The Lack of Talent on this US Squad is Overstated

NinjaBro · Post #21 » by **NinjaBro** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:12 pm

mtron929 wrote:It is difficult to make indirect comparisons, but I think people are underrating the level of talent on this squad. Let's put it this way. The team has 4 core members of the Celtics team.

That's the problem right there.

UcanUwill · Post #22 » by **UcanUwill** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:20 pm

Some american fans laugh at EUro level of competition when Euro star doesnt translate to the NBA, but it seems like NBA talent doesnt fully translate to FIBA as well. I agree that Euro basketball is still much worse than NBA, but maybe the gap isnt all that big as we thought by seeing Teodosic or Macijauskas fail?

Makes me wonder how Canadas A squad would have looked too, would they really be great as a lot of pro NBA fans tended to believe, or teams with proven FIBA fits like De Colo, Campazzo, Llull, Scola, Grigonis etc. would have punked them as well?

Vlade Divac · Post #23 » by **Vlade Divac** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:31 pm

If Middleton got 160ish million Bogdanovic is worth twice that much which just tells you one of the glaring stupidity of NBA.

Yallbecrazy · Post #24 » by **Yallbecrazy** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:32 pm

No Lowry, no chance. The second he went down and wasn't cleared to play the team was doomed.

BBgun · Post #25 » by **BBgun** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:32 pm

From a strictly talent point of view you're right. They have 12 NBA players, a whole lot more than any other squad in the tournament. But they lack the continuity and chemistry of other teams that have had years of experience playing together in previous tournaments. When the final rosters were announced it really did seem like this a fairly beatable team though, especially with their lack of decent interior play. It's not surprising they lost to France IMO.

Vlade Divac · Post #26 » by **Vlade Divac** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:37 pm

UcanUwill wrote:Some american fans laugh at EUro level of competition when Euro star doesnt translate to the NBA, but it seems like NBA talent doesnt fully translate to FIBA as well. I agree that Euro basketball is still much worse than NBA, but maybe the gap isnt all that big as we thought by seeing Teodosic or Macijauskas fail?

Makes me wonder how Canadas A squad would have looked too, would they really be great as a lot of pro NBA fans tended to believe, or teams with proven FIBA fits like De Colo, Campazzo, Llull, Scola, Grigonis etc. would have punked them as well?

Stars do not win FIBA games, teams do!

The best US Basketball can do is to send whole team (with coaching staff) from NBA to represent USA (obviously the team which has the least amount of foreign players. I would bet that team would be better than any other US team (unless you manage to have all superstars from the NBA).

Post #27 » by **G R E Y** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:46 pm

peja_the_legend wrote:They made a half assed preparation of 2 weeks.If you gonna send inferior talent at least have them practise together for a month to built some chemistry.

This if flat out not true. Team USA held a mini-camp in Las Vegas LAST summer, and again THIS summer, and sent out invitations to about 30 players. So many ended up declining and several that attended both camps did so late that Team USA was left scrambling to put together a roster with players that were down to 12 after Kuzma got injured. So it wasn't a case of 'sending inferior talent' as much as going with the guys who committed.

It's one thing to comment on players having bad games or the team not performing to expectations of reputation, but please don't misrepresent the efforts of Team USA brass in preparation. And by the way, this new roster has been together six weeks, still far less time than any other potential contender.

so_bored · Post #28 » by **so_bored** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:47 pm

Stop making excuses already. This team was the most talented team in the tournament.

kabstah · Post #29 » by **kabstah** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:56 pm

mtron929 wrote:It is difficult to make indirect comparisons, but I think people are underrating the level of talent on this squad. Let's put it this way. The team has 4 core members of the Celtics team. And this is a Celtics team that is rated to finish #3 in the East and is seen as one of the top 8-10 teams in the league. Imagine swapping the Celtics rookies, Kanter, Hayward for D. Mitchell, Middleton, Turner, Barnes, etc. That would be the roided up Celtics team and the deepest team in the league. Most people would put that team as one of the 3 best teams in the NBA.

And that team is getting beaten by the likes of France, Serbia, Australia, and almost losing to Turkey. Maybe it is not that the talent is overrated but NBA teams are just overrated? That is, the sum is just not as good as the individual parts for a typical NBA team?

No one on this year’s team is good enough to be the second best player on an NBA championship squad. Maybe if you’re super generous you’d put Kemba or Middleton at that level, but I wouldn’t. If you transported Team USA to the NBA, they’re probably out in the second round of the playoffs, and players like Giannis, Jokic, and Gobert are each individually more talented than the entire squad combined.

Bob8 · Post #30 » by **Bob8** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:06 pm

zimpy27 wrote:It was not nearly the best team the USA could put out but it was still more talented than any they faced.

It showed.

I_Like_Dirt · Post #31 » by **I_Like_Dirt** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:11 pm

chudak wrote:They had equal or better individual talent. Jokic, Giannis, Bogdanovic are the only ones that are superior in talent to most of team USA. Jokic and Giannis than anyone.

You forgot Gobert - who played for the team that ultimately beat them and was probably the best player both in international ball and the NBA on either team.

It was a shorter game than an NBA game so depth matters less. Having the best player, particularly one that dominated on defense and opened up loads of space on offense with his screens, was a big deal. And guys like Batum and Fournier wouldn't necessarily be out of place on the current team USA.

Team USA might have been the most talented team for the NBA game regardless but they weren't necessarily for the international game.

Mazter · Post #32 » by **Mazter** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:13 pm

so_bored wrote:Stop making excuses already. This team was the most talented team in the tournament.

I guess there is were the problem lies, you think they were the most talented because you are convinced the best talent gets drafted and plays in the NBA. Well, Team USA C didn't make it.

mademan · Post #33 » by **mademan** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:41 pm

Where US talent becomes better than other top squads is when you start going down the depth chart. Resrict it to the top 7 or 8 guys, and the top competition stacks up quite well. Doesnt hurt that a couple of the other teams have the best player on the court against the States

NoDopeOnSundays · Post #34 » by **NoDopeOnSundays** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:49 pm

The bigs were atrocious, as good as Turner is on defense he's a pathetic rebounder for his size, and the fact the US had to use Barnes as a PF is pretty bad too.

They needed a facilitator to set the table for all the one dimensional scorers they had too.

Catchall · Post #35 » by **Catchall** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:50 pm

Kemba, Mitchell and Barnes, quite often, were fine. The problem is that the team didn't have a strong, aggressive bigs at the 4 and 5. That hurt their defense overall and caused matchup problems with other teams that have good bigs. Middleton, Harris and even Turner were pretty slow defensively. Lopez and Plumlee were pretty much unplayable.

They could have used a defensive-minded energy big like Jonathan Issac or Draymond Green.

You can't blame USA for losing though if the other team has a couple guys who get scorching hot from 3-pt.

Benedict_Boozer · Post #36 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:22 pm

Meh, this was like the "D" squad.

Even still no excuses we shouldn't be losing in a tournament like this, but in a 1 game scenario - this squad didn't have the talent to just roll out there and guaranteed beat everyone.

SF_Warriors · Post #37 » by **SF_Warriors** » Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:52 pm

Only one guy who is a perennial all star caliber player, kemba who is on the lower end of that spectrum.

Only one guy who was a leading scorer for a playoff team, arguably not even best player on said playoff team (mitchell)

You could argue they didn't even have a top five big out of the entire tourney.

Tatum injury

In the nba, they would be above average at only three positions in the starting lineup. Kemba walker as a team's best player?
Can you even build a 50 win team with kemba as the best player?

balrog27 · Post #38 » by **balrog27** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:26 am

USA would still win a best of 7 series, the problem is not talent, it's the format and the lack of chemistry.

NY 567 · Post #39 » by **NY 567** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:52 am

The teams best player was Kemba Walker and Mason Plumlee was on the roster. That team might not even make the playoffs in the West. It was an awful team

Lenneth · Post #40 » by **Lenneth** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:53 am

How many times this US roster made All-Stars? 5 times I believe; 3 by Kemba, 1 by Middleton and Lopez. That's less than one NBA superstar's All-star appearance. This team is pretty much C level team in NBA. To make things worse, other teams have some semblance of continuity, and this US team has none. I didn't expect this team to win it all.