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

[Optms]

I think Luka made a decision that is to be respected.

I would love to have him play for Serbia, but he feels Slovenian and he wanted to represent his country.

His mother is Slovenian. His father is Serbian, living in Slovenia. He played for a spanish club from his teenage years and lived in Spain.

Whenever asked to chose between Spain, Serbia or Slovenia he was respectful. He chose what his heart wanted and he should be proud.

Embiid is Cameroonian. Cameroon was a German colony taken over by the French. He lives in USA and plays there. He can also chose to do what ever he wants. He begged his way to a French citizenship, then got a US citizenship a year later, and switched teams just before tournament.

For some reason people defend this by saying "he is more US than French and cant be accountable for what he says or does because he is an idiot".

I mean yes. I agree then.

It still is crazy to me that these guys are allowed to represent a country their parents came from, but they themselves aren't apart of by birth or culturally growing up.

Luka made the right decision. He's half Slovenian by genetics but basically 100% Slovenian via culture and nationality. Him going to play for Serbia would be the equivalent of KAT or Jose Navarro going to play for a country they have no connection with directly. Were not raised there or born there. Much respect to Luka. None to the former.

[chudak]

I think Luka made a decision that is to be respected.

I would love to have him play for Serbia, but he feels Slovenian and he wanted to represent his country.

His mother is Slovenian. His father is Serbian, living in Slovenia. He played for a spanish club from his teenage years and lived in Spain.

Whenever asked to chose between Spain, Serbia or Slovenia he was respectful. He chose what his heart wanted and he should be proud.

Embiid is Cameroonian. Cameroon was a German colony taken over by the French. He lives in USA and plays there. He can also chose to do what ever he wants. He begged his way to a French citizenship, then got a US citizenship a year later, and switched teams just before tournament.

For some reason people defend this by saying "he is more US than French and cant be accountable for what he says or does because he is an idiot".

I mean yes. I agree then.

It still is crazy to me that these guys are allowed to represent a country their parents came from, but they themselves aren't apart of by birth or culturally growing up.

Luka made the right decision. He's half Slovenian by genetics but basically 100% Slovenian via culture and nationality. Him going to play for Serbia would be the equivalent of KAT or Jose Navarro going to play for a country they have no connection with directly. Were not raised there or born there. Much respect to Luka. None to the former.

Luka has a Serbian father, is a die hard fan of Red Star Belgrade, which is one of the top 2 sports clubs in Serbia and often comes to games, speaks serbian and listens to Serbian songs in serbian language during games.

Watch on YouTube

Capital city of Serbia and capital city of Slovenia is 6 hours away by car or 45 minutes by plane.

8 years before Luka was born it was the same country.

It's not that simple. But yes he feels Slovenian and play for Slovenia. Its the right choice.

Luka moved to Spain at age 13. His girlfriend and baby mama is Spanish.

Embiid moved to the US from Cameroon at 16 years old. He did not grow up in the US as a child.
Again, he has every right to play for US, I am not disputing him that.

Also most countries do not view nationality rights the same as US do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#:~:text=Almost%20all%20states%20in%20Europe,is%20automatic%20only%20for%20the

If you are born in US and your parents are not american, you get a citizenship. In Europe and Asia if you are born in a country you don't get a citizenship. You get it based on your parents nationality.

[California Gold]

Read on Twitter

Lmao this stupid **** clown. The audacity to complain about the refs when they were grabbing and clawing at US players on the perimeter but Jokic and him got the softest calls when slightly bumped.

Then he proceeds to get cocky with the whole Melo 3 symbol and it backfires because this imbecile finished shooting 30% from 3. Deserved to lose in a choking fashion. This is the icing on the cake - looks like an absolute CLOWN for crying about the refs after the fact. Sore **** loser.

I hope Canada prevents this loser of a team from getting a Medal. They surely don't deserve it.

[California Gold]

Read on Twitter

A few techs were called and the Curry no call with 20 seconds to go might have been debatable, but I don't think they can pin this on the refs. The US played better down the stretch and Serbia missed some easily makeable shots.

How is that debatable? The guy flopped lmao. As typical Euro players do trying to manipulate the game by cheating - glad the refs didn't fall for that trash.

[Mamba81p]

lol I don't why people are denying it when he himself is saying he lived there.

Embiid an American. He finished high school in America, went to college in America and when he retires is gonna live in America.

I know he grew up in a Cameroon and there are a lot of French ties to that country, but he isn’t French. Lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Embiid is American because he can put a ball through a hoop, let's get real. I agree that French fans booing him are ridiculous, but are we seriously going to pretend that Embiid being arguably the second best player in the NBA while also addressing team USA's biggest need isn't the reason he's an American now?

Team USA poached Embiid from Cameroon. This unfortunately happens in soccer too where nations nationalize African players to strengthen their teams rather than letting those countries develop their own squads. I don't blame the players, but I've never been a fan of this. Would much rather see the underdogs have fighting chance and inspire a new generation of talent rather than watching the rich get richer by nationalizing their players.

I respect Luka for not wanting to take the easy route, eventhough it ended up costing him a spot at the Olympics.

Embiid got his citizenship just like any other immigrant. Even if he was just a role player, or committed to another country, he would still get his citizenship.

[LordCovington33]

Embiid an American. He finished high school in America, went to college in America and when he retires is gonna live in America.

I know he grew up in a Cameroon and there are a lot of French ties to that country, but he isn’t French. Lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Don't forget, he played AAU basketball in the United States. Joel Embiid is a product of US basketball. The United States trained him, not France, not Cameroon.

Watch on YouTube

the man wrote a sob letter to the president begging to be french

The French President got played. It might be seen as deceptive but getting the passport will benefit him significantly if he plans on spending an extended period of time in Europe. With a French passport, he has freedom of movement within the Schengen zone (pretty much most of Europe) and not worry about the 90-day rule. Can move around freely and stay for as long as he wants.
Playing for the US was the right choice. His immediate family live here, his son was born there, he developed his skills through the US system and he has spent half of his life stateside. His ties to the country are very strong.

[Mamba81p]

It’s 5:30 am in Paris and KD claps back at a Denver Nuggets media YouTuber lmao. KD and social media never disappoints.

Read on Twitter

Disingenuous take from this dude. How is this the most talented team in the history? Are we ignoring age lol? If all those guys were 5 years younger i'd say sure this is the GOAT team assembled.

Lebron is 40

Curry is closer to 40 than he is 30

Durant is 35 with countless injuries on him.

They're still way more talented than any other team in the Olympics...But lets not act as if it's prime Curry-Lebron-KD

they would have won by 35 had that been the case.

What team in basketball history is more talented? Only team that has an argument is the 08 team. But that team didn't have nearly the talent at center as this team does.

08 had a prime Howard. 2012 was weak at center.
2008 had prime Kobe Lebron and Wade. If Lebron and curry played in 2016 we could have an argument, but they are too old now to compare with that team.

[chudak]

Don't forget, he played AAU basketball in the United States. Joel Embiid is a product of US basketball. The United States trained him, not France, not Cameroon.

Watch on YouTube

the man wrote a sob letter to the president begging to be french

The French President got played. It might be seen as deceptive but getting the passport will benefit him significantly if he plans on spending an extended period of time in Europe. With a French passport, he has freedom of movement within the Schengen zone (pretty much most of Europe) and not worry about the 90-day rule. Can move around freely and stay for as long as he wants.
Playing for the US was the right choice. His immediate family live here, his son was born there, he developed his skills through the US system and he has spent half of his life stateside. His ties to the country are very strong.

he can move freely, just needs to avoid french people holding sharp objects

[Jzh]

I think Luka made a decision that is to be respected.

I would love to have him play for Serbia, but he feels Slovenian and he wanted to represent his country.

His mother is Slovenian. His father is Serbian, living in Slovenia. He played for a spanish club from his teenage years and lived in Spain.

Whenever asked to chose between Spain, Serbia or Slovenia he was respectful. He chose what his heart wanted and he should be proud.

Embiid is Cameroonian. Cameroon was a German colony taken over by the French. He lives in USA and plays there. He can also chose to do what ever he wants. He begged his way to a French citizenship, then got a US citizenship a year later, and switched teams just before tournament.

For some reason people defend this by saying "he is more US than French and cant be accountable for what he says or does because he is an idiot".

I mean yes. I agree then.

It still is crazy to me that these guys are allowed to represent a country their parents came from, but they themselves aren't apart of by birth or culturally growing up.

Luka made the right decision. He's half Slovenian by genetics but basically 100% Slovenian via culture and nationality. Him going to play for Serbia would be the equivalent of KAT or Jose Navarro going to play for a country they have no connection with directly. Were not raised there or born there. Much respect to Luka. None to the former.

Luka has a Serbian father, is a die hard fan of Red Star Belgrade, which is one of the top 2 sports clubs in Serbia and often comes to games, speaks serbian and listens to Serbian songs in serbian language during games.

Watch on YouTube

Capital city of Serbia and capital city of Slovenia is 6 hours away by car or 45 minutes by plane.

8 years before Luka was born it was the same country.

It's not that simple. But yes he feels Slovenian and play for Slovenia. Its the right choice.

Luka moved to Spain at age 13. His girlfriend and baby mama is Spanish.

Embiid moved to the US from Cameroon at 16 years old. He did not grow up in the US as a child.
Again, he has every right to play for US, I am not disputing him that.

Also most countries do not view nationality rights the same as US do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#:~:text=Almost%20all%20states%20in%20Europe,is%20automatic%20only%20for%20the

If you are born in US and your parents are not american, you get a citizenship. In Europe and Asia if you are born in a country you don't get a citizenship. You get it based on your parents nationality.

Yugoslavia roster would be insane in the Olympics. Doncic, Jokic, Bogdanovic x2, Vucevic, Dragic, Nurkic, Zubac, Saric, Osman...

[lambchop]

I think Luka made a decision that is to be respected.

I would love to have him play for Serbia, but he feels Slovenian and he wanted to represent his country.

His mother is Slovenian. His father is Serbian, living in Slovenia. He played for a spanish club from his teenage years and lived in Spain.

Whenever asked to chose between Spain, Serbia or Slovenia he was respectful. He chose what his heart wanted and he should be proud.

Embiid is Cameroonian. Cameroon was a German colony taken over by the French. He lives in USA and plays there. He can also chose to do what ever he wants. He begged his way to a French citizenship, then got a US citizenship a year later, and switched teams just before tournament.

For some reason people defend this by saying "he is more US than French and cant be accountable for what he says or does because he is an idiot".

I mean yes. I agree then.

It still is crazy to me that these guys are allowed to represent a country their parents came from, but they themselves aren't apart of by birth or culturally growing up.

Luka made the right decision. He's half Slovenian by genetics but basically 100% Slovenian via culture and nationality. Him going to play for Serbia would be the equivalent of KAT or Jose Navarro going to play for a country they have no connection with directly. Were not raised there or born there. Much respect to Luka. None to the former.

Luka has a Serbian father, is a die hard fan of Red Star Belgrade, which is one of the top 2 sports clubs in Serbia and often comes to games, speaks serbian and listens to Serbian songs in serbian language during games.

Watch on YouTube

Capital city of Serbia and capital city of Slovenia is 6 hours away by car or 45 minutes by plane.

8 years before Luka was born it was the same country.

It's not that simple. But yes he feels Slovenian and play for Slovenia. Its the right choice.

Luka moved to Spain at age 13. His girlfriend and baby mama is Spanish.

Yea Luka even got the Jordan brand people to play Serbian music in his commercial

In this video he's singing along to song about Kosovo that is very dear to Serbians. To claim that he is culturally "100% Slovenian" is really just a huge stretch. And, no, I'm not Serbian.

Watch on YouTube

[KokoKaizer]

Don't forget, he played AAU basketball in the United States. Joel Embiid is a product of US basketball. The United States trained him, not France, not Cameroon.

Watch on YouTube

the man wrote a sob letter to the president begging to be french

The French President got played. It might be seen as deceptive but getting the passport will benefit him significantly if he plans on spending an extended period of time in Europe. With a French passport, he has freedom of movement within the Schengen zone (pretty much most of Europe) and not worry about the 90-day rule. Can move around freely and stay for as long as he wants.
Playing for the US was the right choice. His immediate family live here, his son was born there, he developed his skills through the US system and he has spent half of his life stateside. His ties to the country are very strong.

The most important part for him

Our medical system, if you don't know French Medical Healthcare, google it.

[LordCovington33]

the man wrote a sob letter to the president begging to be french

The French President got played. It might be seen as deceptive but getting the passport will benefit him significantly if he plans on spending an extended period of time in Europe. With a French passport, he has freedom of movement within the Schengen zone (pretty much most of Europe) and not worry about the 90-day rule. Can move around freely and stay for as long as he wants.
Playing for the US was the right choice. His immediate family live here, his son was born there, he developed his skills through the US system and he has spent half of his life stateside. His ties to the country are very strong.

he can move freely, just needs to avoid french people holding sharp objects

Just don’t go there. Europe is massive place and excellent for doing business and holidaying. He loves spending time in Spain for what it’s worth. His favourite football team is not even French. lol The point is, nobody knows his goals post-career except him and those close to him. A man with significant means and not being restricted by the 90 days in 180 days rule is probably a huge deal for him. Can travel freely around Europe and leave when he wants and come back whenever he feels. The French President got played.

[chudak]

Considering Embiid choosing France for healthcare and EU lifestyle options I am switching my stance to "French people can boo Embiid because its their Olympics and they paid tickets"

[mhd]

Disingenuous take from this dude. How is this the most talented team in the history? Are we ignoring age lol? If all those guys were 5 years younger i'd say sure this is the GOAT team assembled.

Lebron is 40

Curry is closer to 40 than he is 30

Durant is 35 with countless injuries on him.

They're still way more talented than any other team in the Olympics...But lets not act as if it's prime Curry-Lebron-KD

they would have won by 35 had that been the case.

What team in basketball history is more talented? Only team that has an argument is the 08 team. But that team didn't have nearly the talent at center as this team does.

08 had a prime Howard. 2012 was weak at center.
2008 had prime Kobe Lebron and Wade. If Lebron and curry played in 2016 we could have an argument, but they are too old now to compare with that team.

The original dream team had prime MJ, prime Pippen, prime Barkley, prime-ish Robinson (a little before), prime-ish Ewing (a little before), prime-ish Malone (a little before), prime Stockton, (who was injured), prime Drexler, prime Mullin. The only "old" guys on that team were Magic & Bird. Laettner doesn't count LOL.

[LordCovington33]

Considering Embiid choosing France for healthcare and EU lifestyle options I am switching my stance to "French people can boo Embiid because its their Olympics and they paid tickets"

He wasn’t really welcomed anyway. Didn’t some French players go on social media and say only players born in France should represent France? (Before his decision)

[BelgradeNugget]

It still is crazy to me that these guys are allowed to represent a country their parents came from, but they themselves aren't apart of by birth or culturally growing up.

Luka made the right decision. He's half Slovenian by genetics but basically 100% Slovenian via culture and nationality. Him going to play for Serbia would be the equivalent of KAT or Jose Navarro going to play for a country they have no connection with directly. Were not raised there or born there. Much respect to Luka. None to the former.

Luka has a Serbian father, is a die hard fan of Red Star Belgrade, which is one of the top 2 sports clubs in Serbia and often comes to games, speaks serbian and listens to Serbian songs in serbian language during games.

Watch on YouTube

Capital city of Serbia and capital city of Slovenia is 6 hours away by car or 45 minutes by plane.

8 years before Luka was born it was the same country.

It's not that simple. But yes he feels Slovenian and play for Slovenia. Its the right choice.

Luka moved to Spain at age 13. His girlfriend and baby mama is Spanish.

Embiid moved to the US from Cameroon at 16 years old. He did not grow up in the US as a child.
Again, he has every right to play for US, I am not disputing him that.

Also most countries do not view nationality rights the same as US do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#:~:text=Almost%20all%20states%20in%20Europe,is%20automatic%20only%20for%20the

If you are born in US and your parents are not american, you get a citizenship. In Europe and Asia if you are born in a country you don't get a citizenship. You get it based on your parents nationality.

Yugoslavia roster would be insane in the Olympics. Doncic, Jokic, Bogdanovic x2, Vucevic, Dragic, Nurkic, Zubac, Saric, Osman...

Avdia????

[LordCovington33]

Read on Twitter

Lmao this stupid **** clown. The audacity to complain about the refs when they were grabbing and clawing at US players on the perimeter but Jokic and him got the softest calls when slightly bumped.

Then he proceeds to get cocky with the whole Melo 3 symbol and it backfires because this imbecile finished shooting 30% from 3. Deserved to lose in a choking fashion. This is the icing on the cake - looks like an absolute CLOWN for crying about the refs after the fact. Sore **** loser.

I hope Canada prevents this loser of a team from getting a Medal. They surely don't deserve it.

Canada?

[chudak]

Read on Twitter

Lmao this stupid **** clown. The audacity to complain about the refs when they were grabbing and clawing at US players on the perimeter but Jokic and him got the softest calls when slightly bumped.

Then he proceeds to get cocky with the whole Melo 3 symbol and it backfires because this imbecile finished shooting 30% from 3. Deserved to lose in a choking fashion. This is the icing on the cake - looks like an absolute CLOWN for crying about the refs after the fact. Sore **** loser.

I hope Canada prevents this loser of a team from getting a Medal. They surely don't deserve it.

Canada?

@California Gold - is this Canada in the room with us right now?

Watch on YouTube

[lambchop]

Considering Embiid choosing France for healthcare and EU lifestyle options I am switching my stance to "French people can boo Embiid because its their Olympics and they paid tickets"

He wasn’t really welcomed anyway. Didn’t some French players go on social media and say only players born in France should represent France? (Before his decision)

I think it wasn't about being born in France, but rather about being brought up in the French system. France will, once again, most likely finish 2nd without any help from guys who received citizenship as adults. The players who spoke out against Embiid basically just wanted the guys to be rewarded who played on the youth national teams and other leagues since as early as age 15.

Mathias Lessort wasn't born in France either, but played youth basketball in France and represented the youth national team too.

[BelgradeNugget]

Read on Twitter

A few techs were called and the Curry no call with 20 seconds to go might have been debatable, but I don't think they can pin this on the refs. The US played better down the stretch and Serbia missed some easily makeable shots.

I think there were 2 questynable calls/non calls in the last few minutes. First one was obvious travel by FIBA rules on Embiid dunk. Second one was LeBron carrying/double dribble in the fast break. But it didn't decide the game. At the end of the day US made shots, Serbia didn't. We come back from -24 against Aussies, US come back from -17 against us, things level in the end.