Tokyo Olympic Basketball Tournament Discussion

[Chuck Diesel]

Brook Lopez was a rough fit in 2019 and Pop hardly played him. That, a deeper talent pool and the Bucks still playing make it highly unlikely he's in the mix. With Woj conforming Beal and Tatum tonight they're off to a pretty damn good start. Still, a lot can happen between a "sourced" commitment and actually getting on a plane to Tokyo, as we saw in as we saw with the 8th choice, 8th place team World Cup team. For that reason they'd be well having guys in camp camp they're comfortable with as tangible replacements.

Ideally the Select Team is a mix of the brightest baby stars and hard nosed role players who can help prepare the Senior Team for the physical international competition they’re about to face. Something along the lines of:

LaMelo Ball/Tyrese Haliburton/Jalen Brunson
Gary Trent Jr/Anthony Edwards
Kevin Heurter/Sadiq Bey
Miles Bridges/Jaren Jackson Jr
Wendell Carter/Naz Reid/Isiah Stewart

[Mirotic12]

Those Las Vegas friendlies will tell a lot, They were losing friendlies in 04 and in 19, and they lost official games multiple times those summers as well. Very looking forward to this, I will be crushed if my nation doesnt qualify and join this USA team in action, very looking forward those qualifying tournaments as well.

Team USA is not going to lose any games in the USA, where it's all US refs. They lost prep games to Italy in 2004 and to Australia in 2019 playing games overseas. The 2004 prep game loss to Italy was in Germany, and the 2019 prep game loss to Australia was in Australia.

That isn't happening with US refs.

The weakness will be at center. FIBA rules favor bigmen as far as no defensive 3 second rule and no goaltending. And other countries just have plain have bigger bigs than the US does. Hopefully Bam can be the anchor and I agree with bringing Brook Lopez if possible. Either way I think there will be enough talent on the squad to make them at least slight favorites in my view.

FIBA has the goaltending rule.

[Chuck Diesel]

If I ran USA Basketball I'd be working hard to recruit both Curry brothers in tandem. Seth not only helps lure Steph, he'd give Pop an unprecedented collection of long distance threats, which you can never enough of in a FIBA tournament. Seth also has experience being a role player, something "stars" can struggle with in their more limited USA roles.

Now that Jimmy Butler's out I'd also be putting a call into Royce O'Neal. We need defensive size and toughness on the wing.

Lillard/Lowry/VanVleet
Curry/Curry
Beal/Brogdon/O'Neal
Tatum/Ingram
Bam/Green/Zion

[Johnny Tomala]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10005906-heats-jimmy-butler-reportedly-wont-play-for-team-usa-at-tokyo-olympics

Jimmy Butler will not play at Tokyo Olympics.

[jefe]

If I were Team USA, I'd be talking to Jayson Tatum and Ja Morant. I might even look into Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs as deeper rotation players.

I'm obviously a huge Ja fan, but I don't think the international game suits him, at least not yet. Until he gets a reliable outside jumper, I think he's far less effective under FIBA rules.

[maradro]

Funny how the "players get paid more than CEOs, responsible adults put their employer first and last!" crowd aren't quite as passionate when it comes to their own national team...

Also funny how Americans are always bemoaning the absence of player X Y and Z as if everyone else is always at full strength, just because you haven't heard of a player doesn't mean they're not valuable to their team

Anyways these Olympics, much like this season, probably shouldn't be happening with the pandemic and all the scheduling/injury havoc it has caused but tv/money rule and it will probably have the same effect as the NBA season with injury / reduced crowds making a more unpredictable tournament than usual.

[Danny1616]

This might be the weakest Olympic team of all time. They really can't afford any injuries or late withdrawals.

They said the 2016 was one of the weakest in a while and they absolutely steamrolled the competition.

https://slate.com/culture/2016/08/the-2016-u-s-olympic-basketball-team-is-full-of-weirdo-misfits-who-are-incredibly-fun-to-root-for.html

Though the 2016 U.S. squad is probably the least talented roster of hardwood Olympians in the post–Dream Team era, the Americans were still expected to win in a walk against a weak international field. Former powers like Spain and Argentina boast aging stars like Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili, while scrappy upstarts like Australia and Croatia are still scrappy upstarts. (If Ben Simmons had suited up for the Aussies, they might have been a lot more than scrappy.) But after opening group play with tomato-can blowouts of China and Venezuela, the U.S. had to hold on to beat Australia, Serbia, and France by a combined total of just 16 points.

[Danny1616]

A balanced team would be:

Curry/Young/Lowry
Lillard/Booker
Tatum/Butler/Harris
Zion/Draymond
Bam/Allen

I wouldn't mind that squad.

[Mirotic12]

They said the 2016 was one of the weakest in a while and they absolutely steamrolled the competition.

USA 98 - Australia 88 (10 point win)
USA 94 - Serbia 91 (3 point win)
USA 100 - France 97 (3 point win)
USA 82 - Spain 76 (6 point win)

That's not "steamrolling the competition". Not even remotely close to it.

[TB]

If I ran USA Basketball I'd be working hard to recruit both Curry brothers in tandem. Seth not only helps lure Steph, he'd give Pop an unprecedented collection of long distance threats, which you can never enough of in a FIBA tournament. Seth also has experience being a role player, something "stars" can struggle with in their more limited USA roles.

Now that Jimmy Butler's out I'd also be putting a call into Royce O'Neal. We need defensive size and toughness on the wing.

Lillard/Lowry/VanVleet
Curry/Curry
Beal/Brogdon/O'Neal
Tatum/Ingram
Bam/Green/Zion

I absolutely love the idea of Seth going if more people drop out.

[John Murdoch]

Im suprised Lillard is goin

[homecourtloss]

They won’t do it but the US should punt on this olympics and just send dudes under 25 or something. Guys need rest after such a condescended/weird season.

Why? A gold medal, in many (but different) ways, is as meaningful an NBA title.

Not for Americans it isn’t. I do not know a single person here who would trade an NBA title for a gold medal. I don’t know anyone who’d trade an NBA title for guaranteed X amount straight gold medals.

[homecourtloss]

Those Las Vegas friendlies will tell a lot, They were losing friendlies in 04 and in 19, and they lost official games multiple times those summers as well. Very looking forward to this, I will be crushed if my nation doesnt qualify and join this USA team in action, very looking forward those qualifying tournaments as well.

Team USA is not going to lose any games in the USA, where it's all US refs. They lost prep games to Italy in 2004 and to Australia in 2019 playing games overseas. The 2004 prep game loss to Italy was in Germany, and the 2019 prep game loss to Australia was in Australia.

That isn't happening with US refs.

The weakness will be at center. FIBA rules favor bigmen as far as no defensive 3 second rule and no goaltending. And other countries just have plain have bigger bigs than the US does. Hopefully Bam can be the anchor and I agree with bringing Brook Lopez if possible. Either way I think there will be enough talent on the squad to make them at least slight favorites in my view.

FIBA has the goaltending rule.

Yes, clearly US refs is the reason that US teams do well.

[Arco Thunder]

They said the 2016 was one of the weakest in a while and they absolutely steamrolled the competition.

USA 98 - Australia 88 (10 point win)
USA 94 - Serbia 91 (3 point win)
USA 100 - France 97 (3 point win)
USA 82 - Spain 76 (6 point win)

That's not "steamrolling the competition". Not even remotely close to it.

You left out the Final: Serbia 66–96 United States

[Mirotic12]

Yes, clearly US refs is the reason that US teams do well.

I didn't say that, and I didn't even imply that either.

You left out the Final: Serbia 66–96 United States

One game does not mean you "steamrolled" a tournament. They did not steamroll the competition. There were several very close games.

[Johnny Tomala]

Read on Twitter

Bradley Beal is in. Lillard, Beal, Draymond Green and Tatum commited so far.

[Arco Thunder]

Yes, clearly US refs is the reason that US teams do well.

I didn't say that, and I didn't even imply that either.

You left out the Final: Serbia 66–96 United States

One game does not mean you "steamrolled" a tournament. They did not steamroll the competition. There were several very close games.

and several blow outs

[Mirotic12]

and several blow outs

And your point is?

[Arco Thunder]

I didn't say that, and I didn't even imply that either.



One game does not mean you "steamrolled" a tournament. They did not steamroll the competition. There were several very close games.

and several blow outs

And your point is?

It was an easy gold for team USA.

[Mirotic12]

It was an easy gold for team USA.

They won the semifinal by 6 points. So factually speaking, no, it wasn't easy.