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2024 Paris Summer Olympics - Death Squad

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13552

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20 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

KD is the greatest player in the history of Fiba/the Olympics right?  Like probably not particularly close?  
If hes still alive and upright he needs to play in 28 back on home soil. It would be an injustice to what he’s meant to team USA if he wasn’t on that squad. 

I don't think it's the slightest exaggeration to rate KD the greatest international of all time.

I've given him endless shit for his thin-skinned public persona (burner social media accounts, etc.) and his poor choices as a player-GM, but when it comes to the international game, nobody's done it better.

I actually could see him lacing it up at 39 because he loves to play so much. He's like that dog wanting to go for a walk the moment he sees you getting ready for one--you can't tell him no.

He bleeds for the Red, White & Blue as much as he does Burnt Orange, and he'll play the game until he dies, from a wheelchair, if he has to.

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Machinator
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BigOrange1
BigOrange1

those Steph explosisons are much more fun when he's on the team you're rooting for lol.

aggie08
aggie08

That was still insanely cool though. The three best players of their generation, and they all came through when it mattered, and we needed all of it to win. Steph with a patented Curry flurry to

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 19063

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23 minutes ago, ztejas said:

If he wins a 4th skrait gold then yes, it won't be close. He already set the USAB scoring record. And through 2 games he's leading us in scoring again. 

Yeah- and not just that but didn’t he take a pretty shitty 2010 team at the worlds that nobody thought much of and single handedly destroy everyone he played against?  I’m getting old but that seems like it happened, right?  

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Yeah- and not just that but didn’t he take a pretty shitty 2010 team at the worlds that nobody thought much of and single handedly destroy everyone he played against?  I’m getting old but that seems like it happened, right?  

No one from the 08 Olympic squad played in 10 (Durant obviously should have been on the 08 team but whatever) but it was still a really nice group.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_men's_FIBA_World_Championship_team

But - yes - a 21 year old Durant led them to gold and was by far their best player. 

 

 

 

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MNLonghornFUKM

MNLonghornFUKM 8817

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Regarding the 2028 team, we are going to have to see a complete changing of the guard.  Only two players on the current team will be under 30 when the next Olympics roll around. 
Durant will be LeBron's current age in the next Olympics. Would be great to see him still out there, but I'm not counting on it.  Here is my guess, but who knows what will happen over four years.
  • Starters
    • PG - Jalen Brunson - 31 - He is a dawg and can score and distribute. Will be late prime.
    • SG - Anthony Edwards - 26 - Will be an absolute beast by then
    • SF - Jason Tatum - 30 - Meh, but probably the best bet.
    • PF - Paolo Banchero - 25 - I assume he will be all-NBA by then
    • C - Chet Holmgren - 25 - If he stays healthy he will likely be the starter
  • Bench
    • PG - Haliburton - 28
    • SG - Devin Booker - 31
    • SF - Brandon Miller - 25 - I think he has the most upside of the young SF options
    • PF - Bam Adabayo - 31
    • C - Jarrett Allen - 30 - He is still improving. I would rather have him on the team than Embiid right now.
  • Others
    • Ja Morant - 28 - He was 2nd Team All-NBA as a 22 yr old. If he gets his head on strait he could make the team
    • LaMello Ball - 26 - He is still very young and definitely has the talent to make the team four years from now
    • Zion Williamson - 27 - Dude is going to have to lose some weight and stay healthy. Could be a fun add if so.
    • Evan Mobley - 26 - Already all-defense at 22 and still improving
    • Tyrese Maxey - 27 - Already an all-star (6'2)
    • Scottie Barnes - 26
    • Jalen Williams - 27
    • Desmond Bane - 29
  • Too Old
    • Derrick White - 34
    • Joel Embiid - 34
    • Anthony Davis - 35
    • Jrue Holiday - 39
    • Kevin Durant - 39
    • Steph Curry - 40
    • LeBron - 43
 

Jaylen brown left out again!?!
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Fud

Fud 9551

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I'm not sure if projecting forward four years, if Brunson is necessarily a better choice than the other bunch of guards in the pool. It's a loaded group, as evidenced by guys like Brunson, Kyrie, Mitchell, etc getting left out this time around. To me Ant and probably Booker are locks, and then you have maybe a dozen others to choose from for 2-3 other guard spots, and White seems like he'll have an inside track to get one of those spots since he doesn't need the ball in his hands to be extremely impactful 

I like Haliburton on offense with these groups since he pushes the pace both with the ball and look ahead passes, is an excellent connector, and spaces the court, but his feet look stuck in cement defensively against quick guards, and quick guards seem to be the best player on a lot of these other teams 

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Fud 9551

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I think if healthy, AD, Bam, and Chet are all likely to make the team (I'm just going to assume Embiid has lost a bunch of his athleticism at that point and might not be healthy), and if AD can't go or isn't as effective, then JJJ could make sense as a 3rd center; obviously he had issues last year at the World Cup, but that was as the starter, and I think as a 3rd guy he'd be much better. He certainly spaces the court better than Allen, and is probably a better rim protector and more switchable defensively 

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HookEm

HookEm 2463

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2 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:


Jaylen brown left out again!?!

If Jaylen Brown wasn't good enough to make the team in his absolute prime at 27, I don't think he is going to make it four years from now at 31.

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Michael Knight

Michael Knight 12976

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20 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

KD is the greatest player in the history of Fiba/the Olympics right?  Like probably not particularly close?  
If hes still alive and upright he needs to play in 28 back on home soil. It would be an injustice to what he’s meant to team USA if he wasn’t on that squad. 

Some guy named Oscar Schmidt would like a word with you

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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2 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

And yet he's the all time Olympic scoring leader by a large margin

This goes both ways. Durant would have more points if he was the only one worth a shit on his team. 

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Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman 3910

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6 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Has he won like 5 or 6 Olympic and world gold medals and been the best player on his team every time?  

Eh.... you asked a question in a very nativist form, which was obviously meant to be rhetorical for you.  Oscar Schmidt holds a ton of Olympic and FIBA records.  In fact, if you open it up to FIBA, then KD, as much as we love him, certainly wouldn't qualify because he doesn't play enough games in the qualifying rounds so you'd have to be very narrow in the question and say.... Olympic history.  And even then, KD will show up in very few all-time statistical categories.  He has a shot at being a top five Olympic all-time scorer with a few big games in this tournament. 

If you narrow it to Olympics only, I do think he has a case, especially the way he carried the US team in Tokyo.  That was an extremely weak team and he put us on his back  He also is money in Gold Medal games.  30 and 9; 30 and 3, 4 ast, 2 steals and 1 block with 5 3's' and finally, 29 and 5 with 3 assists and 1 blk and he put the game away in the last 10 seconds with FT's.  Tokyo was probably the worst team we've sent since 04' and they needed all his greatness.  Jrue Holiday may have been the 2nd best player on that team.  Jayson Tatum was a top player for them.... he can't get off the bench in this Olympics.  So, if KD goes 4 4 4 with maybe another huge game in the gold medal round, then I think he has a claim, but other players will have bigger totals or even per game stats.

And Oscar Schmidt is a good name and he holds something crazy like 5 of the biggest scoring games out of the top 10 in Olympic history, but he really only had 1 crazy run.  The other 2 were impressive, let's not say they weren't but he was a chucker in the other 2.  His shooting percentages were poor.  1 of them they were just dog shit so he did get up tons of shots.  He still scored like 25 when he was in his high 30's so again, a great Olympics AND FIBA player.  And if you open it up further by saying International basketball, you'll get players like Pau and Manu and Dirk.  Pau is probably a top 10 Olympic player.  Manu may be too, certainly in modern times.

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statsman

statsman 5449

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I remember the knock on Schmidt was that he neglected playing defense to focus on scoring. Hey, it was the ‘80s. 
 
Stil, there are other parts of the game. Durant’s overall skills, enabled by his unique combination of height and agility, are a huge part of his greatness. FIBA basketball rewards ball movement and stretching the court. Durant plays unselfishly and can acquit himself at positions 1-5 as needed, like few players can. 
 
This of you proposing Schmidt- would any of you, needing a player for a FIBA game between two evenly matched teams, pick him (in his prime) over KD (in his prime)?

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13552

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Can Embiid please get injured or something similar that would actually help the team?

Btw, game was tied, 17-17, when the second unit came on. They quickly fell behind by 8 but settled down and had the US up by 7 ... and then Kerr puts Embiid, Tatum and the other starters back out. Lead instantly back down to 3.

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13552

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Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Btw, game was tied, 17-17, when the second unit came on. They quickly fell behind by 8 but settled down and had the US up by 7 ... and then Kerr puts Embiid, Tatum and the other starters back out. Lead instantly back down to 3.

OK, starters shutting us up now. On a big run and finishing the half strong.

Still want to see a LOT less of Embiid. He just doesn't fit with this roster.

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ztejas

ztejas 43411

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11 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Only starter who should've started is LBJ.

Speaking of which, that dime just now ...

Book has been solid. Curry also playing better today. 

And there's something fun about bringing Ant and KD off the bench. Just a filthy 6th/7th man combo.

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13552

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19 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Book has been solid. Curry also playing better today. 

And there's something fun about bringing Ant and KD off the bench. Just a filthy 6th/7th man combo.

Curry's D has been poor. Embiid is getting toasted on the reg by a guy 6 inches and 60 pounds smaller. He's not working the glass, either--only two boards.

Starters have seen about 15-18 minutes of the 26 minutes played.

No reason other than ego placation for Ant and KD to be sitting so much.

Starting lineup should be Bam/AD, LBJ, KD, Ant, and DWhite/Jrue.

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Michael Knight

Michael Knight 12976

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13 hours ago, statsman said:

I remember the knock on Schmidt was that he neglected playing defense to focus on scoring. Hey, it was the ‘80s. 
 
Stil, there are other parts of the game. Durant’s overall skills, enabled by his unique combination of height and agility, are a huge part of his greatness. FIBA basketball rewards ball movement and stretching the court. Durant plays unselfishly and can acquit himself at positions 1-5 as needed, like few players can. 
 
This of you proposing Schmidt- would any of you, needing a player for a FIBA game between two evenly matched teams, pick him (in his prime) over KD (in his prime)?

Then the greatest FIBA player of all time is Lebron James

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