FIBA World Cup Discussion (Aug. 25-Sep. 10)

[firedavidkahn]

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Ant dominates but Team USA still loses. America is holding him back and too small of a market for him to win. Is it time he demands a trade to a country with a higher GPD and better healthcare?

[minimus]

This time Towns was everything we want him to be (except not winning in clutch): aggressive - (tried and missed poster dunk, took a clutch three), decisive - had multiple and1, offensive rebounds and putbacks, layups. He was not much creative nor assertive, but this might be problem of coaching staff and roster construction.

Not enough D.

I think we need to keep our expectations low at this point. Towns will never be a positive defender. Gobert will never be a positive offensive player. Towns can occasionally block shots, but if I were him, I'd rather focus on NOT fouling much.

DR and Towns finished their run. Towns was aggressive in offense and healthy overall which is my biggest take way from this tournament. In defense he looked not interested in help defense, rotations or transition defense. I even got some vibes of Ryan Saunders era.

P.S. This WC has a few team with unbelievable team chemistry such as Lithuania, Italy and Latvia.

[thinktank]

Not enough D.

I think we need to keep our expectations low at this point. Towns will never be a positive defender. Gobert will never be a positive offensive player. Towns can occasionally block shots, but if I were him, I'd rather focus on NOT fouling much.

DR and Towns finished their run. Towns was aggressive in offense and healthy overall which is my biggest take way from this tournament. In defense he looked not interested in help defense, rotations or transition defense. I even got some vibes of Ryan Saunders era.

P.S. This WC has a few team with unbelievable team chemistry such as Lithuania, Italy and Latvia.

Agreed about KAT.

Either way, whether uninterested or incapable, his defense wasn’t good.

[TimberKat]

Finally got a chance to watch a FIBA game, USA vs Lithuania. Ant was the best player but 26 shots is still too much. The goods are: he was making them, his teammates were feeding him, he can get a decent look just about any time he wants, played great on ball defense, and shot some nice midrange with efficiency. I wish he passes or setup other guys better especially the interior guys. It wasn't until 4th quarter before we see a pass to Banchero. Other areas of improvement: still too many bring the ball up and shoots, a few bad shot selections and gamble a little too much on D.

I don't know if USA had the right lineup for the game. We seem to play too small with Hart instead of Ingram. Valanciunas dominated the middle, Reaves can't handle the post ups, at the sametime, we still gave up a lot of good 3pt looks (granted Lithuania shot lights out too). Not much ball movement, seems like Haliburton is the only point guard out there. Brunson had 7 ast on paper but feels like he was more looking for his own shots. Ingram had a fairly good game. I can see why others say he plays and dominate the ball like Ant.

[shrink]

Remember at the start of FIBA, when Kerr wanted Ant to come off the bench, like DWade did behind Kobe?

And Ant said, “Okay, but we don’t have a Kobe?”

Maybe we do.

[shrink]

As I was watching the last two games, watching our bigs get overwhelmed on the boards by Montenegrin and Lithuanian bigs, it made me wonder how Team USA is going to handle this in next year’s Olympics. The best NBA bigs all seem to be international right now. Team USA is going to have to hope that Anthony Daniels, LeBron, and Kevin Durant don’t get hurt this year in the NBA, and are willing and able to help out next summer. Guys like Austin Reeves just aren’t big and strong enough to defend in a switching system.

[Klomp]

As I was watching the last two games, watching our bigs get overwhelmed on the boards by Montenegrin and Lithuanian bigs, it made me wonder how Team USA is going to handle this in next year’s Olympics. The best NBA bigs all seem to be international right now. Team USA is going to have to hope that Anthony Daniels, LeBron, and Kevin Durant don’t get hurt this year in the NBA, and are willing and able to help out next summer. Guys like Austin Reeves just aren’t big and strong enough to defend in a switching system.

We can easily get bigger, that's not a concern for me. It might not all be at C, but the Olympic roster will be bigger.

[shrink]

As I was watching the last two games, watching our bigs get overwhelmed on the boards by Montenegrin and Lithuanian bigs, it made me wonder how Team USA is going to handle this in next year’s Olympics. The best NBA bigs all seem to be international right now. Team USA is going to have to hope that Anthony Daniels, LeBron, and Kevin Durant don’t get hurt this year in the NBA, and are willing and able to help out next summer. Guys like Austin Reeves just aren’t big and strong enough to defend in a switching system.

We can easily get bigger, that's not a concern for me. It might not all be at C, but the Olympic roster will be bigger.

Name the players though? DeAndre Ayton doesn’t excite me. Jarrett Allen?

I’m concerned if we don’t have bigs better than JJJ and Banchero, it seems to be our team’s biggest weakness.

[Calinks]

That's been a problem with the NBA for a decade plus, we really discourage playing with bigs here and really encourage guards. We don't develop skilled bigs and we don't promote them so international bigs just destroy us. We just don't have the gus to compete with the European teams. We also don't boxout and cant handle the physicality either so its a big problem. We have eliminated that from the NBA because we want guards and wings hitting threes and driving the ball like the crazy.

[younggunsmn]

That's been a problem with the NBA for a decade plus, we really discourage playing with bigs here and really encourage guards. We don't develop skilled bigs and we don't promote them so international bigs just destroy us. We just don't have the gus to compete with the European teams. We also don't boxout and cant handle the physicality either so its a big problem. We have eliminated that from the NBA because we want guards and wings hitting threes and driving the ball like the crazy.

You hit the nail on the head right there.
Rule changes in the NBA have been heavily slanted toward pace/scoring/excitement/3 point shooting basically since Jordan retired.
Physicality especially is greatly discouraged.

Poor roster construction with team USA, JJJ is a great defender, but not a great rebounder and very foul prone.
Can't think of a great fit for a rebounder off the top of my head, maybe Aaron Gordon would have been a fit to match the physicality? We can't keep getting pounded this badly on the glass if we expect to come away with the gold.

But you have to tip your cap when a team starts 9/9 from 3.

[TimberKat]

As I was watching the last two games, watching our bigs get overwhelmed on the boards by Montenegrin and Lithuanian bigs, it made me wonder how Team USA is going to handle this in next year’s Olympics. The best NBA bigs all seem to be international right now. Team USA is going to have to hope that Anthony Daniels, LeBron, and Kevin Durant don’t get hurt this year in the NBA, and are willing and able to help out next summer. Guys like Austin Reeves just aren’t big and strong enough to defend in a switching system.

We can easily get bigger, that's not a concern for me. It might not all be at C, but the Olympic roster will be bigger.

Name the players though? DeAndre Ayton doesn’t excite me. Jarrett Allen?

I’m concerned if we don’t have bigs better than JJJ and Banchero, it seems to be our team’s biggest weakness.

Consider 2021 we had Bam and JaVale McGee. I think Allen would be a good choice. How about Towns?

[TimberKat]

Remember at the start of FIBA, when Kerr wanted Ant to come off the bench, like DWade did behind Kobe?

And Ant said, “Okay, but we don’t have a Kobe?”

Maybe we do.

Maybe we just have a Donovan Mitchell or Zach LaVine or World B. Free (that is one way to impact the world via play basketball)

[m2002brian]

Remember at the start of FIBA, when Kerr wanted Ant to come off the bench, like DWade did behind Kobe?

And Ant said, “Okay, but we don’t have a Kobe?”

Maybe we do.

Maybe we just have a Donovan Mitchell or Zach LaVine or World B. Free (that is one way to impact the world via play basketball)

lol. I love how much defense is disregarded on this forum. Not /s

[Klomp]

We can easily get bigger, that's not a concern for me. It might not all be at C, but the Olympic roster will be bigger.

Name the players though? DeAndre Ayton doesn’t excite me. Jarrett Allen?

I’m concerned if we don’t have bigs better than JJJ and Banchero, it seems to be our team’s biggest weakness.

Consider 2021 we had Bam and JaVale McGee. I think Allen would be a good choice. How about Towns?

I'd expect them to get Bam back. Heck, these bigs don't have to be superstars, guys like Kevon Looney could probably do decently. Kessler will likely get stronger the more he grows into his body too. And I know we're talking about strength here, but Chet will likely be in the fold too.

[TimberKat]

Very nice 1st possession of 2nd half for Ant and US for an Ant 3pt shot. Ant bring up the ball made a pass, and ball eventually got back to him. Bridges is playing like an all star ( what we think he is capable of).

[Klomp]

Name the players though? DeAndre Ayton doesn’t excite me. Jarrett Allen?

I’m concerned if we don’t have bigs better than JJJ and Banchero, it seems to be our team’s biggest weakness.

Consider 2021 we had Bam and JaVale McGee. I think Allen would be a good choice. How about Towns?

I'd expect them to get Bam back. Heck, these bigs don't have to be superstars, guys like Kevon Looney could probably do decently. Kessler will likely get stronger the more he grows into his body too. And I know we're talking about strength here, but Chet will likely be in the fold too.

A few other bigs that could/should be mentioned for the next generation of Team USA:
Evan Mobley, Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren, Naz Reid, Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Bamba, Robert Williams III, Nic Claxton, Mark Williams, Dereck Lively, Jaxson Hayes, Brandon Clarke, Mitchell Robinson

[FrenchMinnyFan]

If Embid decide to play for USA, then the problem is fixed !

[Murphs56]

NAW had monster first half for Canada including a poster.

[minimus]

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[KGdaBom]

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I love it. Maybe we have more talent than we think we do.