Luke Ridnour and Gilbert Arenas are better than AI

Or so says Coach K, with the inclusion of both Ridnour and Arenas, and not Allen, in tryouts for the USA team in 2008. Why is this a big deal? Well, Luke Ridnour isn't anything special, in any fashion. He's an adequate passer, average shooter, bad defender, etc. Gilbert Arenas is a lesser AI, and more selfish with the ball. The Wizards have done nothing this year without Larry Hughes, and Arenas has been throwing up a lot of shots at a lower percentage than Allen, while still turning the ball over and yet not passing to his teammates as much as Allen. Sure, I could put up a bunch of stats showing this to be true, but we all know it to be true anyway. The stats just back this all up.

One could say that Allen might not accept a bench role. Well, how would we know??? Coach K didn't give him a chance. One could say that most NBA players don't want to commit to the 2 year training regimen. Well, no. Allen was one of the few NBA stars to WANT to play in Athens in 2004, when guys like Kobe and Shaq declined to participate. Now, Kobe has been picked to play, despite his backing out last time around. One could also say that we want the best players and the best team to dominate this time around, since we lost in 2004. If true, why pick a guy like Carmelo Anthony, who completely blew chunks in Athens?? Why NOT pick a guy like Allen?

Why? He doesn't 'fit' the image. Ironically, a star who was put up on charges of rape(but later dropped) does fit that image. But damn, those tatoos are just too rebellious.