FIBA World Cup

[Xatticus]

GIannis and Jokić will never be lead stars on championship team and FIBA type competition shows why.
Vučević, Mitchell, Barnes, Schroder and few others show why they are "stars" just because system and usage more than their individual talent. Also feel sorry for Bogdan Bogdanovic who's potential can't be on full display because he plays for Kings instad of some serious team, that guy could easly be 18-21 ppg guy on good team or play Ginobili type of role on virtually every single nba team, including top tear contender.

As for this forum,

Isaac scored 10 points on 30% shooting at open practice and posters were famming over his " improvment" because he attemped driving layup, that he missed ( got fouled ) .

Yet Evan Fournier is averaging 2 ppg more than he averaged in NBA year ago, and they try to downplay it.
Where i really don't care about agendas or being right or wrong, it's impossible to not notice crap like that .

That being said, USA - France is game i wanted to watch since tournament started.

It's impossible not to notice what? Are you under the impression that there is some sort of prejudice against the melanin-challenged members of the Orlando Magic?

I really don't care about what anyone is doing in this tournament. It isn't NBA basketball any more than collegiate basketball is. It's a small sample size of a different game with different rules.

I already know what Evan Fournier is. There is a mountain of data that says he is a below average NBA player that is significantly overpaid. He has had a negative RPM in every season of his career. He has had an above average PER in only one season and has a career mark of 13.3, which is well below the league average (15.0). He is a decent offensive player (not good... decent) that is a significant liability at the defensive end.

I couldn't give a **** less if someone wants to fantasize about how amazing their favorite player is going to be next season, even if I find it highly irrational. Hope springs eternal, I suppose. But I call bull when someone starts labeling people as haters or insinuating that those with a more rational appraisal are somehow biased or prejudiced.

[ezzzp]

He's played against some tough matchups. Players that are bigger than him, give him a really hard time.

Actually, I showed you a couple of weeks ago that this statement isn't correct (#119 in the Mo Bamba & Expectations thread):

It's common knowledge that Vuc has problems with bigger guys and punishes smaller ones. It's hard to have Vuc fans admit he has any faults.

Vucevic did not have problems against most bigger centers:

Vucevic Head to Head

* Minutes are for when both players are on floor together
* PPG and TS% are only for plays defended by the Head-to-Head Player, not the entire game.

• J Nurkic (7' 275lb): 2g (27.1 mpg) / 20.0 PPG on .744 TS%
• R Lopez (7' 275lb): 4g (16.7 mpg) / 13.0 PPG on .610 TS%
• B Lopez (7' 270lb): 3g (19.5 mpg) / 17.3 PPG on .575 TS%
• D Howard (6'11 265lb): 2g (20.9 mpg) / 22.5 PPG on .579 TS%
• M Gasol (7'1" 255lb): 2g (21.6 mpg) / 13.5 PPG on .590 TS%
• J Embiid (7' 250lb): 3g (23.7 mpg) / 14.0 PPG on .629 TS%
• K Towns (7' 250lb) 2g (26.5 mpg) / 19.5 PPG on .714 TS%
• M Turner (6'11" 250lb): 4g (18.3 mpg) / 18.3 PPG on .551 TS%
• A Baynes (6'10" 260lb): 1 g (13.8 mpg) / 14.0 PPG on .636TS%
• A Horford (6'10" 245lb): 2 g (27.9 mpg) / 16.0 PPG on .593 TS%

Even on the bigger players he struggled to score with efficiency on, he still dropped points on them. Hassan Whiteside was the only guy he kind of struggled with.

• Drummond (6'11 275lb): 4g (29.9 mpg) / 15.0 PPG on .523 TS%
• S Adams (7' 265lb): 1g (27.9 mpg) / 17.0 PPG on .472 TS%
• H Whiteside (7' 265lb): 4g (18.7 mpg) / 8.3 PPG on .389 TS%
• R Gobert (7'1" 245lb): 2 g (28.4 mpg) / 14.5 PPG on .487 TS%

[Def Swami]

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[MagicFrenchie]

****. Need a miracle. Even if USA is weakened, they are playing like a team and putting huge emphasis on defence.
But anyway , better be kicked out by USA than Argentina
And Fournier have been playing great so that was a good campaign overall.

[pepe1991]

Evan is lit

[pepe1991]

Frank Ntilikina is one of most untalented lottery picks in years... Jesus guy sucks

[MagicFrenchie]

Fournier is owning the US lol

[GelbeWand09]

Evans gets wherever he wants on offense with ease but got more trouble finishing against NBA Bigs at the hoop. But again great game by him so far. His shot looks lit.
Brown is really the only top level athlete on that us team. Best Team USA player in the tournament for me. Turner gets abused by Gobert.
No clue why they don't have even one rimrunni8ng big in the team. Lopez is just useless.

[PrimeThyme]

Evan is playing well. That fadeaway 3 he hit out of the corner was an incredibly difficult shot. He is basically this France teams entire offense. Gobert is playing well too.

I'm just not impressed with this USA team. I get that it's our C team but still. Kemba has struggled big time.

[MoMM]

So it seems that Evan can play against american players, not only low level players from South Korea or whatever...

[GelbeWand09]

Was there ever a Team USA game, with NBA players, where they had fewer fta than the opponent? This alone shows they got no athletes on that team.

[Message Boar]

Just got home and noticed this game was on Dutch television, anyone else watching this? Donovan Mitchell has taken over to close the gap, but France is hanging in there. Refs seem to favor the USA from what I've seen. But that's pretty common in basketball (and other sports, too); the refs favoring the higher profile teams/players I mean. Evan has made some nice plays and seems to have a lot of responsibility on this French team.

The fourth quarter will be starting shortly. I would guess the USA will be pulling this one out.

[MoMM]

Thursday, Sept. 5 vs. Brazil: 4 a.m. ET

This game should decide who will go to the next round as Greece should be the #1 seed.

Unfortunately I will have to root against Vooch.

BTW, side note, one of the brazilian referees, Guilherme Locatelli, used to play basketball with me for our city team. He already did it in the 2016 Olympic Games, etc, he even was one of the referees for USA 82 x 76 Spain in the semi-finals.

The brazilian guy is the referee in this game between USA and France.

[Message Boar]

FFS Gobert that was stupid.

[GelbeWand09]

Gobert is amazing today. When he is set on defense, they have no clue how to score. There only good run was when they forced TO and had fastbreaks & Gobert was on the bench.
They had no players to punish Gobert's help defense. A guy to throw pocketpasses or lobs at when Gobert helps out. Instead of Lopez & Plumlee a rimrunning big and they win probably.
Bad 2nd half by Evan, a lotta boneheaded TO.
But when Ntilikina hits 2 crucial 3's you are probably destined to loose anyway lol

[Def Swami]

Another good game for Fournier. Punished USA when they botched their pick n' roll coverage with pull up jumpers or drives to the basket. He made good passes throughout the game. Rarely forced the issue. Gobert was a monster; USA had no answer for him. He was the real difference maker tonight.

USA was always going to be vulnerable to the better teams in this tournament. It's still wild to me that Aaron Gordon wasn't even invited to play smh. Glad Fournier had this experience to play in competitive games with other good players.

Also, how about Frank Ntilikina coming up huge with some clutch jumpers.

[Def Swami]

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[Message Boar]

Yeah, where Giannis is probably not an ideal fit for the international game, Gobert can really shine, especially protecting the rim. He was a force in the fourth (the stupid foul on Kemba shooting a 3 notwithstanding).

Evan had a good game, too. Hopefully he can keep the momentum and have a better year for us than he had last year.

Edit: @Def Swami: yeah I agree with your Aaron Gordon point. It was something that Zach Lowe also brought up in his podcast with Bill Simmons, which I listened to earlier today. He said Aaron Gordon wanted to go but wasn't invited. Seems odd that they would have Harrison Barnes playing a big role but not even consider AG. Lowe also brought up that he thought that Aaron's passing from the forward position could have been an asset to the team, which I thought was interesting. At least he doesn't have to share in the embarrassment/ignominy now. Do you guys think he could have swung the outcome?

[MagicFrenchie]

OMG I'M GOING TO FAINT

[Knightro]

F yeah Evan!

Dude has played so well this tournament so far.