International Hoops thread

closg00 · Post #121 » by **closg00** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:40 pm

Basketball World Cup?! Eesh, what an unfortunate name-change. There can only be one WC.

Still would like to check it out. Thx for the bump.

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pancakes3 · Post #122 » by **pancakes3** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 6:47 pm

Wall, Beal, Cousins, Curry, A. Davis, Derozan, Durant, Drummond, Faried, George, Harden, Hayward, Kyrie, Korver, Lillard, Love, Parsons, Rose, Klay.

Curry/Lillard
Harden/Beal*
Durant/George
Love/Davis
Cousins

are pretty much locks in my estimation, except Beal. I think it's Beal's job to lose but he's not a lock like the other guys. Beal at 2 is much more preferable to kyrie or DeRozen not to mention Klay, and Korver. That leaves 3 wild cards, probably a guard, swingman, and a big man to round it out. Youth and marketability will play a disproportionate factor since they want to groom these guys for the next Olympics. Shooting ability is at a premium. If I had to guess, it'd be Irving, Hayward, Drummond.

FAH1223 · Post #123 » by **FAH1223** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:27 pm

Kevin Love is out of USA Basketball this summer due to his circus of trying to get a trade to CLE.

So it looks like Paul George and Chandler Parsons will be the stretch PFs options.

fishercob · Post #124 » by **fishercob** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:38 pm

Durant played mostly PF four years ago.

theboomking · Post #125 » by **theboomking** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 12:28 am

I used to not care so much about Wall making the U.S. squad, but I can't help but think that Wall and Beal practicing and playing with Durant could only help our recruiting.

I would also think that with all of the emphasis on shooting, that a guy. Like Wall could kill it on the U.S. squad just driving and kicking to open shooters and wreaking havoc in the open court. Maybe he makes It this year.

FAH1223 · Post #126 » by **FAH1223** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:35 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/NBA/status/493569779672694784[/tweet]

Kanyewest · Post #127 » by **Kanyewest** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:30 pm

I would be surprised if Wall makes the team given that he's a poor 3 point shooter given his competition. Yes, Wall may be a better defender compared to guys like Curry, Lillard, and Irving but they may be de-emphasized a bit because of zone defense employed. I also don't think team USA likes him that much like Coach K.

fishercob · Post #128 » by **fishercob** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:37 pm

Coach K speaks: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/q-a-with-t ... um=twitter

Krzyzewski: "Our roster is built on quickness, athleticism and shooting. We've won these last three competitions because we've been smart defensively, knowing team fouls, we've shot more free throws, we've passed the ball well, had more assists and we've really shot the ball well. It's different shots than they get in the NBA. A lot of them are stationary threes. What we hope we can hold our own in is our rebounding and post defense because we don't have a lot of depth there on the inside. You have Anthony Davis, Durant, Paul George, [James] Harden and Rose, [Stephen] Curry, [Damian] Lillard, Klay Thompson. Do we have enough other stuff? Big teams will try to pound us. No question about it. We believe we have a team that can win. But we certainly can be beat. There are good teams out there."

It would seem to me that Lillard is on the team, and you know K is taking Irving over Wall. John just has to defend his ass off in practice and hope for the best.

dlts20 · Post #129 » by **dlts20** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:39 pm

I disagree with Wall not making it because of the 3pt shot. He still has the size, defense, speed, and he's pass first on a team with all legit scorers while alot of the other PG's are shoot first.

However, like everything else there is a ton of politics involved and bigger name players always rule the day. Wall has to do more than outplay them to get chose and I just dont see Wall or the Wiz as being on that level yet. If we come a legit team, household name, and Wall plays great this upcoming year then they will legitimatly look at him as an option but as of now, its just like the All Star game. Guys will get votes or start over him even if they dont play better.

With all that being said, Im not sure Wall is ready to make that team. I always felt like Arenas was deadly on the Wiz but was submissive around other guys when on team USA. His insecurities in his game showed and he didnt believe enough. I felt the same about Wall. I think he's a lil submissive around his peers. That started to change this year as the season progressed but I think he's one more offseason away. Next year I could see him playing just like he does on the Wiz and feeling like he's better then all the other PG's or ready to go at them hard but Im not sure he's quite there this year

Illmatic12 · Post #130 » by **Illmatic12** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:48 am

Kanyewest wrote:I would be surprised if Wall makes the team given that he's a poor 3 point shooter given his competition. Yes, Wall may be a better defender compared to guys like Curry, Lillard, and Irving but they may be de-emphasized a bit because of zone defense employed. I also don't think team USA likes him that much like Coach K.

The international three is shorter than the NBA three.. unless his shot from last season has regressed, Wall should be able to knock them down at a pretty decent rate

Kanyewest · Post #131 » by **Kanyewest** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:20 am

dlts20 wrote:I disagree with Wall not making it because of the 3pt shot. He still has the size, defense, speed, and he's pass first on a team with all legit scorers while alot of the other PG's are shoot first.

However, like everything else there is a ton of politics involved and bigger name players always rule the day. Wall has to do more than outplay them to get chose and I just dont see Wall or the Wiz as being on that level yet. If we come a legit team, household name, and Wall plays great this upcoming year then they will legitimatly look at him as an option but as of now, its just like the All Star game. Guys will get votes or start over him even if they dont play better.

With all that being said, Im not sure Wall is ready to make that team. I always felt like Arenas was deadly on the Wiz but was submissive around other guys when on team USA. His insecurities in his game showed and he didnt believe enough. I felt the same about Wall. I think he's a lil submissive around his peers. That started to change this year as the season progressed but I think he's one more offseason away. Next year I could see him playing just like he does on the Wiz and feeling like he's better then all the other PG's or ready to go at them hard but Im not sure he's quite there this year

Yup. Wall could fit as a pass first guy like Chris Paul.

But I just don't think Coach K likes him relative to everyone else. Coach K already said this today about Rose

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/493877309108023297[/tweet]

CobraCommander · Post #132 » by **CobraCommander** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:28 am

Kanyewest wrote:
dlts20 wrote:I disagree with Wall not making it because of the 3pt shot. He still has the size, defense, speed, and he's pass first on a team with all legit scorers while alot of the other PG's are shoot first.

However, like everything else there is a ton of politics involved and bigger name players always rule the day. Wall has to do more than outplay them to get chose and I just dont see Wall or the Wiz as being on that level yet. If we come a legit team, household name, and Wall plays great this upcoming year then they will legitimatly look at him as an option but as of now, its just like the All Star game. Guys will get votes or start over him even if they dont play better.

With all that being said, Im not sure Wall is ready to make that team. I always felt like Arenas was deadly on the Wiz but was submissive around other guys when on team USA. His insecurities in his game showed and he didnt believe enough. I felt the same about Wall. I think he's a lil submissive around his peers. That started to change this year as the season progressed but I think he's one more offseason away. Next year I could see him playing just like he does on the Wiz and feeling like he's better then all the other PG's or ready to go at them hard but Im not sure he's quite there this year

Yup. Wall could fit as a pass first guy like Chris Paul.

But I just don't think Coach K likes him relative to everyone else. Coach K already said this today about Rose

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/493877309108023297[/tweet]

Completely agree and if I was Coach K I would go elsewhere for set threes than wall. Still take wall over these guys on nba squad -

stevemcqueen1 · Post #133 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:01 pm

If they don't take Wall, who is their set up man going to be? Who is going to play defense? He's the best drive and kick player in camp and the best defensive player among the guards. You've got all shooters and lousy defenders + Wall. He's a natural fit to fill a hole on the roster.

Illmatic12 · Post #134 » by **Illmatic12** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:06 pm

If it wasn't for politics, I think Wall would be given significant consideration over Rose. He can fill the athleticism role, he's a smarter and more natural playmaker, and is a better defender.

Essentially he's a better fit to fill Westbrook's role from the 2010, 2012 teams (and Westbrook significantly outplayed Rose in 2010 and ended up taking most of his minutes)

stevemcqueen1 · Post #135 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:47 pm

Illmatic12 wrote:If it wasn't for politics, I think Wall would be given significant consideration over Rose. He can fill the athleticism role, he's a smarter and more natural playmaker, and is a better defender.

Essentially he's a better fit to fill Westbrook's role from the 2010, 2012 teams (and Westbrook significantly outplayed Rose in 2010 and ended up taking most of his minutes)

Agreed. Not to mention Rose is probably rusty as hell.

I'd take Wall and start him beside Curry as my backcourt. He's better than Irving and Lillard and probably better than Rose is as this point.

Wall, Curry, Durant, Davis, Cousins

and

Wall, Curry, George, Durant, Davis/Cousins

are our two best potential line ups IMO.

Wall and Cousins are utterly dominant together and Wall and George/Durant could hide Curry on defense.

The only downside is that Davis & Cousins are hard to play together because they're our only real C options. Not sure how I feel about Drummond on the team yet. Not sure he knows how to play defense and he seems like he'd be a foul machine and he doesn't really bring enough offensive versatility to justify taking him over a fourth PG who is going to be a significantly better player than him.

stevemcqueen1 · Post #136 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:04 pm

Actually, thinking about it more, I like this nine man rotation best for the team:

PG: Curry
SG: Harden
SF: George
PF: Durant
C: Davis

Second line of,

PG: Wall
SG: Irving or Lillard
SF: Thompson or Beal
PF: Durant/George
C: Cousins

Wall, Irving, and Cousins make for the foundation of a terrific second line. Wall has fantastic chemistry playing with those two in particular. And Beal of course. But Lillard or Thompson could work just as well. Especially since Thompson has the height to play SF.

George and Durant are going to play the most minutes on the team probably.

Man, that second line of our JV squad would probably be better than any other country's starters.

dckingsfan · Post #137 » by **dckingsfan** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:06 pm

Illmatic12 wrote:If it wasn't for politics, I think Wall would be given significant consideration over Rose. He can fill the athleticism role, he's a smarter and more natural playmaker, and is a better defender.

Yep, with Thibs as the assistant, I just don't see Rose not getting the nod as the starting PG.

stevemcqueen1 · Post #138 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:53 pm

Sounds like Rose and Harden will probably be the starting guards and they're playing Steph Curry at back up SG.

That means Wall, Irving, and Lillard are competing for at most two backup PG spots, and the team might only take one backup PG anyway since they can just have Curry play PG if they need to.

If they're looking for another Westbrook, Illmatic is right, they should take Wall. But I bet they take Irving.

stevemcqueen1 · Post #139 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:55 pm

If coach K picks Rose and Irving as his PGs, not going to lie, it'd be satisfying if they ended up falling flat because of PG play. IMO they're the two least deserving of being there.

stevemcqueen1 · Post #140 » by **stevemcqueen1** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:19 pm

Glancing at our group, it looks like Turkey is the only other good team. We should win the group which would put us against the fourth team in Group D in the first round of knockout play. Argentina, Brazil, France, and Spain are all in groups A and B. We wouldn't play any one from those groups until the Final.