USA Men's Basketball is a joke
- Thread starter clob94
- Start date
Gold it is! Congrats boys!
Durant all time leading scorer.
Durant all time leading scorer.
Without KD, we don’t even medal. Plain and simple. Far from the dominance we expected.
If you expected dominance you haven’t really been paying attention to international basketball the last two decades. What people don’t understand is the NBA sent the 92 dream team to the Olympics to kick off an effort to grow the game globally. And over the last two decades they’ve put in a lot of time and money to do that. Out of 450 NBA players 108 are from another country. It was not like that 25 years ago the talent internationally is much better. The US will never be as dominant in basketball as we were, and they will lose from time to time but they are still the best team by a pretty decent margin and will remain that for awhile. Also keep in mind we really didn’t send our best team this time. Because of the condensed NBA schedule over the last two seasons a lot of guys didn’t want to go. I expect youll see more top guys play in pairs
The international game was already growing and closing the gap well before the 1992 dream team. The purpose of the dream team was to make sure that we won gold, first and foremost. I believe we lost in 1988 with the college kids and USA Basketball felt it was time to send our best. The growth of international basketball has been driven largely by the globalization of the NBA since the early 1980's. The dream team certainly built on that growth but they didn't kick it off.
You say that we are no longer dominant in basketball but in the same breath state we are the best team by a decent margin. Which is it? Losing two exhibitions plus an opening loss in pool play and a 5 point gold medal victory doesn't demonstrate to me that we were the best by a decent margin. It shows that we were the best in these Olympic games but no more no less. Kind of like the Bucks winning the NBA title. They are the legitimate champs but there are 2-3 other teams who are capable of beating them in a 7 game series.
Believe me, I'm glad we won but I expect the Americans to completely destroy international teams when it comes to basketball.
You’ve missed the point but that’s ok. We would still destroy teams if you sent the absolute best players we could, and they played together for a year prior to the Olympics. That’s what a lot of these countries do. We pretty much just roll the ball out on game day and go to it, and this time largely because of the circumstances of the NBA season didn’t really send the best team.
The good news is this generation of players(KD, Lebron, Carmello) have set the tone that you go to the Olympics at least once. In a way the previous generation kinda got away from.
so hopefully in 2024 when things are on a more normal schedule we will see guys like Trae Young, steph and some of the guys that decided to pass this time around. 2024 would be kind of a cool ending to Lebron’s career.
Other countries can say the same thing. Their best also chose to skip the Olympic Games and they also have to deal with rolling out a group that doesn’t play together because they have professional obligations to other leagues in Europe Jokic, Giannis, Gallinari, Murray Porzingis, etc all chose to skip these games.
And Trae Young wouldn’t be a difference maker in the international game. He’s someone who needs the ball in his hands 70 to 80% of possessions. Lebron is getting old and is slowly diminishing his skills. By 2024 he’s 39 years old and Stephen Curry is 35 so our stable of talent is fading.
So no, we’re no longer the dominant force in basketball like we’ve been in the past. Just about every basketball expert will agree that we are no longer a lock to win internationally. Our track record is very impressive but I’m focused on looking ahead and I’m concerned about what lies ahead.
And Trae Young wouldn’t be a difference maker in the international game. He’s someone who needs the ball in his hands 70 to 80% of possessions. Lebron is getting old and is slowly diminishing his skills. By 2024 he’s 39 years old and Stephen Curry is 35 so our stable of talent is fading.
So no, we’re no longer the dominant force in basketball like we’ve been in the past. Just about every basketball expert will agree that we are no longer a lock to win internationally. Our track record is very impressive but I’m focused on looking ahead and I’m concerned about what lies ahead.
We have won 5 of the last 6 gold medals we way not be winning games by 60 points anymore the way we did in 92, but we are still the top dog and the gap is till fairly wide. Arguing otherwise is just ignoring reality
like I said earlier. Right now the Olympics is like a 15 seed vs a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The 15 can win, will one out 10 times, but the 2 is going to win way more often than not.
Hopefully we send more of our “A” team to Paris. I imagine KD will be back. He needs one more gold to be the most decorated men’s Olympic player. I imagine he knows that, so if he’s healthy I expect him to give it one more go
Steph Curry has not played in the Olympics hopefully he gives one. If Kerr ends up being the coach he probably will
like I said earlier. Right now the Olympics is like a 15 seed vs a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The 15 can win, will one out 10 times, but the 2 is going to win way more often than not.
Hopefully we send more of our “A” team to Paris. I imagine KD will be back. He needs one more gold to be the most decorated men’s Olympic player. I imagine he knows that, so if he’s healthy I expect him to give it one more go
Steph Curry has not played in the Olympics hopefully he gives one. If Kerr ends up being the coach he probably will
Reality is they lost games to Nigeria and Australia. Call them warm ups all you want, but that did not happen in the past. They lost to France in the first game, and were behind Australia by 11. The managed to recover, but I wouldn't bank on "the gap is still fairly wide." With Lebron and KD aging, who is the next to step up and lead?
Eh they lost in a couple exabition games. Who cares. So did the women and they’ve won 50+ Olympic Games in a row. You guys are trying to grasp at straws to fit our own biases. Winning the Olympics is the entire point and we have done that 5 of the last 6 times and 3 times in a row. That makes us the best in the world. I’m not really sure why this is even debatable.
You use terms like "15 seed vs. a 2 seed" and "the gap is still fairly wide." If the question is - did they win - the answer is absolutely, and go USA. If the question is - can the US just show up and win - the answer is clearly no.
Just a heads up, the coach doesn't get a medal. I thinks it's a load of crap, but it is what it is. Only players get a medal.
These other teams send their best squad. The USA didn't even field their best players in Lebron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry this year. If the USA were to put their 10 best against France's 10 best they would beat them by 20+ every time they played.
I'm no NBA expert, and I thought we put a pretty talented team together for this Olympic roster, but it wasn't the 92 dream team (Jordan, Barkley, Bird, Ewing, David Robinson, Malone, Stockton, Drexler etc. holy crap).
That's my point exactly. We didn't field our best roster like the international teams did.
But they weren't available. So we did field what we could. Lebron is old, and older players break down. Anthony Davis has been hurt time and again. Harden is aging. Its time for the youngers to take over.
I'm simply saying if those guys were healthy and we fielded our 10 best against France's 10 best we win that game by 20+.
I'm with you with one caveat - if these guys were in their prime - we would win by 30. But they are aging. Age brings injuries. Time for the next generation to step up. Unfortunately, the best of the next generation are Slovenian and Greek.
And if my Aunt had balls she’d be my Uncle. We can do the whataboutism all day but the fact is our best players are older and more prone to injury so they’re unable to perform at their best. It’s going to be up to our younger stars to step up and produce.
No question that Lebron, Davis, Harden and Curry would whip the rest of the world IF they’re healthy and in their prime. The reality is they’re no longer in their prime and need a lot of “load management” just to get through half a regular season.
Well they won the gold medal so I would say they stepped up and took care of business.
They did what they needed to do to win. But the sheen of "excellence" in men's basketball is gone. The world is catching up to us BUT our skill sets are starting to regress. Dribbling on the perimeter then using your "move" to create space so you can shoot a 25 foot jump shot with someone in your face, isn't a skill set.
Skill sets include--
Ball handling (you see anybody with the handke that Iverson or Magic or Nash had?)
Rebounding-- these kids today would get creamed on the boards by Rodman, Oakley, Ewing, Robinson, Mutombo etc.
Ball movement-- the NBA has switched from a Ball movement league to an iso match ups league.
Free throws-- can't nobody shoot free throws any more but everybody can jack 3s.
Defense-- outside of a handful of players, nobody plays D anymore. It takes too much energy and will effect their point totals on offense.
Skill sets include--
Ball handling (you see anybody with the handke that Iverson or Magic or Nash had?)
Rebounding-- these kids today would get creamed on the boards by Rodman, Oakley, Ewing, Robinson, Mutombo etc.
Ball movement-- the NBA has switched from a Ball movement league to an iso match ups league.
Free throws-- can't nobody shoot free throws any more but everybody can jack 3s.
Defense-- outside of a handful of players, nobody plays D anymore. It takes too much energy and will effect their point totals on offense.
damn I hate the off season....we resort to arguing the most inane things.....Hell may as well start with who you pick....Mary Ann or Ginger...
Well when the season starts we'll swap out arguing over this for arguing over whether we go 8-4 or 7-5. So gird ye loins.
