Official FIBA World Championship Thread (and long preview)

tundraknight · Post #101 » by **tundraknight** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:57 pm

Will McGee replace the injured David Lee?

Benedict_Boozer · Post #102 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:03 pm

Sedale Threatt wrote:Curry has to be a lock. If I'm the coach, he and Durant get all the minutes they can handle.

Agreed. It's a no-brainer.

tundraknight · Post #103 » by **tundraknight** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:17 pm

The Fiba World Championship AKA the biggest and most important basketball tournament in the world. NOT the Olympics like many americans think.

The Redeem team only redeemed themselves in the Olympics, not the World Championships.

Hopefully this young USA squad will be good enough. And for the love of god defend the pick & roll. That's how USA lost last time in the World Championships because players like Dwight, Carmello, and Lebron, were destroyed by the P&R.

AkeemTheDream · Post #104 » by **AkeemTheDream** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:33 pm

In one semifinal it should be USA vs. Spain and in the other Argentina vs. Greece. I predict Spain will beat US and Greece will beat Argentina. In the final Spain vs. Greece is 50/50 game. I think Greece will win. They are due to beat Spain and are bringing more scorers now.

US won't beat Spain IMO in the semifinal. Their roster is too weak. They also would not beat Greece either IMO if they played them.

In the bronze medal game I believe is 50/50 but I think Argentina will beat the US there. Too much experience for that young US team.

So I think

1. Greece
2. Spain
3. Argentina
4. USA

Even though Greece is without Theo Papaloukas, Spain is without Pau Gasol, and Argentina is without Manu Ginobili they are all still too strong for that US roster IMO.

Besides these 4 teams, I give Serbia, France, and Turkey the best chances to medal. The US might get matched up with Turkey based on how the brackets go. That could potentially cost them making the final four, depending on how intense the crowd gets.

Theo Papaloukas · Post #105 » by **Theo Papaloukas** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:40 pm

tundraknight wrote:The Fiba World Championship AKA the biggest and most important basketball tournament in the world. NOT the Olympics like many americans think.

The Redeem team only redeemed themselves in the Olympics, not the World Championships.

Hopefully this young USA squad will be good enough. And for the love of go defend defend the pick & roll. That's how USA lost last time in the World Championships because players like Dwight, Carmello, and Lebron, were destroyed by the P&R.

I agree. I wish the US players treated it as such. I love watching these international tournaments, nothing like a hostile crowd and players representing their countries to bring out the best (and worse) of the game. I think it's probably too much to even call this US team a "B-team"...it's more like C squad. Not only are they missing top tier guys like Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Howard, and Paul, they're also missing second tier guys like Joe Johnson, Tim Duncan, Amare, David Lee (probably), Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, etc.

Lamar Odom doesn't even start for his NBA team and he'll be starting for the US.

RASALPOOL27 · Post #106 » by **RASALPOOL27** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:45 pm

AkeemTheDream wrote:In one semifinal it should be USA vs. Spain and in the other Argentina vs. Greece. I predict Spain will beat US and Greece will beat Argentina. In the final Spain vs. Greece is 50/50 game. I think Greece will win. They are due to beat Spain and are bringing more scorers now.

US won't beat Spain IMO in the semifinal. Their roster is too weak. They also would not beat Greece either IMO if they played them.

In the bronze medal game I believe is 50/50 but I think Argentina will beat the US there. Too much experience for that young US team.

So I think

1. Greece
2. Spain
3. Argentina
4. USA

Even though Greece is without Theo Papaloukas, Spain is without Pau Gasol, and Argentina is without Manu Ginobili they are all still too strong for that US roster IMO.

Besides these 4 teams, I give Serbia, France, and Turkey the best chances to medal. The US might get matched up with Turkey based on how the brackets go. That could potentially cost them making the final four, depending on how intense the crowd gets.

What the hell are you smoking . We still have the best players in the Tournament . Name a player that is better then Kevin Durant ? Are you kidding me Spain Is better us than without Pau Gasol lol . They could not beat us when he played against us in 2008 . Argentina is getting old and we kick their ass the past a couple of years

astrallite · Post #107 » by **astrallite** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 8:35 pm

Team USA is always the favored to win, just like Brazil always has the most talented soccer team. But invariably, they will get eliminated. This is a single elimination series, and all you need is one desperation game to beat anyone.

RASALPOOL27 wrote:What the hell are you smoking . We still have the best players in the Tournament . Name a player that is better then Kevin Durant ? Are you kidding me Spain Is better us than without Pau Gasol lol . They could not beat us when he played against us in 2008 . Argentina is getting old and we kick their ass the past a couple of years

Team USA was up 3 with under 5 minutes left before Kobe Bryant decided to take over the game because nobody else could. Kobe either scored or set up the last 13 of Team USA's 17 points. If he hadn't, Team USA was in serious risk of losing the game because Spain was going on a run.

Tell me, who on this squad can compare to the team on the floor during crunch time?--Dwight/Lebron/Wade/Kobe/Paul?

Will your team even have a lead with a few minutes left in the game?

Theo Papaloukas · Post #108 » by **Theo Papaloukas** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:10 pm

The one good thing with this US team is that it seems like most of these guys won't have any problem accepting their roles.

sdeezy · Post #109 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:13 pm

USA is being serious;y underrated here and everyone else is being overrated.

CollegeToPros · Post #110 » by **CollegeToPros** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:25 pm

sdeezy wrote:USA is being serious;y underrated here and everyone else is being overrated.

You got that right.

FInd me 1 PG on another team as quick as either Rondo or Rose.

sdeezy · Post #111 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:34 pm

CollegeToPros wrote:
sdeezy wrote:USA is being serious;y underrated here and everyone else is being overrated.

You got that right.

FInd me 1 PG on another team as quick as either Rondo or Rose.

I'm not saying this thing is going to be easy. Not at all. but some of the posts i've seen in this thread make it seem like the US is going to be overmatched because of their youth. It may be our B or even our C team but we still have the best players by a good margin. Thats only one half of the battle, its up to these players to commit to defense and rebounding. If we do that, i don't see why we shouldn't win And everything i've seen and heard so far from camp makes it seem like the players are 100% committed.

Ppl love to bring up the Spain game..but my answer is, so what? we rolled everybody else before that game to a pulp including that same Spain team with Pau in the lineup.Greece didnt even make it past the quaterfinals. Yeah these teams will be tough to beat but so will we. these players have been in the national team pipeline for a while..i'll say it again, if they commit to defense and play smart, they will win. This is far from those egocentric teams we had from 2002-2006

Post #112 » by **UGA Hayes** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:49 pm

Theo Papaloukas wrote:
tundraknight wrote:The Fiba World Championship AKA the biggest and most important basketball tournament in the world. NOT the Olympics like many americans think.

The Redeem team only redeemed themselves in the Olympics, not the World Championships.

Hopefully this young USA squad will be good enough. And for the love of go defend defend the pick & roll. That's how USA lost last time in the World Championships because players like Dwight, Carmello, and Lebron, were destroyed by the P&R.

I agree. I wish the US players treated it as such. I love watching these international tournaments, nothing like a hostile crowd and players representing their countries to bring out the best (and worse) of the game. I think it's probably too much to even call this US team a "B-team"...it's more like C squad. Not only are they missing top tier guys like Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Howard, and Paul, they're also missing second tier guys like Joe Johnson, Tim Duncan, Amare, David Lee (probably), Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, etc.

Lamar Odom doesn't even start for his NBA team and he'll be starting for the US.

No offense but if teams aren't even sendind their best players than its not really a great tournament. A Tournament should be judged by the quality of its participants.

TheDeadDodo · Post #113 » by **TheDeadDodo** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:08 am

CollegeToPros wrote:
sdeezy wrote:USA is being serious;y underrated here and everyone else is being overrated.

You got that right.

FInd me 1 PG on another team as quick as either Rondo or Rose.

The problem with either one of those guys in international play is that the game's more physical, the defense can crowd the lane, and neither one's that great of a shooter (especially Rondo) and therefore can't draw their man away from the basket to open up more opportunities. Their skills don't translate well to international ball. If I were coaching, I'd start a good shooter at point, then bring in the slashers as scorers off the bench once the opposing team has figured it out can't camp the lane.

bigballa3jj · Post #114 » by **bigballa3jj** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:29 am

all i know is Steph Curry better get a LOT of damn playing time!

Post #115 » by **Rerisen** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:56 am

Sedale Threatt wrote:
RoseAbove wrote:
Sedale Threatt wrote:At least he can shoot. Guys like Rose, Westbrook, Rondo...I hope they surprise me, but until proven otherwise they seem like anti-FIBA players to me. All athleticism, zero shot.

You must not have seen many Bulls game this past year. Rose is one of the best PGs from midrange in the NBA.

I'm talking 3-point range. He can't hit crap from out there.

"It's there; I have a consistent 3-point shot now," Rose said Wednesday night. "You'll see. I just have so much confidence in my jump shot now. It's coming along so good. It's past even my expectations at this point."

Korver? RT @Mark_Travis Derrick Rose was the best three-point shooter and shootaround today. Not a great sign

WayneEmbrysKids

ahonui06 · Post #116 » by **ahonui06** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:13 am

I want to see this consistent Derrick Rose 3 point shot to believe it. He definitely has the potential to get better though. You could see how much he improved his midrange game this past season.

Mik317 · Post #117 » by **Mik317** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:18 am

also that quote means that everyone else was shooting like crap on a stick....

Post #118 » by **Rerisen** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:24 am

Knux-Future wrote:also that quote means that everyone else was shooting like crap on a stick....

Seems so. But as a Bulls fan I'm still stoked. I don't know how bad players like Steph Curry and Durant could possibly shoot.

Anyway, makes Rose's case as the starting PG much stronger if he can bury that shot.

Theo Papaloukas · Post #119 » by **Theo Papaloukas** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:34 am

Likely 1st and 2nd options:

USA: Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose (or Tyreke Evans)
Spain: Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez (or Juan Carlos Navarro)
Greece: Vassilis Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova and Hedo Turkoglu
Serbia: Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic
Slovenia: Goran Dragic and Beno Udrih
Germany: Heiko Schaffartzik and Jan Jagla
France: Rodrigue Beaubois and Nicolas Batum
Canada: Andy Rautins and Carl English
Australia: Patrick Mills and David Andersen
Iran: Hamed Haddadi and Samad Nikkah
Lebanon: Jackson Vroman and Fadih El-Katib (or Matt Freije)
China: Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue
Angola: Joaquim Gomes and Eduardo Mingas
Argentina: Luis Scola and Paulo Quinteros
Brazil: Leandro Barbosa and Nene
Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo and JJ Barea
Russia: Timofey Mozgov and Kelly McCarty
Croatia: Roko Ukic and Zoran Planinic

CollegeToPros · Post #120 » by **CollegeToPros** » Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:02 am

Theo Papaloukas wrote:[QUOTE=Nero Tulip]I think we ought to create "The International Troll Thread", where Lakas, ThemBombs, YouGotServed, Kira and all can have fun.

Seriously.

Likely 1st and 2nd options:

USA: Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose (or Tyreke Evans)
Spain: Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez (or Juan Carlos Navarro)
Greece: Vassilis Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova and Hedo Turkoglu
Serbia: Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic
Slovenia: Goran Dragic and Beno Udrih
Germany: Heiko Schaffartzik and Jan Jagla
France: Rodrigue Beaubois and Nicolas Batum
Canada: Andy Rautins and Carl English
Australia: Patrick Mills and David Andersen
Iran: Hamed Haddadi and Samad Nikkah
Lebanon: Jackson Vroman and Fadih El-Katib (or Matt Freije)
China: Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue
Angola: Joaquim Gomes and Eduardo Mingas
Argentina: Luis Scola and Paulo Quinteros
Brazil: Leandro Barbosa and Nene
Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo and JJ Barea
Russia: Timofey Mozgov and Kelly McCarty
Croatia: Roko Ukic and Zoran Planinic[/quote]

Lets Go Lebanon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Team USA of course! haha