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Post by dexter on Jan 25, 2024 19:34:54 GMT
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Post by spacejammer on Jan 25, 2024 20:59:23 GMT
I'll be amazed if this team doesn't win gold! I imagine Embid will be popular with the French (if selected) considering he was at one point teasing that he wanted to play for France. Would suprise me of Curry go's this time around especially given the season Golden State are having right now. Although I read Draymond Green was apparently dropped due to his recent antics. Which reminded me of the talk when they dropped Isiah Thomas in the 1992 Olympics since he didn't get on with MJ. To be fair I was sure the US NBA players cared as much about playing for the national team until I watched the "Redeem Team" doc last year and saw how much it meant post Athens 2004. Great documentary if anyone wants to watch it. |
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Post by dexter on Jan 25, 2024 21:38:42 GMT
I'll be amazed if this team doesn't win gold! I imagine Embid will be popular with the French (if selected) considering he was at one point teasing that he wanted to play for France. Would suprise me of Curry go's this time around especially given the season Golden State are having right now. Although I read Draymond Green was apparently dropped due to his recent antics. Which reminded me of the talk when they dropped Isiah Thomas in the 1992 Olympics since he didn't get on with MJ. To be fair I was sure the US NBA players cared as much about playing for the national team until I watched the "Redeem Team" doc last year and saw how much it meant post Athens 2004. Great documentary if anyone wants to watch it. I agree. If I'm going to clutch at straws I would say USA's weakness will be unfamiliarity with FIBA rules. And the strength of the European teams will be in their centres. For example Germany won the FIBA Basketball World Cup with Euroleague centres Voigtmann and Thiemann. But I don't think that'll be enough. USA won't underestimate their opponents. They will learn FIBA rules. They're all fast learners no doubt. I'm really looking forward to seeing LeBron playing against more physical defences. This is going to be great to see. |
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Post by erj14 on Jan 25, 2024 23:56:25 GMT
I'll be amazed if this team doesn't win gold! I imagine Embid will be popular with the French (if selected) considering he was at one point teasing that he wanted to play for France. Would suprise me of Curry go's this time around especially given the season Golden State are having right now. Although I read Draymond Green was apparently dropped due to his recent antics. Which reminded me of the talk when they dropped Isiah Thomas in the 1992 Olympics since he didn't get on with MJ. To be fair I was sure the US NBA players cared as much about playing for the national team until I watched the "Redeem Team" doc last year and saw how much it meant post Athens 2004. Great documentary if anyone wants to watch it. I agree. If I'm going to clutch at straws I would say USA's weakness will be unfamiliarity with FIBA rules. And the strength of the European teams will be in their centres. For example Germany won the FIBA Basketball World Cup with Euroleague centres Voigtmann and Thiemann. But I don't think that'll be enough. USA won't underestimate their opponents. They will learn FIBA rules. They're all fast learners no doubt. I'm really looking forward to seeing LeBron playing against more physical defences. This is going to be great to see. If Team USA are serious about winning, LeBron shouldn't be playing that much. Maybe coming in off the bench, but USA have such depth at that position. If you want to win basketball games, I'm putting Kawhi, George, Tatum or Brown in ahead of LeBron. |
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Post by dexter on Jan 26, 2024 0:39:44 GMT
I agree. If I'm going to clutch at straws I would say USA's weakness will be unfamiliarity with FIBA rules. And the strength of the European teams will be in their centres. For example Germany won the FIBA Basketball World Cup with Euroleague centres Voigtmann and Thiemann. But I don't think that'll be enough. USA won't underestimate their opponents. They will learn FIBA rules. They're all fast learners no doubt. I'm really looking forward to seeing LeBron playing against more physical defences. This is going to be great to see. If Team USA are serious about winning, LeBron shouldn't be playing that much. Maybe coming in off the bench, but USA have such depth at that position. If you want to win basketball games, I'm putting Kawhi, George, Tatum or Brown in ahead of LeBron. Is there any way LeBron, Durant and Curry are not being picked if they're fit and available? That's who people will want to see. |
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Post by spacejammer on Jan 26, 2024 8:27:57 GMT
If Team USA are serious about winning, LeBron shouldn't be playing that much. Maybe coming in off the bench, but USA have such depth at that position. If you want to win basketball games, I'm putting Kawhi, George, Tatum or Brown in ahead of LeBron. Is there any way LeBron, Durant and Curry are not being picked if they're fit and available? That's who people will want to see. I know this ain't how it works but to me given how stacked USA are for talent. If a member of the US team has played an Olympics before and won a gold medal. Then I reckon they should allow someone else a turn to represent their country and win gold. Again I know that's not how it works and people would disagree but I think it would be fairer for the rest of the world and gives other US players a chance. I also wonder if any of last years world cup squad will be picked to play at this years Olympics? As it seems like some US players like Bron care for the Olympics but don't care so much for the Fiba World Cup or Fiba Americas? |
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Post by dexter on Jan 26, 2024 8:53:07 GMT
Is there any way LeBron, Durant and Curry are not being picked if they're fit and available? That's who people will want to see. I know this ain't how it works but to me given how stacked USA are for talent. If a member of the US team has played an Olympics before and won a gold medal. Then I reckon they should allow someone else a turn to represent their country and win gold. Again I know that's not how it works and people would disagree but I think it would be fairer for the rest of the world and gives other US players a chance. I also wonder if any of last years world cup squad will be picked to play at this years Olympics? As it seems like some US players like Bron care for the Olympics but don't care so much for the Fiba World Cup or Fiba Americas? I think that is true of America in general. The only thing that would motivate them to represent their country is an Olympic gold medal. Olympic Games is more prestigious than FIBA World Cup because that's how they see it. USA absolutely loves the Olympic Games. |
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Post by SamH on Jan 26, 2024 9:29:29 GMT
It probably doesn't help that they consider the NBA champion to be the 'world champion' or at least they certainly used to, and then here's this funny FIBA thing being played under different rules to also crown a 'world champion' but yeah the Olympics will always attract the top players more. I don't agree that someone like LeBron should only get to play in it once though, imagine if that were the case across other sports and the best in the world could only enter one time. That's like saying Jamaicans can only enter the sprint races once or Chinese divers and ping pong players can only do it once because it's not fair to everyone else how good they are. That's just how it is and it's up to everyone else to catch up, which is definitely happening in basketball since 32 years ago.
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Post by erj14 on Jan 26, 2024 10:58:37 GMT
If Team USA are serious about winning, LeBron shouldn't be playing that much. Maybe coming in off the bench, but USA have such depth at that position. If you want to win basketball games, I'm putting Kawhi, George, Tatum or Brown in ahead of LeBron. Is there any way LeBron, Durant and Curry are not being picked if they're fit and available? That's who people will want to see. That's why I said if they're serious about winning. The other teams are too good now to be fucking around putting LeBron in just because he's LeBron. I think KD and Curry still get in on merit, but LeBron is purely a legacy pick at this point, his position is too stacked with talent. I say this as someone who's spent a fortune on tickets to see them play in London and hope that I get to see LeBron play. I just think he doesn't offer enough compared to other players playing at his position. |
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Post by SamH on Jan 26, 2024 12:30:41 GMT
Interesting erj14 - LeBron is still putting up fantastic numbers this season despite his age, and then you add in qualities such as leadership and Olympic experience...who would you put in the team instead of him?
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Post by erj14 on Jan 26, 2024 13:57:57 GMT
Interesting erj14 - LeBron is still putting up fantastic numbers this season despite his age, and then you add in qualities such as leadership and Olympic experience...who would you put in the team instead of him? His team isn't winning though. I listed 4 players I'd put in ahead of him above, Kawhi, PG, Tatum and to a lesser extent Jalen Brown |
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Post by dexter on Jan 26, 2024 15:18:51 GMT
If LeBron doesn't play everyone loses out.
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Post by SamH on Jan 26, 2024 15:21:48 GMT
I think those guys will be on the team anyway, or if not because they are nursing injuries (Leonard, PG in particular!) Tatum will definitely be there. Brown isn't as good as LeBron. I don't really understand why team record matters for olympic consideration? Wembanyama isn't winning but I am pretty sure France will still want him!
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Post by erj14 on Jan 26, 2024 16:01:16 GMT
I think those guys will be on the team anyway, or if not because they are nursing injuries (Leonard, PG in particular!) Tatum will definitely be there. Brown isn't as good as LeBron. I don't really understand why team record matters for olympic consideration? Wembanyama isn't winning but I am pretty sure France will still want him! Brown plays defence though. LeBron barely even tries on that end of the court anymore. The other FIBA teams are too good now. If LeBron were to buy in to role player type role, then he's a winning player. He's not if he's dominating everything, he's got too much of an ego not to want to be at the centre of everything on that team. He's been posturing over it for a while now. He might prove me wrong though. Again, I WANT TO SEE HIM PLAY IN LONDON. I just also believe that Team USA are better without him starting. |
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Post by spacejammer on Jan 26, 2024 16:26:45 GMT
I think another big question is which Teams at the Olympics are which countries are most likely to stop and defeat the USA? Apparently theirs still the qualifying tournament to go although I would have said Germany, Spain and definitely France are most likely to defeat them. As for teams outside of Europe the ones with just a single NBA star I'm not sure who else I would pick. Maybe Australia. www.fiba.basketball/news/fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournaments-2024-draw-completed-at-fiba-hq |
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Post by milehigh on Jan 26, 2024 17:28:44 GMT
I'd think Serbia will have a good chance of doing well, they have a very decent centre who shoots passes and rebounds very well!
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Post by dexter on Apr 11, 2024 12:05:39 GMT
Team GB are now involved in this.
GB men will play South Sudan on 18th July.
GB women will play Germany on 21st July.
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Post by spacejammer on Apr 11, 2024 17:20:51 GMT
Team GB are now involved in this. GB men will play South Sudan on 18th July. GB women will play Germany on 21st July. Hallelujah! I just searched this and found an article that confirms you were right. www.hoopsfix.com/2024/04/gb-senior-men-women-to-play-south-sudan-germany/It would be better if they played it as a support game alongside the USA game at O2 instead of the Copperbox but atleast they have gotten our own National Team involved in the exbition event. The only other thing that would make it sweeter is if these games were actually televised on Terrestrial TV. But I credit GB for doing this. |
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Post by dexter on Apr 11, 2024 18:22:59 GMT
Team GB are now involved in this. GB men will play South Sudan on 18th July. GB women will play Germany on 21st July. Hallelujah! I just searched this and found an article that confirms you were right. www.hoopsfix.com/2024/04/gb-senior-men-women-to-play-south-sudan-germany/It would be better if they played it as a support game alongside the USA game at O2 instead of the Copperbox but atleast they have gotten our own National Team involved in the exbition event. The only other thing that would make it sweeter is if these games were actually televised on Terrestrial TV. But I credit GB for doing this. Nice one Hoopsfix getting that inside info about it being at the Copper Box. I'm personally very happy about that. In my opinion Copper Box Arena should become the national arena for the Great Britain men's team. It is a venue suitable for a national team. |
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Post by spacejammer on Apr 11, 2024 21:50:02 GMT
Hallelujah! I just searched this and found an article that confirms you were right. www.hoopsfix.com/2024/04/gb-senior-men-women-to-play-south-sudan-germany/It would be better if they played it as a support game alongside the USA game at O2 instead of the Copperbox but atleast they have gotten our own National Team involved in the exbition event. The only other thing that would make it sweeter is if these games were actually televised on Terrestrial TV. But I credit GB for doing this. Nice one Hoopsfix getting that inside info about it being at the Copper Box. I'm personally very happy about that. In my opinion Copper Box Arena should become the national arena for the Great Britain men's team. It is a venue suitable for a national team. I think it depends on the game. The past few games in Newcastle have been good expect when we played Turkiyee and Lativia where we had to many away fans and not enough home fans. If they stay in Newcastle I ain't complaining but I do think it's nice to share the national team around the country especially when so many sports play the national team home games in London or the South of the country. Although I imagine whilst Marc is still at the Eagles I can't see the National team being moved any time soon. |
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