USA Basketball

2016 team
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl9gDMZVEAAQ9hG.jpg[img]
http://olympics.si.com/olympics/2016/06/27/usa-basketball-roster-2016-olympics

whoops
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl9gDMZVEAAQ9hG.jpg

this team is weird and therefore I think will be fun to watch

what other teams are even good anymore? Spain seems super old at this point. France and Brasil might be good, Lithuania?

http://www.fiba.com/rankingmen

Uh oh Dray could cause an international incident

this team def the first one thats vulnerable to loss since the last time they loss, dont know if any of the other teams are good tho

really want kd to back out then wed be onto something

australia maybe? idk

if the last FIBA cup squads were any indication, the one that got furthest before ultimately being defeated by USA was...lithuania? spain generally good but they'll be down a major gasol

lithuania-USA game also almost had a fight between boogie and jonas v lol

croatias got a bunch of young dudes iirc prob too green tho

French roster p good w batum, TP, Diaw, laveurgne, ajinca,
http://www.eurobasket.com/France/basketball-National-Team.asp

spain, i forgot about rudy and sergio yeah they should be p good
http://www.eurobasket.com/Spain/news/451456/Spanish-National-Team-2016

and mirotic. pau and juan carlos and calderon are all just old tho

pau cn still get buckets

def, always balls out w international ball too

Who you guys think the starting five is for the title game

boogie-kd-pg-klay-kyrie

tough call between DJ and Boogie

ya thats the one i was puzzling over

could also see them starting Melo over PG

u cld conceivably go w D at the 1 with lowery too but idk

i think if melo starts then DJ starts. if PG starts then boogie starts

rather have pg being a jack of all trades low usage guy than melo out there hoisting imo

Dunno if he'll start but melo always tears it up in international ball

Melo is our all-time hoister in international competition, he's gonna be the splash older cousin this time

This roster just seems weird overall though so many swing guys who could all conceivably play the 3, guess they'll spread out from 2 to 4

yeah i think it's time for him to take a lesser role but he def loves international ball and may get the nod cos of experience

yeah there isnt a trad PF on that roster xp

I want to see Boogie and Green play together :)

goon ball gonna be v hype

i am excited for this roster tbh

also no white dudes on the team

no truly good NBA wites this year, least not american wites

this does remind me that mason plumdawg made the 2014 fiba team and gordon hayward didn't and it brought great consternation to a handful of jazz beat writers on twitter

hayward more deserving than harrison

i think he got an invite but said he wanted to hang out w his new kid

oh

espn users

93% kyrie
43% klay 28% george 24% butler
74% durant 13% melo
36% green 31% melo 22% durant
57% cousins 28% jordan

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4041877-155/utah-jazz-gordon-hayward-to-skip yea he got baby no. 2 on the way xp

kyrie, klay, durant, draymond, boogie is a great starting 5

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl-4_iIUkAAm0iw.jpg

photographer must have been fond of that backdrop

lol durant

lol I just got that pic.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmAn8ssXEAEk8rK.jpg:large
did they use puff paint for the lettering or what

why are they covering their dicks

they all have NRBs

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/06/2016-olympics-basketball-united-states-dream-team-rankings

lol Nike stuck all the non nike dudes in the back and burned out their shoes
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnqtzYHVMAAxrJb.jpg

ha nice

Nick DePaula ‏@NickDePaula 56m56 minutes ago
A USA tradition since 2008, when players lined up in reverse order so Coach K himself could block Dwight's adidas
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnqyxTNUMAEzjNs.jpg:large

a company man to the core

kobe wearing the generic team shoes or is everyone wearing kobes

btw was thinking the other day abt how kidd wldve been an alltimer if only he knew how to shoot

lmao this usa roster is all wings except for boogie and deandre

wow that 2008 pic, so obvious. yah looks like everyone wearing generic Kobe's unless they had their own line (CP/Melo jordans, LBJs). looks like wade almost got any with one there but nah converse owns nike

Kurt Helin ‏@basketballtalk 16s17 seconds ago
Report: Marc Gasol not playing for Spain in Olympics

bummer

Aww I always enjoy the full double gasol Spain lineup

lol draymond has made like 4 shots so far in 5 games, hitting nothing but backboard often.

france just got blown tf out by australia while looking extremely shook

2016 summer olympics in rio de janeiro - hoops thread

here

Colangelo stepping down from USA bball

highlights from the usa vs aus game this morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw1wVCsxFnk

3 minutes left USA down 4 to Aussies

patty thrillz BALLIN

first win over the usa by australia

this usa team is gonna have to actually play good basketball

teams thatve been playing together forever can close big talent gaps

if yr team is bron kd et al u dont really have to worry about it but if kemba is yr best guy...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl-4_iIUkAAm0iw.jpg

this was a good pic

was all the negative space editorial foreshadowing or

One of the worst chokes in sports history from Turkey. Up 1 with 9 seconds left and they miss 4 consecutive free throws

Erdogan’s fault

Kanter cursed them to help his new teammates.

Curry has committed to play at the Tokyo olympics.... wonder if colangelo will allow him to play...

so has dame

Curry has committed to play at the Tokyo olympics.... wonder if colangelo will allow him to play...

― big city slam (Spottie), Wednesday, September 18, 2019 12:13 PM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol i mean are you really wondering about this?

No was being facetious

Thought that colangelo quote was idiotic.

probably time to give the reins to somebody else

hill seems like an interesting choice. definitely a very different career path than colangelo.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31188277/usa-basketball-picks-grant-hill-replace-jerry-colangelo-managing-director

Team USA announces basketball roster:

Bam Adebayo
Bradley Beal
Devin Booker
Kevin Durant
Jerami Grant
Draymond Green
Jrue Holiday
Zach LaVine
Damian Lillard
Kevin Love
Khris Middleton
Jayson Tatum

Coaches:
Pop
Steve Kerr
Lloyd Pierce
Jay Wright

very strange team. i dont get the k love inclusion at all

cant really remember which teams can compete but here are the FIBA rankings
https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen

I’m trying to stitch together a starting five from that and it’s like dame, booker, kd, bam, draymond? that team doesn’t have a real center at all!

i think their plan is to just outgun everyone and punish the gasol bros and jokic and gobert and whoever else

durant is not actually playing right

he loves to ball

i see it more like starters:

dame
beal
khris
kd
bam

2nd unit:

jrue
booker
lavine
khris/tatum
dray

spot minutes:

grant
love

you could swap jrue and beal defense for offense depending on the matchups

durant is not actually playing right

― k3vin k., Monday, June 28, 2021 4:40 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

why wouldnt he?

kd will play c

some center but wont start at center

why wouldnt he?

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Monday, June 28, 2021 7:58 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

he’s getting old and just had a huge injury?

This team will lose

to whomst

big mistake going away from the all celtics team if anything they should have gone with more celtics

theres no way you can defeat top level international competition with only one celtic

why doesn't this team have more of "the young guys"

does spottie thing kris middleton is better than jayson tatum???????????

if i'm making a team for the olympics it's like

lamelo
booker
tatum
zion
ayton

trae
donovan mitchell
ingram
bam
myles turner

ja
brown

idk just spitballing but i think they're all under 25 and this would be way more fun

and they would just athletic those euros out of the gym

does spottie thing kris middleton is better than jayson tatum???????????

guess i'm in charge of team usa now, it's a burden but i will do my best for my country

https://acegif.com/wp-content/uploads/flag-america-usa.gif

if i'm making a team for the olympics it's like

lamelo
booker
tatum
zion
ayton

trae
donovan mitchell
ingram
bam
myles turner

jabrown

idk just spitballing but i think they're all under 25 and this would be way more fun

This team will lose

Judging on past games, international rules and officiating appear to be a difficult adjustment for US players who haven't been exposed much to them. That, plus developing a sense of your teammates by playing together, have always been the weaknesses of the US teams. The talent is always off the charts.

and they would just athletic those euros out of the gym

I respect your hoops opinions more than just about anyone, but this doesn't happen! We've been burned before with this mindset

yeah youre prob right but still it would be fun to see them try

very strange team. i dont get the k love inclusion at all
― pure rim rest (Spottie), Monday, June 28, 2021

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/q-and-a/jalen-rose-on-the-nba-playoffs

You recently said that the Cavs forward Kevin Love was chosen for Team U.S.A. because there was a desire for a team that wasn’t all Black. You then said you misspoke. What do you think now about the way the team is chosen?

So being a multimedia personality, it’s like being a referee. When I blow the whistle, the team that gets the call, they go to the free-throw line and they are happy that they got the whistle in their favor. The team that the call went against, they want to challenge the call.

For me, there’s two different styles of media. There’s the news-style media, for example, that I do on “N.B.A. Countdown.” That’s where you have the stats, right, you have the facts, right, and want to make sure that you’re delivering and you’re sticking the landing. A show like “Jalen & Jacoby,” that’s a variety show. It’s an opinion show. So what you do, as you know, is to try to entertain your audience in a provocative way. You do it, in this case, through sports. So as somebody that has covered and followed the N.B.A. for as long as I have, when I first saw Team U.S.A.’s roster, the first thing that came to mind to me was that Kevin Love, based on his play this year, didn’t deserve to be on that team.

I really hate that it kind of became what it became, because everybody that we speak on—this will be my nineteenth consecutive year covering the N.B.A. on television—each of the players that I cover or talk about, or coaches, I’m one text away from that person at all times. So my first overarching point was if we had to pick twelve players to go represent Team USA, I didn’t think he should have been one of those twelve players. So then it’s, like, O.K., what is the reason that he’s on the team? My conclusion about tokenism was just an opinion; it wasn’t personal. Me saying that in 2020, that it’s O.K. to have an all-Black team, it didn’t mean that I didn’t know that we didn’t have an all-Black team in the past. I clearly do know that. But, also, when you’ve been doing this for so very long, you assess yourself. One of the reasons that I feel that I went wrong is because I’m integrated in the N.B.A. family. If that’s going to be somebody’s opinion, which is a valid opinion that a lot of people are going to have when they see that roster—if that’s going to be said, I deduced that it shouldn’t be said by me.

pretty much, and i think he'd agree with your paraphrase!

Popovich and the Team USA coaching staff running lines at practice: pic.twitter.com/OrdDRnHdCd

— Noah Magaro-George (@N_Magaro) July 9, 2021

lol nice

Kerr absolutely dogging it

was gonna say something about him then remembered the crazy back stuff he had going on recently. whole spine might be fused together.

all fun and games until pop has a coronary

nigerian team is very impressive!

This team will lose

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, June 28, 2021 7:16 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nigeria's eight NBA players on its training camp roster:

Precious Achiuwa (Miami)

Chimezie Metu (Sacramento)

Jordan Nwora (Milwaukee)

Jahlil Okafor (Detroit),

Josh Okogie (Minnesota)

KZ Okpala (Miami)

Miye Oni (Utah)

Gabe Nnamdi Vincent (Miami)

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 9, 2021

uhhh

Team USA has now lost to Australia 91-83, dropping to 0-2 in exhibition play.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 13, 2021

its because they don't have Middleton and Holiday

this is feeling 2004y in the sense that they just loaded up with stars without thinking about roster construction or continuity

Seems bad.

is pop uhh doing a good job over there

sort of feel like international games don’t really matter, they should just award the game to the team with the best players

is pop uhh doing a good job over there

― lag∞n, Monday, July 12, 2021 10:16 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

nope!

is pop uhh doing a good job over there

― lag∞n, Monday, July 12, 2021 9:16 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol i feel like every player says they wanna play for him but never want to get yelled at by him so i kinda feel like his magic is pretty limited in this venue

like if this was 10 years ago he'd be chewing them out for being gutless and not respecting their competition and not sharing the ball, but this is a working vacation for these guys

yeah it kinda seems like the players view it more as a some sort of nba bonding retreat rather than a thing where you try to win the games whenever they ask the celtics who were on that last team about it they talk like they had an amazing time lol

yeah the stakes could not possibly be lower

xp that's well said, i think usa basketball is a pretty flawed concept until they get embarrassed and then next time everybody gets pissed off and they try hard for one event. it will never happen but i wonder what it would look like if they took a harder stance on participation, like right now it seems like anyone who's a big enough name who wants to play gets to play and they're scared to say no since that would alienate that guy forever. but that is not a sound method of team building.

lol

.@BasketballAus Welcome.

pic.twitter.com/oYoah7R6uA

— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) July 13, 2021

if you look back at the last three teams we were sending guys like... KD, lebron, kobe, wade, harden, cp3, melo, brow, kyrie, dwight howard all in their primes.

the guys on this team who are in their primes are like... lillard, brad beal, zach lavine. maybe the younger guys like tatum and bam are close. booker, middleton... but they're not even there.

anyway it's just a totally different tier of player than we've been sending lately. i'm not sure it's a roster construction problem as much as it is a talent problem, relative to the expectation

tbh just seems like they're in a transition period between eras, which is pretty much what 2004 was. most of the best american players are older now, the guys who will be the next superstar class (zion, lamelo, trae, ja, tatum etc) are still a bit younger, not to mention guys like cade cunningham, jalen suggs, chet

Feel like US shouldn't need several future HOFers in their prime to beat any other nation. Other teams have some decent players but they play MUCH better at a team. It's such an American mindset to think you can just throw a bunch of talent or Raytheon missiles at another nation and they'll be so shocked and awed that you won't even need to plan any strategery.

Pop shoulda retired w Duncan imo

cant blame him, the post-duncan spurs were in title contention, then they werent. i keep thinking that he sticks around bc he wants to leave the spurs in a more stable spot before peacing out. he was too proud to retire when kawhi forced his way out, and i think that plus his wife passing has put him in a spot where its like...what else does he have left?

Yah, just kinda sad all around. Wonder if he’s be good at calling games

Other teams have some decent players but they play MUCH better at a team. It's such an American mindset to think you can just throw a bunch of talent or Raytheon missiles at another nation and they'll be so shocked and awed that you won't even need to plan any strategery.

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, July 13, 2021 1:02 AM (forty-one minutes ago)

well, it's endemic to the US having an enormous surplus of qualified olympian basketball players, there's going to be more players in the pool, less continuity etc. the other countries who play well together typically have a small group of NBA caliber players who have played in international competition for a decade bcuz they have to in order for the country to be competitive on the international level. this australian team is basically the same one that played in the FIBA world cup in 2019 and very similar to their 2016 olympic team, and patty mills, joe ingless, dellavedova all played in the 2012 olympics. the only player on the USA 2019 FIBA team (which didn't even medal) that played tonight was tatum, and there wasn't a single person from the 2016 olympic team who played in the FIBA world cup, and only KD and draymond were both on the 2016 and 2020 teams, and KD is the only guy from the 2012 team, so the chain has been broken several times over.

i guess the solution would be to require 4 or 6 year commitments out of players but we know that something like that would only drive away the best american players who want to take summers off to rest their bodies for the basketball that actually matters, so i can't blame either team USA or the players for not working something like that out. also even then, you're often dealing w/ other international teams that have guys who have been playing together for like 10 years.

when the US has its best players out there, and those players have played a few times before -- like the lebron, wade, kobe, melo, cp3 era teams -- they have proven unbeatable, altho even the 2016 team got pushed by an argentina team that had been together for a long time. there's going to be parts of the cycle where the guys who have accomplished everything you could possibly accomplish at the international level drop out, and the replacements don't have the talent/continuity combo to beat some of the international teams that have been at it forever. tho it should be noted this team hasn't actually lost anything aside from exhibition games which exist to foster the continuity so we'll see how it goes

and i think this year even if guys like lebron, harden, kyrie, AD, donovan mitchell had agreed to play they all would've dropped out after being injured in the playoffs

pic.twitter.com/cBgllDhh6R

— jason c. (@netw3rk) July 13, 2021

No smooth sailing for Team USA under Gregg Popovich so far 👀

What's the problem? 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ktGr5SQynX

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 13, 2021

Jordan they have not been “proven unbeatable”

They barely beat Spain in 2012, even 2008 was pretty close. And as you said Argentina was close in 2016. Stop living in the 90s.

yeah the redeem team game vs spain was really close and intense. got it down to like 4-5 points with a few minutes to go and bailed us out with 4 point play

and that was wade, lbj, cp, melo, dwight and kobe all in their primes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHxLqT21r8

forget they got it back to 4 again after the kobe play with a couple mins left

pretty cool that these cohesive teams take out the usa super teams, familiarity with international rules/officiating etc obvs a factor too

seeing a lot of stuff on twitter today about how bad the ref baiting has gotten and watching the US players trying that stuff here and not getting the whistles . which... is awesome. make the game more pure please.

3 point line is about 2 feet closer iirc. i didn't see the game but my son said nigeria just bombed three after three.

also playing the likes of beal and lavine together is no good. not enough two-way players on this roster.

xp yeah they were 20/42 lol

any tournament with single elimination games can get pretty loose

coach k's college approach i.e. "your team is stacked, just don't lose to a worse team" might transfer better to international ball than whatever pop is used to

Also K could coach without worrying too much about politics cos he never had to worry about his rep as a nba coach or possibly coaching any of these guys in the future

he need not filter his emojis

AP source: USA Basketball guard Bradley Beal has entered the health and safety protocols in Las Vegas, raising the possibility that he may not be able to attend the Tokyo Games. There is nothing definitive about that at this point.

— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) July 15, 2021

and there it is

Wizards' Bradley Beal will not play in the Tokyo Olympics for Team USA, USAB says.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 15, 2021

shd be myles turner imo, but saw that duncan robinson is being considered lol

lol

..😔🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/R7qPMlfhg5

— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) July 15, 2021

trae should be on the team

would be way more fun if they had trae, zion and ja in there

lmao @ trae posting that

After spending 10 days in Las Vegas preparing for the Olympics, Cleveland’s Kevin Love is withdrawing from Team USA and won’t travel to Tokyo, sources tell ESPN. Love is still returning to full form from a right calf injury that kept him out a significant part of the NBA season.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 16, 2021

someone call gordon hayward

so they have three open spots now?

beal, love, grant?

then three of their guys (book, jrue, khris) wont be showing up until like week of.

There’s significant support and momentum for Spurs forward Keldon Johnson to be added to 12-man Team USA roster, sources tell ESPN. He’s been playing with Olympic team as member of USA Select group, well-conditioned and has developed into a favorite of decision-makers and staff.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 16, 2021

BIG BODYYYYYY

Sources: JaVale McGee has been selected to join the 12-man Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 16, 2021

this is basically jerry colangelo unzipping his skin like a lizard villain and inside is matt armstrong

lmao

can you get any medals better than gold?

this is basically jerry colangelo unzipping his skin like a lizard villain and inside is matt armstrong

― J0rdan S., Friday, July 16, 2021 1:02 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

hahahahaha

dying

wow j0rd lol

is javale actually the best center available? i think jarrett allen and myles turner have been ruled out, but surely there are better options... bropez? nerlens?? daniel gafford???

there was a big twitter rush earlier today to point out how good javale could be if he figures out the fiba goaltending rules.

with the number of teams hes jumped between in recent years, hes probably v good at picking up his job really quickly, so theres that

so youre saying he is in fact best player available? bc damn

i think theyre still stacked with talent and just need a big to bang wit the goberts of the world

and that big is... javale

its just wild that the us only has ~4 centers who get paid and the rest are either vet mins or rookies

According to everyone Javale is just a professional now

seems like team usa is stoked to add role players in those replacement spots, makes sense only so many minutes/shots to go around

jerami grant is not that long removed from being a role player himself. dray is spiritually a role player. but yeah a lot of 1-on-1 scorers. beal leaving is not a _good_ thing, but his role is duplicated elsehwre in the lineup. love getting replaced by mcgee is a good thing bc the latter can actually guard bigs.

yeah the issue is not really in role players its that they dont have enough star level 2 way players

Why not put like Rob Will or Jarrett Allen out there instead of some elderly guy

williams is probably injured and allen doesnt want to mess up his free agency!

i agree that rob williams should be in the olympics and get a gold medal

javale will barely play. i think the bigger scandal is pop showing favoritism by taking keldon johnson over a number of other perimeter players.

its p sketch. i like keldon a lot. he's a heart and hustle guy, and he was already on the select team playing in the exhibitions (p well, i should add), so i think thats part of it. but he's also 21 and not going to be a "matchup" guy. im happy as a spurs fan that hes going to get this experience/exposure, and if i gave a shit abt this wackass country id be furious.

Great start

lol

hate that theyre massacring my boy pop with takes but on the other hand lol

hahahahaha

burn it down man, let AAU kids play or something

i think thats the problem here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw57_mRh6tc

obv not USA basketball but thought I'd keep Olympic hoops in general over here

understood, and also wow at luka

great, exciting game yesterday v france. good d near the end from USA i thought but no offensive rhythm at all

as always, luka's game is so weirdly, casually, consistently excellent and slow.
he's looking a little chunky atm?

brian windhorst does not really get mad about stuff normally but his disgust with coach pop and the way he is handling team usa was not really concealed in windy's latest pod.

From today's Athletic

TOKYO — Months after LeBron James lost a Finals, he’d always say it was something he’d never get over. Good thing he never had to be Devin Booker, who barely had 10 minutes to try and put it behind him.

“I’m a forward thinker and able to move onto the next thing, and be able to take my ‘L’ and move on,” Booker said Wednesday, in his first comments since the night his Phoenix Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, eight days ago.

Booker’s situation is unprecedented, not because his team lost an NBA Finals or even because he had to follow it by playing for Team USA, but that he had to do so in the same week. And two players from the Bucks are not only also on the American team, but circumstances were such that the three had to share a private plane ride across the Pacific last weekend — a day after the Bucks’ championship parade.

“The memories are there, but it’s nothing personal between us,” Booker said. “We lost and that’s it, and I’m man enough to accept that and move on. There’s no hate towards Jrue or K Mid.”

A couple of naps later, and Booker is now a starter on the USA Basketball team that’s trying to win gold. He scored 16 points in a win over Iran Wednesday. During his remarks to media members after the game, the tone of his voice sounded like he was indeed still hurting and searching after a crushing Finals loss in which the Suns took the first two games of the series.

He talked about how “it’s not going to be easy to ever even get the opportunity to be there again,” and if his teams do reach another Finals, and winning it, “you look back at the one that you lost and say what could have been.”

Booker’s coach on Team USA, Gregg Popovich, and teammate Draymond Green (not to mention assistant coach Steve Kerr, but we digress) have been in Booker’s shoes, having lost a Finals. He said Popovich and Green discussed it with him “in short conversation.”

“Talkin’ about it with Draymond, and him stressing the fact that it’s not gonna be that easy to get back to the Finals,” Booker said. “I remember us as a team saying that in the locker room after we lost — you know we’ve got to understand, it’s going to be even harder to make it to the point we were at. … But I’m excited for the experience. It was great. I am glad I got to do it, obviously ended up on the wrong side of the stick, but that’s life.”

Booker said he watched Team USA’s exhibition games on off nights during the Finals. Asked about playing alongside Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, and the rest of his American teammates, Booker said he was “just soaking it all in.”

“Usually you’re not on the same side as these guys,” he said. “Any short conversation or anything they say, I’m a sponge to it. I’m listening, and not just asking all questions, but observing from the side and taking bits and pieces. … Any bits and pieces I can take that I can learn from and I can take back to my team when we go back, I am trying to take advantage of that.”

K Mid is a solid nickname

Lol

Colangelo not holding back on Kevin Love 😳 pic.twitter.com/dmIepxpJaj

— Crow (@Crowitzki) July 30, 2021

I am glad I got to do it, obviously ended up on the wrong side of the stick, but that’s life.

As I've pointed out, the NBA season and playoffs is mostly about identifying which 29 teams lose. Getting to the Finals doesn't change that, but makes it hurt more.

good game between spain & USA, we can’t make a three & the spanish we’re going nuts but cooled off

This is nuts. Rubio is outshooting everyone

these goaltending rules are fun

NBA gotta bring that over

rubio was unguardable haha

the garuba kid the rockets drafted is gonna be a really good defender in the NBA, only 19 and he was matching bam athletically. not sure if he has much offensive skill at the moment but he looks like an ideal small ball 5 as far as defense goes

good win for USA, spain was playing really confidently and crisply in the first half. the US basically needs to play like the heatles and just force a bunch of turnovers w/ pressure on defense and get out in transition. the half court is still a bit junky tho frankly they had some sick team possessions in the second half but when they have guys like jrue, KD, bam, tatum, draymond etc out there they can really leverage their athleticism and get easy baskets.

they were simply just not shooting well in the first half. bam had fumble fingers last night.

semis vs the Aussies just started

Bam really cant hold the ball at all

i wonder if it’s something about the bell

australia is playing a great game so far

this is brutal down 12 and 0-9(?) from three

ugly first half

hard to win a basketball game not making threes but the USA also is getting killed at the rim

getting killed in every aspect of the game

hate pop benching lillard for this entire stretch

lillards been bad tho

he needs to play bam too they need his size on his court, aussies had a lay up line to the rim with dray at center

felt pretty similar to the spain game, just needed the three point shooting to normalize. australia is a better team tho

dray got into foul trouble and played soft and pop stuck with him cos of how bad bam was playing. this team is just so poorly put together

all these guys are just used to having the ball in their hands all game and getting into a rhythm. dudes like jrue, book, draymond, middleton keep the ball moving (generally) cos they play off ball some. dame, lavine, tatum are stuck in mud out there

and KD just washes it all away lol

KD is really remarkable

one of a kind

well that escalated quickly

this team is kinda janky and has had some rough starts but i’ve grown an affinity for them. when they play well they’re fun to watch, a lot of guys i like rooting for

Feels so good watching all good vibes olympics KD

this team is kinda janky and has had some rough starts but i’ve grown an affinity for them. when they play well they’re fun to watch, a lot of guys i like rooting for

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, August 4, 2021 10:34 PM (forty-eight seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i agree, i like how imperfect it is. makes for more interesting games if anything

lmao draymond

it’s a great context for him you get the full KD experience in an unimpeachably positive format

my heart is so full of love for draymond and his many strengths and weaknesses

not a revelation but if the USA hits threes they aren’t going to lose

nets getting patty mills is kinda unfair

i see jrue still cant make layups

my heart is so full of love for draymond and his many strengths and weaknesses

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, August 4, 2021 10:37 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

Relentless pursuit. pic.twitter.com/hFGPqt2RNU

— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) August 5, 2021

watching france vs slovenia right now. i love how these games are reffed. they just let them play for the most part but 'non basketball' plays like hacking on fast breaks are two shots and the ball which is awesome.

USA starting this game 2 for 37

i haven't been watching the games until now, but somehow the ball + the rims seem so different.

my jinx worked

good job. it helps that kevin durant is very good at basketball, too, though.

must be pretty cool to have Durant on your team

curious why the USA is just willingly switching the pick and roll allowing gobert to play like he’s shaq

Yah the game plan vs Gobert is sus

jrue has been the second best player on this is team

batum has been weirdly absent

Until that 3 yeah

Really good bam game

Jrues shot selection <<<<

shout out to the french coach for benching gobert for like half the fourth quarter

France doin a lot of bad basketball things

Nice to see dame have a good game finally

tatum feels like the carmelo of this team where he’s extraneously good for the role of third option

de Colo has musketeer aura

Kd not fighting for the ball wtf

Uhhhhh

Good game

we couldn’t have done it without lloyd pierce

the shenanigans at the end there notwithstanding, this ended up being a pretty drama free run to the gold. they basically played poor first halves vs spain and australia but still blew both of them out and they were in control this entire game it never felt like france was gonna take the lead let alone hold it

2024 should be fun with a lot of guys on this team coming back and adding ja, zion, trae, cade etc

that was fun. adios basketball, see you in a few months

Nice to see dame have a good game finally

I'm guessing the weird, slick, oversized international ball threw off Dame's shot more than a little. Other players, like Tatum, seemed to adjust to it better.

i was pretty sure they had it wrapped up, but dame missing those two fts made me a little tense.

feel like team usa needs another good center to back up or even play with bam, but i'm not really sure who my first choice would be.

Ben Simmons

myles turnerrrrr

_Nice to see dame have a good game finally_

I'm guessing the weird, slick, oversized international ball threw off Dame's shot more than a little. Other players, like Tatum, seemed to adjust to it better.

Really think jrue and draymond were the key to a lot of the teams success.

Who else in the nba would call out kd like this

Draymond Green yells at Kevin Durant for not contesting the three. On the next possession KD blocks a three point attempt pic.twitter.com/Ru8PYFUZ9e

— Thomas Sullivan (@Yfz84) August 7, 2021

dame couldn't play his normal game where everything on the court revolves around him, and some of his three shooting was a bit off. it's such a small sample at the end of the day. but he was better tonight.

It’s the same size.

According to this site the official NBA ball is 29.5 inches in circumference and exactly 22 oz. (~625 grams), while the official international FIBA ball is 30.7 inches in circumference and the weight can vary between 567 and 650 gm.

feel like team usa needs another good center to back up or even play with bam, but i'm not really sure who my first choice would be.

― circles, Saturday, August 7, 2021 12:39 AM (thirteen minutes ago)

anthony davis will be 32 in 2024 it's not out of the question that he could play. otherwise it's basically like myles turner and christian wood lol. jarret allen and mitchell robinson are like the next rung, not very inspiring.

but by 2024 you'd have wiseman, evan mobley as potential options, chet holmgren. zion could be considered a center. this team just had a weird dip with the bigs.

Pamela and JaVale McGee are now officially the 2nd mother / son to both win Olympic gold medals - first for the USA. The other pair was Valentina Rastvorova (URS/FEN-1960) and her son, Yevgeny Grishin (URS/WAP-1980).

— Bill Mallon (@bambam1729) August 7, 2021

According to this site the official NBA ball is 29.5 inches in circumference and exactly 22 oz. (~625 grams), while the official international FIBA ball is 30.7 inches in circumference and the weight can vary between 567 and 650 gm.

― it is to laugh, like so, ha! (Aimless), Saturday, August 7, 2021 12:58 AM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ok the allowed variation in weight of the fiba ball is insane

Yah they are both 29.5 I dunno what that’s on about? Inflate it to death?

Dray having himself some fun on twitter dunking on the disbelievers

is this the first time US lost an olympic game and still went on to win the gold?

Oh man

It looks like Aron Baynes' injury during the Boomers' bronze-medal run in Tokyo is more serious than initially thought. 😢 pic.twitter.com/SFThluDZev

— theScore (@theScore) August 7, 2021

whaaaaat

aw, that sucks, i didn't realize he'd been hurt.

i feel like in the team usa context, centers who can protect the rim and play good man defense on other teams' skilled centers are the priority. shooting, passing, switchability are all nice, too, but go-to scoring ability is not important when they usually have that from 1 to 4.

if he's healthy and wants to play, brow is the best option, but i'm skeptical that both of those things will be true. myles turner should fit well. he obviously should have made the team over kevin love this year. if any of wiseman, mobley, and holmgen look good in three years, that'd be awesome. would love to have zion on team usa, but he doesn't really bring the stuff i'd want from a center on defense. i'd rather have him wrecking guys at the 4.