I agree with what you are saying. There are too many excuses. However, who is really an elite passer on the team? Where are there any indications that they can have consistent ball movement? I see few possessions where they actually get some movement. I just don't think these guys have it. Klay has been giving up too much middle on defense, which is devastating, because other than Jordan, Team USA does not have shot blocking. He is struggling guarding the shorter players. What the '12 team used to dominate opponents was a blitzing defense, which is spearheaded by the defensive talent of CP3 and Lebron (plus Lebron's versatility to play the 5). There is nobody on this team that has this ability. Not to say that players like PG are poor defenders however. Curry, Lebron, CP3, Davis would solve 99% of the problems. It's all about *fit*. Obviously, one can throw in Westbrook, but that's just icing on the cake. Would help with the blitzing defense that was so successful in '12. The players may not be giving full effort, but I really think they just do not know how to move without the ball well, or pass.
Anthony Davis for sure. Hes just too versatile and quick. As much as I hate him CP3 played will for USA. Westbrook.Kawhi I feel knows his place, plays hard and does the dirty work. Are there any stars that love playing off ball and using screens aside from the likes of steph and klay? Bc that's what this team needs
we didnt have curry or klay in 2012.. and we di just fine maybe these guys that espn hyped up are not as good as advertised
Honestly, even so, there are so many plays where these guys could play average defense and that would be enough. But they choose not to play. It's very Harden-esque at times. This field of teams seems even less talented overall than 2012. I don't think Australia is as good as 2012 Spain or 2008 Spain. Just playing with some more effort alone should be enough to at least create some bigger winning margins for this team. I agree that there is no shot blocking which is why the penetration should be limited which is not happening at all. The movement issue on offense is all about running plays. These guys are all lazy from what it looks like. Mix that with the amount of ball stoppers like Melo, DeRozan, etc. and it all looks like a mess of just one on one play. Hopefully they figure something out because it would be embarrassing to lose to any of these other teams regardless of these issues.
Im always supporting the US and I'm as patriotic as the next guy but I almost want this team to lose. Meanwhile Usain Bolt is simply amazing
off the top of my head someone like redick might be good. i know the 2006 team had a role player like battier and got the bronze so maybe that's a good reason to not add a role player, but i feel like the 2006 team was still shaking off the bad mojo of 2002 and 2004. redick doesn't need the ball, tries on D, and can shoot stand still and off screens. the way team USA is run has helped bring back more talent than in 2000-2004, but if the top guys don't go (i completely forgot kawhi wasn't here), then you get a whole team of the second tier stars who don't fit together. it's one thing if lebron, paul, kawhi, curry, and davis don't fit together; it's another if butler and george and cousins don't fit together. i said it in one of these threads, but this team reminds me of a better, more well-practiced version of the 2004 team. a bunch of athletic guys with decent shots who play valuable roles in the nba but who don't work as well if the entire team is made up of those types because they can't really play off of each other. now this team has durant and irving who should be efficient shot creators unlike 2004 but since durant hasn't shown up for 2 games, it doesn't work right now. the 2010 team didn't have much shooting but it at least played defense. iguodala guarded everyone, odom grabbed rebounds, guys sacrificed and gave effort on D. and partially because durant was so much better than everyone on offense, the offensive structure was more set - give the ball to durant and get out of the way and hope he is on fire the whole tournament. luckily, he was on fire the whole tournament so we won.
Team is winning and that is all that matters . Id rather see them struggle to win than win by 40 every game
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wait, why? playing badly just makes it more likely they'll lose at some point. i would get it if this were an 82 game season building for the playoffs and close games told us what to fix. but this isn't building. it's built. team USA is probably going to get beat if they keep playing like this. now granted, these last 2 games have been a little strange because we have basically led wire to wire. that doesn't feel typical of our usual games we lose. we tend to fall behind and never catch up. teams rarely catch team USA. so i don't know whether to feel good we're getting a 15+ point lead and getting lazy or that we apparently fall apart for all of the second half. of course even in this game it got a little close but then was basically an 8-10 point game the last 3 minutes until france threw in a couple of late shots when it was basically decided. even against serbia it felt like the players were just watching the clock and assuming serbia would never complete the comeback until all of a sudden they actually got it to 3 with the ball. but there's not much excuse for being lazy when a) you aren't playing big minutes and b) you're never supposed to lose a game so playing with fire shouldn't be allowed.
It's not really "built" though. The whole thing is a work in progress. In a way I would too rather see these close games because it gives them a reality check as if maybe they can't just show up and blow these guys out in the 1st quarter and coast. This team came together what a month or so ago. And even then it's not the top players that are playing with the exception of a few players the rest are new to the full experience of international play. that said this team should still take the gold but it's not going to be as easy as people think and it shouldn't be based on the roster
sorry. i didn't mean "built" in the good sense of "it's as good as it can be," i meant it in the bad sense of "the new owners are about to get the keys so it is what it is at this point." they've got 3 more single elimination games (hopefully) so there's no more time to wait to see what this can be. i agree. but you would hope it would take 1 game. now it's been 3. as you mentioned, i think they just aren't that good as constructed. let's face it, team USA is always playing uphill. no one wants to have the pressure of being the prohibitive favorite. not in the olympics. not in the ncaa tournament when you're playing a 14 seed, not even in a low pressure pick-up game. you start missing easy shots, mishandling passes, getting tight. the other team is playing with the energy of trying to get an upset and the freedom of no expectations. granted, it's still better to be the prohibitive favorite, but you tend to play down and your opponent tends to play up. some guard who couldn't make an nba roster starts shooting like steph curry and some no name big man starts showing post moves like hakeem. you can overcome that if all of the best players are on the team. when you have lesser stars, it becomes a much bigger deal.
At the end of the day for me it's al entertainment . There is nothing entertaining about seeing a team win by 20+ every game . Again I'm saying I would rather see this not saying Team USA has nothing to worry about
oh ok. well personally i just want the wins so the more boring the game the happier i am so i could use 3 30 point blowouts right about now. although watching the 2008 gold medal game at 2 in the morning was pretty cool.
No offense to all you lovely Americans but I hope we (Australia) face you in the Gold medal match and you choke.
Haha oh god. The comments on social media after the Team USA v Australia group game were so cringeworthy. I hope they meet again in the medal rounds. And I hope Team USA win by 40. The cockiness of basketball 'fans' in Australia - after a loss - was ridiculous.
If I were an Aussie fan, I'd be irate at Ben Simmons and Dante Exum for bailing on the Olympics. Yes, I understand younger players are more concerned with a serious injury but as a fan, they're likely losing out on a great opportunity to potentially beat the US.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We you <a href="https://twitter.com/NeneHilario42">@NeneHilario42</a>! Another nice stat line today with 19pt/7reb/4ast/3stl in a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BRA?src=hash">#BRA</a> win. <a href="https://t.co/VRfTVmr8ce">https://t.co/VRfTVmr8ce</a></p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/765266074161983489">15. August 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's cool when your team wins and its cool to have expectations, but bar maybe US, i just don't see a single team that would be a lack for semis, let alone finals, take those colored glasses off. (that's to some of delusional Aussie fans).
