While Deron is off doing commercials with LeBron and CP, Boozer needs to talk to his reps about his deal with Powerade.  Here's a couple of snapshots from a display I saw (click for bigger),

The one on the left is from the 2004 Olympics.  We see Amare on this one along with Booze wearing #7.

The second one has been discussed before.  Gone are Carlos' tattoos.  And has he ever had his hair like that?  He looks more like a video game coverboy than a player.

Now this is likely Walmart's fault.  It's always the low price, always.  So they're using 4-year old displays.  I don't even think Powerade sponsors the Olympics anymore.  They're doing their cheapest to push a $.60 sports drink.

I'd be on the phone to my agent asap.

One of the great things about SBNation is continuing improvement.  They've just released the latest round of bug fixes.  Most will probably do unnoticed.  There weren't many feature releases (for basketball sites) this time around, but here is one that will help with comments.

There's now a link under the comments box that reads "Show Formatting Guide."  These are quick markups that can be put on text for bold, italic, etc.  The formatting buttons above still work, but if you prefer to just type stuff, these really help.

I'll try to keep you up to date on all of the new changes.  Thanks for being a part of the greatest fan blogging/community on the net.

In addition to the video and ad seen on Ball Don't lie, here are some additional "viral" videos from the marketing/ad agency.  I guess they're suppose to look like they're sitting around chatting during filming breaks.  You can download the .wmv files from their site here.  But if they're suppose to be viral, then you probably shouldn't put "viral" in the file name.  Here they are in YouTube format.

My favorite part is in the first video when Chris Paul talks about Matt Harpring, the football player.  Classic.  He must read SLCDunk.  And  the last vid looks like LeBron is trying to make Deron and Paul mess up their lines.

An open thread for those needing an outlet to post their thoughts while watching the USA take on Angola. 

I haven't commented much about the games so far.  But after watching the past few contests, I've taken down a few notes.

Everyone is concerned about the lack of three-point shooting for team USA.  And they should be.  But they will come around.  Even Chris Paul can hit those nearly college-range threes.

The biggest problem I see is that it seems like team USA is playing the game like an All-Star game.  I guess it is really if you're just looking at who is on the team.  But the one-on-ones and crowd-pleasing dunks might come back to haunt them.

Their strongest suit has been their defense.  They get a ton of steals which lead to a lot of fast break dunks.  Defense has been what's carried them so far.  My biggest concern is how poorly they run the fast break if there's a defender back.  It seems as though they're more concerned about the alley-oop, behind-behind-the-back, and no-look plays rather than just playing fundamental basketball. Maybe that's the Sloan coming out in me.  But it really looks like the first three quarters of the All-Star game when everyone is trying to show up the others. 

When they start facing tougher teams and they're not hitting the outside shot, they're going to need their D and the points off those turnovers.  Let's just hope that a botched NBA Jam-type play doesn't come back to haunt them.

And has anyone else noticed that Boozer has changed his free-throw shooting a bit?  He doesn't bend his knees as far and he's got a slightly different shot.  I'll have to see if I can find footage.  But don't worry, the reach-from-behind-foul-after-your-man-is-by-you move is in full effect.