Why do Olympic Teams usually Exclude Celtic Players?

With the exception of Larry Bird in '92, and Kevin Garnett before he was traded to Boston, it seems as if all the Olympic teams lack Celtic representation. I excluded Shaq since he's not commonly associated with the C's. It sure seems that particularly this year Rondo was overlooked as a point guard co-equal or at least reserve to Chris Paul. Rajon certainly could have been selected over Westbrook. I'm not sure how much consideration Pierce was given for the 2000 & '04 teams as well.

Rondo was part of the expanded roster for the US national team in 2010 and played in exhibitions as a member of the team before being the last player cut. It was a logical choice because, although he is an outstanding distributor and defender, his outside shooting was a severe liability. In international play, teams can play straight zones (no defensive three-second rule), and outside shooting is a premium asset that prevents other teams from packing it inside against the US. Point guards who can also shoot from outside are a big plus.

Rondo's shooting improved tremendously this year, but it's not enough to bump one of the other point guards off the team. One of the assets that the US national team has cultivated under Jerry Colangelo is continuity, so when deciding who is on the team, an edge is given to players from previous world championship and Olympic squads.

Given those considerations, Rondo wasn't going to make this year's Olympic team unless there were injuries to the players ahead of him. Derrick Rose got hurt, but the team still had Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Russell Westbrook with prior world championship or Olympic experience, and they're not going to carry four point guards on a 12-man team.

Assuming he wants to play, my guess is that Rondo will play on the national team in a future world championships or Olympics.

Overall, the biggest reason that Olympic teams haven't had an active Celtic other than Larry Bird is that the years when pros were allowed to play coincided with the worst stretch of teams in Celtic history.

As for Paul Pierce, he was a member of the 2002 team at the world championships that was an unmitigated disaster for the US team. It was the first time a US team with NBA players lost a game, and they lost three of their final four games to come in sixth place. As for Pierce, he had some, um, "chemistry issues." See noted Celtic fan Bill Simmons' take here:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/020913

Pierce doesn't deserve all of the blame, but he certainly didn't enamor himself with those who pick the US national team, and he was left off the 2004 Olympic roster, as was everyone from the 2002 team except Shawn Marion. The reasons behind those dark days of the US national team are many and varied, but key factors were that many elite NBA players didn't play, the US threw together rosters with lots of second-tier players, and they had minimal time together to gel as a team. With the rest of the world catching up, the US could no longer just show up and win. "Cleaning house" became the order of the day, and Pierce was one of those not wanted back in 2004.

I did find multiple references to Pierce making the 2006 team for the world championships but being unable to play because of an elbow injury. If he had been part of that team, he could very well have been on the 2008 team at the Olympics.

Outside

US Olympic teams are a hodgepodge of individual players thrown together for this purpose. Other countries (the USSR was famous for forming teams of "amateurs" by saying they were soldiers in the Soviet Army and not hockey players, even though hockey was all they did) would form teams that would play together for years in international tournaments.

Since we have what amounts to an ad hoc team, individual talents are more important than a team with superior chemistry and role players. We're not talking about an 82 game season with the Olympics. You go in, blow away your competition over the course of a few weeks (max!), and you go home with a big, fat medal.

From my perspective, while I'm glad to see athletes eager to represent their country, I'm just as happy if none of MY players do. A freak injury is possible. Furthermore, I remember Pau Gasol after playing in the European tournament (which, I believe, Spain won). He was exhausted, physically and mentally after the previous NBA season and then the Euro tournament, and suffered repeat hamstring issues throughout the next NBA season, missing the first month or so. The summer is valuable, especially for older players, to let their bodies heal.

bob

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http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/rajon-rondo-has-no-interest-in-ever-playing-in-the-olympics/

Two summers ago, Rajon Rondo famously withdrew from USA Basketball. Now, the Boston Celtics’ star point guard says he’d never want to re-join the Olympic hoops program. Per Fox Sports: “Rondo, who is one of the NBA’s top point guards and is averaging a league-best 11.3 assists, wasn’t one of the 20 players selected in January as finalists for Team USA’s 2012 roster in London.

And even if another player were to possibly be added, Rondo, 26, said there would be no need to call him. ‘I’m not focusing at all on the Olympics. At all. At all,’ Rondo said. Rondo, who still would be young enough to play in the Games in 2016 or 2020, then was asked if he ever would have an interest in playing in the Olympics. ‘No, I don’t,’ he said. ‘I just don’t…

Wondering why? I love my summers. I’ll leave it at that.’ Rondo didn’t help his standing with USA Basketball when he went overseas as a finalist with the World Championship team in 2010 before soon returning to the U.S. Rondo believes he would have made the team that eventually won gold had he decided not to bolt when the Americans were in Greece before going to the event in Turkey.

‘I decided to leave,’ said Rondo, whose departure was described by USA Basketball as one for family reasons. ‘I was homesick.’ Rondo said he never spoke to USA Basketball officials about possibly being a finalist for the 2012 Olympics. [...] ‘I don’t even know who’s on the list,’ Rondo said.”

Although the Celtics' history includes many superstars/legends, relatively few of them have played in the NBA during the period when professionals were officially allowed to compete. Russell and K.C. Jones were two Celtics who played (victoriously) in the Olympics when only amateurs were allegedly allowed.

And some of those few have probably been penalized because the Celtics brand of team ball doesn't "showcase" them in the same manner as many other NBA teams.

Sam