the moops
Footballguy
Ahh. Well played. I'm just too dumb for your jokes
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2024-25 NBA Thread: Knicks fan enjoying last few hours of believing his team can beat the Celtics (17 Viewers)
- Thread starter Capella
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Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
Memphis has given up on Ziare Williams. They took a big swing to trade up to get him (essentially for Trey Murphy) and they were betting on the pedigree and the physical profile. Had flashes but never could be consistent and had some injuries. Good for the nets to take a flier and I guess the grizzlies ran out of patience, especially considering gg Jackson and Vince Williams emerging
Capella
Footballguy
I’m just enjoying a really good game in the middle of July without having some weird self-made agenda attached to it.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
Somebody woke up.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
Like a Tiger toying with its prey.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Can USA play one more possession of clutch defense? That was a great finish on the offensive end by LeBron. Just too strong.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Wow. US eked that one out. South Sudan certainly got a good open look.
Grahamburn
Footballguy
What a great game.
Frostillicus
Footballguy
Yeah it was clunker all around for Ant today. He reverted on defense big time to his ball watching ways of his first couple of years. That won't fly.
scoobus
Footballguy
Just caught up. Credit to South Sudan, but this reminded me so much of the Nigeria pre-olympic exhibition 4 years ago where Nigeria shot so far over their heads it was funny.
Embiid looks like he can't even dunk the ball, either pick it up or cut his minutes drastically. Bad game for Ant, but he's gunna play a ton of minutes and be fine, he looks like our best player out their at different junctures. Unless Tatum is getting all the way to the rim he absolutely sucks. AD is a stud.
Steve Kerr inspiring absolutely zero confidence with his coaching thus far. Doing 5 for 5 line changes every five minutes, no mixing and matching, no sense of urgency. Might as well give the guy a bag of popcorn while he lounges on the bench doing nothing. I'd say this is just the exhibition games, but this is coming off a disappointing FIBA tournament with him at the helm as well.
Getting some guy named Durant back should help. Not worried.
Embiid looks like he can't even dunk the ball, either pick it up or cut his minutes drastically. Bad game for Ant, but he's gunna play a ton of minutes and be fine, he looks like our best player out their at different junctures. Unless Tatum is getting all the way to the rim he absolutely sucks. AD is a stud.
Steve Kerr inspiring absolutely zero confidence with his coaching thus far. Doing 5 for 5 line changes every five minutes, no mixing and matching, no sense of urgency. Might as well give the guy a bag of popcorn while he lounges on the bench doing nothing. I'd say this is just the exhibition games, but this is coming off a disappointing FIBA tournament with him at the helm as well.
Getting some guy named Durant back should help. Not worried.
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
jt thor
Former sixer legend marial shayok
Wenyen gabriel
Future possible number 1 pick Khaman mulauch
Capella
Footballguy
They do need his offense so it’ll be interesting how they manage his minutes. I think KD may cut into that some. I think when push comes to shove they’ll tighten up to Lebron/KD/Curry/ Tatum/AD/Bam/Ant/one of White and Jrue.
Pride and politics may keep Embiid out there but he’s not a fit. I think Halliburton is the 12th man. Booker is redundant with Tatum and Ant, idk how they fit him in.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
It was good to see Wenyen on the court again. He was in the same AAU program as our son and they practiced and played together.
Major
Footballguy
I was wondering if that worn torn country was still producing players but it looks like a lot of American and Canadian born players with Sudanese heritage. Happy for them.
Yo Mama
Footballguy
I really liked him when he was on the Lakers and wished he got more playing time with them. Everyone on the team seemed to like him.
Capella
Footballguy
Blowing out by 50 lol. A lot of these teams are very good now it’s not 1992. They smoked Canada who is loaded and Serbia who has the best player in the world. Yes they struggled big time yesterday. That will probably help them in the end.
TLEF316
Footballguy
Watching Joel embiid out there really is just an awful experience. I get that when he's healthy he's one of the most skilled big men ever (foul baiting aside) but right now it just looks like she's about to fall down at any moment. Just looks so incredibly uncomfortable out there.
Lebron still has that "F you. I'm getting to the rim" gear when he needs it. Dude is a true alpha among alphas
Lebron still has that "F you. I'm getting to the rim" gear when he needs it. Dude is a true alpha among alphas
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Sure, the overall competition is likely somewhat better than 32 years ago, but come on . . . the US should still be blowing these teams out by 30+ every night. The other teams usually have one top NBA player, maybe a couple of run of the mill NBA starters, guys that play in international leagues, and a couple of G leaguers or guys on two way contracts. Team Canada has a few more NBA starters than most, but other than SGA, IIRC, the only other NBA All Star was Wiggins (one selection). I would not consider that a "loaded" team. Serbia has Joker and 3 other NBA players.
Team USA combined has won 15 NBA titles, been named to 59 All NBA teams and 27 All Defense teams, and won 8 league MVPs. Half the team (at least) will go on to make the HOF. The original Dream Team won by an average of 44 points. The 2024 team has a margin of victory of 7 points so far. Maybe they will turn up the intensity when the games actually matter, but they should be carving these teams up like they were playing a bunch of locals in a pick up game at a YMCA.
Capella
Footballguy
Sorry man but that hasn’t been happening consistently against the top opponents in 25 years. Teams like Argentina, Spain and now Serbia are built around a star or two and then a heavy dose of good rotation players who have been together for 10 years and know how to play the international game way better than the US players do.
Expecting them to blow out teams at the top level of international play is just silly. The 2008 team was absolutely loaded and Spain took them to the end.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
2020 team (things a little wanky with COVID):
Exhibition games: +6 margin of victory
Olympic games: +20 margin of victory
2016 team:
Exhibition games: +43 margin of victory
Olympic games: +22.5 margin of victory
2012: team:
Exhibition games: +26.6 margin of victory
Olympic games: + 32.1 margin of victory
2008 team:
Olympic games: +27.9 margin of victory
Those teams all had All Star players . . . but not LeBron, Steph, KD at the same time. The 2020 squad had guys like Javale McGee, Keldon Johnson, and Jerami Grant. With the game becoming more international, their margin of victory has fallen from 40+ years ago to 20-25+ in recent Olympics. I stand by my comment that they should still be beating these teams by 25-30 points, especially with bigger names and HOFers added to the team.
Major
Footballguy
Exactly. The chemistry on other foreign teams is so much greater and we all know the US guys don't take these games nearly as seriously as the teams playing them.
Capella
Footballguy
I don’t know what to tell you except the game has gotten better. MVPs are from other countries now. The draft each year is loaded with euros. It’s a fairly obvious answer honestly.
Capella
Footballguy
And they’ve still won the last 4 Olympics lol. I don’t even understand what people are complaining about.
BassNBrew
Footballguy
New here?
Major
Footballguy
It's kind of weird. I think they're looking at the Olympics and foreign competitions in their rose colored 1992 glasses. The game has changed a bit in the past 30 years
Anarchy99
Footballguy
South Sudan has 4 guys on their team with NBA experience with a total of 331 career games played. The highest scoring total in an NBA game for any of them was 20 points (accomplished one time). International Olympic teams don't get much more practice than Team USA does . . . they pull in players the same time the U.S. team does, and they all play on different teams in different countries in different leagues. They said on the broadcast that South Sudan has had trouble even finding a gym to practice in and has moved from country to country just to be able to get some practices in. Bottom line, the "that-team-has-better-chemistry-because-they-play-together-all-the-time" narrative doesn't apply to any of the teams.
If the "game has gotten better," then there really isn't much difference in the NBA compared to the G league, European leagues, Australian leagues, Puerto Rican leagues, Chinese leagues, and Israeli leagues, because that's where many of the Olympic basketball players play. Yeah, I get it, the team has guys that make $30-50 million a year, and they aren't making a dime to play for Team USA. But they shouldn't be getting out-hustled for every loose ball and rebound. Yes, I also get that for players on other teams playing in the Olympics is a way bigger deal and their likely career highlight. Sure, the draft is loaded with international players, but they come from all different countries. Once the real games start next week, the US will likely have 3 HOF players on the court at all times. They are huge favorites to win, and they really shouldn't be in any single digit games.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
They were favored by 40 though, right?
Grahamburn
Footballguy
I heard like ~46, so yeah, they were expected to mop the floor with them. Sudan shot it well though. Whether that was lackadaisical defense from US in the first half or not the ball was going in.
Capella
Footballguy
Yea I’m not really talking about yesterday they obviously flopped out there but in general I think too many people still think about Barkley dunking on Angola lol. Idk it’s hard to let go of the past.
Capella
Footballguy
The us obviously has more individual talent. It’s a team game and the top teams have been together for years. And now they’re been together for years with nba level talent. The us is slapping this together and still winning I don’t really understand why that’s not impressive for people.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
South Sudan has only existed as a recognized country for about 15 years. Imagine if we had to play against all of Sudan, which would be about 5X larger country by population.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
I didn’t watch. Were they just making a lot of 3s and we did too much iso and couldn’t hit jumpers?
GOB
Footballguy
Now go back and do 1992
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Lots of live ball turnovers. Missed a ton of shots. 7 of 28 on 3PA (Sudan 10 of 31). Sudan made a ton of shots in the first half (but fell off in the second half). Sudan just played harder most of the game and got a lot of loose balls and rebounds.
Moe.
Footballguy
It was an exhibition game against a team we will play in the group stage - who cares. Kerr is my main worry at this point. If he can’t see that AD should be starting over Embiid at this point then I don’t even know what to say. Tatum isn’t as good in this format either because there will always be someone at the rim. Curry-Jrue-LeBron-KD-AD is such an obvious starting 5.
Deamon
Footballguy
Olynyk got many all-star snubs and should be worth mentioning.
Moe.
Footballguy
I didn’t know Royal Ivey was the coach for South Sudan. Cool article from the Houston Chronicle on Ivey: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...ts-royal-ivey-sudan-coaching-nba-18573963.php
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