What does Team USA basketball say about the state of hoops?

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Jason Svoboda

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What does Team USA basketball say about the state of hoops?

Just curious what everyone thinks about the current state surrounding Team USA basketball. They have some of the best players on the planet. They have a coaching staff that is regarded the best available. Yet they are still getting beaten by "lesser" competition. Believe they had a 25 game win streak going into the loss against France but this L combined with how poorly they looked in the Vegas exhibitions, something isn't quite right.

 

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The international game appears to be much more physical. Scores in the 80’s and 70’s are the norm. Our players are used to getting calls they just aren’t getting.

Also, maybe not so much with France but with other teams, the competition has been training and playing together for years. We just put this squad together like a month ago with most players just leaving the NBA playoffs and heading to team USA practice.

Thirdly, the team is full of ball dominant players. Role players actually matter, and we don’t have many, if any at all. Just about all of our players are used to being the man with the ball on his NBA team.

Lastly, we just don’t seem to give a shit. Coach Pop included. We have a collection of dudes that just don’t seem interested or prideful in representing their country.
 
Got bullied. Tried to play small and France just kept feeding their 7 footers and getting offensive rebounds. Kept having Durant getting switched into guys 50 lbs heavier than he is and he ended up in foul trouble.

Hard to use your speed and quickness to get out an run when you are constantly taking the ball out after made shots. France was also willing to foul often to stop the US from running.

That said, right now they can’t shoot. Didn’t score the last four minutes and one of those possessions they had 4-5 shots in one trip down and missed all of them.

NBA players arent going to get the same treatment in a FIBA game they will in an NBA game. Won’t get to the line nearly as much. Won’t get as many And 1’s. The world has closed the gap in talent and in knowledge of the game. And most international players are not intimidated or in awe of the US like they have been in the past.

Based on the pre-Olympic results and the first game against France I would not expect the US to medal.
 
I think it is hilarious and I'm glad they're losing. First to Nigeria and now to France. The NBA is garbage with a bunch of overpaid woke athletes. Time to put some college athletes out there that might actually put their heart into it. NBA players only care about money and Finals rings. They don't care about the Olympics and they don't play hard because if they get hurt then they might lose money, plain and simple.

Kevin Durant being on the team also tells you a lot. He left OKC to play for Golden State right after OKC blew a 3-1 lead to Golden State in the WCF. Literally the most b**** move I've ever seen. I'm sure most of these guys putting on Team USA jerseys just expected to get gold medals given to them for just participating.
 
Bring back the General, Bobby Knight, or how about the dream team, Jordon, Bird, Magic, etc,etc. Sharing the ball, playing team ball, look the dream team had so many studs, but yet they won, and won big, most games were over by half time. You have 5 guys on the court and only one ball, their has to be some give and take. If u play selfish u don't win
This will be a huge wakeup call!! Good for France, just shows sometimes the best best talent does not win.
 
last couple of minutes France just out hustled us they wanted it more, diving for loose balls, and then hitting on a three, the General, down in Bloomington, probably just rolling his eyes team play, sharing the ball, DEFENSE, good luck USA, and I say it sarcastically.
 

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I think it is hilarious and I'm glad they're losing. First to Nigeria and now to France. The NBA is garbage with a bunch of overpaid woke athletes. Time to put some college athletes out there that might actually put their heart into it. NBA players only care about money and Finals rings. They don't care about the Olympics and they don't play hard because if they get hurt then they might lose money, plain and simple.

Kevin Durant being on the team also tells you a lot. He left OKC to play for Golden State right after OKC blew a 3-1 lead to Golden State in the WCF. Literally the most b**** move I've ever seen. I'm sure most of these guys putting on Team USA jerseys just expected to get gold medals given to them for just participating.
Just a bunch of woke liberal communists. Don't care about anything except money, power and cheating.
 
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The international game appears to be much more physical. Scores in the 80’s and 70’s are the norm. Our players are used to getting calls they just aren’t getting.

Also, maybe not so much with France but with other teams, the competition has been training and playing together for years. We just put this squad together like a month ago with most players just leaving the NBA playoffs and heading to team USA practice.

Thirdly, the team is full of ball dominant players. Role players actually matter, and we don’t have many, if any at all. Just about all of our players are used to being the man with the ball on his NBA team.

Lastly, we just don’t seem to give a shit. Coach Pop included. We have a collection of dudes that just don’t seem interested or prideful in representing their country.

Physicality is where I'm putting my bet, too. I also find it interesting that the NBA evolved in the early-to-mid 2000s to more of a wide open European game and went to the extreme where they basically negated post play through rules changes, so the players also evolved to the point where you don't have any American post players that have multiple back-to-the-basket post moves anymore. In fact, most of those guys that make it to the NBA get ran out of the league really quickly. Pretty much any post that does have that skillset is foreign -- Embiid, Jokic, Vucevic, Gobert, etc.

The first three "Dream Teams" featured one, if not two, prominent bigs -- Ewing/Robinson, Shaq/Olajuwon/Robinson, Morning/Garnett and then in 2004 when we got bronze the bigs were Stoudamire/Okafor. Duncan was on that team but I don't recall him playing the post. That team also had really bad guard play after, a bunch of youth and both Shaq/Kobe were left off the team due to long NBA playoffs and a sexual assault case.

I don't really see this changing either. Development of big men is a lost art and they now spend their development time on face up moves, distance shooting, etc. I can't think of a traditional American big that has been in the draft since Jalil Okafor. Best "big" in the upcoming draft is Evan Mobley and he is more like a Tyson Chandler type.
 
What does Team USA basketball say about the state of hoops?

Just curious what everyone thinks about the current state surrounding Team USA basketball. They have some of the best players on the planet. They have a coaching staff that is regarded the best available. Yet they are still getting beaten by "lesser" competition. Believe they had a 25 game win streak going into the loss against France but this L combined with how poorly they looked in the Vegas exhibitions, something isn't quite right.


"lesser" competition? Nigeria has 8 current & 1 former NBA player on their Olympic roster... furthermore 8 of the "Nigerian" players are native-born American citizens, due to IOC's ruling on "citizenship," each nation can determine how "far" onto an athlete's family tree to grant "Olympic citizenship". France has 5 current NBA players and 3 former NBA players on its' roster and all but 1 was born in France (the exception is Belgium-born but raised in France)

As 13 of the players to beat the US ARE NBA players, any argument on 'lesser' and 'international rules vs. NBA rules' must be tempered with reality.

biggest issue(s) for Team USA...
1. 3 players just left the NBA finals
2. to paraphrase Popovich... "we build our national team per tournament, the other nations have more continuity

I'll wait to see how Team USA fares in group play before I lose sleep on their odds of medaling
 
And the long knives start to come out.....


Clowns. It's totally Pop's fault that you shot 36% against France to their 47% and like 70% around the bucket. Bad shooting and defense.

Tatum, KD and Lillard were 5-20 from 3. That's your ballgame when you don't play inspired defense.

That fact that Julius Randle and Mikhail Bridges weren't on the final roster but McGee and Middleton were. Hell, even Zion Williamson should have been there ahead of several of the tomato cans that made it. And Keldon Johnson over Ja Morant or Trae Young? LMAO If Coangelo is still overseeing the roster, it's likely time for him to move on.
 

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Looked better today. Granted Iran sucks but still, they at least hit open shots and looked like they had some pride.

still think Holiday needs to play less. I would play Booker more.
 
I’m back. I had to take a break for my mental health. But I’m back… Withdrawing from SycamorePride is kinda like withdrawing yourself from the Olympics right??
 
I’m back. I had to take a break for my mental health. But I’m back… Withdrawing from SycamorePride is kinda like withdrawing yourself from the Olympics right??

Don't even get me started. The double standard these is mind blowing to me. Could you imagine if Tom Brady withdrew from the Super Bowl in the 3rd quarter due to mental health after throwing 2 picks and his team down 28-7? When I posted something similar on social media, the women essentially wanted to burn me at the stake.

Get out of here with the courageous nonsense. She had an off night. It happens. It's just magnified x infinity because they train for four years for one appearance but it's still the same shit. The whole trying to explain it away as she can paralyze herself... yeah, every athlete can get themselves seriously hurt if they aren't mentally sharp. Again, it happens. Take some personal accountability and just say "I didn't have it tonight" and congratulate who did perform.
 
Looked better today. Granted Iran sucks but still, they at least hit open shots and looked like they had some pride.

still think Holiday needs to play less. I would play Booker more.

100% yes.

They also looked great tonight. They also shot like 65% from the floor. Crazy how good you look when you perform.
 
Don't even get me started. The double standard these is mind blowing to me. Could you imagine if Tom Brady withdrew from the Super Bowl in the 3rd quarter due to mental health after throwing 2 picks and his team down 28-7? When I posted something similar on social media, the women essentially wanted to burn me at the stake.

Get out of here with the courageous nonsense. She had an off night. It happens. It's just magnified x infinity because they train for four years for one appearance but it's still the same shit. The whole trying to explain it away as she can paralyze herself... yeah, every athlete can get themselves seriously hurt if they aren't mentally sharp. Again, it happens. Take some personal accountability and just say "I didn't have it tonight" and congratulate who did perform.
I told my wife, who didn’t agree (I’ve been married long enough to tell 😬) that my problem with Biles was two fold.

First, if this had been an ongoing issue she should have stepped away and let someone else on the team. You don’t go through all the tryouts and travel and first round and then walk. Another girl worked her ass off and was the last person cut who would have given her left arm to go to the Olympics and you took a spot and then quit AFTER you got there.

Second, you have spent the last four years basking in your Olympic results, and you had every right to do it. But you can’t then turn around and say “it’s all too much”. No one forced you to make commercials that talked about how you were the greatest. Can’t have it both ways. If you want the money and the notoriety then you have to take the pressure too.

What really annoys me about the situation is how much time the media spent on her, and how little attention they gave the rest of the girls who went out there and tried to pick up the pieces. Those girls did an amazing job under tough circumstances and no one even mentions it. “Oh you got the silver, that’s great, now let’s talk about Biles for 4 straight hours. In a perfect world she would have just gone home and the media would have focused on and given credit to the girls who actually competed.

Finally, media please stop throwing around the world courageous. Courageous is running into a burning building to save people, or storming a beach under machine gun fire for your country, or entering a building at night chasing after a murderer. Quitting in the middle of an athletic competition is not courageous. It may have been necessary for her and I’m not going to judge that, only she knows, but we are really stretching the word courageous.
 

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The part I funny about the entire Biles situation - she actually thinks people give a shit about gymnastics. It’s just something we casually pay attention to every 4 years. Stop acting like you’re more important than you are.

She said she felt like the “weight of the world was on her shoulders.” Trust me, the world does not care. The complex people can give themselves by living in their little bubble is amazing. What a few people say online or the questions a few reporters ask you is not “the world.” Get over yourself…you will be forgotten about in 5 seconds.

Lastly, I find it interesting how all of these former women Olympic gold medal winning gymnasts are coming to her defense. Claiming how they wish they had been empowered at a younger age to make a similar decision. You know what? You wouldn’t have a gold freakin’ medal if you did! And you know what else? Your opinion wouldn’t matter if you didn’t win that medal. Those women fail to realize they powered through adversity and achieved greatness because of it. And they wish they had been empowered to give up? Come on!
 
Getting back on topic slightly, I thought the team made a nice adjustment at halftime. Starting in the 3rd quarter they really used their length on the wings to jump passes which led to several run outs. Seemed like each time CZH got across half court and went to pass their was a US player there to make the steal. Was a big reason they shot 12/13 in the quarter, most were dunks and layups off of steals.
 
Getting back on topic slightly, I thought the team made a nice adjustment at halftime. Starting in the 3rd quarter they really used their length on the wings to jump passes which led to several run outs. Seemed like each time CZH got across half court and went to pass their was a US player there to make the steal. Was a big reason they shot 12/13 in the quarter, most were dunks and layups off of steals.

Yeah, the defensive intensity was a big difference. They were actually closing out on long balls and I think Durant even blocked one or two.

Slight pivot, but the fact we couldn't even qualify in 3x3 basketball is hilarious to me. I don't know how the hell they select the teams for that, but it needs to change. Watched some of the tomato cans they have and we should be embarrassed as a nation.
 
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