USA v Lithuania
- Thread starter ukdesi
- Start date
If you mean Bobby Portis then, yes, he's on the roster as a backup center. But I don't think he gets much playing time.
But I don't see that as a particularly surprising thing. Portis is a solid NBA player. Hell, I believe he was the sixth man on a championship team only two years ago.
That’s who I meant. He just doesn’t scream “Team USA” to me or to be that caliber of player, IMO. We know he can punch hard though. Lol
Yeah, but he’s not Olympic material. I know this is not considered as big as that but when your top guys are Brunson/Jackson/Haliburton level guys it’s not our best. They would be phenomenal 2nd unit guys but honestly guys like Austin Reeves have played really well when I’ve watched and he comes off the bench here.
Anthony Edwards is the only elite player we have IMO. Brandon Ingram has sucked in international play. Some guys just don’t play well in this setting. I figured Banchero would get more minutes but he’s only averaged like 5-7 shots a game and he’s shouting like 61% from the field.
I think the wrong guys are getting minutes/shots sometimes. International squads have great chemistry and play together for a long time. We throw guys together and practice 3 weeks.
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Well, I agree with you that he ideally should not be Team USA material. But beggars can't be choosers and, unfortunately, with the way today's stars have lost interest in playing for their country, the Team USA program has kinda fallen into beggar territory.
We now take guys like Portis simply because the better options ain't interested.
I agree, just look at the guys we are missing. It’s crazy how much talent is out there that isn’t playing. Guys like Lillard, Kyrie, LeBron, Durant, Booker, AD, Kawhi, George, Curry, Butler, Tatum. It’s crazy. Even a guy like Bam would be a massive upgrade in the frontcourt. Jackson is good and is worthy of a spot but our backups aren’t.
Yeah most stars probably just aren’t interested in playing . I’m assuming that’s why we sent the guys that we sent over.
Trae Young wanted to be on the team but apparently he wasn’t invited
Trae Young wanted to be on the team but apparently he wasn’t invited
A few yrs ago, I was in western Ukraine along other NATO troops training Ukrainians. We had a basketball league during the winter. The Lithuanians gave us hell everytime. They were fundamentally proficient.
This is FIBA, it's just a qualifier for the olympics. The olympic team will be much better constructed. It'll have stars on it. FIBA always has bums it seems lol
You have no clue what you're talking about. FIBA is the organization that governs all international basketball, it's not some specific event. And this is not the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament. That's an entirely separate thing held for the countries that haven't already earned a spot (the US usually doesn't even have to participate in it).
Instead, this is the World Cup, which is the biggest event in international basketball outside of the Olympics. And in the past we did not send "bums" to it, instead we sent FAR better rosters equipped with legit superstars like Lebron, Curry, Durant, Shaq, etc.
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LOL k. I'm not reading all of that. The fact remains, nobody cares about the FIBA world cup. The olympics always out draws it and it more of a big deal to superstars. It's just that simple. When the olympics comes around, I guarantee we will send better players than this C team that we sent this time.
"All of that"? Yes, I can see how reading two short paragraphs could be taxing for you.
And so you're saying we'll send a better roster to the Olympics? Gee, thanks Captain Obvious for that informative news.
Lithuania loses by 20 to Serbia today and can't even medal. Beating the USA is like beating UK -- completely blow your wad doing it and then nothing the next game.
Italy was likely a much more favorable matchup than what Serbia would have been had USA beat Lithuania.
Italy was likely a much more favorable matchup than what Serbia would have been had USA beat Lithuania.
That loss probably woke our team up. I think they play well to win gold the rest of the way. Nobody wants to be a member of a U.S. team who loses. Look at the team before the redeem team and how they came back after we blew the Olympics. That team is infamous for being “the” sucky US squad.
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This does have something to do with qualifying for the olympics. Canada apparently secured a spot in the olympics by finishing at least 2nd in their pool play. Unless i misunderstood. It was a huge deal because it will be the first time Canada has qualified for the olympics in basketball since 2000.
Yeah, there are "automatic" Olympic spots given to some countries based on performance in the prior World Cup or Olympics. But there's also a separate Olympic qualifying tournament to fill out the Olympic field amongst those that have not already qualified.
MInus rare exceptions (like 1992), the US usually doesn't have to compete in the qualifying tourney because it's already locked up an automatic spot.
Huh? Nothing you said is really correct. You're like this weird ignorant troll who just decided to insert himself into a conversation between informed people. Please go away, this thread was much better without you.
If they both win Friday, USA and Canada will face each other in the final game Sunday.
Thursday, 7th – 5th-8th Place Semi-finals
Sunday, 10th
Here is the schedule (in Italian time) for the upcoming match days at the 2023 World Cup
Here is the schedule (in Italian time) for the upcoming match days at the 2023 World Cup:Thursday, 7th – 5th-8th Place Semi-finals
- 10:45 – Italy vs. Latvia
- 14:30 – Lithuania vs. Slovenia
- 10:45 – Serbia vs. Canada
- 14:40 – United States vs. Germany
Sunday, 10th
- 10:30 – 3rd Place Final
- 14:40 – 1st Place Final
I know his numbers were good last season but I don’t think Brunson is the dude to lead a team to anything substantial. He may prove me wrong but he just doesn’t pass the eye test in my book.
LOL You are one odd person. It's humorous to me how easily offended you are when you were wrong about something. Hope you have a blessed day ole feller.
He was the greatest college point guard of the last decade, according to Sporting News. He was starting PG on two National Championship teams, and national player of the year his last year at Villanova.
The US doesn’t need to qualify but for some countries like in Europe and Canada it is.
He’s a damn good player for sure. Not who I’d choose for the Olympics but he’s good and is deserving of a roster spot.
He would be a hell of a bench guard but not my first choice for starting PG and one of the stars.
Exactly. Give me Fox as the starting PG and we never lose to Lithuania or any of these other BS teams.
I understand all of that. Just doesn’t pass the eye test for me.
Winner gets Serbia who beat Canada 95-86. I didn’t get to watch it but SGA struggled it sounds like. Sad. I was actually pulling for Canada to win the whole thing. Team USA doesn’t have any Wildcats on it so **** em. I’m not sorry
I’m looking forward to seeing this canada team in the olympics with Murray and SGA starting in the back court.
Serbia is just plowing through the field ...and without Jokic. Them Serbs can play.
No established superstars on the roster, bunch of young dudes. Shifting this to the year before the olympics, you're not gonna see our top guys commit back to back summers.
Well, turns out you'll still get to see that US vs. Canada matchup ...but in the Bronze instead of Gold Medal game. What disappointing turn of events.