FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 | SPAIN are new WORLD CHAMPIONS

[PrinceH]

What a game, I'd go more to Khris Middleton in clutch moments though

[KqWIN]

USA has a serious too many cooks in the kitchen problem. Turner, Tatum, and Barnes need to accept that their job isn't to try and score every single time they touch the ball. The issue against the zone is because every player is taking a few seconds to size up the defense looking for their own play instead of moving the ball. You can't beat a zone without moving the ball quickly.

Kemba and Mitchell especially need to make more shots...but they had less cringy ball hog moments than the others in my opinion.

Are you seriously saying this after Mitchell went 3 of 12?

In all seriousness tho, outside of Turner and Middleton nobody shot the ball well, .350 from the field as a team.

Yes, I am. I look at the shots a player takes. The majority of Mitchell's shots were catch and shoot 3's or shots at the end of the buzzer. He shot horribly...but issue is clearly shot making and not shot selection. Kemba also shot poorly, but he took good shots and wasn't forcing things like the others.

Turner shot the ball better than either of the two, but overall I thought he was poor offensively. He was making poor decisions and constantly doing too much. Barnes and Tatum to a less extent were also trying to do too much. Tatum was doing an excellent job hustling, to his credit...but Barnes wasn't interested in doing anything other than take the entire defense by himself.

[Nuntius]

So is Illyasova a FIBA superstar?

Some players play really, really well in FIBA competitions with their national team. They are the leaders for their teams and they can easily outplay their usual performance. They are ready to give their all for their team.

Look at Scola as an example, still playing for Argentina and averaging 19 points, even though he is 39 years old. Or Varejão today against Greece. Varejão is 37 years old and he hasn't played in the NBA for over 2 years. Yet, he had 22 points and 9 rebounds today and he led his team to victory. He played better than Giannis and Giannis was the MVP this past RS. Ilyasova is kind of like that for Turkey.

[UcanUwill]

Turkish players left their balls back in their hotel. They didnt deserve to win this game with such pathetic display of FT shooting anyway.

They pulled a Siskauskas, if someone remembers that game...

[Lunartic]

Dwight is a scrub, Conley is 2 tiers below Kemba and Noah is French and is a scrub.

That's poor analysis

USA is getting chewed up inside and will continue to get chewed up by strong bigs. Barnes picked up 4 fouls trying to guard bigs in the paint. Dwight would be useful. Half the bigs in FIBA are "scrubs" by NBA standards.

Conley is a good playmaker and defender and shooter. He's perfect for FIBA. He's also clutch and isn't scared of taking shots. He would be infinitely better than Mitchell.

True about Noah

No, Dwight is literally a scrub that no NBA team wants. And Conley already played for the NT and was average at best.

Is Ilyasova a scrub according to you? Are you aware he just lit the USA team up including grabbing key rebounds?
Dwight would be very useful for bullying bigs, unless you think Turner can handle it

Average Conley on a team stacked with talent? I sure wouldn't mind average Conley on a team with middling talent and no playmakers

[GrandTheftRondo]

Only on RealGM can a FIBA thread turn into a Boston Celtics bash thread.

What absolute **** garbage.

[MrDollarBills]

That's poor analysis

USA is getting chewed up inside and will continue to get chewed up by strong bigs. Barnes picked up 4 fouls trying to guard bigs in the paint. Dwight would be useful. Half the bigs in FIBA are "scrubs" by NBA standards.

Conley is a good playmaker and defender and shooter. He's perfect for FIBA. He's also clutch and isn't scared of taking shots. He would be infinitely better than Mitchell.

True about Noah

No, Dwight is literally a scrub that no NBA team wants. And Conley already played for the NT and was average at best.

Is Ilyasova a scrub according to you? Are you aware he just lit the USA team up including grabbing key rebounds?
Dwight would be very useful for bullying bigs, unless you think Turner can handle it

Average Conley on a team stacked with talent? I sure wouldn't mind average Conley on a team with middling talent and no playmakers

We could use Conley on this team badly.

[Catchall]

USA has a serious too many cooks in the kitchen problem. Turner, Tatum, and Barnes need to accept that their job isn't to try and score every single time they touch the ball. The issue against the zone is because every player is taking a few seconds to size up the defense looking for their own play instead of moving the ball. You can't beat a zone without moving the ball quickly.

Kemba and Mitchell especially need to make more shots...but they had less cringy ball hog moments than the others in my opinion.

It looks like they actually passed the ball. Kemba with 7 assists, Mitchell with 4 and Tatum with 3. They just didn't make shots.

Another thing USA can do is push tempo and try to get early offense before the zone gets set up. If Kemba or Mitchell can get a running start on out-of-bounds plays, they might get all the way to the rim. If not, then kick back to wing shooters.

[CeltsfanSinceBirth]

Celtics win this game going away if Pop played Gordon Hayward more minutes.

[KqWIN]

USA has a serious too many cooks in the kitchen problem. Turner, Tatum, and Barnes need to accept that their job isn't to try and score every single time they touch the ball. The issue against the zone is because every player is taking a few seconds to size up the defense looking for their own play instead of moving the ball. You can't beat a zone without moving the ball quickly.

Kemba and Mitchell especially need to make more shots...but they had less cringy ball hog moments than the others in my opinion.

What game were you watching? Mitchell turned it over twice near end of regulation and OT that in any other game would have cost the game. Turkey couldn't capitalize each time, esp missing 4 FTs near end of OT.

I'm watching the game and considering the shots each player takes. Mitchell shot the ball horribly, but he missed on mostly good shots and shots that had to be taken at the end of the clock. I don't have a problem with the shots he took and didn't think he was a ball stopper. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because I definitely know what game I was watching.

He also had that terrible goaltend and turnover in OT. He also made the game saving rebound and great read to give Tatum the chance to win the game. There's no getting around those terrible moments, but I'm speaking to how USA should play going forward. The thing that kept the game close was 1) Poor shooting, which can only be fixed by making those same shots, and 2) black hole hero ball. Mitchell and Kemba were guilty for #1, would not say the same for #2.

[MrDollarBills]

Let's be real, though. If the real USA team was playing, NOBODY would stand a chance. Not even close.

i get that but every country has talent that didnt show up.

The US had HOF, best in the world players not show up, it’s not quite the same

The USA literally 5 of the best players in the world sitting out. It's not even remotely close.

[BIG FURB]

USA has a serious too many cooks in the kitchen problem. Turner, Tatum, and Barnes need to accept that their job isn't to try and score every single time they touch the ball. The issue against the zone is because every player is taking a few seconds to size up the defense looking for their own play instead of moving the ball. You can't beat a zone without moving the ball quickly.

Kemba and Mitchell especially need to make more shots...but they had less cringy ball hog moments than the others in my opinion.

Are you seriously saying this after Mitchell went 3 of 12?

In all seriousness tho, outside of Turner and Middleton nobody shot the ball well, .350 from the field as a team.

Yes, I am. I look at the shots a player takes. The majority of Mitchell's shots were catch and shoot 3's or shots at the end of the buzzer. He shot horribly...but issue is clearly shot making and not shot selection. Kemba also shot poorly, but he took good shots and wasn't forcing things like the others.

Turner shot the ball better than either of the two, but overall I thought he was poor offensively. He was making poor decisions and constantly doing too much. Barnes and Tatum to a less extent were also trying to do too much. Tatum was doing an excellent job hustling, to his credit...but Barnes wasn't interested in doing anything other than take the entire defense by himself.

To Barnes credit, that did lead to 4 big free throws in the 4th for him. But I can’t heap too much praise on any of these guys

[GrandTheftRondo]

Pretty obvious the US could do with more playmaking. A big men that could pass would be real handy when teams zone up.

[MrSparkle]

USA has a serious too many cooks in the kitchen problem. Turner, Tatum, and Barnes need to accept that their job isn't to try and score every single time they touch the ball. The issue against the zone is because every player is taking a few seconds to size up the defense looking for their own play instead of moving the ball. You can't beat a zone without moving the ball quickly.

Kemba and Mitchell especially need to make more shots...but they had less cringy ball hog moments than the others in my opinion.

It’s true. Good lesson for these guys to play together in this fiba tournament. Their off-the-ball movement and touch-passing is non-existent.

To be fair, Lebron/Wade/Melo lost in their young 04 campaign. This crew is pretty inexperienced. Particularly Mitchell, Tatum, Turner. They do need to relax and learn to start making passes.

[KqWIN]

Are you seriously saying this after Mitchell went 3 of 12?

In all seriousness tho, outside of Turner and Middleton nobody shot the ball well, .350 from the field as a team.

Yes, I am. I look at the shots a player takes. The majority of Mitchell's shots were catch and shoot 3's or shots at the end of the buzzer. He shot horribly...but issue is clearly shot making and not shot selection. Kemba also shot poorly, but he took good shots and wasn't forcing things like the others.

Turner shot the ball better than either of the two, but overall I thought he was poor offensively. He was making poor decisions and constantly doing too much. Barnes and Tatum to a less extent were also trying to do too much. Tatum was doing an excellent job hustling, to his credit...but Barnes wasn't interested in doing anything other than take the entire defense by himself.

To Barnes credit, that did lead to 4 big free throws in the 4th for him. But I can’t heap too much praise on any of these guys

That's fair...I just don't think the way Barnes played is great going forward. Him attacking the defense 1v5 without any intention to pass is not the way to go.

[peja_the_legend]

i've never seen a USA team that cant RUN.No fastbreaks at all.No pushing the rhythm.

This just doesnt feel like USA team. They took FIBA like players I get that, but its like they assembled a team to match other FIBA teams. Thats not what USA does with that massive pool of talent, USA force a match ups and game speed, they do not adapt to whats normal for FIBA. This team barely has any athletes.

This team is scarily similar to 2004 Olmpics team.That was a team that barely scored above 80 points just like this one.Pop was in both.He is a legend and a top 5 NBA coach in history but this cant be a coincidence.He's not a good fit.

[Zombiesonics]

Pretty obvious the US could do with more playmaking. A big men that could pass would be real handy when teams zone up.

turner for all intents and purposes was garbage. that late turnover was reprehensible and he looked to have his feet in cement when guarding pick n roll.

[UcanUwill]

i get that but every country has talent that didnt show up.

The US had HOF, best in the world players not show up, it’s not quite the same

The USA literally 5 of the best players in the world sitting out. It's not even remotely close.

Thats true, but its relative. USA has Kemba walker to replace those guys and such, other countries don't, no ones arguing that USA doesnt have head and shoulders best talent in the world, but guys like Teodosic, Huertel are bigtime omissions to Serbia and France for eample, and look what Canada got instead of what they could have had, they play guys from Belgium league instead of NBA starters.

This team is scarily similar to 2004 Olmpics team.That was a team that barely scored above 80 points just like this one.Pop was in both.He is a legend and a top 5 NBA coach in history but this cant be a coincidence.He's not a good fit.

Pop has made a terrible job assembling this squad. What is White, Plumlee or Smart even doing here?

[Catchall]

Pretty obvious the US could do with more playmaking. A big men that could pass would be real handy when teams zone up.

turner for all intensive purposes was garbage. that late turnover was reprehensible and he looked to have his feet in cement when guarding pick n roll.

Somehow Turkey did a good job of making Turner try to guard in space. Cedi ran by him for an and-1 in OT.

[KqWIN]

Pretty obvious the US could do with more playmaking. A big men that could pass would be real handy when teams zone up.

They're caught half way right now. Myles Turner is doing a getting a lot of touches around the high post and trying to make plays from there...but he's terrible at it.

USA would have been much better off with someone like Favors. He wouldn't need those touches and would put a ton of pressure on the rim instead. Having a 5 out sounds nice in theory, but I don't think USA is actually getting more spacing by having Turner hover around the free throw line all game.