Left Off of Depleted Team USA: A Wakeup Call for LaVine?

johnnyvann840 · Post #141 » by **johnnyvann840** » Sun Aug 25, 2019 1:51 pm

I agree that the players can benefit from the structure and the coaching they receive and the fact that they come into camp sharper and already tuned up. However, I would prefer we go back to just playing collegiate players.

DorO · Post #142 » by **DorO** » Sat Aug 31, 2019 7:32 pm

Satoransky tomorrow against Team USA, interesting to see him in action.

Wingy · Post #143 » by **Wingy** » Sun Sep 1, 2019 12:41 am

johnnyvann840 wrote:
Indomitable wrote:
johnnyvann840 wrote:Who cares? Wasn't this just what amounts to a scrimmage? A tune up "exhibition" game that doesn't count for anything, doesn't matter. Looks like Team USA didn't even start their starters and just threw a B-Team out there for this. Perhaps just a case of "not wanting to show your hand" in a game that doesn't even matter for the World Cup.

It's not even the Olympics, anyway, which is why so many guys were just not interested in playing on this team, like dice was alluding to earlier in the thread. Personally, I honestly couldn't care less about that game. In fact, I don't even care about the World Cup, TBH.

I'm really happy for the Aussies though. Seems like it meant a lot to them. Also, I just really like all the NBA guys on the Australian team.. good group.... Bogut, Baynes, Ingles and Patty Mills. This means way more to those guys than it ever could for our players.

Are you friggin serious? It is an embarrassment. One team played soft and und underestimated their opponent. Jaylen Brown still looke liked overrated trash. His defense is a thing of rumor. He takes the easy way out.

Dead serious. I couldn't care less about a scrimmage exhibition game that means nothing. Counts for nothing. Even the USA players said that Australia just "wanted it more". In fact, I don't even care about the World Cup. Period. Just not a fan. It's meaningless once you get to the over 18 games. I do enjoy watching the younger players in these types of competition.

Yeah, the USA played soft and looked like they were just trying to not get hurt. I only saw the 2nd half. Fell asleep. The Lakers better hope Kuzma's injury isn't anything serious and lingering. I'm just glad the Bulls only have one player there and I hope he plays very little.

I always heard the World Cup is a more meaningful basketball tourney to the rest of the world, and the US is in the minority putting such big emphasis on the Olympics. Not that you care.

mj234eva · Post #144 » by **mj234eva** » Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:53 pm

dice · Post #145 » by **dice** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:57 am

mj234eva wrote:oops

eh, that lackluster roster was only about 55% to win the thing. i'm always happy for the hungry underdog in these situations

the original dream team was the one and only US squad that i didn't mind being so dominant. since then i've always just preferred see it be more competitive. which is why i think that nba players should be limited to one lifetime appearance on the national team (except maybe in special circumstances such as a beloved retiring superstar). it would be more special to them. and it's pretty evident that many if not most of them only want to do it once anyway

cjbulls · Post #146 » by **cjbulls** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:08 pm

This remains a hilarious title. Good thing they kept Zach from ruining Team USA.

transplant · Post #147 » by **transplant** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:50 pm

dice wrote:
mj234eva wrote:oops

eh, that lackluster roster was only about 55% to win the thing. i'm always happy for the hungry underdog in these situations

the original dream team was the one and only US squad that i didn't mind being so dominant. since then i've always just preferred see it be more competitive. which is why i think that nba players should be limited to one lifetime appearance on the national team (except maybe in special circumstances such as a beloved retiring superstar). it would be more special to them. and it's pretty evident that many if not most of them only want to do it once anyway

Agree that the Dream Team sufficiently proved the point that if the US sends it’s very best, it’s no contest. If you’re saying that all active NBA players are allowed one international appearance, I might be ok with it, but it’d have to apply to every team.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

bad knees · Post #148 » by **bad knees** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:51 pm

cjbulls wrote:This remains a hilarious title. Good thing they kept Zach from ruining Team USA.

Yes, in retrospect I agree. I think the much more sensible interpretation of the failure of Pops and Kerr to invite LaVine to try out for the team is that they were intentionally tanking. Team USA needed a wakeup call.

Hold That · Post #149 » by **Hold That** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:40 pm

Not a wake up call that Lavine didn’t get chosen. Feel like the roster was poorly constructed. PJ and Yhad young getting calls before him. Is comical. The fact they didn’t even have Trae Young there who would’ve joined is this a wake up call for him? Or how about JJJ. This roster was crappy from the start

dice · Post #150 » by **dice** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:05 am

cjbulls wrote:This remains a hilarious title. Good thing they kept Zach from ruining Team USA.

who said anything about him "ruining" anything? popovich obviously just thought he wouldn't make the team better. they lost because they got torched defensively in the last 2 games. kemba got outplayed by frank freaking ntilikina and gobert obliterated us in the quarters. bogdanovic went off in the consolation game. somehow i don't think that zach lavine would have helped much with any of those things

dice · Post #151 » by **dice** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:09 am

Hold That wrote:Not a wake up call that Lavine didn’t get chosen. Feel like the roster was poorly constructed. PJ and Yhad young getting calls before him. Is comical. The fact they didn’t even have Trae Young there who would’ve joined is this a wake up call for him? Or how about JJJ. This roster was crappy from the start

trae withdrew due to minor injury

dice · Post #152 » by **dice** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:18 am

transplant wrote:
dice wrote:
mj234eva wrote:oops

eh, that lackluster roster was only about 55% to win the thing. i'm always happy for the hungry underdog in these situations

the original dream team was the one and only US squad that i didn't mind being so dominant. since then i've always just preferred see it be more competitive. which is why i think that nba players should be limited to one lifetime appearance on the national team (except maybe in special circumstances such as a beloved retiring superstar). it would be more special to them. and it's pretty evident that many if not most of them only want to do it once anyway

Agree that the Dream Team sufficiently proved the point that if the US sends it’s very best, it’s no contest.

and it was full of legends with personality. it was fun watching them put on a highlight reel and be adored by their opponents. that was a once in a lifetime thing

If you’re saying that all active NBA players are allowed one international appearance, I might be ok with it, but it’d have to apply to every team.

i'm saying that american-born players should be able to play for only one USA team (or only one olympic team, anyway). to make THAT a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a few dozen hungry players

drosereturn · Post #153 » by **drosereturn** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:52 am

bad knees wrote:
cjbulls wrote:This remains a hilarious title. Good thing they kept Zach from ruining Team USA.

Yes, in retrospect I agree. I think the much more sensible interpretation of the failure of Pops and Kerr to invite LaVine to try out for the team is that they were intentionally tanking. Team USA needed a wakeup call.

What? How was Lavine alone going to help Team usa win? Your providing 0 evidence why they would be better off of him. Team USA lost bc of defense and Lavinrs one of the worst.

bad knees · Post #154 » by **bad knees** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:40 pm

Showtime23 wrote:
bad knees wrote:
cjbulls wrote:This remains a hilarious title. Good thing they kept Zach from ruining Team USA.

Yes, in retrospect I agree. I think the much more sensible interpretation of the failure of Pops and Kerr to invite LaVine to try out for the team is that they were intentionally tanking. Team USA needed a wakeup call.

What? How was Lavine alone going to help Team usa win? Your providing 0 evidence why they would be better off of him. Team USA lost bc of defense and Lavinrs one of the worst.

Yes, I agree. I was being sarcastic in response to the LaVine supporters who are twisting themselves into pretzels to try to interpret Lavine's non-invite as anything other than Pops and Kerr deciding that LaVine would not help the USA win. Period. They never called him, even after dozens of players turned them down, and it was clear they needed scoring. That's what they think of him. Period.
Zach's SI ranking of 90 provides further support for the notion that Bulls fan look at Zach with beer goggles.

cjbulls · Post #155 » by **cjbulls** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:21 pm

bad knees wrote:
Showtime23 wrote:
bad knees wrote:
Yes, in retrospect I agree. I think the much more sensible interpretation of the failure of Pops and Kerr to invite LaVine to try out for the team is that they were intentionally tanking. Team USA needed a wakeup call.

What? How was Lavine alone going to help Team usa win? Your providing 0 evidence why they would be better off of him. Team USA lost bc of defense and Lavinrs one of the worst.

Yes, I agree. I was being sarcastic in response to the LaVine supporters who are twisting themselves into pretzels to try to interpret Lavine's non-invite as anything other than Pops and Kerr deciding that LaVine would not help the USA win. Period. They never called him, even after dozens of players turned them down, and it was clear they needed scoring. That's what they think of him. Period.
Zach's SI ranking of 90 provides further support for the notion that Bulls fan look at Zach with beer goggles.

Who is twisting into pretzels? They didn’t select LaVine and lost three times. The only one twisting are you two and Dice by saying “oh it was the defense and Zach couldn’t help there”.

Zach couldn’t have helped when they were down 32-7 in the first quarter against Serbia? Or when they only put up 21 in the 4th? How about when they were scoreless down the final minutes against France? Or the fact they only put up 79.

You can’t say Zach’s D wouldn’t help without admitting extra points would have helped. If Team USA’s D was already atrocious as you claim then Zach’s lack of impact there would have been minimal.

But I guess we needed Wings like Joe Harris and Jaylen brown to help fill in the roster instead.

R3AL1TY · Post #156 » by **R3AL1TY** » Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:03 am

In hindsight, they could've used Zach's scoring, but him alone wouldn't have made a huge difference when it comes to a W.

RakimAbdulJabar · Post #157 » by **RakimAbdulJabar** » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:30 am

I hope Argentina can win it all, I was hoping for an Argentina vs Spain final, hilarious to see France, US and Australia lose.

Would love to steal Bogdanovic from the Kings

dice · Post #158 » by **dice** » Sat Sep 14, 2019 7:22 am

cjbulls wrote:
bad knees wrote:
Showtime23 wrote:
What? How was Lavine alone going to help Team usa win? Your providing 0 evidence why they would be better off of him. Team USA lost bc of defense and Lavinrs one of the worst.

Yes, I agree. I was being sarcastic in response to the LaVine supporters who are twisting themselves into pretzels to try to interpret Lavine's non-invite as anything other than Pops and Kerr deciding that LaVine would not help the USA win. Period. They never called him, even after dozens of players turned them down, and it was clear they needed scoring. That's what they think of him. Period.
Zach's SI ranking of 90 provides further support for the notion that Bulls fan look at Zach with beer goggles.

Who is twisting into pretzels? They didn’t select LaVine and lost three times. The only one twisting are you two and Dice by saying “oh it was the defense and Zach couldn’t help there”.

that ain't twisting. it's reality. the issue was not lack of scoring. as such, the issue was not lack of lavine

five different leading scorers in 7 games...and they've lost 2, not 3

You can’t say Zach’s D wouldn’t help without admitting extra points would have helped. If Team USA’s D was already atrocious as you claim then Zach’s lack of impact there would have been minimal.

the scoring would probably have been a bit better w/ lavine and the defense would certainly have been worse. nobody has claimed otherwise. the claim is that lavine would not have been some sort of "duh" upgrade. they could have swapped out barnes for lavine. or brown for lavine. i don't think it would have made much of a difference

But I guess we needed Wings like Joe Harris and Jaylen brown to help fill in the roster instead.

joe harris is an elite shooter. a role player. who did his job well in the tourney. lavine is not a role player. and a worse defender than harris. popovich chose a role player with an elite skill over another one-dimensional scorer. perfectly logical decision. similarly, jaylen brown is a defensive role player. if anything, the team could have used more/better defensive role players. and a better pure backup PG than derrick white

Post #159 » by **dougthonus** » Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:30 pm

bad knees wrote:Yes, I agree. I was being sarcastic in response to the LaVine supporters who are twisting themselves into pretzels to try to interpret Lavine's non-invite as anything other than Pops and Kerr deciding that LaVine would not help the USA win. Period. They never called him, even after dozens of players turned them down, and it was clear they needed scoring. That's what they think of him. Period.
Zach's SI ranking of 90 provides further support for the notion that Bulls fan look at Zach with beer goggles.

I doubt Popovich or anyone else went home and said "Oh man, I wish we had Zach LaVine here". On the other hand, it's clear that they didn't put a good team together. There should be second guessing on how they assembled this group and whether they should have gotten other guys. LaVine is clearly a guy, and I'm sure there are others, they should have considered (if there was no quiet ask/refusal).

Could you say any one player would have come in and swung a bunch of games definitively? Of course not. If you swap out the weakest guy for LeBron you still might have lost. What you can say definitively is the guys chosen didn't get it done and not only didn't get it done but weren't even close and that we should have clearly chosen different guys. Anyone on the bubble choice list is a guy that maybe should have been considered instead.

TheFinishSniper · Post #160 » by **TheFinishSniper** » Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:53 pm

Lavine was far better off not being invited. Because otherwise he would lead them to gold medal, and you certainly dont want that. I am not joking. Zach is one of rare guys in NBA who cannot be stoped without being actually doubled.

It's a joke he wasnt invited at all.