Page 4 of 27 FirstFirst ... 2345614 ... LastLast
Results 61 to 80 of 525
  1. #61
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Quote Originally Posted by ChillinDuke View Post
    Very interesting. And entertaining.

    But I have to assume most of the players on the team are not Maori.

    Still find it a bit out of place.

    - Chillin
    Why? It's an important part of Maori/New Zealand culture. It's like every Latin American soccer player bending over, touching the ground, and performing the sign of the cross. Sports ritual/culture is one of many great things about sports.
    Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill

    President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    Midway through the 4th quarter, the US leads NZ 88-57. We only led 27-20 at the end of 1 qtr but blew it open in 2nd and led by 22 at halftime.

    Faried and Davis continue to dominate teams on the inside. Davis has 21 points and 9 rebounds while Faried has 15 points and 11 boards. Harden has 13 and Steph has 12. Harden has been great at getting inside and ending up shooting FTs (6-8 from the line so far). Kyrie has 7 points on 3-6 shooting with a team-leading 3 steals. Rose has struggled, just 1-6 from the field for 3 total points.

    -Jason "tomorrow we have a decent Domincan Republic team, formerly coach by Cal and now coached by Orlando Antigua" Evans
    Just finished watching the game:

    Some notes:
    - Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried have just carried this team, and today was no different
    - The starting PG today was effectively James Harden, with Curry and Irving playing off ball
    - Interestingly, the starting PG in the 3rd quarter was Rose, with Curry and Harden off ball
    - Both Rose and Irving showed some peskiness and quick hands on defense. Irving got 4 steals and almost a 5th; Rose got 3 (though for some reason the box score credited him with just 1), forced a jump-ball, and knocked a pass out of bounds (couldn't quite hold it for the steal).
    - The half-court offense looked a little bit better. Emphasis on a little bit. It was still pretty bad. But turnovers and transition made the difference again.
    - Nobody in this tourney gets more offense out of less opportunity than Faried. He is just all-out hustle all the time.
    - Harden was again the most effective guard at passing off the dribble in half-court. Our theoretical PG have shown no interest in passing off the dribble so far
    - The time off doesn't seem to have resulted in an improved jumpshot for Rose. His missed shots were almost all on jumpers of 18 feet or more. He was 1-5 from 15 feet or more in this game. His ability to explode off the dribble still appears to be there, but the international game is just not conducive to driving. So he has seemed pretty passive in the half-court so far.

    Still waiting to see what we do against good competition. We just haven't faced a team that compete with us for 40 minutes so far. There are only a handful of teams that can compete with us for 40 minutes. I have a feeling that a lot of our coming games will look like this one. The stronger teams seem to all be on the other side.

  3. #63
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    New York, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by flyingdutchdevil View Post
    Why? It's an important part of Maori/New Zealand culture. It's like every Latin American soccer player bending over, touching the ground, and performing the sign of the cross. Sports ritual/culture is one of many great things about sports.
    It's not like every Latin American soccer player because:

    1) Their performing the sign of the cross is (presumably) because that is their religion. Is every player on the New Zealand national team Maori?;
    2) Performing the sign of the cross takes all of 1.5 seconds while that YouTube video is 1 minute, 9 seconds;
    3) Performing the sign of the cross does not draw the attention (intentions notwithstanding) of the entire viewing audience (and opposing team) away from the contest at hand;
    4) Performing the sign of the cross is a singular act whereas New Zealand performed a team act that was outwardly provocative toward the other team.

    Listen, I agree that ritual and culture are a great part of sports. And I'm not trying to be insensitive to New Zealand/Maori culture. But I clearly do not liken this 1+ minute team dance out onto center court at the World Cup of basketball to a singular soccer player's fleeting ritual. Nor would I liken it to any other sports ritual that I have ever seen - granted, I have not been exposed to a vast amount of international sports in my lifetime.

    All I'm saying is such a dance is both interesting and bizarre. Feel free to disagree.

    - Chillin

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    Quote Originally Posted by ChillinDuke View Post
    All I'm saying is such a dance is both interesting and bizarre.
    Apparently quite ineffective too.

    What seems odd about it to me is that it's so directed at the opposing team. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy a minute of culturally-significant trash talking."

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Another very good all-around performance from the team today. I think it's especially neat that Kenneth Faried is turning out to be a revelation of sorts. The ESPN game story says that Faried "seems intent on raising his profile as a largely overlooked player in the league," which may end up being kind of a secret weapon for this USA team. On paper, it's certainly not the most imposing USA roster of recent vintage, but the one thing perhaps lacking in the more star-laden teams has been desire. Faried seems to have that in spades, particularly an asset in a tournament where athletic size is at something of a premium.

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    Quote Originally Posted by wilson View Post
    Another very good all-around performance from the team today. I think it's especially neat that Kenneth Faried is turning out to be a revelation of sorts. The ESPN game story says that Faried "seems intent on raising his profile as a largely overlooked player in the league," which may end up being kind of a secret weapon for this USA team. On paper, it's certainly not the most imposing USA roster of recent vintage, but the one thing perhaps lacking in the more star-laden teams has been desire. Faried seems to have that in spades, particularly an asset in a tournament where athletic size is at something of a premium.
    Good post. I hadn't seen Faried or Bennett play that much, but color me impressed. They both really work hard, and they (with Harden) are carrying the offense. The defense is playing havoc with other teams' offenses by shutting off passing lanes (most of the time), so that's where I credit the guard play. Mason has played limited minutes and hasn't impressed me. He got caught out of position on a couple defensive sets today and got burned. I don't have his FT stats for the tourney, but he's looked pretty good shooting the ones I've seen.

    Like others, I keep looking at the half-court offense and wondering what the plan is. Then I look at the scoreboard and see that something is very much working. The offensive rebounding and creation of offense off defense have generated a lot of points.

    It's a shame we won't see Karl Towns tomorrow. It could be that Calipari is selfishly holding him out, but it's also possible that he's preserving his ability to play for Team USA one day. There was a discussion here regarding his eligibility, given that he played for the Dominican team in U-ball. But I think the result of that discussion was an understanding that his international play to date would not bar his eligibility for Team USA. Playing in the World Cup certainly would. He'd have to play for DR forever or not at all in major FIBA events. It's also possible that Cal said something like, "Your decision, but I don't want you to, and you'll kill your Team USA eligibility forever." Kind of a mix of the two explanations I could come up with for his not suiting up tomorrow.

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    - The starting PG today was effectively James Harden, with Curry and Irving playing off ball
    - Interestingly, the starting PG in the 3rd quarter was Rose, with Curry and Harden off ball
    - Harden was again the most effective guard at passing off the dribble in half-court. Our theoretical PG have shown no interest in passing off the dribble so far
    I disagree with all the points above. Harden wasn't the PG today. He didn't handle the offense more than Kyrie. Kyrie should have had at least half a dozen assists today, as he did make some nice entry passes and perimeter passes to open men. There were simply too many missed shots and/or hard fouls (on the inside passes) that prevented more assists. But he's not been the black hole that some are painting him out to be. Not at all. He's not looking for his shot all that much, but instead has made a concerted effort to get the ball to the bigs or wings.

    On defense, he was a one man wrecking crew. He got his hand on a lot more than the 4 steals he was credited with. He disrupted plenty today in that regard.

    To be honest, I just think there's a little biased viewing going on because Kyrie did exactly what I said he would do - beat out Rose for the starting point guard spot. And this has ruffled some feathers with folks who prefer someone else in that role. But no way should we be nitpicking Irving's game in this World Cup. He's been quite good. Before today he had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover margin, and he's shot the ball just fine as well. He deserves more respect than he's getting here. And it's not just because this is a Duke board. It's because he's been very solid as the starting PG.
    Last edited by _Gary; 09-02-2014 at 08:37 PM.

  8. #68
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Lewisville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Henderson View Post
    Good post. I hadn't seen Faried or Bennett play that much, but color me impressed. They both really work hard, and they (with Harden) are carrying the offense. The defense is playing havoc with other teams' offenses by shutting off passing lanes (most of the time), so that's where I credit the guard play.
    Bennett?

    Anthony Bennett -- #1 overall draft choice 2013
    Anthony Davis -- #1 overall draft choice 2012

    And same first name obviously, but otherwise they're not very similar

  9. #69
    Quote Originally Posted by Henderson View Post
    Good post. I hadn't seen Faried or Bennett play that much, but color me impressed. They both really work hard, and they (with Harden) are carrying the offense. The defense is playing havoc with other teams' offenses by shutting off passing lanes (most of the time), so that's where I credit the guard play. Mason has played limited minutes and hasn't impressed me. He got caught out of position on a couple defensive sets today and got burned. I don't have his FT stats for the tourney, but he's looked pretty good shooting the ones I've seen.

    Like others, I keep looking at the half-court offense and wondering what the plan is. Then I look at the scoreboard and see that something is very much working. The offensive rebounding and creation of offense off defense have generated a lot of points.

    It's a shame we won't see Karl Towns tomorrow. It could be that Calipari is selfishly holding him out, but it's also possible that he's preserving his ability to play for Team USA one day. There was a discussion here regarding his eligibility, given that he played for the Dominican team in U-ball. But I think the result of that discussion was an understanding that his international play to date would not bar his eligibility for Team USA. Playing in the World Cup certainly would. He'd have to play for DR forever or not at all in major FIBA events. It's also possible that Cal said something like, "Your decision, but I don't want you to, and you'll kill your Team USA eligibility forever." Kind of a mix of the two explanations I could come up with for his not suiting up tomorrow.
    Towns already played for the senior team last summer to qualify them for this tournament:
    http://www.fibaamericas.com/en/torne...c&c=DOM&xtab=3

    My suspicion is that he was not viewed as an important enough person for this roster to miss school for this. Another Kentucky guy, Eloy Vargas has been putting up big numbers at the 4 for them this tournament.




    I mentioned the Haka every single time New Zealand playing the United States has come up in a thread, so I feel like everyone should have had adequate warning that it would be coming. I even linked up a video of Nick Horvath performing in one earlier this summer.




    Groups C and D were in action with A and B taking a rest day.

    Group C games started with shorthanded Ukraine grinding out a 64-58 win over Turkey as Pooh Jeter had 10 points and 6 assists. In the loss, Omer Asik had 16 points and 20 rebounds and Emir Preldzic had 14 points and 7 rebounds. The Dominican Republic ended the day holding off Finland 74-68. In the win, Eloy Vargas had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Francisco Garcia had 16 points, Eulis Baez had 12 points and 9 rebounds, and James Feldeine had 10 points and 6 assists. In the loss, Petteri Koponen had 23 points and 9 assists.
    Standings: United States 3-0, Ukraine 2-1, Dominican Republic 2-1, Turkey 1-2, Finland 1-2, New Zealand 0-3.

    The group is still wide open behind the United States, with the two win teams still having to face the Americans. Ukraine can eliminate New Zealand by beating them in the first game on Wednesday.

    In Group D, Mexico won a key matchup with Angola 79-55 by controlling the final three quarters, which could be enough to help them move on. In the win, Hector Hernandez had 24 points, Gustavo Ayon had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Francisco Cruz had 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Roman Martinez had 12 points. In the loss, Yanick Moreira had 13 points and 9 rebounds and Valdelicio Joaquim had 13 points. Marty and Lithuania could not recover from an early deficit this time and lost 82-75 to Australia. Marty had 6 points in 26 minutes. Renaldas Seibutis had 21 points. In the win, Aron Baynes had 14 points and 6 rebounds, Matthew Dellavedova had 13 points, and Brad Newley had 10 points. Slovenia finally managed to pull away from South Korea in the second half for an 89-72 win as Goran Dragic had 22 points.
    Standings: Slovenia 3-0, Australia 2-1, Lithuania 2-1, Mexico 1-2, Angola 1-2, South Korea 0-3.

    Slovenia has advanced with Lithuania in solid position to join them. Australia advances with a win in either of their games. Mexico will probably be fine although they may not clinch until the final game.


    Title change for the next game: USA vs Dominican Republic 9/3 3:30pm EDT ESPN2/3

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary View Post
    I disagree with all the points above. Harden wasn't the PG today. He didn't handle the offense more than Kyrie. Kyrie should have had at least half a dozen assists today, as he did make some nice entry passes and perimeter passes to open men. There were simply too many missed shots and/or hard fouls (on the inside passes) that prevented more assists. But he's not been the black hole that some are painting him out to be. Not at all. He's not looking for his shot all that much, but instead has made a concerted effort to get the ball to the bigs or wings.

    On defense, he was a one man wrecking crew. He got his hand on a lot more than the 4 steals he was credited with. He disrupted plenty today in that regard.

    To be honest, I just think there's a little biased viewing going on because Kyrie did exactly what I said he would do - beat out Rose for the starting point guard spot. And this has ruffled some feathers with folks who prefer someone else in that role. But no way should we be nitpicking Irving's game in this World Cup. He's been quite good. Before today he had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover margin, and he's shot the ball just fine as well. He deserves more respect than he's getting here. And it's not just because this is a Duke board. It's because he's been very solid as the starting PG.
    Yeah, I am going to disagree with almost all of this (except that Irving beat out Rose of course - kudos to you so far for that). And I think it is your viewpoint that is biased in favor of Irving, for the exact opposite reasons that you have accused me of bias.

    Harden was unquestionably running the half-court offense in the first half. I watched it live and re-watched it. And outside of fast breaks, Irving has almost exclusively looked for his own shot. Yes, Irving was terrific defensively today (as I said), as was Rose.

    It is also unquestionably true that Rose started the second half at PG. I didn't say he played it great (in fact I said the opposite in one of the bullets you listed), but he absolutely did start the second half at PG.

    Don't get me wrong, Irving has been solid. Just not as a PG running the offense. His effectiveness has been primarily in the fast break. In the half court he has been pedestrian, which is evidenced by him trailing Harden comfortably in assists. When play settles into the half court, it has been Harden initiating/creating the offense.

    I am not writing this out of bias. Rose has not played well offensively and I readily admit that. I was wrong to trust the coachspeak out of camp. Clearly Irving has played better. But neither has played well at PG (Irving mediocre, Rose worse). The reality is that Irving has been a good scorer but has not run the half court offense well so far, and today he was moved off ball in the first half.
    Last edited by CDu; 09-02-2014 at 09:40 PM.

  11. #71
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    Yeah, I am going to disagree with almost all of this (except that Irving beat out Rose of course - kudos to you so far for that).
    All I'm saying is that Irving is not a black hole in the half-court offense, which is what it seems like you are saying. I've seen him drive into the lane (in the half court) with the express purpose of getting Davis, Plumlee & Cousins a shot after drawing the defender to himself. I've also seen him drive and kick to Curry, Gay and Harden for open threes which they've often missed. Just bad luck in terms of assist totals, imho. But I've seen him do it more than just once or twice. Is he a prototypical pass first PG? No, and I'd never make the argument that he is. But I do think he's trying to facilitate the offense, doing what he's able to do best - break down off the dribble. If we are looking for him to stay perimeter and just swing the ball then that's a terrible use, or lack of use, of his abilities.

    Am I biased toward a Dukie? Sure. But I honestly do think you aren't giving him enough credit. So we'll just have to agree to disagree.

  12. #72
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary View Post
    All I'm saying is that Irving is not a black hole in the half-court offense, which is what it seems like you are saying. I've seen him drive into the lane (in the half court) with the express purpose of getting Davis, Plumblee & Cousins a shot after drawing the defender to himself. I've also seen him drive and kick to Curry, Gay and Harden for open threes which they've often missed. Just bad luck in terms of assist totals, imho. But I've seen him do it more than just once or twice. Is he a prototypical pass first PG? No, and I'd never make the argument that he is. But I do think he's trying to facilitate the offense, doing what he's able to do best - break down off the dribble. If we are looking for him to stay perimeter and just swing the ball then that's a terrible use, or lack of use, of his abilities.

    Am I biased toward a Dukie? Sure. But I honestly do think you aren't giving him enough credit. So we'll just have to agree to disagree.
    I am not saying that Irving is a black hole. Just that he hasn't done a good job of creating offense for others in the half court thus far. Nor has Rose. Aside from transition, both have been playing as score-first players so far (with Irving having notably more success at it than Rose). Irving has been valuable - just not as a PG running the half-court offense.

    The guy who has been the most consistent in terms of creating for others has been Harden. He hasn't been elite at it, but he is leading the team in assists in the tourney so far. And I would venture that he leads by a larger margin in half-court assists.
    Last edited by CDu; 09-02-2014 at 10:08 PM.

  13. #73
    I agree with all of the positive reviews of Faried's play. What's interesting about him is how effective he is despite, or maybe because, he's the opposite of a typical FIBA big. He can't shoot the three, space the court or pass; he just lurks down low, getting it dumped to him or stealing offensive rebounds. Yet his combination of speed , hops and strength just doesn't exist on any other international roster (maybe Ibaka, but he can shoot). I was worried manimal would match up poorly with FIBA, but FIBA matches up poorly with him. And he fits perfectly with a USA offense that looks to force turnovers, run, and not let defenses get set up. He's been a revelation. I bet Tim Connelly (Nuggets GM) wishes he'd gotten an extension signed earlier this year. Kenneth is making himself more money this week.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    20 Minutes From The Heaven That Is Cameron Indoor
    Quote Originally Posted by Gary View Post
    All I'm saying is that Irving is not a black hole in the half-court offense, which is what it seems like you are saying. I've seen him drive into the lane (in the half court) with the express purpose of getting Davis, Plumlee & Cousins a shot after drawing the defender to himself. I've also seen him drive and kick to Curry, Gay and Harden for open threes which they've often missed. Just bad luck in terms of assist totals, imho. But I've seen him do it more than just once or twice. Is he a prototypical pass first PG? No, and I'd never make the argument that he is. But I do think he's trying to facilitate the offense, doing what he's able to do best - break down off the dribble. If we are looking for him to stay perimeter and just swing the ball then that's a terrible use, or lack of use, of his abilities.

    Am I biased toward a Dukie? Sure. But I honestly do think you aren't giving him enough credit. So we'll just have to agree to disagree.
    You are missing the point Gary, pun intended. Kyrie is great. No doubt. However he is not a facilitator and that is his Achilles Heel as both a NBA and National team player. He is score first, pass second driven, and honestly he needs to change. He has to change actually. The guy is the best finisher on the planet amongst his peer's in PG's but he simply does not do a good job yet of getting others involved, and racking up assists before racking up points. He is also way better defensively than he gets credited with. However, when the day comes that he gets just as much enjoyment setting up a teammate for an easy score as he does finishing in traffic or hitting a dagger 3, he will go to another level. He is not there yet.

    Great player? Check All World Ball Handler? Check Great Shooter? Check Great finisher at the rim? Double Check. Great passer/facilitator/vision/orchestrator? Nope.

    Thus Harden facilitating and Kyrie playing off the ball in half court. If Kyrie never figures out how to do the last item on the list he will still go down as a great player, but he could go down as All World Player if he does figure out that last item on the list. There is no reason why he can't check off that item, which is frustrating to be honest. He has the talent. The ball handling alone should make him better at facilitating. He gets where he wants when he wants like a magician.

  15. #75
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Mount Kisco, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Zeb View Post
    I was worried manimal would match up poorly with FIBA, but FIBA matches up poorly with him. And he fits perfectly with a USA offense that looks to force turnovers, run, and not let defenses get set up. He's been a revelation.
    GREAT line about fit. Faried is clearly the biggest and best surprise. As others have said, he and Davis have been amazing, which makes the other primary topic so painful...

    I enjoyed CDu and Gary's PG debate. I didn't see the first 5 minutes of the game, but my viewing matched more of Gary's impression in that I saw Kyrie on the ball and doing a lot more setting up of others, or at least attempting to, than I had seen in the past. I do agree with the critiques of Kyrie still not being a true set-up PG, but I thought he tried a lot harder tonight to do so, at least in the first half. K praised Rose post-game but I still think he looks lost. Starting him in the second half seemed like they are doing everything they can to activate him but it feels like he's really pressing - which is to be expected but still hard to watch. The true PG vacuum continues, but right now Kyrie is playing a much more prominent role on this team. The headline, though, is that no one is getting the ball to Davis enough...not even close. When Davis gets touches and draws attention, he scores and when he doesn't, Faried cleans up the miss. As Frashilla said on the broadcast, right now, the big are a strength and we need to sharpen the guards.

    [Quick aside, the second half was 20 minutes of meaningless garbage time so any comments I make are directed at the first half. I don't really feel good about anything that happened in the second half save for the fact that the effort was fine. The ball movement, shot selection, turnovers, and weak half court defense didn't leave me on a high note.]

    Just on feel alone, Harden seems like a solo artist on offense, but I can't refute the assist #s. Curry and Thompson are such gunners, and I feel like Curry is very sloppy with the ball and fouls alot, but K praised both of their defense.

    I don't feel like we got better today. We jumped all over a weak team early, which is good, but we played sloppy. I am glad that the weaker teams of the pool are behind us, better competition will make us sharper, kind of like Q4 against Turkey. Still, I love watching these games and he evolution of the team.

    Did anyone catch, on the broadcast, that this World Cup is going to start a qualification process like the FIFA World Cup with qualification games during the NBA regular season. They want to get away from the FIFA World Cup on the calendar so the next FIBA World Cup will be in 5 years and will include the revised qualification process. That should force Colangelo and USA Basketball to adjust how they organize everything. Or, maybe they'll build international breaks into the NBA season - but I can't imagine the owners going for that uness they make a big chunk of change. I am really interested in how that will evolve.

  16. #76
    Quote Originally Posted by Billy Dat View Post
    GREAT line about fit. Faried is clearly the biggest and best surprise. As others have said, he and Davis have been amazing, which makes the other primary topic so painful...

    I enjoyed CDu and Gary's PG debate. I didn't see the first 5 minutes of the game, but my viewing matched more of Gary's impression in that I saw Kyrie on the ball and doing a lot more setting up of others, or at least attempting to, than I had seen in the past. I do agree with the critiques of Kyrie still not being a true set-up PG, but I thought he tried a lot harder tonight to do so, at least in the first half. K praised Rose post-game but I still think he looks lost. Starting him in the second half seemed like they are doing everything they can to activate him but it feels like he's really pressing - which is to be expected but still hard to watch. The true PG vacuum continues, but right now Kyrie is playing a much more prominent role on this team. The headline, though, is that no one is getting the ball to Davis enough...not even close. When Davis gets touches and draws attention, he scores and when he doesn't, Faried cleans up the miss. As Frashilla said on the broadcast, right now, the big are a strength and we need to sharpen the guards.

    [Quick aside, the second half was 20 minutes of meaningless garbage time so any comments I make are directed at the first half. I don't really feel good about anything that happened in the second half save for the fact that the effort was fine. The ball movement, shot selection, turnovers, and weak half court defense didn't leave me on a high note.]

    Just on feel alone, Harden seems like a solo artist on offense, but I can't refute the assist #s. Curry and Thompson are such gunners, and I feel like Curry is very sloppy with the ball and fouls alot, but K praised both of their defense.

    I don't feel like we got better today. We jumped all over a weak team early, which is good, but we played sloppy. I am glad that the weaker teams of the pool are behind us, better competition will make us sharper, kind of like Q4 against Turkey. Still, I love watching these games and he evolution of the team.

    Did anyone catch, on the broadcast, that this World Cup is going to start a qualification process like the FIFA World Cup with qualification games during the NBA regular season. They want to get away from the FIFA World Cup on the calendar so the next FIBA World Cup will be in 5 years and will include the revised qualification process. That should force Colangelo and USA Basketball to adjust how they organize everything. Or, maybe they'll build international breaks into the NBA season - but I can't imagine the owners going for that uness they make a big chunk of change. I am really interested in how that will evolve.
    They did announce the qualification change last year. There is not a lot of support for it worldwide, so I would not be surprised if it ends up being scrapped in the next few years so I would hold on and not overthink it at this point.

  17. #77
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by ChillinDuke View Post
    All I'm saying is such a dance is both interesting and bizarre. Feel free to disagree.
    Chillin, I am going to guess that you are both young (probably under 25) and that you have watched very, very little international team sports in your life. That is really the only explanation I can come up with for you having no idea what the Haka is. Though the NZ Rugby guys are most famous for it, pretty much all the New Zealand national teams have been doing it for decades. It was first performed at a sporting event more than 100 years ago. Your incredulity at it is more than a little amusing to those of us who have been aware of it for many, many years.

    Also, the earlier linked video has been taken down so here is the official FIBA video of today's Haka.


    -Jason "the rugby guys, who are among the best teams in the world and a threat to win every time they step on the pitch, do it better" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  18. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by Newton_14 View Post
    You are missing the point Gary, pun intended. Kyrie is great. No doubt. However he is not a facilitator and that is his Achilles Heel as both a NBA and National team player. He is score first, pass second driven, and honestly he needs to change. He has to change actually. The guy is the best finisher on the planet amongst his peer's in PG's but he simply does not do a good job yet of getting others involved, and racking up assists before racking up points. He is also way better defensively than he gets credited with. However, when the day comes that he gets just as much enjoyment setting up a teammate for an easy score as he does finishing in traffic or hitting a dagger 3, he will go to another level. He is not there yet.

    Great player? Check All World Ball Handler? Check Great Shooter? Check Great finisher at the rim? Double Check. Great passer/facilitator/vision/orchestrator? Nope.

    Thus Harden facilitating and Kyrie playing off the ball in half court. If Kyrie never figures out how to do the last item on the list he will still go down as a great player, but he could go down as All World Player if he does figure out that last item on the list. There is no reason why he can't check off that item, which is frustrating to be honest. He has the talent. The ball handling alone should make him better at facilitating. He gets where he wants when he wants like a magician.

    While I generally agree with this assessment of Kyrie's game, I think Harden having the ball is more a function of K's plan to make him the central perimeter option once Durant bowed out. I.e., I don't think it's really a statement about deficiencies in Kyrie's or Rose's games, although everyone knows that they are more likely to generate their own offense as opposed to setting up teammates. I think Kyrie has tried to move the ball quite a bit, and I agree with Gary that assist numbers can be easily skewed in these types of (blowout) games. I wouldn't read too much into those numbers. Okay, I just looked and Harden had 4 assists and Kyrie had 2, so yeah... whatever.

    I don't think K is thinking of this offense in terms of a traditional PG facilitating in the half court. Kyrie, Curry, Harden, Rose --- all are bringing the ball up and initiating the action; and there are a lot of dribble hand-offs to Harden on the wing. "Half court offense" is a secondary or even tertiary concern IMO.

    That said, I agree with the thoughts above that getting the ball into Davis and Faried should be options 1a and 1b. Those guys have been great, while the perimeter guys have been up and down (hot and cold) with a handful of sloppy passes thrown in. The lack of time playing together seems to show up in team defense and turnovers IMO.

  19. #79
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    Chillin, I am going to guess that you are both young (probably under 25) and that you have watched very, very little international team sports in your life. That is really the only explanation I can come up with for you having no idea what the Haka is. Though the NZ Rugby guys are most famous for it, pretty much all the New Zealand national teams have been doing it for decades. It was first performed at a sporting event more than 100 years ago. Your incredulity at it is more than a little amusing to those of us who have been aware of it for many, many years.

    Also, the earlier linked video has been taken down so here is the official FIBA video of today's Haka.


    -Jason "the rugby guys, who are among the best teams in the world and a threat to win every time they step on the pitch, do it better" Evans
    I still think the US team should have responded with some krumping. You know Cousins has some sick moves.
    "Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR

  20. #80
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Quote Originally Posted by tux View Post
    While I generally agree with this assessment of Kyrie's game, I think Harden having the ball is more a function of K's plan to make him the central perimeter option once Durant bowed out. I.e., I don't think it's really a statement about deficiencies in Kyrie's or Rose's games, although everyone knows that they are more likely to generate their own offense as opposed to setting up teammates. I think Kyrie has tried to move the ball quite a bit, and I agree with Gary that assist numbers can be easily skewed in these types of (blowout) games. I wouldn't read too much into those numbers. Okay, I just looked and Harden had 4 assists and Kyrie had 2, so yeah... whatever.

    I don't think K is thinking of this offense in terms of a traditional PG facilitating in the half court. Kyrie, Curry, Harden, Rose --- all are bringing the ball up and initiating the action; and there are a lot of dribble hand-offs to Harden on the wing. "Half court offense" is a secondary or even tertiary concern IMO.

    That said, I agree with the thoughts above that getting the ball into Davis and Faried should be options 1a and 1b. Those guys have been great, while the perimeter guys have been up and down (hot and cold) with a handful of sloppy passes thrown in. The lack of time playing together seems to show up in team defense and turnovers IMO.
    I see this problem as beyond an X-and-O issue about who handles the ball. James Harden is one of the three or four best players in the world. He is by far the most accomplished player on Team USA, and K expects him to lead the offense -- think Michael Jordan in 1992. To me, Kyrie is playing really inspired basketball on both offense and defense, the latter a bit unexpected to some observers here and elsewhere.

    I am disappointed in some of the commentary here about Kyrie, more because of attitude not facts, but I am also disappointed that he only played 11 games for Duke, and we were probably one toe injury away from an undefeated season.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

Similar Threads

  1. 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup (non-USA teams)
    By awhom111 in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 57
    Last Post: 08-30-2014, 02:14 AM
  2. FIBA World Cup
    By gumbomoop in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-03-2014, 06:11 PM
  3. Fiba World junior game.
    By porkpa in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 25
    Last Post: 06-26-2014, 10:47 PM
  4. U20 Women's World Cup Champions!
    By burnspbesq in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 09-08-2012, 12:01 PM
  5. FIBA U17 World Championship
    By Bob Green in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 32
    Last Post: 07-11-2010, 11:37 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •