Yet, when the ballots were turned in, Luis Scola received eight votes, Carmelo got six, Kobe got three, LeBron got two and Leandro Barbosa got one.
When the word got out about the final results, the immediate conclusion among most reporters was that most of the Latin American writers chose Scola, while the Americans split the votes. Then, I found out that two Americans actually voted for Scola.
How un-American is that? I jokingly approached one of the American writers about voting for Scola and he said, "I sure did. Argentina wouldn’t be here without him." I won’t out the writer unless he outs himself. I have to respect him for sticking to his guns. Doesn’t make him right, though.
Scola is nice, but you mean to tell me that Carmelo wouldn’t have dominated this tournament if he played for Puerto Rico; that LeBron wouldn’t have been amazing playing for Canada or the Virgin Islands? I know those guys couldn’t play for those countries, I’m just trying to put what they did into perspective. They shouldn’t be discredited for being surrounded by superior talent. The U.S. would not have been that dominant without them.