It is not about lack of talent, rivals' stars like Schroder or Bogdanovic would be backups at the USA team. But yeah, the roster was poorly constructed. Too many unexperienced guys, lack of tough defensively reliable players... Anyway, USA must think deeply about what are the values they are preaching to the kids since lower categories... Clearly, Europe has now an advantage at basket fundamentals over the american players, who are more athletic and more skilled. But they don't have an advantage at playing better basketball (and they should). They are doing some things wrong, from the foundation, to the NBA. Saying "our A team would have won it" is probably truth, but at the same time is avoiding the main issue: the US have an issue and a disadvantage over the FIBA world at teaching collective fundamentals since the earliest ages.
Well, I thought Germany could beat the US, but I honestly thought it would be a US/Canada Finals with probably Canada winning. I guess I get to see the Finals I expected. Now to see if one team doesn't care enough to even bother playing for a bronze. It could be a close game, but it could be a blowout, too. I can't say I'm too interested in the results anymore, so I may not watch.
Yes, but in this particular game, the US lost due to not rebounding and not making their 3s when it mattered.
I think they commit way too many defensive mistakes. The details, that's also the defensive fundamentals. Germany can't score that many points over the US. Same with Lithuania. It's almost like they score at every possesion. Having the best athletes, that's unacceptable.
I think partly yes but you have to praise the other teams as well. I suspect the US team is still not used to how to play Fiba defense. Other elite teams have played in the NT since they were adolescents. This arrogance that you can randomly select a team and win Gold should be punished.
European players don't do anything better than American players. For one, these aren't even our best players while the other teams have been together for years. Secondly the officiating favors european players in FIBA. Had we our best players it wouldn't be close
I have no clue why people are not blasting Ingram, that dude was worthless and not interested in playing. (The other games not including yesterday when he was sick.)
yes, absolutely. they couldn’t read simple actions, like basic curls, etc. allowed too many offensive reabounds. True, the Germans were bigger but you can still box out, basic fundamentals…
You don’t give Germany enough credit. Their team chemistry seems to be trough the roof. It’s nie that USA played a poor game. They actually played good and scored a ton of points. Still Germany looked way smoother with better looks and plays. And with all respect to lebron and KD. But Fiba Basketball is not the NBA. Even these dudes would have problems getting to the rim. Defense ist so much tighter and more team focused that you can’t play your normal NBA 1-1 step back ****.
Nearly every coach would disagree with you heavily, what a bunch of homer nonsense. https://www.talkbasket.net/149692-g...-and-nba-basketball-now-we-are-getting-closer Wtf, you obviously didn't watch the games.
FIBA tourney is also different from game to game. For instance, the Latvia vs Germany Quarter Final was close 79-81 and both teams did not shoot well. And the defensive intensity was much higher. Probably should have taken AD, Jarrett Allen, Myles Turner and Bam Adebayo. Dorian Finney Smith, Jabari Smith, Draymond, Grant Williams at PF. A two way big 3 pt PG scoring SG skilled Swing SF. Bench: Blood hound for quicker guards. Keep Anthony Edwards around. Above all, the preparation for a tournament must begin 2 years in advance, that you have ample time to gel and learn the FIBA game and rules. If you include sophs and rookies, they can come in later. Pick a coach that is hungry and has not won an NBA title yet but made the Conference Finals. (Euro league finals or semi finals) The coach does not have to be American but should speak good enough English. Staff being American should be enough. You do not need Spoelstra sitting on the bench as assistant, waste of his time. You do not need Grant Hill playing GM for the National team.
International competition being decent is not going away. So sphere of control, what can the U.S. do; the list above sounds pretty good to me, because what they have now is not working. Kerr and his assistants should also take some FIBA rules test, to brush up on their knowledge. Not just for in-game situations but game planning in general. Coach up the U.S. bigs properly to take advantage of FIBA rules.
I think a lot of the problem stems from the youth on the team that was sent. A lot of those guys just entered the NBA from 1-and-done programs and/or barely out of high school and were on sorry teams. But on top of that, Europe does have a basketball machine that actually teaches basketball early whereas, I think most NBA players learn basketball after they get to the NBA. Before that, it's usually some flashy dunks or 1-on-5 high school crap where their talents far exceed the competition. In Europe these dudes would probably be learning from 28+ year old vets as soon as their talents were spotted. The other thing is, while they tried to get a competitive team together, you could see the flaws like Reeves couldn't play D, Brunson became more useless against good teams, etc.
You are onto something, there are more international organized youth games . This is better than just pick up games. You can bet that the Balkan players, Serbians, Slovenians, Bosnians, Croatians are playing organized ball when they were kids.
