Tony Parker struggled throughout the tournament as France was eliminated from the Oympics. Tony was then selected to the allstar 5 -sound familiar?.... Once again I'll set the record straight and also reveal the young allstar talent who were overlooked.
With 4 of my top 9 allstars it's no wonder Lithuania coasted to the European championships. And they did it with only one NBA player, reserve Darius Songaila of the Kings. Guard Sarunas Jasikevicius won tournament MVP honors however it was 23 year old teammate guard Arvydas Macijauskas who led the way for the deep Lithuanian club.
Another 23 year old, center Yaniv Green of Israel, emerged as a rising talent.
With 19 NBA players in the tournament I expected to see them dominate. Pau Gasol, Andrei Kirilenko and Dirk Nowitzki played up to expectations however other than Detroit's Mehmet Okur and the Pacers' Primoz Brezec the rest of the NBA contingency was lackluster. It seems defense has finally become a prominent part of the European game.
Overall the tournament was a disappointment marred by a slew of NBA no-shows. Hardest hit was Serbia without Vlade Divac, Darko Milicic, Vladimir Radmanovich, Igor Rakocevic, Zeljko Rebraca, Zarko Cabarkapa, Aleksandr Pavlovic and Slavko Vranes. Serbia has an automatic Olympic berth.
Contrary to the hype and his allstar selection Tony Parker had a horrible tournament. He shot under 42% from the field including only 31% of 3-pointers. In 6 games he managed only 19 assists yet accumulated 20 turnovers-- ouch! Tariq Abdul-Wahad was the Team France MVP.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament Allstar Selections: G Sarunas Jasikevicius Lith (MVP), G Tony Parker France, C Pau Gasol Spain, F Andrei Kirilenko Rus, F Saulius Stombergas Lith
SCHALLERTPR ALLSTARS
My Allstar teams are calculated by Total Performance Ratings (productivity per minute) with a bonus for total minutes played.
NBA TPR scale: 120+ superstar, 100+ allstar, 80+ starter, 65+ bench, 60 = min wage
First Team__________TPR_"bonus_score
G Arvydas Macijauskas, Lith_155__20__175
G Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lith_119__26__145
C Pau Gasol, Spain________163__28__191
F Andrei Kirilenko, Rus_____144__32__176
F Dirk Nowitzki, Ger_______141__18__159
Second Team______TPR_"bonus_score
G Meir Tapiro, Isr________114__23__137
G Damir Mulaomerovic, Cro_116__11__127
C Yaniv Green, Isr________122__23__145
C Eureljius Zukauskas, Lith_118__19__137
C Mehmet Okur, Tur______110__17__127
F Ramunas Siskauskas, Lith_118__25__143
notable:
F Saulius Stombergas, Lith_94__23__117
G Tony Parker, France_____72__30__102
Total Performance Ratings (The Total 12)
Scoring
Scoring Efficiency
Ballhandling
Rebounding
Disruptive Defense
One on one Defense
Team Defense
Team Game Pace
Positional Norms
Schedule Strength
Projected Improvement or Decline
Teams Wins Adjustment
Ratings indicate productivity per minute played. See my feature "The TPR Formula" for more information.
