World Championship Power Rankings

[dennis00]

Yes, that's what I agree on. A USA team with even just a few all-stars will seem superior and might be, but with 3,4 all-stars they have frequently not done well. This year's team is the same in that regard.

[manou]

Like others, I think france definitely has enough talent to be better than wht the OP expects, even without Tony Parker, Turiaf, Noah, M.Pietrus,...

[Rasho Brezec]

Just because France has a bunch of players who are on NBA rosters, doesn't mean they're good.

[ChrisTheFuturePaul]

I really think Australia could have made some noise with Bogut in the tournament, he would have been possibly the best center in the championship. Yes I'm Australian and a homer, but with Bogut down low and the Aussie PF's being able to shoot long range and Patty Mills been quicker than 95% of the other players in the tounament it would have been interesting.

[SAKURABA216]

I would even play a lineup of with Granger and Durant at the 2 & 3 spot since Durant played SG on the Sonics for a bit

[Gus McCrae]

I cant believe I actually read all that, Hats off to you.

agreed, that was really well put together.

[Rinaldi]

France lost twice to Turkey last year (or the year before) during the group stage, with TP. One loss was for like 30 points. With their depleted squad, ranking them in top 10 would be a mistake.

Brazil is not a top 5 material. My top 6 would be;

USA, Greece, Serbia, Argentina, Spain, Turkey.

The young Serbian squad led by Teodosic might bring surprises to the table. I feel like Calderon might cause problems for the Spanish team.

[illiance]

Great rankings by the way. I'm excited for the Worlds but it's very disappointing so many of the NBA international players are not playing. I'd love to see Dirk, Pau, Kaman, Vujac, Darko, Radmonivich, Manu, etc actually play in this.

[AkeemTheDream]

Excellent thread. IMO I would rank Greece over USA, Serbia over Brazil, and Argentina over both Brazil and Serbia.

[ilikecb4]

As of right now

I think Spain is the BEST TEAM

i think they're most completete team, they've got veteran leadership, great point guards
who know game, big physical big men like Marc Gasol, youth, athleticim

USA is basically the most talented team....I'm not sure US is experianced enough....
Has Rudy Gay ever even played an international game in his life?
Having said that if they come together like they should gold medal is theirs


Serbia has one of the most organized teams in the world. Coach Ivkovic is one of the best coaches
in the history of basketball. They run everything through big men. Their guards can shoot hell out of ball.

In my opinion teams to beat tier 1: USA, Spain
Tier 2: Argentina, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia

[DirtyDez]

Is it confirmed that Hedo is playing?

[Genjuro]

Serbia has one of the most organized teams in the world. Coach Ivkovic is one of the best coaches
in the history of basketball. They run everything through big men. Their guards can shoot hell out of ball.

In my opinion teams to beat tier 1: USA, Spain
Tier 2: Argentina, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia

Actually shooting is one of the biggest weaknesses for Serbia. Only Teodosic is a great shooter in the backcourt.

Also, Slovenia doesn't belong there IMO (absences of Smodis and Lorbek, they lost yesterday against New Zealand). Where's Greece?

[AkeemTheDream]

Serbia has one of the most organized teams in the world. Coach Ivkovic is one of the best coaches
in the history of basketball. They run everything through big men. Their guards can shoot hell out of ball.

In my opinion teams to beat tier 1: USA, Spain
Tier 2: Argentina, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia

Actually shooting is one of the biggest weaknesses for Serbia. Only Teodosic is a great shooter in the backcourt.

Also, Slovenia doesn't belong there IMO (absences of Smodis and Lorbek, they lost yesterday against New Zealand). Where's Greece?

Keselj is also a good shooter. Rasic can knock down shots decently if you leave him open, but he's not a good shooter. Other than that no one can really shoot that well. You are right, shooting is not Serbia's strength. It's their defense and their size.

[Theo Papaloukas]

Serbia has one of the most organized teams in the world. Coach Ivkovic is one of the best coaches
in the history of basketball. They run everything through big men. Their guards can shoot hell out of ball.

In my opinion teams to beat tier 1: USA, Spain
Tier 2: Argentina, Brazil, Serbia, Slovenia

Actually shooting is one of the biggest weaknesses for Serbia. Only Teodosic is a great shooter in the backcourt.

Also, Slovenia doesn't belong there IMO (absences of Smodis and Lorbek, they lost yesterday against New Zealand). Where's Greece?

Keselj is also a good shooter. Rasic can knock down shots decently if you leave him open, but he's not a good shooter. Other than that no one can really shoot that well. You are right, shooting is not Serbia's strength. It's their defense and their size.

Some of their best shooters also aren't playing.

Guys like Rakocevic, Stojakovic, Tripkovic, Radmanovic, etc.

[Despot_Stefan]

Some of their best shooters also aren't playing.

Guys like Rakocevic, Stojakovic, Tripkovic, Radmanovic, etc.

And hopefully (except Tripkovic) will never play again.

[Macho]

Serbia's coaching and organization puts them ahead of Greece and Brazil IMO, Ivkovic is the master one of the greatest coaches ever.

France looks good on paper but on the court it's not pretty. My darkhorse is Turkey, I think they can sneak into the semi's.

[richboy]

Great read. You could have sold that for 9.99.

To bad the World Championships has become second fiddle to the Olympics. Looks like the whole world is following USA's example of waiting for the Olympics to send the best. I like the World Championships more than the Olympics. Mainly because seems like the Olympics has too many watered down teams . They only allow a few teams from South America so often a good team like Brazil could be left out. I like that all the best international teams come to the World's. Wish it was like that for the Olympics.

Also kind of excited to see how we do with out B squad. If we were sending Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Melo, Dwight, Paul, Deron, Bosh, etc I think we would win this running away. I'm not sure even Spain could stay within 30 without Gasol. This unit the world could play with. If we are coached well though and the players buy into playing roles we could win this.

Good read though. It really got me ready for the World's. Hopefully this young squad can come together.

[Theo Papaloukas]

Great read. You could have sold that for 9.99.

To bad the World Championships has become second fiddle to the Olympics. Looks like the whole world is following USA's example of waiting for the Olympics to send the best. I like the World Championships more than the Olympics. Mainly because seems like the Olympics has too many watered down teams . They only allow a few teams from South America so often a good team like Brazil could be left out. I like that all the best international teams come to the World's. Wish it was like that for the Olympics.

Also kind of excited to see how we do with out B squad. If we were sending Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Melo, Dwight, Paul, Deron, Bosh, etc I think we would win this running away. I'm not sure even Spain could stay within 30 without Gasol. This unit the world could play with. If we are coached well though and the players buy into playing roles we could win this.

Good read though. It really got me ready for the World's. Hopefully this young squad can come together.

I think if these guys can get the gold, they should all get strong consideration to make the Olympic squad. The worlds are a tougher tourney than the Olympics and I think being committed to the program (almost all these guys played as practice players last time) gives them the right to represent the US in the Olympics.

USA routed China 98-51. Granger led with 22 points and Eric Gordon added 15. Apparently Jeff Green is the next cut.

[Theo Papaloukas]

Lithuania d. Croatia 93-82
LTU: Delininkaitis (14), Kleiza (14), Andriuskevicius (11)
CRO: Loncar (18), Tomic (11), Ukic (11)

USA d. France 86-55
USA: Gay (19), Billups (17), Durant (14, 8 reb)
FRA: Diaw (15), Batum (11)

Spain d. Argentina 83-76
ESP: Reyes (14), Navarro (14), Calderon (10)
ARG: Scola (26), Delfino (16, 9 reb, 6 ast)

Germany d. Turkey 68-54
GER: Jagla (14), Pleiss (11), Benzing (10)
TUR: Asik (13), Tunceri (10)

Puerto Rico d. China 92-76
PUR: Arroyo (16), Ramos (12), Ayuso (12), Barea (11, 10 ast)
CHN: Shipeng (20), Yue (17), Yi (11)

Serbia d. Slovenia 82-73
SRB: Macvan (15), Rasic (13), Savanovic (12)
SLO: Nachbar (17), Brezec (15), Slokar (13)

Russia d. New Zealand 89-76
RUS: Vorontsevich (19), Ponkrashov (18), Bykov (11)
NZL: Penney (29), Bradshaw (13), Tait (10)

[Alyosha12]

Very good ranking. Mine would be:

1.Spain: they are just fierce, they have everything, talent and chemistry, defense, coaching, shooting, penetrating, and a deep bench.
2.USA: they have talent, but do they have chemistry and team defense?
3.Serbia: They have the same team they had last year,with every player being 1 year more experienced and probably the best coach and the best defense in the tournament. As far as size goes they are the biggest team imo. Their starting 5 is 6.4 - 6.5 - 6.7 - 6.8 - 7.1 And the guys coming off the bench are just as big lol.
4.Greece: just a great team all around, they do lack shooters and scorers a bit but they have great size and a great coach.

These for teams are imo a step above the rest, then it is pretty much a wash between:
5.Argentina: i give them half advantage of the rest in this group. Every year i say they are too old and every year they prove me wrong,so this year i'm not even gonna say it.
6.Brazil: they have a great team, but they had a great team at the WC as well, but they actually got into a fight as i heard, so it seems that chemistry could be a problem and coaching.
7.Turkey: they have been playing like ass in the friendlies up until now, but you can't underestimate the home crowd factor.
8.Slovenia: our team this year has no interior presence, which limits us a great deal as our points come from our back court or from our guys penetrating and dishing to the open big. Our bigs can't create their own shot and have a hard time finishing even if they are open lol. But still we have good guards, and what i hope will be good defense as we have had in the past.
9.Lithuania: a young team with a lot to prove, great shooting and rebounding.
10.Croatia: in a few years, when all their young guys mature they will be a lot higher on this ranking but not yet. They have a big hole on the SG spot.
11.PR: always a dangerous team, their biggest problem IMO is that they don't have any discipline in their game, when their shots are falling that is not a problem its even a plus, but when they are not they just jack up brick after brick and fall into a deep hole.

Then you have the ext lower level teams imo China, Australia, France, Germany. And then even a tier lower everyone else.

IMO the teams from the first group can all beat one another on any given day. The teams from the second group can obviously beat one another but if they have a great day, and the teams from the first group have a bad day they can even surprise the top teams. Where as the same can't be said about the teams from the 3rd group surprising the teams from the second group, but they have no chance against the teams from the first group, if that makes any sense lol...