USA Men's Basketball is a joke

[Drtxhorn]

Based on what? The fact that France beat us earlier in the tournament? Did you know that 3 of the pretty heavy contributors just got off a 16 hour flight and arrived in the country hours before the game?

US Will win by double digits

That’s not true. It was the owners and the league that kinda stepped in on the China stuff because they benefit more than the players do in that area. Some of the players followed suit, but you know as well as I do when you have business or economic ties with a country that may not act as well socially as you’d like them to it’s a delicate balance.

for example American foreign policy doesn’t treat China the same way we treat North Korea despite being guilty of a lot of the same things. Why? Because as a fellow economic power you need them in other areas. Doesn’t mean you like how they behave just an aknowlakgememt of the reality

The NBA(like all big business) makes a lot of money in China. Protecting your money isn’t a new concept

It's not just about them making a lot of money from the Chinese and protecting those revenue streams. That's all fine if they feel good about their blatant hypocrisy. They ignore China's actual modern day slavery and human rights abuses but are very vocal in calling out and even cancelling American people and business interests over fake claims of oppression and white supremacy. Anybody who takes them seriously on cultural or social issues is much more stupid and naive than those players who don't even recognize their own hypocrisy. People who don't see this as a problem are just as guilty in perpetuating this nonsense.

 

[RoboCocks21]

We could live in Belarus and be afraid to go back to your country because of punishment.

 

[KChorn11]

And I get that. But you're talking about relationships between nations. I'm talking about individuals.

And you can't, out of one side of your mouth, bemoan the history of slavery in this country, while out if the other side of your mouth, protect a nation that has ACTUAL slavery, simply because they're paying your bills.

But relationships between nations and international buisness relationships are very similar is my point

 

[clob94]

But relationships between nations and international buisness relationships are very similar is my point

I see your point. But you're either against slavery, or you ain't. You can't have it both ways.

 

[1consummate1]

I demand equity. The US team should be 60% white, 19% Hispanic, 13% black, and 6% Asian to reflect the US’ demographics. Anything else is racist.

You must really want us to get the shit kicked out of us…

 

[Lampasas]

Yeah well, people today seem to be more concerned about inclusion rather than production.
Oh wait, that might not apply when one particular group is underrepresented.

 

[LonghornMM]

You must really want us to get the shit kicked out of us…

That went right over your head.

 

[MB-HORNS]

Update?

 

[RoboCocks21]

Update?

 

[Oldmanastro]

Gold it is! Congrats boys!
Durant all time leading scorer.

 

[clob94]

No reason to not beat France by 25+.

We came back from a loss, got our shit together, and won the gold. Never should have lost. Never should have won a game by less than 25.

 

[Drtxhorn]

No reason to not beat France by 25+.

We came back from a loss, got our shit together, and won the gold. Never should have lost. Never should have won a game by less than 25.

Without KD, we don’t even medal. Plain and simple. Far from the dominance we expected.

 

[outhereincali]

I'm happy for Greg Popovich that he can now add Olympic gold to hire trophy case.

 

[KChorn11]

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

 

[KChorn11]

The women taking care of business

how bout Sue Bird
2 college national championships
4 WNBA titles
5 Olympic golds

I don’t care what spot it is or if it’s men’s or women’s…. Pretty damn impressive career

 

[Drtxhorn]

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.

 

[KChorn11]

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.

 

[Drtxhorn]

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.

 

[KChorn11]

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

 

[JDCPAgolferHorn]

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.

Screw Lebron … and I’m being kind.

 

[diadevic]

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

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?

 

[KChorn11]

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.

 

[oldhorn2]

saying other country teams play together for over a year is just not accurate. So many of those teams stars are also NBA players. They dont have the time to practice with their Olympic team mates for a year....

 

[diadevic]

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.

 

[Drtxhorn]

France lost by 5 points in the gold medal game and beat us in pool play. That’s far from a 15 v 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. That’s a bad analogy. Way off base.

 

[clob94]

I'm happy for Greg Popovich that he can now add Olympic gold to hire trophy case.

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.

 

[Hoookem722]

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.

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.

 

[Crimson_Warrior]

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).

 

[diadevic]

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.

The first 4 you named are injured.

 

[Hoookem722]

The first 4 you named are injured.

That's my point exactly. We didn't field our best roster like the international teams did.