FIBA World Cup 2023 (FIRST thread)

[Pachinko_]

Bobby? Really?

[Mirotic12]

A lot of successful NTs have continuity, but not all, its overused excuse for US, thinking they are the only ones with the problem, which they aren't, a lot of top teams go through shifts every summer, stars especially miss World cups and they grasp for new players all the time, this is not an exclusive USA NT problem.

You need find players who work really well, that is why I always been open to even bringing some Euroleague stars to camp, and if they really cant compete at the end, just cut them. Look at what happened to olympic team, they brought all these NBA scorers and it was emberassing watching them bait and flop for fouls and get none of it on FIBA court. These stars build under NBA rules were kind of the problem, role players would have looked better, at least at first, yes, at the end, they did adapt and sheer talent beat France in close effort, but it wasnt looking good. Lack of NBA stars was never A US problem.

USA has used American EuroLeague players before at the Pan American Games, and at qualifiers for AmeriCup and World Cup. While playing against second tier teams from Latin America, and also against the better Latin American teams that were minus their NBA and EuroLeague players, Team USA lost numerous games. Hell, they lost numerous times to Mexico.

[GusT15]

Bobby? Really?

28th of August,Monday,USA vs Greece.

Giannis vs Bobby,who'll be the best PF?

(That's assuming Giannis plays,which i'm starting to highly doubt after this years disastrous Bucks playoffs.)

[Pachinko_]

Bobby? Really?

28th of August,Monday,USA vs Greece.

Giannis vs Bobby,who'll be the best PF?

(That's assuming Giannis plays,which i'm starting to highly doubt after this years disastrous Bucks playoffs.)

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

[GusT15]

Bobby? Really?

28th of August,Monday,USA vs Greece.

Giannis vs Bobby,who'll be the best PF?

(That's assuming Giannis plays,which i'm starting to highly doubt after this years disastrous Bucks playoffs.)

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

And those wonderful minds at the Greek Federation didn't want to bring Vezenkov to play for the NT,10 years ago when himself has said he was interested in playing for Greece.

But they showed no respect or faith in him as a prospect so he went for Bulgaria instead.
Imagine Vezenkov and Giannis at the Forward positions and how different the Greek team would look.

(But they had no problem making Walkup naturalize and saving him a roster spot for this WC,cause after two years in Greece he certainly deserves it ,plus that's just what Greece needs,another defensive specialist with zero offensive skills .)

[iLLmatic860]

enough talent for USA to win without much of a challenge

[Phreak50]

I'm very interested. I've already talked to Dennis Schroder about it. A year ago, I had a lengthy conversation with the national team's coach Gordon Herbert. I really feel like it,

Make up your mind Austin. That is just embarrassing.

[Mirotic12]

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

It's not just Calathes, although he was the huge cancer that ruined that entire era of Vassilis Spanoulis, Ioannis Bourousis, and Nikos Zisis, and cost them numerous medals, with his complete chokes in every important elimination game, being always left wide open by the defense, as they dared him to shoot, and Greece played 4 on 5 on offense........ But it's also equally Sloukas, who is by miles and miles the most overrated Greek player of all time.

Sloukas is the biggest fool's gold player I've ever seen. Horrendous defense always, and whenever it comes to needing to make a play or shot that would actually win something, he is always the one trying to hog the spotlight, he's always making sure he has the ball and takes the shot, and he always chokes. He just cost Olympiacos a EuroLeague championship with that nonsense. It's like he has a mental complex or something from playing with Spanoulis all those years. He sooooo badly wants to be Spanoulis, and he's at least 100 miles from that, and he's not even comparable to guys like Sergio Llull or Sergio Rodriguez, but he plays like he thinks he's the current EuroLeague version of Petrovic/Bodiroga/Spanoulis.

Calathes and Sloukas, the two of them together have been a curse on Greece's NT, because they have both been hailed as being top 10 EuroLeague players for years, and in reality, they are both complete fool's gold. Zisis was Greece's 4th perimeter player back in the day, and he was 10 times the player they are.

And of course all of the joke coaches they had for years under Vassilakopoulos heading the federation. Joke coach after joke coach. But we have seen that even with coaches like Pitino and Itoudis, that Calathes is still the same player that is the worst shooter at guard in EuroLeague, and that Sloukas is still the same player that is the worst defender at guard in EuroLeague, and is still the third biggest choker in EuroLeague (Mirotic/Teodosic). And neither Pitino, nor Itoudis had the sense to just bring in a guard that could both shoot and plays within his actual limits.

But Giannis has for sure 100% had a part in it also. FIBA Giannis just isn't as good as NBA Giannis, due to the different rules and reffing criteria. FIBA Giannis is something like a 75 to 80 percent version of NBA Giannis. And the whole thing that the federation and coaches feel that they have to have his brothers in the team also to make him happy.......neither one of them (Thanasis and Kostas) has any business being on the national team. They are both practically useless players. All Thanasis basically does is foul people, and all Kostas basically does is try to catch lob dunks. They are such very limited players and take up two spots on the team, that plenty of better players than them could take instead.

[Pachinko_]

28th of August,Monday,USA vs Greece.

Giannis vs Bobby,who'll be the best PF?

(That's assuming Giannis plays,which i'm starting to highly doubt after this years disastrous Bucks playoffs.)

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

And those wonderful minds at the Greek Federation didn't want to bring Vezenkov to play for the NT,10 years ago when himself has said he was interested in playing for Greece.

But they showed no respect or faith in him as a prospect so he went for Bulgaria instead.
Imagine Vezenkov and Giannis at the Forward positions and how different the Greek team would look.

(But they had no problem making Walkup naturalize and saving him a roster spot for this WC,cause after two years in Greece he certainly deserves it ,plus that's just what Greece needs,another defensive specialist with zero offensive skills .)

To be honest with you? I still think Vezenkov is basically a glorified Mihalis Kakiouzis with a green light. And Kakiouzis was maybe (?) the 4th best player on the good versions of the NT.

[Mirotic12]

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

And those wonderful minds at the Greek Federation didn't want to bring Vezenkov to play for the NT,10 years ago when himself has said he was interested in playing for Greece.

But they showed no respect or faith in him as a prospect so he went for Bulgaria instead.
Imagine Vezenkov and Giannis at the Forward positions and how different the Greek team would look.

(But they had no problem making Walkup naturalize and saving him a roster spot for this WC,cause after two years in Greece he certainly deserves it ,plus that's just what Greece needs,another defensive specialist with zero offensive skills .)

To be honest with you? I still think Vezenkov is basically a glorified Mihalis Kakiouzis with a green light. And Kakiouzis was maybe (?) the 4th best player on the good versions of the NT.

Kakiouzis was a quite good SF/PF in the EuroLeague in his prime. But Vezenkov is a much better shooter, much better scorer, and much better rebounder than Kakiouzis was. Kakiouzis was clearly better on defense though.

[Mirotic12]

And those wonderful minds at the Greek Federation didn't want to bring Vezenkov to play for the NT,10 years ago when himself has said he was interested in playing for Greece.

But they showed no respect or faith in him as a prospect so he went for Bulgaria instead.
Imagine Vezenkov and Giannis at the Forward positions and how different the Greek team would look.

(But they had no problem making Walkup naturalize and saving him a roster spot for this WC,cause after two years in Greece he certainly deserves it ,plus that's just what Greece needs,another defensive specialist with zero offensive skills .)

The same federation that didn't let Seikaly and Peja play with Greece.

[Pachinko_]

Kakiouzis was a quite good SF/PF in the EuroLeague in his prime. But Vezenkov is a much better shooter, much better scorer, and much better rebounder than Kakiouzis was. Kakiouzis was clearly better on defense though.

much better passer too, Vezenkov can't pass from one hand to the other LOL

[Mirotic12]

Kakiouzis was a quite good SF/PF in the EuroLeague in his prime. But Vezenkov is a much better shooter, much better scorer, and much better rebounder than Kakiouzis was. Kakiouzis was clearly better on defense though.

much better passer too.

Vezenkov is equally as good a passer, if not better. He's actually quite a good passer. It's just that his game is such that he is 99% just a finisher as a player on offense. So because of that, it's like his passing hardly ever is used. But he's actually quite capable if need be. But all he does on offense is finish, so no need for passing really.

Kakiouzis was better at post scoring, defense and ball handling. But Vezenkov is awful at ball handling and defense, so that's not saying all that much either.

[Pachinko_]

Kakiouzis was a quite good SF/PF in the EuroLeague in his prime. But Vezenkov is a much better shooter, much better scorer, and much better rebounder than Kakiouzis was. Kakiouzis was clearly better on defense though.

much better passer too.

Vezenkov is equally as good a passer, if not better. Kakiouzis was better at post scoring, defense and ball handling. But Vezenkov is awful at ball handling and defense, so that's not saying all that much either.

yeah, in hindsight you're probably right... I might have a idealized version of Kakiouzis in my imagination because he was part of so many great NT teams. Just such a smart player.

[Mirotic12]

much better passer too.

Vezenkov is equally as good a passer, if not better. Kakiouzis was better at post scoring, defense and ball handling. But Vezenkov is awful at ball handling and defense, so that's not saying all that much either.

yeah, in hindsight you're probably right... I might have a idealized version of Kakiouzis in my imagination because he was part of so many great NT teams. Just such a smart player.

Yep. He actually wasn't all that good really, if you think about his individual game. For example, the guys that basically replaced him - Perperoglou was far more talented and skilled than him as an individual player, and Kaimakoglou was vastly superior to him athletically and physically. But Kakiouzis was extremely smart as a player and such a great team and system player. He was a perfect fit for that Greek team. And Greece definitely missed him.

I could also say Vezenkov is much better at pick and pop and Kakiouzis was much better and pick and roll. I think that if Vezenkov played for Greece, on offense, he would probably have more of the type of role that Fotsis had with the national team.

[CharityStripe34]

Honestly I hope he doesn't
It just breaks my hear to see him banging his head on that brick wall every second summer, and most importantly I feel sorry for myself having to watch Kalathes again LOL
This generation of Greek basketball just sucks, we may as well admit it and move on

It's not just Calathes, although he was the huge cancer that ruined that entire era of Vassilis Spanoulis, Ioannis Bourousis, and Nikos Zisis, and cost them numerous medals, with his complete chokes in every important elimination game, being always left wide open by the defense, as they dared him to shoot, and Greece played 4 on 5 on offense........ But it's also equally Sloukas, who is by miles and miles the most overrated Greek player of all time.

Sloukas is the biggest fool's gold player I've ever seen. Horrendous defense always, and whenever it comes to needing to make a play or shot that would actually win something, he is always the one trying to hog the spotlight, he's always making sure he has the ball and takes the shot, and he always chokes. He just cost Olympiacos a EuroLeague championship with that nonsense. It's like he has a mental complex or something from playing with Spanoulis all those years. He sooooo badly wants to be Spanoulis, and he's at least 100 miles from that, and he's not even comparable to guys like Sergio Llull or Sergio Rodriguez, but he plays like he thinks he's the current EuroLeague version of Petrovic/Bodiroga/Spanoulis.

Calathes and Sloukas, the two of them together have been a curse on Greece's NT, because they have both been hailed as being top 10 EuroLeague players for years, and in reality, they are both complete fool's gold. Zisis was Greece's 4th perimeter player back in the day, and he was 10 times the player they are.

And of course all of the joke coaches they had for years under Vassilakopoulos heading the federation. Joke coach after joke coach. But we have seen that even with coaches like Pitino and Itoudis, that Calathes is still the same player that is the worst shooter at guard in EuroLeague, and that Sloukas is still the same player that is the worst defender at guard in EuroLeague, and is still the third biggest choker in EuroLeague (Mirotic/Teodosic). And neither Pitino, nor Itoudis had the sense to just bring in a guard that could both shoot and plays within his actual limits.

But Giannis has for sure 100% had a part in it also. FIBA Giannis just isn't as good as NBA Giannis, due to the different rules and reffing criteria. FIBA Giannis is something like a 75 to 80 percent version of NBA Giannis. And the whole thing that the federation and coaches feel that they have to have his brothers in the team also to make him happy.......neither one of them (Thanasis and Kostas) has any business being on the national team. They are both practically useless players. All Thanasis basically does is foul people, and all Kostas basically does is try to catch lob dunks. They are such very limited players and take up two spots on the team, that plenty of better players than them could take instead.

To be fair, Gianni was awesome at Eurobasket 2022 but being flanked by Calathes and Sloukas (who I thought would pair well with him) didn't really help all that much. And Tyler Dorsey, while a good guard, got physically manhandled the second a decent defender was placed on him. I can only imagine Prime Gianni playing with Diamantidis and Spanoulis

[CharityStripe34]

Bobby? Really?

28th of August,Monday,USA vs Greece.

Giannis vs Bobby,who'll be the best PF?

(That's assuming Giannis plays,which i'm starting to highly doubt after this years disastrous Bucks playoffs.)

He played in last year's Eurobasket with one less month of off-season rest, and he did say that last year he is looking forward to the FIBA World Cup.

[Pachinko_]

He played in last year's Eurobasket with one less month of off-season rest, and he did say that last year he is looking forward to the FIBA World Cup.

Φααααακ
LOL

[-Luke-]

Reaves calling Gordon Herbert: "Hey coach, remember when I told you I had a German grandmother? Funny story, turns out..." *beep* *beep* *beep*

[aminiaturebuddha]

Group H is actually going to be quite difficult, but if Canada can advance out of that and the second round and get into playoff rounds it could get interesting. USA is obviously still the strongest favourite, but in single elimination games with SGA and Jamal Murray, it would be hard to count out Canada ending up on a podium.

Then again, Canada has had a bad stretch of flopping at these tournaments at the senior level in the past decade, so anything can happen.