't crash)

[Oskar]

That's a nice one.

[homicide1550]

Interesting Dynasty you have here, and it is right in time coz the Olympics is about to start in August.. Cant wait to see some actual games! Good Luck with this bro!

[papa jack]

cool dynasty..hope this one will last..your past dynasty stories are great but your Live 08 always ruins it. Good luck with this one.

[Skills]

Ginobilli, Thanks. And yeah, I did write 'A Change Of Scenery'

Nekejin, It's alright man. As long as you're following. Haha and actually, I think the real USA team will do fine in Beijing this year.

Kobe, Nice to see you're following.

Chaser, Thanks bro. But you forgot I'm not using Dynasty mode.

Oskar, Thanks Oskar.

Homicide, Thanks man. Technically, it's not a dynasty but go figure. Anyways, hopefully Coach K stumbles upon this and uses it as motivation.

Papa Jack, To think, just hours after you posted this, you died. If you're reading this up there, I'd like to say thanks. RIP Papa Jack.


*Sorry for the delay, I just got back from a two day trip. More updates coming up!

[Skills]

Training Camp
Team USA Rewind Article


LeBron James leads members of Team USA in pre-game drills at USA Basketball's practice in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- After disappointments at the 2004 Summer Olympics and at the 2006 FIBA World Championships, the USA Men's Senior National Team is looking to redeem themselves at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Team USA's road to redemption began at the 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas where they finished first, but more importantly, qualified for the Olympics. That was over a year ago, and preparations have already begun. And with so much talent involved with USA Basketball, only so many can make the roster that will be representing the United States in Beijing this coming August.

"It's never an easy task." United States Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski comments on selecting the players for the Olympic roster. "There's so many talented players who have committed themselves to USA Basketball. So, trying to narrow down the roster to 12 players is very difficult."

To make things easier for the USA Basketball staff, a training camp session was held for the USA Basketball players to participate in and make their case on why they should play in Beijing this summer. USA Rewind has special coverage of drills that were executed especially for each position in basketball.

First up, are the point guards. Their drill set would test how well their all-around point guard play is. The point guards would go through a series of obstacles that are extremely similar to those in the Playstation Skills Challenge and would be timed. The USA members involved were Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards), Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons), Kirk Hinrich (Chicago Bulls), Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks), Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets) and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz). A participant in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Playstation Skills Challenge, Chris Paul finally came through with the best time of 27.5 seconds. 2008 Skills Challenge winner Deron Williams followed right behind with the second-best time of 29.7 seconds. Kirk Hinrich came up with a time of 32.7 seconds. Struggling with the passing obstacles of the course, Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas both finished with 35.9 and 38.4 seconds respectively. The worse time went to 2003 Skills Challenge winner Jason Kidd who struggled on all obstacles finishing the course in 43.6 seconds.

"You gotta give grandpa props for finishing the course at least." The 23-year old Paul jokes about the 35-year old Kidd.

The shooting guards were up next, with their drill set testing how well they can live up to their position. The players would have 60 seconds to score as many baskets as possible, with each spot on the court having different values. The farther the spot is from the basket, the more points it's worth. (see link below for spot values) The USA members involved were Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Mike Miller (Minnesota Timberwolves), Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks), J.J. Redick (Orlando Magic) and Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat). Reigning MVP, Kobe Bryant came up strong with the best score of 36 points. Sharpshooter Michael Redd had the second best score thanks to a series of threes with 29 points. Fellow sharpshooters Mike Miller and J.J. Redick both came up with 26 points each. Coming into training camp reviving from an ankle sprain, Joe Johnson finished with a respectable 23 points. Dwyane Wade, who was off throughout the whole session, finished last with 18 points.

"Damn, I don't know what happened. I'd usually, you know, make it rain out there. Ahh well, I'm STILL better looking than Kobe." Wade jokes.

The small forwards had a different drill set. They would participate in a two 5-minute halves scrimmage to test their overall game. The USA members involved were Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), Shane Battier (Houston Rockets), Bruce Bowen (San Antonio Spurs), Kevin Durant (Seattle SuperSonics), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Shawn Marion (Miami Heat), Adam Morrison (Charlotte Bobcats), Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers) and Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics). The players were divided into two teams. Team A and Team B. The players on Team A were Bowen, James, Morrison, Odom and Pierce. The players on Team B were Anthony, Battier, Durant, Marion and Prince. Team B had the early edge in the first half taking the 21-12 lead. Carmelo Anthony and Shawn Marion combined for 16 of the team's points that half. Already more than Team A's score. But in the second half, Team A stepped it up with LeBron James leading the way with 12 of his game-high 17 in the half to cruise Team A to the comeback 42-39 win over Team B. Anthony led Team B with 14 points and Marion followed with 11. Paul Pierce complimented Team A's victory with 12 points of his own. Team A and B also had their share of poor performers. Kevin Durant, who was originally part of the shooting guard drill, was transferred to the small forwards due to a snap decision by 'Coach K'. Durant struggled shooting 3/12 from the field. Adam Morrison, did just as poor shooting 1/6 from the field.

"LeBron's a beast when it comes down to crunch time." said Bruce Bowen. "He'll do whatever it takes to get his team the win."

The power forwards got a special treat. In order to test their post skills, the forwards would have 1-on-1 exhibition games up to 5 against some of USA Basketball's greatest power forwards. Those guys were Charles Barkley (1992), Larry Johnson (1994), Shawn Kemp (1994) and Karl Malone (1992, 1996). Despite the ages of these retired veterans, they still had some juice left to take on the younger USA players. The USA members involved in the session were Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz), Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers) and Antawn Jamison (Washington Wizards). Shawn Kemp would start things off in the first round giving everyone a hard time, especially Chris Bosh. Who wasn't as built big as his fellow teammates. But Bosh came through, despite a monster facial delivered by Kemp and moved on to the next round as did the rest of the USA members. The second round wouldn't get any easier with 'Grandmama' Larry Johnson up next. Johnson delivered as he did in his heyday slamming one hard on Antawn Jamison and winning the match 5-3. Jamison would be done here and the rest would move on to round 3. Charles Barkley awaited the final three and packed a punch against them all, but Boozer and Brand escaped with 5-4 victories while Bosh struggled against Sir Charles losing a close one 5-4 due to a single tomahawk jam by Barkley. Carlos Boozer and Elton Brand made it to the final round where 'The Mailman' Karl Malone was waiting. Brand had trouble going up against the future hall-of-famer, losing the bout 5-3. The proclaimed 'Malone' of today by Utah Jazz fans, Boozer had little to no trouble against Malone. Both Malone and Boozer, have played a heavy portion of their career in Utah under Jerry Sloan. Though Malone has spent more time playing under Sloan, Boozer showed that he learned more from Sloan beating Malone 5-3 in an amazing match up.

"That's talent right there." Malone comments on Boozer. "I thought I still had enough juice to beat the both of them. But I could tell Carlos knew my game well, since we both had Jerry (Sloan) as a coach. And that's what got him the win. His preparation and determination played a huge factor here."

The centers were last and had an interesting drill set. The most skilled scorers of the USA Basketball program would be of an assist here. The objective of the centers is to prevent the scorer from scoring on the center. The center would get 1 point for preventing a score, and would get 2 points if he could block the scorer. If the center fails to prevent a score, they get no points. USA members Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade all assisted in this drill set. The USA members involved were Tyson Chandler (New Orleans Hornets), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Brad Miller (Sacramento Kings) and Greg Oden (Portland Trail-Blazers). Chandler was up first, as Anthony, Bryant, James and Wade lined up ready to attempt a layup. The four scorers would repeat this five times. Chandler started things off with a nice score of 13 points. Howard was up next, and basically dominated the four with the best score of 20 points. Miller finished with a respective 12 points, while Oden surprised the USA Basketball staff tallying 17 points.

"Damn. Big Ol' Greg shocked me today." LeBron James comments on Oden's performance. "The Blazers will be a playoff bound team with him on their squad."

With Training Camp coming to a close, the USA Basketball staff has just so much time to select the players that will represent the United Stats at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing this August.

Miscellaneous Archives
Shooting Guard Spots Chart
Small Forward Scrimmage Box Scores
Power Forward Drill Set: Barkley Dunks Over Bosh
Power Forward Drill Set: Boozer Soars Over Malone For The Win
Center Drill Set: Howard Stuffs Bryant

[Chaser7]

Nice idea with the training camp, although those who are actually on the team didn't necessarily do the best. Anyways keep up the good work.

[almightyx]

Holy crap that was a long article! Did you write that or is it a real article? If you wrote it I'm amazed

[homicide1550]

Whoah! That was a long write-up! Nice to see some in-game pics of the USA squad..

[Lamrock]

I am suing you for false advertisement in your sig. Just because you are using a different team doesn't mean this isn't the same run of the mill deal.

Nevertheless, the presentation isn't bad persay, but I doubt using the most talented basketball team in the world will be that fun. Good luck.

[bee-boy]

Skillmatic, any news on this dynasty. i was hoping to see this one

[Skills]

Sorry for the hold-up. I'm still trying to fix some bugs in Live that will need some fixing before this can go on any further. !!

Chaser, I actually played out these little 'sessions' in Live. With the exception of the Skills Challenge, of course.

Almighty, Thanks, and yes I wrote it. But IMO, it's not THAT good.

Homicide, Yeah. Once I get the 2x resolution bug sorted out with the Beijing court and the new jerseys, the pics will look much better.

Lamrock, Nice to see you commenting here. Yes, I agree I may have over-exagerrated bit. But who doesn't at times?

Kobe, I was just getting to that. =)

..as I was saying, the resolution bug is just one of the few fixes I have to.. well fix. The other one is fixing the FIBA tournament mode because, for some reason it turns into a blank playoff screen. Nevertheless, I'll still be updating and I'll hold you all off with a little something-something coming up. (keep in mind, I came up with this last night and had very little time to write since I was friggin' tired.) Once I fix these bugs, I'll finally be able to recap some games. Keep checking in!

[Skills]

Player's Prospective: Vol. 1
featuring LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade



What's good everybody? It's your boy LeBron here, along with Melo and D-Wade. Now, we've been asked by the people at nba.com to do the very first 'Player's Prospective' to keep in touch with our fans through our journey to the gold. You're probably wondering, what is 'Player's Prospective? Basically, from time to time, one member of the USA Basketball team will write a blog about what the experience has been like for them during this olympic journey. But, since this is the very first 'Player's Prospective', we'll be sharing the spotlight today. And what better way to do it, then with yo boys LeBron, Carmelo and Dwyane. I'll let Melo' take over for now.

Aiight, whaddup. It's Melo' here right now. So, like Bron' said, we'll be doing this blog sort of thing from time to time, and luckily we get to do the first one. Anyway, right now we still packing our bags and getting ready for Beijing. The rules for the olympic basketball have taken a twist this year. We're heading to Beijing early to play some exhibition ball with some of the teams competing in the Olympics. Probably to get some feel of what it'll be like. After that, we play the qualifying games that determine whether or not we make it to the quarter finals. So yeah. Anyway, everyone on the squad's been chillin' at this fancy hotel here in Vegas. It's real fly, true talk. Even though we have to share the imperial suites, but it has it's advantages. On the first day here, I couldn't get one inch of sleep, cause I was too pumped about the whole olympic thing. So, I decided to pull something on one my roomies. My roomies were LBJ and Dwyane. I decided to get LBJ cause he snores like a gorilla and aint nothing wakes him up. So, I told Dwyane about before we were gonna go to bed. I set my alarm on my iPod at 3:00AM, and so did D (Dwyane). When it was 3, the plan went down. I put toothpaste on LBJ's hand and face, while D dumped all this baby powder on him. I managed to get it on camera and showed everybody else later. At around 4:18, me and D woke up hearing LBJ going off. He was like "What the f*ck?!". Haha, it was the funniest thing ever. We was cool though. After that, we got down to business. No more fooling around. We got shit to do. D, you up next. Much love to the readers out there. Peace.

What's going on everyone? It's Dwyane Wade here of the Miami Heat. Carmelo already pointed out the highlight of the journey so far, haha. Now it's my turn. As a few of you may know, this is my first time back with Team USA after not being able to participate in the 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas due to injury. But, I was still there to support my team. We won the tourney, and got that berth in Beijing. It's been so much work even going back, to when the team hasn't even been made yet. The whole process can be real tiring, but if you really wanna go out there and represent, you gotta be willing to put in your best effort. Anyway, our daily schedule in Vegas went down like this. At around 6:00, we'd have to get up, have a light breakfast and meet the team down in the lobby of the hotel. From there, we'd do an early morning jog that's about 5-10 miles. After that, it'd be around 8:00-8:30ish, which is time to start practice. We'd practice up until 12, where we stop for some lunch and continue practicing. Depending what's going on, whether we're doing drills or rehearsing plays, practice would usually finish at around 6-7PM. Most of us usually have dinner around there, and we'd have the rest of the night to ourselves. Some guys head to the casino for a bit, some head out to the club and some just stay in the hotel. But no matter what, everyone has to be in their room by 12:00 midnight. That's pretty much what most days are like, though with some exceptions. But I'll let LeBron take the spotlight now. God bless, and wish us luck in Beijing!

What's happening. King James here with 'cha. Now, Dwyane explained pretty much what our average day is like. But about once or twice a week during the training process, the team takes a little field trip to help us realize what it's like to represent our country. Whether it's taking a boat ride in New York looking at the wonders of America, meeting with the fans who give us the most support, or even meeting with some of USA's true representatives, the army force. It's been an enlightning experience to say the least. The boat ride was pretty sweet, cause we got to see america in a way you never could have imagined. Plus, CP3 got sick for a bit cause he took tool many of them pills that prevent seasickness, haha. Meeting the army force made the experience so much more worthwhile. Just talking with them and connecting with them showed how great it is to be able to represent your country in any way. Everybody got something good outta that. Except Kobe. His Hyperdunks didn't come in handy when I made a bet with him that he couldn't jump over a tank. Aha, well that leaves the big publicity trip. We had to wake up real early and go to all the morning shows being filmed in New York. After that, we went to and event that introduced our 08 squad and gave fans the chance to meet and greet with us. One dude even wanted me to sign a Deshawn Stevenson jersey. What shocks me even more is that they sell Stevenson jerseys (joke intended). And uh, yeah. That pretty much sums up these last few weeks. All that's left is to do some packing and head to Beijing for our first exhibition game. We're out. Peace.

[bee-boy]

..as I was saying, the resolution bug is just one of the few fixes I have to.. well fix. The other one is fixing the FIBA tournament mode because, for some reason it turns into a blank playoff screen.

Skillmatic i found out the problem. it was simple just delete these 4 files from your sgsm folder:
screens~playoff~plyfsetp.big
screens~playoff~plyfsetp_pc.big
screens~playoff~plyftree.big
screens~playoff~plyftree_pc.big

once you do that it should be fine

[deihatein]

All I can say, this is a nice idea here Skillmatic, will be following(If this goes through).

Are you installing patches in your Live recently? If so is the Albys roster included? It has many bugs so I check what to install or what's not to install.

Anyway good luck again with this.

[Chaser7]

well seeing how the USA won the gold, this seems to be coming a bit too late (its like starting a Celtics Dynasty now, starting in 07-08 with the title of "Garnett's New Chance" or something along those lines. Still solid article.