USA Basketball Team out from FIBA World Cup - No Longer The "Strongest" Team

Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 09:44
Last edited 13/09/2019 - 09:03

Finally they lost!!

1st lost after 58 winning streaks in international match up, so glad other team finally able to destroy the myth that USA is the best basketball team country in the world.

We all can argue USA is without LBJ, KD, Curry etc..but who cares.. the current team sucks, no chemistry, no real team work..poor pop.

To be honest, I have been following pretty much most of the FIBA world cup games and I can definitely see that basketball skills are improving in other countries (well with exception of asian countries lol)

I like how this game no longer depending on big names, but really its about team work and chemistry. France last night showed how they played well together and understand each other, that's why they won it.

Boomers is playing against Spain tomorrow for the final spot! We can win this! Go OZ!!!

Do you think the era of "USA dominance" is finally over??

UPDATE

ANNNNNDDDDD they lost again

Poll Options

  • 5
    Yes
  • 45
    No
Sports & Outdoors

Comments

  • HighAndDry on 12/09/2019 - 09:59

    I like how this game no longer depending on big names, but really its about team work and chemistry.

    Uh. While I like seeing different teams have a chance and it's refreshing to see the US not dominate, the US only lost because their own big names didn't play, while France had Gobert.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 10:51

      Hmm….Maybe or maybe not. From what I can see in the other teams, they really play great basketball. A lot of ball movements, not only depending on certain players.

      I think Pop tried to educate the USA team the importance of team playing, but they just couldn't execute it hence they lost.

  • RM on 12/09/2019 - 10:04
    +2

    Where is the "don't care" option in the poll?

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 11:00

      Well, usually if someone doesn't care they just ignore it…hence no option in the poll.

      Ps: Didn't neg you tho

    • havebeerbelywillsumo on 12/09/2019 - 11:58
      +1

      Plus to "don't care" option…I want the chance to be part of the noisy majority, the silent majority is simply ignored, completely.

    • sauce2k6 on 12/09/2019 - 13:57
      +4

      You don't care yet you went out of your way to click on this thread and comment. Makes sense

      • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 14:00

        Not many smart people like you in here

      • lgacb08 on 12/09/2019 - 19:26

        I don't too but just want to see how many neg i can get by saying 'basketball? Meh'.
        sometimes it's fun to see the world from minority view and how they seek refuge from the digital world.

  • Fredfloresjr on 12/09/2019 - 10:14
    +1

    They just want to go back on their holiday same goes to superstars that refused to play. They can always get the gold if they wanted.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 10:52

      They just want to go back on their holiday same goes to superstars that refused to play

      I hope they don't have this mentality..I think it's more that they don't want to represent a country lead by Trump lol

      • mick123 on 12/09/2019 - 11:04
        +5

        most of them were overpaid narcissists before Trump, they will be after Trump.

        PS: if they hate Trump more than they love their own country, it shows they are just selfish

        Above all, what they love most is their money!

      • HighAndDry on 12/09/2019 - 12:03
        +1

        They totally have that mentality. Part of it is also physical maintenance, recovery, training etc, so it's not like it's purely out of laziness, but I don't doubt a big part of it is also that they just want a couple of months off to party.

  • follow on 12/09/2019 - 10:38
    +1

    Olympics is where it's at.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 10:52

      Let's hope so, and I hope Ben Simmon is part of Boomers squad in Olympic

    • coblos on 12/09/2019 - 14:06
      +2

      I'd prefer it went the other way with the Olympics being for Under 23s and the World Cup being the bigger event.

  • garetz on 12/09/2019 - 11:04
    +1

    um, 58:1, do you still not think that is a dominant display ?

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 11:07

      It is for sure, but now with so many great NBA players outside USA, I think other countries are finally starting to catch up with USA quality.

      At the moment, I have 0 doubt USA is still #1, but things could change in the next 5 years or so.

  • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2019 - 11:17
    +3

    NBA doesn't take FIBA seriously. They wouldn't put players on that conflict with their domestic schedule or even preference.

    Many top tier NBA players would rather not risk injury in FIBA and concentrate on their NBA league.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 11:27

      Many top tier NBA players would rather not risk injury in FIBA and concentrate on their NBA league.

      It's interesting isn't it. I am not sure if soccer players also have in choosing to represent their country or not, seems like not many of them bail out representing their country whenever there's an international competition.

      I feel the fact that NBA players has the ability deciding to represent their country or not, is quite disrespectful.
      But then, money talks.. they got injured during international competition, their NBA contract might void

      • [Deactivated] on 12/09/2019 - 11:51
        +2

        If Kobe didn't play for the US team, no one thinks any less of him.

        If the did, he got injured and/or undertrained and his NBA stats suffer, it is a major detriment to his career.

        It has nothing to do with respect. It is just a no-win gamble.

        • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 11:55

          It has nothing to do with respect. It is just a no-win gamble.

          What I mean by respect here is the sense of diplomacy.
          Obv those star players think the pride of winning NBA > winning international competition - which I have to agree at this stage.

          • HighAndDry on 12/09/2019 - 12:05
            +1

            @Taro Milk Tea: The NBA is objectively a higher standard of competition. The top international players basically all play in the NBA. It attracts more viewers. It sells more merch. It makes more money hands down.

            The FIBA world cup is a distant second / third fiddle to the NBA.

  • tsunamisurfer on 12/09/2019 - 11:20

    They clearly don't have this high on their agenda with the squad they have assembled. Joe Harris? Plumlee? Turner? Marcus Smart (and I'm a Celtics fan)???? WTF.

    The writing was on the wall when they lost to the Boomers and came within one Tatum foul from losing against Turkey.

    That said they should still have had enough talent to beat France.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 11:31
      -3

      Joe Harris? Plumlee? Turner? Marcus Smart (and I'm a Celtics fan)???? WTF.

      Pop choices of the team's big men are terrible. None of those centers can play high quality basketball:
      - Turner - poor defense, not much strength in the paint area anyway
      - Brook Lopez - not bad in terms of defensive skill, but his offensive skills are quite bad
      - Plumlee - let's just pretend he doesn't exist in USA team

      That said they should still have had enough talent to beat France.

      meh..France played with great chemistry, they know each other. Many plays where Fournier just randomly shot the ball up high as if it almost became an air ball, but the fact he just threw it up high because he knew Gober will catch it - they really know each other

      • datty on 12/09/2019 - 12:36
        +3

        Strongly disagree with your criticisms of the big men

        Turner - poor defense, not much strength in the paint area anyway

        Last season Turner led the NBA in total blocks, blocks per game, block % and was shown to be just as effective in the advanced stats including 3rd in Defensive Box Plus Minus and 7th in Defensive Win Shares.

        Brook Lopez - not bad in terms of defensive skill, but his offensive skills are quite bad

        Is the all time scoring leader for the Brooklyn Nets, was consistently averaging 18-20 points per game for his 9 years with the Nets (not including his rookie year). His time at the Lakers was a disaster (the whole team was to be fair) and has a much reduced role at the Bucks due to having other players who take on the bulk of the scoring duties (Giannis and Middleton). His offence is not limited like other centres and is able to score in the paint and stretching the floor out to the 3 point line.

        Plumlee - let's just pretend he doesn't exist in USA team

        Plumlee gets unfairly miscast as being as useless as his brothers were in the NBA. By no means is Mason a star player, but plays a significant role for the Nuggets being a back-up behind Jokic. Mason ranks 6th in Defensive Box Plus Minus and 26th in Box Plus Minus which ranks higher than Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, Clint Capela and Draymond Green.

        The issue for USA was choosing a bunch of shoot first combo guards with no actual pure point guard able to run the offense effectively.

        • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 12:45
          -2

          Last season Turner led the NBA in total blocks, blocks per game, block % and was shown to be just as effective in the advanced stats including 3rd in Defensive Box Plus Minus and 7th in Defensive Win Shares

          Yes agree, his blocking skill is impressive. But doesn't mean he played good defense both in NBA and FIBA. Many times he got confused defending Gober in P&R situation, which was the main reason why gober was dominating last night.
          Also another main reason Pop gave up with his bigs and start playing small ball.

          In re of Brook…c'mon, brooks is basically dead in FIBA format. He basically can't do anything inside the paint area because there's no defensive 3 seconds in FIBA.
          Lopez role in FIBA basically just to draw out opponent's center from the paint, which he was unsuccessful given he didn't make much threat with his 3 point attempts in this tournament.

          With Mason, to be honest, if I were Pop, MAYBE I would play Plumlee last night to defend Gober. It's a better match up rather than Turner or playing small ball line up.

      • Pootie Tang on 12/09/2019 - 12:36
        -1

        There is nothing wrong with Brook Lopez's offensive game

        • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 12:47

          So many things are wrong with Brook's offensive game in FIBA.

          in FIBA, pace is faster, no defensive 3 seconds, stricter intentional foul (can't just foul anybody like in NBA otherwise you got charged by unsportsmanlike foul).

          Brook type of player doesn't work in FIBA..Should have picked Kenneth Farried instead!

  • Ryanek on 12/09/2019 - 12:41
    +2

    They had no answer for Gobert.

  • EFC94 on 12/09/2019 - 13:10
    +1

    Not sure how anyone can take this "world cup" seriously when the best players in the world don't even bother to show up.

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 14:02
      -1

      Since when the "world cup's" importance is depending on whether best players in the world show up or not?

      And USA players are not the best in the world

  • DarthAntz on 12/09/2019 - 13:40

    any links for streams to these games?

  • sauce2k6 on 12/09/2019 - 13:59

    I'm not sure if all the stars that were meant to play in Australia but if they were, USA should take a stand and not select them for the Olympics. Don't want to represent your country at FIBA World Cup, don't represent it at the Olympics.

  • coblos on 12/09/2019 - 14:18
    +3

    Even if the US sends it's the strongest possible line up it can put together I think the trend towards shooting more 3s means many international teams could upset them in a 1 game scenario. An off shooting night and you die by the 3.

  • tempura on 12/09/2019 - 14:37

    lol for a team with two all stars…

  • shaybisc on 12/09/2019 - 16:43
    +3

    Beats me why anybody on a tens of millions per year contract would want to play in this in their short period of rest and recovery for peanuts and risk injury. I'm not a big sporting nationalist in sports where clubs pay the bills.

  • myusername on 12/09/2019 - 19:45

    wasn't this like their "C" team?

    the back up bench warmers?

    • Taro Milk Tea on 12/09/2019 - 20:01

      No such thing as "C". They were chosen, they were the "A" team

    • Whisper Quiet on 13/09/2019 - 11:43
      +1

      More like Y team. How far down the list can they go. Kemba Walker who is a bit overrated to me is the only one that would make an all NBA team. The rest are role players and bench warmers.

  • squash on 13/09/2019 - 07:56

    i bet all my money they will win gold at the Olympics

    • Taro Milk Tea on 13/09/2019 - 09:03
      +2

      how much money you have?

      • Whisper Quiet on 13/09/2019 - 11:46

        He was talking about their squash team :)

      • squash on 14/09/2019 - 09:38

        not much after securing too many bargains from hanging out here too long

        • Taro Milk Tea on 14/09/2019 - 10:59

          I'll check with you again next year after Olympic.

          • squash on 14/09/2019 - 11:10

            @Taro Milk Tea: you dont think they will win gold? they value olympics far far above FIBA world cups.

            • Taro Milk Tea on 14/09/2019 - 11:42

              @squash: USA surely has the highest chance to win it, but as of definitely will win gold, I don't think so. Basketball has evolved, even Argentina, whose only superstar is Scola, can beat France now.

  • Noblejoker on 13/09/2019 - 14:33

    I vote yes but
    USA will still be the #1 team in the world for a long time
    But their 'dominance' is definitely over
    The margin has shrunk and if they don't bring their A game and better players they are vulnerable not dominant
    As others have said the major factors are lack of experience at FIBA rules, lack of chemistry between team mates - at least compared to other teams, and lack of care fr basketball at this level
    That said I expect a resurgence for Olympics next year after their embarrassment here

    • Taro Milk Tea on 13/09/2019 - 16:26

      The era of nba superstars is on its way to disappear.

      These days, it's about ball movement, 3 point shootings. Don't really need to depend on ISO anymore, big man is still needed not offensively, but for defensive presence - This is how France beat USA

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