2024 Olympic BASKETBALL Thread (pt.6: USA Men & Women Win Gold)

[SelfishPlayer]

That's not what people mean when they say that the US is a country of immigrants lol. The US is one of the most difficult countries to immigrate to. I know people who went to ivy league schools and decided to leave the US because it was too difficult to get a work visa.

The majority of the country is descendent from immigrants, some of the first presidents didn't even have English as their first language. That's why the US is referred to as a nation of immigrants. Not because the country is so welcoming towards immigrants in present day America.

There are US Governers that are immigrants! The difficulty of immigration means nothing, there are millions of new US citizens and millions of immigrants every single year.
"Interview: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Author Of 'Total Recall' | From Immigrant To Governor"
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/162166295

A vast number of countries has immigrants in governemental positions. If anything, in France embiid could theoretically become prime minister whereas in the US he couldn't. Just like Arnold could never become more than a governor, even if he wanted to become president. So applying your governement argument, France has more of a claim to the "nation of immigrants" title than the US does.

Unfortunately for you, this doesn't change the reason why the US is referred to as a nation of immigrants, which, again, is because the majority of people are decented from immigrants and not in fact native American.

Embiid is a citizen in a country that is referred to as a nation of immigrants, where immigrants can serve office in government, and you are singling him out as a immigrant? How dare you conduct a failed thought experiment of trying to deny him inclusion.

[Mr Puddles]

When did Luka first begin playing for his country? I see that as a TEENAGER, 17 years of age Doncis lead Slovenia to a Eurobasket title. So you are wrong. His history is nothing like Embiid's. You are wrong or lying.

Luka was brought over to Spain at age 13 to further develop his basketball skills for real Madrid. Embiid was discovered at a basketball camp in Cameroon at age 16 and was brought over to the US to further develop his basketball skills.

I couldn't have been more clear about this in my previous post.

Luka decided to continue to play for his country of birth in national competitions. That's exactly why I said.

What did I lie about?

This is why I hate RealGM sometimes, people get too emotional when their arguments backfire and have to resort to claiming that other people lied to try to salvage their position. The saddest part is that a poll on this board showed that the majority of people here around 40 years old, yet continue to get all up in their feelings about this stuff.

You said the logic is the same. Their histories are different so the logic can't be the same. Luka played for his nation as a teenager. Embiid never did. You failed to mention Luka playing for his nation as a teenager. So you are simply wrong or lying.

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

[SelfishPlayer]

Luka was brought over to Spain at age 13 to further develop his basketball skills for real Madrid. Embiid was discovered at a basketball camp in Cameroon at age 16 and was brought over to the US to further develop his basketball skills.

I couldn't have been more clear about this in my previous post.

Luka decided to continue to play for his country of birth in national competitions. That's exactly why I said.

What did I lie about?

This is why I hate RealGM sometimes, people get too emotional when their arguments backfire and have to resort to claiming that other people lied to try to salvage their position. The saddest part is that a poll on this board showed that the majority of people here around 40 years old, yet continue to get all up in their feelings about this stuff.

You said the logic is the same. Their histories are different so the logic can't be the same. Luka played for his nation as a teenager. Embiid never did. You failed to mention Luka playing for his nation as a teenager. So you are simply wrong or lying.

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

Embiid IMMIGRATED to the United States of America where he is currently a US citizen. Where the HELL is Luka a citizen?

[jfs1000d]

Luka was brought over to Spain at age 13 to further develop his basketball skills for real Madrid. Embiid was discovered at a basketball camp in Cameroon at age 16 and was brought over to the US to further develop his basketball skills.

I couldn't have been more clear about this in my previous post.

Luka decided to continue to play for his country of birth in national competitions. That's exactly why I said.

What did I lie about?

This is why I hate RealGM sometimes, people get too emotional when their arguments backfire and have to resort to claiming that other people lied to try to salvage their position. The saddest part is that a poll on this board showed that the majority of people here around 40 years old, yet continue to get all up in their feelings about this stuff.

You said the logic is the same. Their histories are different so the logic can't be the same. Luka played for his nation as a teenager. Embiid never did. You failed to mention Luka playing for his nation as a teenager. So you are simply wrong or lying.

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

Does Luka go home to his home country during the summer?

I would say when Luka retires he will return to Croatia. Are we wrong in that?

Embiid? He was from Cameroon, came here as a teenager and never returned home. Something about going to an American high school and an American college is different than going to be a professional in another country.

I get what you all are saying a young Doncic and Spain, but I see Embiid as assimilated into American culture.

Embiid came here not only for hoops but for life.


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[Mr Puddles]

There are US Governers that are immigrants! The difficulty of immigration means nothing, there are millions of new US citizens and millions of immigrants every single year.
"Interview: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Author Of 'Total Recall' | From Immigrant To Governor"
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/162166295

A vast number of countries has immigrants in governemental positions. If anything, in France embiid could theoretically become prime minister whereas in the US he couldn't. Just like Arnold could never become more than a governor, even if he wanted to become president. So applying your governement argument, France has more of a claim to the "nation of immigrants" title than the US does.

Unfortunately for you, this doesn't change the reason why the US is referred to as a nation of immigrants, which, again, is because the majority of people are decented from immigrants and not in fact native American.

Embiid is a citizen in a country that is referred to as a nation of immigrants, where immigrants can serve office in government, and you are singling him out as a immigrant? How dare you conduct a failed thought experiment of trying to deny him inclusion.

Honestly, you're just being malicious now. You know that I'm not trying to deny him inclusion, that fact that you would even argue that is disgusting.

Clearly you have no interest in arguing in good faith. I honestly have no interest in continuing this conversation with you if these are your intentions.

Bye.

[azcatz11]

You said the logic is the same. Their histories are different so the logic can't be the same. Luka played for his nation as a teenager. Embiid never did. You failed to mention Luka playing for his nation as a teenager. So you are simply wrong or lying.

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

Does Luka go home to his home country during the summer?

I would say when Luka retires he will return to Croatia. Are we wrong in that?

Embiid? He was from Cameroon, came here as a teenager and never returned home. Something about going to an American high school and an American college is different than going to be a professional in another country.

I get what you all are saying a young Doncic and Spain, but I see Embiid as assimilated into American culture.

Embiid came here not only for hoops but for life.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This is a good point

[AleksandarN]

USA probably win handily.

Germany I see beating Serbia

Yeah Serbia just had their Super Bowl and spent every bit of mental energy and choked it away. I'd expect Germany to take the Bronze.

Hard to say Serbia choked it away. They were over whelmed by the talent facing them. The most talented team down the stretch won. Hard to choke something when facing a way better team. It was only a matter of time. I was surprised they put up a fight as long as did. They were just tired at the end. Gave 110 percent. The US was just too talented

[cdubbz]

Embiid & Ant man are hilarious!

Read on Twitter

[Mr Puddles]

You said the logic is the same. Their histories are different so the logic can't be the same. Luka played for his nation as a teenager. Embiid never did. You failed to mention Luka playing for his nation as a teenager. So you are simply wrong or lying.

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

Does Luka go home to his home country during the summer?

I would say when Luka retires he will return to Croatia. Are we wrong in that?

Embiid? He was from Cameroon, came here as a teenager and never returned home. Something about going to an American high school and an American college is different than going to be a professional in another country.

I get what you all are saying a young Doncic and Spain, but I see Embiid as assimilated into American culture.

Embiid came here not only for hoops but for life.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

To bring this back to my original post (which has been lost in the shuffle)

Embiid can play for whatever country he likes. What we see happening though, (which has been happening in soccer forever) is that developed countries are finding raw talent in undeveloped countries, and then nationalize those players for the purpose of strengething their national team.

This results in the dominant countries staying dominant and the up and coming nations not standing a chance.

The US and western European countries will always have better developed infrastructure for developing basketball talent. While it's great that Embiid was able to get more opportunities in the US than he ever would have in Cameroon, I would prefer to see players like him continue to represent their country of birth to put them on a more equal footing at international competitions.

Let's reverse this and say that in a hypothetical scenario the US is relatively new to basketball, you're a big basketball fan, and whenever your country produces young talent the Netherlands swoops in to add them to their already dominant national team. As a team USA fan, you don't think you'd be a little annoyed to watch those players kick ass at the Olympics while your national team is spending the games the same way and you and I, at home watching on TV?

[zimpy27]

Embiid & Ant man are hilarious!

Read on Twitter

This just proves that Embiid is in fact American

[California Gold]

USA probably win handily.

Germany I see beating Serbia

Yeah Serbia just had their Super Bowl and spent every bit of mental energy and choked it away. I'd expect Germany to take the Bronze.

Hard to say Serbia choked it away. They were over whelmed by the talent facing them. The most talented team down the stretch won. Hard to choke something when facing a way better team. It was only a matter of time. I was surprised they put up a fight as long as did. They were just tired at the end. Gave 110 percent. The US was just too talented

Nope they did choke it away. I don't wanna hear about talent down the stretch when they had a big lead.

They choked period.

[jfs1000d]

Just admit that you're moving the goal post at this point.

Your whole argument was that embiid played basketball in the US at age 16, and therefore he's an American.

Embiid and Luka's situations are almost identical in the sense that both were brought over to another nation to develop their basketball skilled after being discovered playing basketball in their home countries.

Your argument that Luka continued to play for Slovenia is so nonsensical that it's seriously difficult to even reply to. The whole point was that he chose to represent Slovenia on a national level, despite the fact that he was brought over to Spain at age 13 and was heavily recruited by the Spanish national team.

Does Luka go home to his home country during the summer?

I would say when Luka retires he will return to Croatia. Are we wrong in that?

Embiid? He was from Cameroon, came here as a teenager and never returned home. Something about going to an American high school and an American college is different than going to be a professional in another country.

I get what you all are saying a young Doncic and Spain, but I see Embiid as assimilated into American culture.

Embiid came here not only for hoops but for life.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

To bring this back to my original post (which has been lost in the shuffle)

Embiid can play for whatever country he likes. What we see happening though, (which has been happening in soccer forever) is that developed countries are finding raw talent in undeveloped countries, and then nationalize those players for the purpose of strengething their national team.

This results in the dominant countries staying dominant and the up and coming nations not standing a chance.

The US and western European countries will always have better developed infrastructure for developing basketball talent. While it's great that Embiid was able to get more opportunities in the US than he ever would have in Cameroon, I would prefer to see players like him continue to represent their country of birth to put them on a more equal footing at international competitions.

Let's reverse this and say that in a hypothetical scenario the US is relatively new to basketball, you're a big basketball fan, and whenever your country produces young talent the Netherlands swoops in to add them to their already dominant national team. As a team USA fan, you don't think you'd be a little annoyed to watch those players kick ass at the Olympics while your national team is spending the games the same way and you and I, at home watching on TV?

I got no problem with French people being upset that embiid decided to be like….no.

He rejected them. lol.

Why?Dude is an American. Hell, we’ve lost kids who grew up in United States playing soccer of Italian descent that go play for Italy. It’s insane.


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[superunknown]

Read on Twitter

[AleksandarN]

Yeah Serbia just had their Super Bowl and spent every bit of mental energy and choked it away. I'd expect Germany to take the Bronze.

Hard to say Serbia choked it away. They were over whelmed by the talent facing them. The most talented team down the stretch won. Hard to choke something when facing a way better team. It was only a matter of time. I was surprised they put up a fight as long as did. They were just tired at the end. Gave 110 percent. The US was just too talented

Nope they did choke it away. I don't wanna hear about talent down the stretch when they had a big lead.

They choked period.

Bull. That takes away from what Curry, KD and Lebron did down the stretch all of three of them put on a clinic. Don’t down play their efforts. They are all time greats 3 of the top 20 players ever to play the game. Team Serbia didn’t choke those all time greats took it from them. Don’t down play what what Curry, Lebron and KD did down the stretch.

[superunknown]

the so-called "greatest team ever assembled"
NBA analysts, so-called " experts" and talking heads should go hiding themselves in the sewers from where they come form for only thinking of coming up with such statement.
what a joke.

[Roscoe Sheed]

the so-called "greatest team ever assembled"
NBA analysts, so-called " experts" and talking heads should go hiding themselves in the sewers from where they come form for only thinking of coming up with such statement.
what a joke.

I agree that this team should never be compared with the 1992 Dream Team- it is ridiculous that people started that conversation.

[bb22]

The next Olympics are on home soil. It’s a huge advantage (as we see with an average French team making it to the finals). They’ll probably lose in the World Cup again, but they’ll be fine in 2028. By 2032, Jokic and Giannis aren’t playing, and Luka is up there too. It’s only a matter of time until the US pump out another batch of superstars.

This was the year that the US could be dethroned, but they rolled up with a monster squad. One more game. Can’t underestimate France who is playing at home and beat two insanely good countries to get here.

[PushDaRock]

Hard to say Serbia choked it away. They were over whelmed by the talent facing them. The most talented team down the stretch won. Hard to choke something when facing a way better team. It was only a matter of time. I was surprised they put up a fight as long as did. They were just tired at the end. Gave 110 percent. The US was just too talented

Nope they did choke it away. I don't wanna hear about talent down the stretch when they had a big lead.

They choked period.

Bull. That takes away from what Curry, KD and Lebron did down the stretch all of three of them put on a clinic. Don’t down play their efforts. They are all time greats 3 of the top 20 players ever to play the game. Team Serbia didn’t choke those all time greats took it from them. Don’t down play what what Curry, Lebron and KD did down the stretch.

I don't know if "choked" is the right word, but they had a 13 point lead going into the 4th and then went 0-9 from three mostly on wide open looks. This was a very winnable game for them.

[Mrakar]

I just hope we dont see Philipino and Bosnian Refs in the finals and Bronze games. Those guys can't ref serious games, we saw that yesterday.

[guynumber45]

Nope they did choke it away. I don't wanna hear about talent down the stretch when they had a big lead.

They choked period.

Bull. That takes away from what Curry, KD and Lebron did down the stretch all of three of them put on a clinic. Don’t down play their efforts. They are all time greats 3 of the top 20 players ever to play the game. Team Serbia didn’t choke those all time greats took it from them. Don’t down play what what Curry, Lebron and KD did down the stretch.

I don't know if "choked" is the right word, but they had a 13 point lead going into the 4th and then went 0-9 from three mostly on wide open looks. This was a very winnable game for them.

Yeah, at the very least, it was big missed opportunity down the stretch for Serbia. The one that sticks out was that wide open 3 on the wing that Serbia missed with 2 minutes remaining. That would of put them up 5 and put them in the drivers seat to take this game. Instead, the player misses, leading to Steph curry hitting a 3 on the other end to take the lead. And the Serbians weren't able to recover.

Also, does anybody know what happened to Jokic's 3 pointer? I remember him being unreal from deep in his 2023 playoff run. But ever since then, he has been terrible from range. He went 0/6 from there today.