Straight clean up on aisle 3. That’s hilarious.
1 Like
Luka still playing even if it’s in the loser’s bracket. Insane, given Americans dont even want to play for team usa non olympics
3 Likes
Team usa does not medal
https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1700821816720429550
Send the photo to Hodge
1 Like
Embarrassing and theres no Redeem team on the horizon.
Miss Kobe team USA is missing true Mamba Mentality
4 Likes
They should have Jay Huff and Ty Jerome on that team. Perfect for international game I think. Especially Jay
5 Likes
Lost in WC quarterfinals and still won the Olympics last time. Some of the stars will go to Paris next summer and we’ll be fine
3 Likes
Yeah, feels like a two things can be true at the same time situation: the rest of the world is catching up, but in the next several years at least, the USA should be the favorites to win any international competition where we send our best players and take it reasonably seriously.
6 Likes
Yeah, to me (and seemingly all of our top-line talent) the Olympics is what matters. That’s where USA Basketball created the unbeatable mythology.
The ‘72 gold medal game makes my blood boil, and it happened 13 years before I was born.
7 Likes
No more Villanova players on the world stage please
2 Likes
And thank you. Atleast until Jay Wright is the coach. I dont know how Kerr is rated as a basketball coach but I think he is very overrated
3 Likes
There’s been talk about making Jay Wright the full time coach . Not as a volunteer for a couple months at a time. I don’t know how much difference that would make, but it’s an interesting idea.
6 Likes
I think this team wins it if it had Bam, Draymond in place of Portis and Kessler. And maybe a more
physical wing/forward instead of Ingram (like a Jerami Grant type). Banchero as a backup 5 was a cute idea that worked well on offense but had big problems on defense and Ingram was surplus to requirements with the other primary ballhandler-type players on the team.
6 Likes
That’s always the problem with All-Star type teams. The best individual players usually donMt form the best team when you squash ‘em together.
6 Likes
True that’s especially the case when the All star team is made up of non all stars
3 Likes
Yeah, @BDragon hit it on the head. The 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams were basically teams of All-Stars and they dominated everyone. I actually thought this team was decently built given that seemingly no top-20 American player was available. They had a reasonable theory of how they wanted to play (5 out, fast), Ant was in the 2010 Durant role of “the next guy,” and Haliburton and Reaves were home runs for the second unit. Josh Hart was the right kind of player to fit into that first unit instead of Ingram, but they needed the more talented version that was either bigger (Aaron Gordon) or a more willing shooter (Jerami Grant).
2 Likes
Yeah. In football, you can take a less talented/athletic team and scheme them to victory if things go well. But in hoops with a couple weeks practice together, tops, you’re just trying to get everything on the same page before the games start. No making up for lack of talent.
1 Like
All you have to do is take a look at the US players who didn’t go. Pick a team any 10 you want and tell me the 10 guys sent to Manila were better.
Give me Brogdon Jrue-Holiday Klay Thompson, Trey Murphy Jarrett Allen
Would be fun with pick n roll, floor spacing and defensive intensity.
1 Like
I think they’ll be OK for the Olympics:
Curry, KD, AD, Tatum, Draymond all described as “prepared to commit” in addition to Bron of course. Booker, Dame, Fox, Kyrie all described as interested in playing too.
10 Likes