There's been talks of the USA going with a U-23 team for the olympics in the future. I thought it'd be interesting to see who y'all think would be on the team this year if we went U-23. (Don't worry about injuries) Here's mine: C: Demarcus Cousins/Greg Monroe/Anthony Davis PF: Blake Griffin/Kevin Love SF: Kevin Durant/Chandler Parsons SG: James Harden/Evan Turner PG: Russell Westbrook/John Wall/Kyrie Irving The Thunder Big 3 starts, Griffin-Love hold down the 4, young PGs of Wall and Irving back up, maybe I'm biased for putting Parsons but he's the best young wing defender I could think of to come off the bench.
My lineup would be Irving/Westbrook/Wall Harden/Westbrook/Wall Durant/Harden/Leonard Love/Griffin/Faried Davis/Cousins/Love
C: Serge Ibaka PF: somebody SF: somebody SG: somebody PG: Ricky Rubio Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Does anyone think young NBA stars would stop accepting invitations if the 24 and over group stopped playing?
Minus well send the thunder to the olympics. C ibaka F (Anthony Davis) F Durant G harden G westbrook Everyone else
I think Spain would dominate this team. Pau and Marc would have some fun in the paint. Also No way Parsons makes the team over Paul George.
I don't know if I'm mistaken or not, but the talk has been of Stern trying to convince FIBA to make the Olympics an U-23 competition. In that case, everyone would be sending U-23 players, not just the US.
Hadn't heard that at all. There is no chance FIBA nukes Olympic basketball for the sake of Stern and the NBA.
An article today implies that the NBA could actually do it by refusing to give the players their release: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/s...s-its-olympic-involvement.html?pagewanted=all Which makes sense. I really don't see what FIBA could do about it from a practical perspective. The players are under contract to the NBA teams.
Thanks for the link. FIBA will never change basketball in the Olympics to a U-23 competition. That would weaken the product and make the U.S. an even stronger favorite. Of course, the NBA could set fire to the bridge Stern has been building with FIBA the last 10-15 years and unilaterally ban all NBA players under contract who are older than 23. I guess we are too far away from a decision that would affect the 2020 Olympics. IMO, nothing will change. I don't blame Stern for floating his balloon in the air to gauge reaction, but it was shot down pretty fast. I love the idea of a World Cup for basketball every 4 years if they can make it work.
