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

[Mephariel]

Hell, look at Wembanyama: You could tell before he played a single minute in the NBA that he was something we'd never seen before. A freaking 7-foot-4 kid with guard skills shooting sidestep and stepback 3s. A lot of that is undoubtedly watching and implementing skills he's seen on the NBA stage. And a lot of that is being in an environment where he can develop those skills in the first place, none of which happened here.

The finished product of Wemby will be after years and years of NBA training. Not Canadian training. Not French training.

[KG Leonard]

I have a feeling Tatum will have plenty of opportunities to shine in 2028. There's always going to be a couple odd-men out on a roster this stacked.

He isn't been benched by KD from 2019 but he is benched by the guy that was swept by Ant & Gobert.

Who?

I meant Tatum has lost all his minutes to a version of KD that is very flawed, aged somewhat badly in the last years prime time aka playoffs compared to peak slim reaper version. This version of KD shouldn't be untouchable and he isn't a freak like Lebron who is performing like the clear MVP of the tournament. Otherwise this Olympic team is too much based on how great these old guys was years ago. As a Celtics fan who knows Tatum isn't perfect, still I wouldn't look at him and his mentality the same if he wasn't publicly pissed off after the Olympics...

[Ruma85]

Every single one of the players you mentioned benefited from playing in the America. It is not just having world class strength training, coaching, and world class development, it is also having world class training partners. Iron sharpens Iron. Look at what the USA's strength and conditioning program did for Yao Ming. He was massively stronger just by his 2nd-3rd year. I never seen a Chinese center in China that looked like peak Yao physically.

Did the world get better? Of course. by leaps and bounds. But we played a significant part in that. Look at someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He went to high school in the US and played in the NCAA, and hone his skills in the NBA. He is essentially an American product. But he plays for Canada. You can say the same for Brooks, Barrett, and Wiggins.

If you take away American made players, Canada wouldn't even have a competitive team.

Sure they all benefited. NBA development programs tend to be pretty good, if hard to fully implement just because of how many games are played and especially how much travel there is. You'd improve just by being exposed to world-class competition every night. But again, there is an absolute river of players who have come over in recent decades who were in immediate position to contribute and thrive resulting from quality coaching and development in their own countries. I listed a bunch of them and there are scores more. It's definitely symbiotic but there has been more than enough improvement around the globe that we don't have to be jingoistic and take credit for every single bit of it.

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

Why is that a bad thing, shouldn't you want to play against better competition?

[Sedale Threatt]

Every single one of the players you mentioned benefited from playing in the America. It is not just having world class strength training, coaching, and world class development, it is also having world class training partners. Iron sharpens Iron. Look at what the USA's strength and conditioning program did for Yao Ming. He was massively stronger just by his 2nd-3rd year. I never seen a Chinese center in China that looked like peak Yao physically.

Did the world get better? Of course. by leaps and bounds. But we played a significant part in that. Look at someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He went to high school in the US and played in the NCAA, and hone his skills in the NBA. He is essentially an American product. But he plays for Canada. You can say the same for Brooks, Barrett, and Wiggins.

If you take away American made players, Canada wouldn't even have a competitive team.

Sure they all benefited. NBA development programs tend to be pretty good, if hard to fully implement just because of how many games are played and especially how much travel there is. You'd improve just by being exposed to world-class competition every night. But again, there is an absolute river of players who have come over in recent decades who were in immediate position to contribute and thrive resulting from quality coaching and development in their own countries. I listed a bunch of them and there are scores more. It's definitely symbiotic but there has been more than enough improvement around the globe that we don't have to be jingoistic and take credit for every single bit of it.

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

And again, if you do a full and fair accounting of the 120-plus foreign players who are in the NBA, you'll find that the majority of them had their foundations set elsewhere.

There are some like Embiid and Giannis, guys who actually did learn the bulk of their craft over here. But somebody like Jokic? Nah. He has surely developed tons -- a lot of which is simply going to happen with age/experience, regardless of where you're playing -- but the main thing there was the Nuggets realizing what they had and giving him minutes and a prominent role. (A lot of what he does can't even be coached in the first place.)

Pau Gasol was excellent from the start. Most of Dirk Nowitzki's improvement came at the hands of his own personal (German) coach. Tony Parker was good enough to be a starter as a teenager a few months into his career on a veteran team with high-level expectations. And so on.

Like I said, just look at Wembanyama. He is already on track to blossom into one of the best players we've ever seen. He's going to learn and grow a ton in the NBA, without any question. Which is why Ginobili used to hassle all of his Argentine teammates to come to the U.S., play against the best and get better. But you could tell before he ever set foot on an NBA court that he's already developed an incredibly unique skill set.

So it's about improving and honing what's already there, rather than starting from scratch, which is the case with a ton of foreign players.

[SelfishPlayer]

Tony Parker Sr. is responsible for the development of Tony Parker Jr.. This is why other guards from France are trash. Don't try to have this discussion without me involving my own talking point because I am an expert on this matter.

[Mephariel]

Sure they all benefited. NBA development programs tend to be pretty good, if hard to fully implement just because of how many games are played and especially how much travel there is. You'd improve just by being exposed to world-class competition every night. But again, there is an absolute river of players who have come over in recent decades who were in immediate position to contribute and thrive resulting from quality coaching and development in their own countries. I listed a bunch of them and there are scores more. It's definitely symbiotic but there has been more than enough improvement around the globe that we don't have to be jingoistic and take credit for every single bit of it.

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

Why is that a bad thing, shouldn't you want to play against better competition?

I didn't say it is a bad thing.

[Ruma85]

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

Why is that a bad thing, shouldn't you want to play against better competition?

I didn't say it is a bad thing.

You seem bitter about it.

[Mephariel]

Sure they all benefited. NBA development programs tend to be pretty good, if hard to fully implement just because of how many games are played and especially how much travel there is. You'd improve just by being exposed to world-class competition every night. But again, there is an absolute river of players who have come over in recent decades who were in immediate position to contribute and thrive resulting from quality coaching and development in their own countries. I listed a bunch of them and there are scores more. It's definitely symbiotic but there has been more than enough improvement around the globe that we don't have to be jingoistic and take credit for every single bit of it.

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

And again, if you do a full and fair accounting of the 120-plus foreign players who are in the NBA, you'll find that the majority of them had their foundations set elsewhere.

There are some like Embiid and Giannis, guys who actually did learn the bulk of their craft over here. But somebody like Jokic? Nah. He has surely developed tons -- a lot of which is simply going to happen with age/experience, regardless of where you're playing -- but the main thing there was the Nuggets realizing what they had and giving him minutes and a prominent role.

Pau Gasol was excellent from the start. Most of Dirk Nowitzki's improvement came at the hands of his own personal (German) coach. Tony Parker was good enough to be a starter as a teenager a few months into his career on a veteran team with high-level expectations. And so on.

Like I said, just look at Wembanyama. He is already on track to blossom into one of the best players we've ever seen. He's going to learn and grow a ton in the NBA, without any question. Which is why Ginobili used to hassle all of his Argentine teammates to come to the U.S., play against the best and get better. But you could tell before he ever set foot on an NBA court that he's already developed an incredibly unique skill set.

So it's about improving and honing what's already there, rather than starting from scratch, which is the case with a ton of foreign players.

And who is honing and improving them? America. Again, there is no way you can argue that Jokic would be Jokic if he was playing in China. He wouldn't have the same money invested into his development. He wouldn't have the expertise and coaching. The idea that Jokic would have been just as good playing in Fiji is just fantasy. You are only as good as the infrastructure supporting you.

Who built Shai into the player he is? America. What about Embiid? America. You are basically agreeing with me. You said it is about "improving and honing." Of course. America didn't make Yao Ming into a 7 footer. But America made Yao Ming into a 25 point scorer anchoring the Chinese team.

[Mephariel]

Why is that a bad thing, shouldn't you want to play against better competition?

I didn't say it is a bad thing.

You seem bitter about it.

Just stating facts.

[KG Leonard]

Replying to someone said if he were Tatum or Hali and knew he wouldn’t play much in the Olympics they wouldn’t have gone.

IT’S THE OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE!!! With the greatest trio of this generation! They get to experience this moment, Paris, with other elite athletes and meet people and attend games and matches AND win a Gold. Tatum brought his kid with him and he gets to experience France. Kerr can’t play everyone every game.

I understand you play Embiid against Serbia for match up, KD is the best USA Olympics player of the last generation but it is insulting to bench a great player who is at worst 6th best in the NBA for Ant with his iso turnovers or Bam shooting 3s. Booker is good for spacing guard shooting but Tatum should have played a lot with the bench.
You embarrassed a great player that is 26 years old with zero minutes before the whole world for no reason and played mostly old players for reputation sake. Tatum will be seen as a weak mentally superstar if he says yes to 2028 Olympics now...

Haliburton is miles away from the level Tatum has earned in the NBA, he is barely an all-star, is happy to be there. He wasn't destroying Dallas in finals game 5, 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

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As An American I was twisting my body to make sure that last Curry 3 rolled around the rim and in. Everybody is focused on winning Gold on Saturday. Then what?
We do all remember when players didn't want to come to the Olympics. What better way to keep players away with what happened to Brown and Tatum?
USA was heavy favorites to win this all from jump. So we are both thankful they pulled out a win and wondering about Kerr's rotations and loyalties that put them on the brink of losing.

Pop, Coach K cared about the next team, the next Olympics, the next gen players. Kerr seems very desperate like he will get fired if he doesn't play Curry no matter he misses every open shot and KD like he was a peak slim reaper. Lucky for him, Lebron is freak of strong mentality that is playing like it was his last games.

If the best performing playoffs player in stats of the last 4-5 season is getting embarrassed...that sends a very clear signal. You might become the joke like Tatum is becoming in the media, all the haters these months before the season. Benched for a guy you defended, swept in his prime Nets days and Embiid is his favorite star to outshine with all his best playoffs games is destroying Philly, the MVP who never wins two series...

[Sedale Threatt]

It is not about taking credit, I am just stating facts. Again the world has improved, but a majority of the players that are anchoring international teams benefited from learning and training in the USA, including Jokic, Schröder, Giannis, Shai, Gabriel, Gobert, etc.

And again, if you do a full and fair accounting of the 120-plus foreign players who are in the NBA, you'll find that the majority of them had their foundations set elsewhere.

There are some like Embiid and Giannis, guys who actually did learn the bulk of their craft over here. But somebody like Jokic? Nah. He has surely developed tons -- a lot of which is simply going to happen with age/experience, regardless of where you're playing -- but the main thing there was the Nuggets realizing what they had and giving him minutes and a prominent role.

Pau Gasol was excellent from the start. Most of Dirk Nowitzki's improvement came at the hands of his own personal (German) coach. Tony Parker was good enough to be a starter as a teenager a few months into his career on a veteran team with high-level expectations. And so on.

Like I said, just look at Wembanyama. He is already on track to blossom into one of the best players we've ever seen. He's going to learn and grow a ton in the NBA, without any question. Which is why Ginobili used to hassle all of his Argentine teammates to come to the U.S., play against the best and get better. But you could tell before he ever set foot on an NBA court that he's already developed an incredibly unique skill set.

So it's about improving and honing what's already there, rather than starting from scratch, which is the case with a ton of foreign players.

And who is honing and improving them? America. Again, there is no way you can argue that Jokic would be Jokic if he was playing in China. He wouldn't have the same money invested into his development. He wouldn't have the expertise and coaching. The idea that Jokic would have been just as good playing in Fiji is just fantasy. You are only as good as the infrastructure supporting you.

Who built Shai into the player he is? America. What about Embiid? America. You are basically agreeing with me. You said it is about "improving and honing." Of course. America didn't make Yao Ming into a 7 footer. But America made Yao Ming into a 25 point scorer who anchored the Chinese team.

But I'm not. You're not giving remote credit to the amount of development most of these players get in their own country to even get on the NBA's radar in the first place, many of which are ready to hit the ground running against the world's best players.

Like Parker. His American dad was a pro player who used to take him to visit family in Chicago over the summers, and I'm sure that helped. But he was accepted into France's national sports training center when was 14 or 15, at which point he was basically a full-time athlete. Then he was an actual pro at 17. By the time he came over here a few years later, he was fully equipped to thrive in the NBA. Even after all the work he did with Chip Engelland to improve his shot, he is a French player through and through. They must be doing something right or he wouldn't have been in that position to begin with.

And we haven't even really mentioned Luka. Granted, he is a prodigy. But dude was getting important minutes with one of the world's better non-NBA teams at 16 and a league MVP not long after that. lol, how are we gonna take credit for that?

I just find you guys on either ends of this ideological spectrum to be ignorant and irritating. It's the flip side of Mirotic, who is one of the worst posters on Real GM bar none. You just have way better ammo than he does.

[dockingsched]

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[Mephariel]

And again, if you do a full and fair accounting of the 120-plus foreign players who are in the NBA, you'll find that the majority of them had their foundations set elsewhere.

There are some like Embiid and Giannis, guys who actually did learn the bulk of their craft over here. But somebody like Jokic? Nah. He has surely developed tons -- a lot of which is simply going to happen with age/experience, regardless of where you're playing -- but the main thing there was the Nuggets realizing what they had and giving him minutes and a prominent role.

Pau Gasol was excellent from the start. Most of Dirk Nowitzki's improvement came at the hands of his own personal (German) coach. Tony Parker was good enough to be a starter as a teenager a few months into his career on a veteran team with high-level expectations. And so on.

Like I said, just look at Wembanyama. He is already on track to blossom into one of the best players we've ever seen. He's going to learn and grow a ton in the NBA, without any question. Which is why Ginobili used to hassle all of his Argentine teammates to come to the U.S., play against the best and get better. But you could tell before he ever set foot on an NBA court that he's already developed an incredibly unique skill set.

So it's about improving and honing what's already there, rather than starting from scratch, which is the case with a ton of foreign players.

And who is honing and improving them? America. Again, there is no way you can argue that Jokic would be Jokic if he was playing in China. He wouldn't have the same money invested into his development. He wouldn't have the expertise and coaching. The idea that Jokic would have been just as good playing in Fiji is just fantasy. You are only as good as the infrastructure supporting you.

Who built Shai into the player he is? America. What about Embiid? America. You are basically agreeing with me. You said it is about "improving and honing." Of course. America didn't make Yao Ming into a 7 footer. But America made Yao Ming into a 25 point scorer who anchored the Chinese team.

But I'm not. You're not giving remote credit to the amount of development most of these players get in their own country to even get on the NBA's radar in the first place, many of which are ready to hit the ground running against the world's best players.

Like Parker. His American dad was a pro player who used to take him to visit family in Chicago over the summers, and I'm sure that helped. But he was accepted into France's national sports training center when was 14 or 15, at which point he was basically a full-time athlete. Then he was an actual pro at 17. By the time he came over here a few years later, he was fully equipped to thrive in the NBA. Even after all the work he did with Chip Engelland to improve his shot, he is a French player through and through. They must be doing something right or he wouldn't have been in that position to begin with.

And we haven't even really mentioned Luka. Granted, he is a prodigy. But dude was getting important minutes with one of the world's better non-NBA teams at 16 and a league MVP not long after that. lol, how are we gonna take credit for that?

I just find you guys on either ends of this ideological spectrum to be ignorant and irritating. It's the flip side of Mirotic, who is one of the worst posters on Real GM bar none. You just have way better ammo than he does.

Mirotic is a cockroach who hides in the darkest of crevices waiting for the USA to lose a game so he can have his little bits to chomp on.

I am only stating the fact that the USA plays a huge part in the development of international players and shaping them into the product they are today. If you can't understand that, that is on you.

Your statement about Luka is puzzling. How are we going to take credit? I am not sure what you mean. I know America helped Luka developed as a player professionally for years. That is a fact. Unless you think the Mavs training staff is just locking him in a room or something and not putting any money into his development. Is Europe supposed to get credit for him being a prodigy? Did Europe gave him a super serum?

The truth is, Europe and America both developed Luka and both deserve credit. But it is a fact that America developed him and will develop him into his final form professionally.

I am not sure where you get the idea that I am not giving credit to Europe developing their players. They certainly did. But America did as well, especially professionally.

[Sedale Threatt]

And who is honing and improving them? America. Again, there is no way you can argue that Jokic would be Jokic if he was playing in China. He wouldn't have the same money invested into his development. He wouldn't have the expertise and coaching. The idea that Jokic would have been just as good playing in Fiji is just fantasy. You are only as good as the infrastructure supporting you.

Who built Shai into the player he is? America. What about Embiid? America. You are basically agreeing with me. You said it is about "improving and honing." Of course. America didn't make Yao Ming into a 7 footer. But America made Yao Ming into a 25 point scorer who anchored the Chinese team.

But I'm not. You're not giving remote credit to the amount of development most of these players get in their own country to even get on the NBA's radar in the first place, many of which are ready to hit the ground running against the world's best players.

Like Parker. His American dad was a pro player who used to take him to visit family in Chicago over the summers, and I'm sure that helped. But he was accepted into France's national sports training center when was 14 or 15, at which point he was basically a full-time athlete. Then he was an actual pro at 17. By the time he came over here a few years later, he was fully equipped to thrive in the NBA. Even after all the work he did with Chip Engelland to improve his shot, he is a French player through and through. They must be doing something right or he wouldn't have been in that position to begin with.

And we haven't even really mentioned Luka. Granted, he is a prodigy. But dude was getting important minutes with one of the world's better non-NBA teams at 16 and a league MVP not long after that. lol, how are we gonna take credit for that?

I just find you guys on either ends of this ideological spectrum to be ignorant and irritating. It's the flip side of Mirotic, who is one of the worst posters on Real GM bar none. You just have way better ammo than he does.

Mirotic is a cockroach who hides in the darkest of crevices waiting for the USA to lose a game so he can have his little bits to chomp on.

I am only stating the fact that the USA plays a huge part in the development of international players and shaping them into the product they are today. If you can't understand that, that is on you.

Your statement about Luka is puzzling. How are we going to take credit? I am not sure what you mean. I know America helped Luka developed as a player professionally for years. That is a fact. Unless you think the Mavs training staff is just locking him in a room or something and not putting any money into his development. Is Europe supposed to get credit for him being a prodigy? Did Europe gave him a super serum?

The truth is, Europe and America both developed Luka and both deserve credit. But it is a fact that America developed him and will develop him into his final form professionally.

I am not sure where you get the idea that I am not giving credit to Europe developing their players. They certainly did. But America did as well, especially professionally.

If you feel that way about Mirotic -- and I agree -- you should take a step back, because these opinions are basically a different side of the same coin.

All of Luka's formative years took place in Europe. He learned the game there. He developed his foundational skills there. He was exposed to high-level competition and coaching there. He is a European player. Trying to put his growth in the NBA on equal footing to everything he first learned and was taught in Slovenia and Spain -- especially when a ton of any player's development will happen naturally through age and additional playing experience, regardless of where it happens -- seems greedy and foolish to me.

In some cases, specifically if you played high school or college in the U.S., for sure; as noted, Embiid and even Giannis come immediately to mind. But Luka and so many others? Not at all. If you're good enough to be playing professionally at a point most of us haven't even started shaving, or even get drafted in the first place without ever setting foot in the United States, whoever is teaching you the game is probably doing a pretty good job and that deserves way more respect than you're giving. That's all.

[Mephariel]

But I'm not. You're not giving remote credit to the amount of development most of these players get in their own country to even get on the NBA's radar in the first place, many of which are ready to hit the ground running against the world's best players.

Like Parker. His American dad was a pro player who used to take him to visit family in Chicago over the summers, and I'm sure that helped. But he was accepted into France's national sports training center when was 14 or 15, at which point he was basically a full-time athlete. Then he was an actual pro at 17. By the time he came over here a few years later, he was fully equipped to thrive in the NBA. Even after all the work he did with Chip Engelland to improve his shot, he is a French player through and through. They must be doing something right or he wouldn't have been in that position to begin with.

And we haven't even really mentioned Luka. Granted, he is a prodigy. But dude was getting important minutes with one of the world's better non-NBA teams at 16 and a league MVP not long after that. lol, how are we gonna take credit for that?

I just find you guys on either ends of this ideological spectrum to be ignorant and irritating. It's the flip side of Mirotic, who is one of the worst posters on Real GM bar none. You just have way better ammo than he does.

Mirotic is a cockroach who hides in the darkest of crevices waiting for the USA to lose a game so he can have his little bits to chomp on.

I am only stating the fact that the USA plays a huge part in the development of international players and shaping them into the product they are today. If you can't understand that, that is on you.

Your statement about Luka is puzzling. How are we going to take credit? I am not sure what you mean. I know America helped Luka developed as a player professionally for years. That is a fact. Unless you think the Mavs training staff is just locking him in a room or something and not putting any money into his development. Is Europe supposed to get credit for him being a prodigy? Did Europe gave him a super serum?

The truth is, Europe and America both developed Luka and both deserve credit. But it is a fact that America developed him and will develop him into his final form professionally.

I am not sure where you get the idea that I am not giving credit to Europe developing their players. They certainly did. But America did as well, especially professionally.

If you feel that way about Mirotic -- and I agree -- you should take a step back, because these opinions are basically a different side of the same coin.

All of Luka's formative years took place in Europe. He learned the game there. He developed his foundational skills there. He was exposed to high-level competition and coaching there. He is a European player. Trying to put his growth in the NBA on equal footing to everything he first learned and was taught in Slovenia and Spain -- especially when a ton of any player's development will happen naturally through age and additional playing experience, regardless of where it happens -- seems greedy and foolish to me.

In some cases, specifically if you played high school or college in the U.S., for sure; as noted, Embiid and even Giannis come immediately to mind. But Luka and so many others? Not at all. If you're good enough to be playing professionally at a point most of us haven't even started shaving, or even get drafted in the first place without ever setting foot in the United States, whoever is teaching you the game is probably doing a pretty good job and that deserves way more respect than you're giving. That's all.

I don't know what you called "equal footing." I just know that Europe certainly has a hand in his development and the NBA does as well. He has been with the Mavs for 6 years. Majority of his prime years professionally are being developed in America. If anything, NOT giving credit to the NBA for developing him and attributing this to "natural" happening is greedy and foolish. If you believe Luka would be just as good now after spending 6 years on Fiji Islands instead the NBA, then go ahead and live that fantasy.

I don't know if there anything more to say. Anyone who is not blind will agree that the NBA has contributed massively to the development of international players, including many of the anchor players in the Olympics now.

[Crives]

Interesting this getting announced now instead of making France ponder lineups

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[DonaldSanders]

Interesting this getting announced now instead of making France ponder lineups

Probably wasn't the plan, but Shams nabbed it.

My guess is this opens the door for Tatum to get playing time off the bench. White, JT, Jrue already know what to do together and then throw in AD/Bam. They will easily hold a lead if not extend. I don't think you need Edwards for ball handling, he just ends up dribbling the air out of the ball. Next time Edwards will be key.

[Mephariel]

Is France going to start Gobert and Wemby? If Embiid is guarding Gobert, who is guarding Wemby? Durant?

[Sedale Threatt]

I don't know what you called "equal footing." I just know that Europe certainly has a hand in his development and the NBA does as well. He has been with the Mavs for 6 years. Majority of his prime years professionally are being developed in America. If anything, NOT giving credit to the NBA for developing him and attributing this to "natural" happening is greedy and foolish. If you believe Luka would be just as good now after spending 6 years on Fiji Islands instead the NBA, then go ahead and live that fantasy.

I don't know if there anything more to say. Anyone who is not blind will agree that the NBA has contributed massively to the development of international players, including many of the anchor players in the Olympics now.

lol, why do you keep bringing up the Fiji Islands? See, this really gives the game away.

Like I totally and completely understand how aggravating it is to have foreign posters come in here and take ignorant potshots at our league and our players. I get it. Truly. And I totally understand the desire to push back on that and plant the flag, perhaps even aggressively. I've done it for years. There are at least a few other posters I've been dying to see pop their heads back up but they probably won't now that we're on the verge of another gold.

But you're basically doing the same exact sht when, for example, you keep bringing up some random Pacific island in comparison to diminish non-NBA competition. Which I even get to an extent; I too get tired of hearing about the Euroleague as if it's even remotely in the same galaxy as the NBA. But that doesn't mean it and a handful of other leagues still aren't high quality. That's where they would be playing, not some isolated backwater. And why would a player of his caliber and schooling be significantly diminished by that? Why would he not still be a world-class player?

For the majority of these players, the NBA builds on strong foundations that have already been built elsewhere and that should be respected. That's it. It shouldn't be that hard to understand. If it's still not sinking in, go back to the very first wave of players who actually did come over here in the 80s/90s as finished products, and how good they were, and recognize that things have improved light years since then.

[Crives]

Is France going to start Gobert and Wemby? If Embiid is guarding Gobert, who is guarding Wemby? Durant?

Apparently wemby been shooting from 3 really poorly. If that’s the case I would put Lebron on wemby and out muscle the kid. If he starts shooting switch to KD.