2024 Olympic BASKETBALL Thread (Pt. 2: Let the Games Begin!)

[IceColdCubano]

Tatum should be starting.

Curry
Jrue
Tatum
Lebron
AD

Read on Twitter

It should probably be Curry, Lebron, Durant, Bam, AD to be honest to start.

[SelfishPlayer]

Durant should continue to come off of the bench in the 6th man role. Ant is well suited for a reserve scoring role as well.

[SK21209]

With KD healthy I'd start Curry/Jrue/LeBron/KD/Embiid. The Embiid fit with the starters is awkward, but I don't mind the starting unit being a little slower and playing some bully-ball. I like a bench group centered around Book/Ant/AD/Bam, with Hali/Tatum/White filling that 5th spot. Team USA is always at its best when its hyper aggressive defensively, gets out in transition and overwhelms these other teams athletically. I think that second unit is well-poised to do so against other second units.

[azcatz11]

The women’s team plays in 7 minutes against Japan

[Mirotic12]

Dude wakes every day with goal to ruin everyones day here. He seems to constantly have a problem with international game and players.

We have posters who obviously just have often hateful agenda, and I am not sure if tolerance of that is a good thing. M12, Selfishplayer, Eyetoma, 4lyfe, they dont provide discussion in my opinion, just an agenda.

I don't have any hateful agenda. Please improve your decorum. There is no need to baselessly accuse like that. Totally uncalled for.

[Doctor MJ]

NBA players treat Olympic basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to live in an Olympic city for a month, with thousands of hottest, fittest, single, young women around you.

NBA players treat World Cup basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to be surrounded by other basketball players for a month.

I think this is the main difference.

Hmm.

Well look it's absolutely true that the Olympics are a much, much, much bigger deal in general than the FIBA World Cup, and thus there are vastly more people traveling to the location for the Olympics, including fellow Olympians.

But let's be clear:

1. Team USA basketball (as well as many other rich Olympic stars) don't stay in the Olympic village dorms.

2. NBA players don't need to be in the City of an Olympic village to have women throwing themselves at them, and if they want to get some without tons of other people knowing, it'd be easier pretty much anywhere else.

Meh, the Olympic experience is unique. It's a bucket list item for many people, nba players or not. Make no doubt about it, it's a fun time that does not compare to them traveling to a FIBA World Cup or if they just wanted to go out by themselves in some random vacation town.

Without question.

During the Olympics, the Olympics are front page news.
During the FIBA World Cup, the FIBA World Cup is just one sporting event mentioned in the sports section.

If you're looking to be a part of something iconic, and perhaps go down as a global icon yourself, the priorities seem pretty clear.

[Hsker4Life]

Tatum should be starting.

Curry
Jrue
Tatum
Lebron
AD

Read on Twitter

It should probably be Curry, Lebron, Durant, Bam, AD to be honest to start.

“BuT BOOkeR suCKs aNd HaS no BuSINesS StArTIng!!!”

[Mirotic12]

USA is a really bad matchup for Serbia. Their perimeter players just get totally exposed and they have enough elite bigs to tire Jokic out. I think Canada, Germany and Australia are better suited to beat USA even though I think Serbia would beat all those teams.

Serbia has a bad matchup with the USA, but It's not because of their guards. It really has nothing to do with that. It's because of their system and their style of play.

The way the Serbs play is the worst type of basketball to match up with how Team USA plays. But none of the other European teams at the tournament play that same way that Serbia does. So USA wouldn't have such a similar matchup with them.

[Edrees]

Pretty much all non americans, oh except the best basketball player in the world, Jokic. He didn't care enough about World Cup to play in it, but he's here in the Olympics. If the best basketball player (and certaintly best non americna player in the world) doesn't take the world cup seriously, why should anyone?


Like imagine Jokic deciding he doesn't want to partake in the NBA playoffs and just decides to sit at home. He would never do that. and he'd never do that for the Olympics either.

NBA players treat Olympic basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to live in an Olympic city for a month, with thousands of hottest, fittest, single, young women around you.

NBA players treat World Cup basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to be surrounded by other basketball players for a month.

I think this is the main difference.

I mentioned this somewhere before - the Olympics have an advantage of you being a part of a larger celebration of sports so its a lifestyle thing - not just a national tournament

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

Besides that point, even if it were true, you are only explaining one of the reasons basketball players care more about the olympics than World Cup. it doesn't change the fact that they care more about the Olympics than the world cup. You are simply giving reasons why. If anything I think it weakens the point you are trying to make. Apparantly, basketball players care so little about FIBA World Cup, that hot girls and fun are more of a motivator for them to show up to a different basketball tournament than the actual presitage of winning the cup.

It does nothing to weaken my stance that players from all over the world care more and make more of an effort to show up to the Olympics than they do to FIBA.

[azcatz11]

Women’s team only up by 6. They need CC really bad imo

[Sedale Threatt]

This US-Japan game is wild. Reminds me of a high school game where one team has a massive size advantage but the other manages to stay in it with crazy trapping and ball pressure and 3-point shooting.

[chudak]

NBA players treat Olympic basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to live in an Olympic city for a month, with thousands of hottest, fittest, single, young women around you.

NBA players treat World Cup basketball tournament like it is an event where you go to be surrounded by other basketball players for a month.

I think this is the main difference.

I mentioned this somewhere before - the Olympics have an advantage of you being a part of a larger celebration of sports so its a lifestyle thing - not just a national tournament

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

Besides that point, even if it were true, you are only explaining one of the reasons basketball players care more about the olympics than World Cup. it doesn't change the fact that they care more about the Olympics than the world cup. You are simply giving reasons why. If anything I think it weakens the point you are trying to make. Apparantly, basketball players care so little about FIBA World Cup, that hot girls and fun are more of a motivator for them to show up to a different basketball tournament than the actual presitage of winning the cup.

It does nothing to weaken my stance that players from all over the world care more and make more of an effort to show up to the Olympics than they do to FIBA.

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

I understand that coming to the Olympics could be a bucket list item for a lot of players US or not

This was also discussed in previous messages with Doctor MJ (the politics behind soccer and basketball and ability to play)

Also other nations, especially europeans, skipping WC regularly but showing up to Olympics is just not true.

Jokic played for Serbia in 3 tournaments so far.

1) 2016 Olympics
2) 2019 World Cup
3) 2022 European championship

And this is his 4th tournament

[Jadoogar]

The US is going to win on the strength of their bench. The world has advanced enough that the best players in other countries can hang with the US (relatively speaking). Serbia was tied with the US in the Jokic minutes. But when it's time for the bench, Serbia is bringing in players who couldn't sniff the NBA and the US is bringing Anthony Davis and freaking Kevin Durant.

[Mirotic12]

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

The Olympic soccer tournament is an Under-23 tournament. So that's not a valid point in the slightest bit. I mean, it's absolutely shocking that soccer players are skipping the Olympics, because they are not even allowed to play at it. Why in the world would they choose to skip a tournament that they are not allowed to play at?

And both FIBA and the NBA have wanted to make Olympic basketball an Under-23 tournament several times. But the IOC does not want to have it end up like the soccer tournament. They don't want to lose any money.

But even FIBA and the NBA don't like the Olympic basketball tournament, and both want it to be an Under-23 tournament, just like soccer is. FIBA and the NBA will end the men's Olympic basketball tournament and make it a youth competition eventually.

[Jadoogar]

I mentioned this somewhere before - the Olympics have an advantage of you being a part of a larger celebration of sports so its a lifestyle thing - not just a national tournament

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

Besides that point, even if it were true, you are only explaining one of the reasons basketball players care more about the olympics than World Cup. it doesn't change the fact that they care more about the Olympics than the world cup. You are simply giving reasons why. If anything I think it weakens the point you are trying to make. Apparantly, basketball players care so little about FIBA World Cup, that hot girls and fun are more of a motivator for them to show up to a different basketball tournament than the actual presitage of winning the cup.

It does nothing to weaken my stance that players from all over the world care more and make more of an effort to show up to the Olympics than they do to FIBA.

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me also FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

This is what basketball should do as well. They should designate one of the tournaments as the "main" event. Since the US already cares about the olympics, make that they main event and only allow younger players to play in the world cup.

[Mirotic12]

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

Besides that point, even if it were true, you are only explaining one of the reasons basketball players care more about the olympics than World Cup. it doesn't change the fact that they care more about the Olympics than the world cup. You are simply giving reasons why. If anything I think it weakens the point you are trying to make. Apparantly, basketball players care so little about FIBA World Cup, that hot girls and fun are more of a motivator for them to show up to a different basketball tournament than the actual presitage of winning the cup.

It does nothing to weaken my stance that players from all over the world care more and make more of an effort to show up to the Olympics than they do to FIBA.

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me also FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

This is what basketball should do as well. They should designate one of the tournaments as the "main" event. Since the US already cares about the olympics, make that they main event and only allow younger players to play in the world cup.

Both FIBA and the NBA have said they were going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament multiple times. But every time they said it, they backed off, because US sports media lost it with huge hissy fits and tantrums.

But if you see the reactions of some of the decision makers when this topic comes up, it's very clear that they are going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament, and US sports media is just going to have to deal with it. Both the NBA and FIBA are losing gigantic sums of money with this "USA only cares about the Olympics" nonsense. There were even some NBA owners that talked about how freaking stupid it is and how much more money they could make if they made the Olympics an under-23 and made the FIBA World Cup the entire focus, like in soccer.

So all of the "we will never ever care about the FIBA World Cup" posts here are quite ironic, because soon enough, the Olympics is going be just an under-23 competition. If one of the two becomes an Under-23 tournament, it will 100% for sure guaranteed be the Olympics.

[chudak]

If that's true, why isn't this also true of soccer? If athletes care so much about the celebration, how come it isn't common for soccer players to skip the FIFA world cup but show up tot he olympics? If your theory is true, that would happen in soccer too. But you don't see the celebration motivating soccer players suddenly.

Besides that point, even if it were true, you are only explaining one of the reasons basketball players care more about the olympics than World Cup. it doesn't change the fact that they care more about the Olympics than the world cup. You are simply giving reasons why. If anything I think it weakens the point you are trying to make. Apparantly, basketball players care so little about FIBA World Cup, that hot girls and fun are more of a motivator for them to show up to a different basketball tournament than the actual presitage of winning the cup.

It does nothing to weaken my stance that players from all over the world care more and make more of an effort to show up to the Olympics than they do to FIBA.

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me also FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

This is what basketball should do as well. They should designate one of the tournaments as the "main" event. Since the US already cares about the olympics, make that they main event and only allow younger players to play in the world cup.

This is hard to acomplish.

FIFA controls the most popular sport in the world (football) which US calls soccer and cares less about

NBA had an upper hand on FIBA and while Basketball WC final was watched live on national TV in 190 countries FIBA is not as big organization as FIFA and FIBA world cup is a much bigger event.

It would be very hard for FIBA or NBA to take away IOC the right to use pro NBA players now that its allowed, althoough FIBA is the organizer of the Olympics basketball tournament

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I think the starting lineup is fine but you seriously cannot get minutes for JT who is a top 10 player? Kerr treated JT like he is some sort of token college player.

[chudak]

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me also FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

This is what basketball should do as well. They should designate one of the tournaments as the "main" event. Since the US already cares about the olympics, make that they main event and only allow younger players to play in the world cup.

Both FIBA and the NBA have said they were going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament multiple times. But every time they said it, they backed off, because US sports media lost it with huge hissy fits and tantrums.

But if you see the reactions of some of the decision makers when this topic comes up, it's very clear that they are going to make the Olympics and under-23 tournament, and US sports media is just going to have to deal with it. both the NBA and FIBA are losing gigantic sums of money with this "USA only cares about the Olympics" nonsense. There were even some NBA owners that talked about how freaking stupid it is and how much more money they could make if they made the Olympics an under-23 and made the FIBA World Cup the entire focus, like in soccer.

So all of the "we will never ever care about the FIBA World Cup" posts here are quite ironic, because soon enough, the Olympics is going be just an under-23 competition. If one of the two becomes an Under-23 tournament, it will be 100% for sure guaranteed be the Olympics.

I wrote it in this thread before but for USA fans its

1) NBA 2) Olympics 3) everything else

For european fans its

1) Global national team tournaments (Olympics and FIBA WC 2) European championship 3) NBA 4) Euroleague 5) everything else

In US national team tournaments are less important than NBA for the fans and for european fans national teams are more important than anything

[Mirotic12]

Because they cant.

Soccer at Olympics has an U23 age limit and other restrictions that keep the stars out.

I mean for me also FIBA World Cup and Olympics basketball are the same level of importance but the soccer stars are basically banner from competing.

This is what basketball should do as well. They should designate one of the tournaments as the "main" event. Since the US already cares about the olympics, make that they main event and only allow younger players to play in the world cup.

This is hard to acomplish.

FIFA controls the most popular sport in the world (football) which US calls soccer and cares less about

NBA had an upper hand on FIBA and while Basketball WC final was watched live on national TV in 190 countries FIBA is not as big organization as FIFA and FIBA world cup is a much bigger event.

It would be very hard for FIBA or NBA to take away IOC the right to use pro NBA players now that its allowed, althoough FIBA is the organizer of the Olympics basketball tournament

It's going to happen. Both FIBA and the NBA have said multiple times in the past that they want the Olympics to be an under-23 tournament and that they want the World Cup to be the only world competition. They have stated that they are losing enormous amounts of money by continuing to let senior men's teams play at the Olympics.

They have wanted to make the change a few times already, but each time US sports media got their panties in a bunch over it. But the last time when the issue came up, you could tell by how some FIBA officials and NBA owners reacted, that they are definitely going to make the Olympics an under-23 tournament, and no amount of complaints from US media is going to stop it.

Some of the comments were very clearly about how they are just throwing away gigantic sums of money to the Olympics for no reason, when they could have all the money for themselves through the World Cup. There is no way that such people will continue to lose enormous amounts of money to the Olympics, just because tradition, culture, cold war nostalgia, and propaganda promote this idea that "NBA players and Americans only care about the Olympics."

The heads of FIBA and the NBA owners want it, so it's definitely going to happen.