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Simple question.

Who is the greatest non-USA Olympic basketball team?

Lately some teams have come up strong, heck even a bit competitive to the US squad.

Some of the strongest teams have included the 2004 Argentina team that won the gold medal, Spain from early 10s that had a strong NBA squad and we can even give credit to this year's Serbia team.

That just some examples but I'm sure there are more.

Yugoslavia in 80's

USSR in 80's

Croatia in early 90's

Serbia in mid/mid-late 90's

Jugoslavija end of 80s, beginning of 90s. That would have been an epic final in Barcelona 92 if the country hadnt fallen apart...

I will add Lithuania in early 00s

XTraderXL wrote:Jugoslavija end of 80s, beginning of 90s. That would have been an epic final in Barcelona 92 if the country hadnt fallen apart...

Epic as in they may have kept it within 30 points?

got a feeling its the yugoslavia team of the 80's or maybe USSR at some stage?

Greece 2006 World Championship

This Greek Team are the last they won Team USA.

They were operating like a swiss watch !!!

The beauty was that Greek won with superior offense ...

Diamantidis , Spanoulis , Papaloukas true Masters and Generals of the Pick n Roll !!!

Great game to watch.



4 Joe Johnson
5 Kirk Hinrich
6 LeBron James
7 Antawn Jamison
8 Shane Battier
9 Dwyane Wade
10 Chris Paul
11 Chris Bosh
12 Dwight Howard
13 Brad Miller
14 Elton Brand
15 Carmelo Anthony


4 Theodoros Papaloukas
5 Sofoklis Schortsanitis
6 Nikos Zisis
7 Vassilis Spanoulis
8 Panagiotis Vasilopoulos
9 Antonis Fotsis
10 Nikos Chatzivrettas
11 Dimos Dikoudis
12 Kostas Tsartsaris
13 Dimitris Diamantidis
14 Lazaros Papadopoulos
15 Michalis Kakiouzis

Fotis St wrote:Greece 2006 World Championship

This Greek Team are the last they won Team USA.

They were operating like a swiss watch !!!

The beauty was that Greek won with superior offense ...

Diamantidis , Spanoulis , Papaloukas true Masters and Generals of the Pick n Roll !!!

Great game to watch.



4 Joe Johnson
5 Kirk Hinrich
6 LeBron James
7 Antawn Jamison
8 Shane Battier
9 Dwyane Wade
10 Chris Paul
11 Chris Bosh
12 Dwight Howard
13 Brad Miller
14 Elton Brand
15 Carmelo Anthony


4 Theodoros Papaloukas
5 Sofoklis Schortsanitis
6 Nikos Zisis
7 Vassilis Spanoulis
8 Panagiotis Vasilopoulos
9 Antonis Fotsis
10 Nikos Chatzivrettas
11 Dimos Dikoudis
12 Kostas Tsartsaris
13 Dimitris Diamantidis
14 Lazaros Papadopoulos
15 Michalis Kakiouzis

Watch on YouTube

Man, they lost by 23 points in the final against a Spain without Pau Gasol. They were a good team, but they didn't win anything. That Spain was much better and that core of players kept winning and winning.

But yeah, the one you mention was a great game by Greece.

Worthwhile mentions:

Spain over last decade.

Serbia & Montenegro from 1995 to 2002. Plethora of gold medals in World & European championship, knocked out USA on home soil in 2002.

Lithuania overall for continued success and sheer talent per population



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XTraderXL wrote:Jugoslavija end of 80s, beginning of 90s. That would have been an epic final in Barcelona 92 if the country hadnt fallen apart...

Jugoslavia 1990-91 easily:

PG Petrovic(26)-Djordjevic(23)
SG Danilovic(20)-Perasovic(25)
SF Kukoc(22)- Paspalj(24)
PF Radja (23)
C Divac(22)-Savic(24)

most talented and youngest

Sports Geek wrote:They were a good team, but they didn't win anything.

They won Eurobasket 2005

Cameroon 2017

mojo13 wrote:

XTraderXL wrote:Jugoslavija end of 80s, beginning of 90s. That would have been an epic final in Barcelona 92 if the country hadnt fallen apart...

Epic as in they may have kept it within 30 points?

Croatia lost by 32, with only 3 "Players":

Petrovic (24 PTS)
Radja (23 PTS)
Kukoc (16 PTS)

with Obradovic, Djordjevic, Danilovic in the Backcourt and Divac, Paspalj in the Frontcourt it would have been a different Story, having a full Squad.

yannisk wrote:

Sports Geek wrote:They were a good team, but they didn't win anything.

They won Eurobasket 2005

And quite frankly, it's way harder to win EuroBasket than FIBA World Cup, considering how much tougher the competition is from game to game.

Two tiers, in random order:

Yugoslavia 89-91
Argentina 01-04
Spain 06-12

USSR mid 80s
Serbia & Montenegro 95-02

Mirotic12 wrote:

yannisk wrote:

Sports Geek wrote:They were a good team, but they didn't win anything.

They won Eurobasket 2005

And quite frankly, it's way harder to win EuroBasket than FIBA World Cup, considering how much tougher the competition is from game to game.

Sure, it's tough to play the final against Germany in a tournament in which the two best European NTs were dramatically short-handed (Spain without Pau Gasol and a depleted Lithuania without Jasikevicius or Macijauskas, among others).

I might buy what you're saying if we were talking just about grabbing a medal, depending on the edition. But if it's a matter of winning it all, no way, because the top teams at the WCs are almost always better than those at the ECs.

Genjuro wrote:

Mirotic12 wrote:

yannisk wrote:
They won Eurobasket 2005

And quite frankly, it's way harder to win EuroBasket than FIBA World Cup, considering how much tougher the competition is from game to game.

Sure, it's tough to play the final against Germany in a tournament in which the two best European NTs were dramatically short-handed (Spain without Pau Gasol and a depleted Lithuania without Jasikevicius or Macijauskas, among others).

I might buy what you're saying if we were talking just about grabbing a medal, depending on the edition. But if it's a matter of winning it all, no way, because the top teams at the WCs are almost always better than those at the ECs.

EuroBasket is a better level of competition than World Cup. Every European coach and player says it.

Mirotic12 wrote:

Genjuro wrote:

Mirotic12 wrote:
And quite frankly, it's way harder to win EuroBasket than FIBA World Cup, considering how much tougher the competition is from game to game.

Sure, it's tough to play the final against Germany in a tournament in which the two best European NTs were dramatically short-handed (Spain without Pau Gasol and a depleted Lithuania without Jasikevicius or Macijauskas, among others).

I might buy what you're saying if we were talking just about grabbing a medal, depending on the edition. But if it's a matter of winning it all, no way, because the top teams at the WCs are almost always better than those at the ECs.

EuroBasket is a better level of competition than World Cup. Every European coach and player says it.

We're talking about top level here. The Eurobasket may very well enjoy a better average talent, but when it comes to winning gold you will eventually face tougher competition at the world stage, which is just obvious. That's why only the Soviet Unión, Yugoslavia/Serbia and Spain have ever managed to do it. Meanwhile, besides those countries, there's also Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Greece or France topping the Eurobasket.

I'm really sorry if your favourite country has never managed, but it's clearly a lot more difficult to win a World Championship. Just get over it.

Genjuro wrote:We're talking about top level here. The Eurobasket may very well enjoy a better average talent, but when it comes to winning gold you will eventually face tougher competition at the world stage, which is just obvious. That's why only the Soviet Unión, Yugoslavia/Serbia and Spain have ever managed to do it. Meanwhile, besides those countries, there's also Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Greece or France topping the Eurobasket.

I'm really sorry if your favourite country has never managed, but it's clearly a lot more difficult to win a World Championship. Just get over it.

Basically almost every coach and player asked has said EuroBasket is the hardest tournament by far. On one hand we have that, then on the other hand, we have your personal opinion.

Sorry, if your personal opinion is outweighed and overruled by the numerous opinions of experts on the subject. But it most definitely and certainly is.

Mirotic12 wrote:

Genjuro wrote:We're talking about top level here. The Eurobasket may very well enjoy a better average talent, but when it comes to winning gold you will eventually face tougher competition at the world stage, which is just obvious. That's why only the Soviet Unión, Yugoslavia/Serbia and Spain have ever managed to do it. Meanwhile, besides those countries, there's also Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Greece or France topping the Eurobasket.

I'm really sorry if your favourite country has never managed, but it's clearly a lot more difficult to win a World Championship. Just get over it.

Basically almost every coach and player asked has said EuroBasket is the hardest tournament by far. On one hand we have that, then on the other hand, we have your personal opinion.

Sorry, if your personal opinion is outweighed and overruled by the numerous opinions of experts on the subject. But it most definitely and certainly is.

What personal opinion? I gave you facts.

I don't care what a random coach/player says. They often have an agenda when talking, and they may very well refer to average level rather than grabbing gold. If they are talking during a Eurobasket summer, they will stress how difficult it is either to justify failure (usually preventively) or to enlarge triumph. I would love to hear any of those dudes saying something like that while playing the World Championship. So let's hear those numerous opinions, bring them here.