The Official Olympic Basketball Thread

[Sarlonus]

I just watched the last USA exhibition game against Australia. The Aussies played very well against the USA without Bogut. Hopefully the USA whips out a real offense come actual play.

Group Round begins on August 10th. The Groups are:

Group A:
Argentina
Australia
Iran
Lithuania
Russia
Croatia

Group B:
Angola
China
Spain
USA
Germany
Greece

Top 4 teams from each Group Advance to the elimination round.

My predictions for Top 4 in each group
Group A:
1. Argentina
2. Russia
3. Lithuania
4. Australia

Group B:
1. USA
2. Spain
3. Greece
4. Germany

My Reasoning:
For group A, Argentina still has the tools to be considered an elite team. Health is a concern right now for them but they have a ton a veterans to help them win this group. Meanwhile I think Russia has a great coach in David Blatt. They will be a slow down and defensive oriented team. Lithuania is a deep talented team. They are thin at Point Guard though which could hurt them. Finally Australia gets the nod over Croatia for me. The Aussies looked really good and Bogut can push them over Croatia.
For group B, USA will always be the favorites until somebody beats them. They have some weakness including size but the fatal flaw right now is the offense. There is too much isolation plays from international play. Spain is a great team and gets nod over Greece because Spain has more talent. Meanwhile, Greece looks great and smart as usual. The fourth spot is a toss up between Germany and China. It is Yao and Yi against Kaman and Dirk. The guard play could decide which team comes out on top. Yao's health is an issue. Another thing to consider in this match up is that China has the home court advantage.

[pidi]

should be very interesting how the us squad plays against the european style.
the lack of team play might hurt them again. but i agree when you´re sayin theyre the top favorite
until someone beats them.
i also see tha advantage on the germans ( over china ) because yi hasn´t prove a thing til now.
and yuta isn´t playing - or is he????

[nevetsov]

and yuta isn´t playing - or is he????

I thought Yuta was Japanese?

[Sarlonus]

Yuta is Japanese. If you want to see the rosters they are on FIBA's Olympic site.

I want to see Ricky Rubio play on the Spanish team. It is great that the kid is on their roster. I hear he has played pretty well in the exhibition games.

[pidi]

japan - china, what´s the differnce???? shame on me...
but hey, where is the french team???

[lilfishi22]

It's hard to not go for US team, since i watch them all season long, but being aussie it sure feels good that we almost beat them and that's without Bogut.

What's the deal with Ray Ray not getting considered for the US team? I know he's on the wrong side of 30, but he would've been an awesome zone buster for US, along with M.Redd.

[Gorilla Warfare]

Yuta is Japanese. If you want to see the rosters they are on FIBA's Olympic site.

I want to see Ricky Rubio play on the Spanish team. It is great that the kid is on their roster. I hear he has played pretty well in the exhibition games.

I also want to see him too, i heard he was the future Nash.

[-SDU-]

aussie aussie aussie

oi oi oi

patty mills all the way!

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

japan - china, what´s the differnce???? shame on me...

[-SDU-]

^ didnt i say that exact same thing last night about tabuse? hehe

[Miklo]

japan - china, what´s the differnce????

been about 36 hours since you said that...guess we don't have any asians around here!

[Barkley93]

Americans - Germans - Australians - New Zealanders: What's the difference?

[Never Fear 33 Is Here]

^ didnt i say that exact same thing last night about tabuse? hehe

Yeah but it wasn't funny when you said it.

[suns12345]

Go Aussie!!!! go Mills!!!!! go Bogut!!!!

Does anyone know why Nathan Jawai doesn't play for australia??

[Sarlonus]

Go Aussie!!!! go Mills!!!!! go Bogut!!!!

Does anyone know why Nathan Jawai doesn't play for australia??

There are a lot of top level players not playing for Australia. Andrew Ogilvy, Nathan Jawai, and Aaron Bruce are probably the most notable. Ogilvy did practice with the team but I think he was cut. I am not sure about Jawai though. He may have not participated because of the draft and summer leagues. Australia has some good young players and they will be competitive for some time.

[Barkley93]

I want to see "Patty" and Rubio play. Gonna be interesting. Saw Mills in that SLAM article and it perked my interest.

[garrick]

I am a bit disappointed that Amare is not playing for the US as I feel he could really light it up versus most of the World`s bigs. Dwight is imposing physically but limited offensively.
What team USA has not had in awhile is a dominating big man like Shaq, Ewing, Olajuwan, & Robinson.
I think that plus a lack of good shooters like MJ, Reggie, Bird to name a few has contributed to the failures of team USA.

[BitonKOBE]

if amare were coming off the bench team usa would be so much better.

[Luxury]

Speaking of the devil..

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/080807&sportCat=nba

[-SDU-]

@ Sarlounas

I think missing ogilvy jawai and bruce isnt much.

Jawai couldnt do the camp wth the boomers, ogilvy was available but was cut and bruce pulled out with a bad ankle (and promply signed with my adelaide 36ers woot woot!)

the 2 biggest names missing really are sam mckinnon and jason smith. But with them out, it means newley barlow and ingles get their time to shine.

I cant help but to think that smith and mckinnon would have been a big help against the states though, especially given savilles woeful performance