USA getting steamrolled. We look like a bunch of college all-stars playing one on one, while Lithuania is doing a layup drill or drilling 3s. Embarrassing.
USA v Lithuania
- Thread starter ukdesi
- Start date
USA dug too deep a hole early. Down 7 but are teams are just trading baskets in the 4th.
Isn't this like a JV USA team though?
I cant recall the roster other than the white kid from the Lakers.
I cant recall the roster other than the white kid from the Lakers.
I don't follow the NBA -- to me it looks like we constructed an average ish NBA team.
They still advance to the quarterfinals, so no it doesn't matter, but still.....I don't like when the USA loses in basketball. This was eazy peazy for Lithuania -- transition, 2nd chance points, pounding it inside...USA no answer defensively.
Yeah Jonas . He’s had a good NBA career . He looks more like Travis than Jason Kelce does .
Couldn’t happen to a better guy than Steve Kerr if only his side kick in ignorance Greg POPOVICH could be his assistant. If you can’t win with this talent LOL embarrassing to USA basketball
They've got three All Star caliber guards in Edwards, Brunson and Halliburton, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in Jackson, and the Rookie of the Year in Banchero (who's getting very little playing time, btw), so certainly a talent notch well above "average."
But, yeah, still a HUGE drop down from the days of Dream Team type rosters.
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Had to look it up but knew Lithuania was a tiny country. Population of 2.7 million-impressive that they produce world class basketball teams.
Of those you listed, would any of them be in a top 12 roster for the USA? Maybe Edwards.
Always have. Even back in the USSR days, the best players on the Soviet teams that beat us in the 72 and 88 Olympics were Lithuanians.
No country swings above its population weight class in basketball more than Lithuania.
Lithuania did start 9/9 from 3, if they don’t do that USA wins. But this loss is probably good for USA. They get Italy instead of Serbia now
I watched this guy, Steve Kerr, and he was like a little boy who was so scared. He’ll talk about the United States very badly. I watched Popovich. Sort of the same thing, They talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don’t want to say anything bad.
You know it ain’t your day when your opponent is hitting that ****.
That's OK, though, we still advance. Far better to get that one loss out of the way now than next week in the medal rounds.
I knew USA was in trouble when Jokic, Doncic, and Giannis decided not to play. Without them, we just an average team
Imagine adding, AD, Booker, Tatum, Bam?
Definitely could have come up with a much better team of American born players.
Jaren Jackson has always been, at best, a mediocre rebounder.
That’s especially concerning considering that he’s about our only big man. Nearly everyone else in this rotation is a perimeter-oriented player. This team is in trouble if Jackson won’t rebound.
You sure about that? Can’t add AD, Booker, Tatum and Bam if they ain’t willing.
Today’s NBA stars simply aren’t as interested in playing for their country as they were in the past. Which, of course, is why we’re seeing such a clear decline in roster quality.
I was just agreeing that this is B Team level talent. Wasn’t intended as commentary on who would or wouldn’t want to play.
My assumption is that guys like AD/Booker didn’t want to play, or else they would be there.
Good point. Original dream team was stacked with Hall of Famers in their prime.
Some of these guys might make it some day. Edwards looks like an eventual top 5 player of his era type of talent. But they’re all pretty young. And i’d argue the 10th man on the dream team would still be the best player on this squad.
Fun to think about convincing an all UK team to play in an event like this where they struggle to get top tier guys:
G - Fox, Maxey, Quickley
G - Booker, Herro, Monk,
F - Johnson, Randle, Towns, Vanderbilt
C - Bam, Davis
Coaches
Vogel
Casey
G - Fox, Maxey, Quickley
G - Booker, Herro, Monk,
F - Johnson, Randle, Towns, Vanderbilt
C - Bam, Davis
Coaches
Vogel
Casey
Yep, and the difference is not just between this and the original Dream Team, but instead nearly ALL the Team USA rosters between 92 and the 2019 WC team (when we saw a huge drop) featured far more talent than this group.
I agree that Edwards is clearly the best talent on this team. There are a few other all star or near all stars (Brunson, Halliburton, Jackson, Banchero, etc.), but they're only that "borderline" kind of all star talent. Edwards is the only guy who has the sort of superstar potential that used to fill out Team USA rosters.
But I still think they have a good shot at winning Gold ...presuming that today was just that one clunker game they needed to get out of their system.
I think he’s still eligible to play for the US. Regardless…that’s a fun squad.
I believe Lithuania is one of only two nations whose most popular sport is basketball. The other nation would be Big Blue Nation.
LeBron James is a great person and a great guy, and a tough competitor who delivers under pressure. He's doing an amazing job for his community.