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What's next for Team USA men's basketball?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by bigpern23, Aug 21, 2016.

  1. Della9250

    Della9250 Well-Known Member

    Then I guess you could stick with Jordan, who would be 32, or go with Drummond, who'd be 27, or Aldridge, who would be 34.
     
  2. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    The world is catching up to the U.S. in basketball. The close games they had earlier showed some of that; they just flipped the switch when it was time. One of these days that won't be enough, and maybe that'll shame the U.S. superstars into coming out again much like 2004 did.
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I had wondered why some of these Serbian players aren't in the NBA. Then I watched them try to guard Kevin Durant yesterday.

    The U.S. was missing arguably the four best players in the league, right? Or at least four out of five?
     
  4. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was privately rooting against Team USA. I'm just bored with the US dominating other countries in basketball. It's no longer interesting. The guys barely play together prior to the games, so it just turns into a loose, sloppy version of playground basketball. It's like watching UConn women's basketball. It's no longer compelling to me.
     
  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I was rooting against them. Every one of those close games, I was pulling for the other team. For me, it isn't that the U.S. dominates other countries. Other countries have clearly closed the gap since the Dream Team. I like that. I was rooting against them because the personalities on that team, combined with their individual / me-first isolation / give me the ball / no defense styles, deserved to be rooted against.
     
  6. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    Out of the top 20 players in the NBA how many you think are not American?
     
  7. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    To be fair, both Curry and LeBron have played more than 100 games the past two NBA seasons, and Curry, in particular, looked gassed and was playing hurt by the end of the most recent NBA Finals.
     
    sgreenwell and HanSenSE like this.
  8. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    The issue is progress. I don't think the number of foreign players in the top 20 has changed much, but the foreign depth is much greater.

    [Edit] Another factor is other countries take it more seriously and can get a core of players to play together for a few years when they happen to come up together.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2016
  9. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    The top international teams are all getting older and don't seem to be replenishing that older talent with young guys.

    It will be interesting to see which countries take that next step and become the next Spain to rival Team USA. One or two NBA caliber guys probably isn't enough to dethrone the champs. Needs to be a collection of guys.
     
  10. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    It's worth noting that it was not just the 04 Brown team. The 02 World Cup team coached by George Karl did even worse--finishing an ultra-embarrassing SIXTH--and we lost again in 06. That's three straight international competitions where our NBA stars came up short. The Team USA program appeared in disarray for several years there.

    Fortunately, we finally figured out you can't just treat it like an all star team where you just grab some NBA All Stars and throw em together--a real system with real preparation and practice is needed. And the Coach K/Colangelo duo deserve credit for getting us there.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2016
  11. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    I thought that the team did a really poor job switching all tournament long, both on the initial pick and roll and then the second and later rotations. There were tons of open shots to be had and most teams, especially the Serbs yesterday, couldn't make the US pay. I'm surprised that the US didn't try more of a Warriors type small ball with switching as the default.

    On offense, it was pretty basic stuff -- usually very little off the ball action. When the ball went in the post, maybe there was a cutter, but little work to free the perimeter players up.

    Even though he has a tendency to fade in and out on defense, when Cousins is engaged, he is so good. Hopefully, he can get his head on straight one day.
     
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