How do you think Real Madrid Baloncesto would do in the NBA?

[awhom111]

Today, Real Madrid Baloncesto suffered their first loss of the season after winning 16 Spanish League games and 13 EuroLeague games as well as the two game semi-exhibition, semi-competitive Spanish SuperCup to start the season. They lost to the basketball team with the 31st biggest payroll in the world, CSKA Moscow. Throughout this impressive run, their coach Pablo Laso has made plenty of noise about his team and how they could be an NBA team so I thought it would be an interesting poll question to see how people think they might handle the league. Part of the key to their season so far is that they have tightened up their porous defense from previous seasons to go along with their prolific offense.

For those unfamiliar with the roster, I have written a little bit about them. The lineup is constructed in an interesting way with the starters designed to wear down the opposition as the backup 5 tend to come in at the start of the second quarter with the goal of delivering an offensive knockout blow. Depending on the need for offense versus defense late in the game, the two lineups are mixed as they tend to bring in a true point guard late. Personally, I do not think that they would be the worst team in the league, but I have a hard time seeing how they could stop many NBA teams. They would be the least athletic team by an alarming margin.

Starting 5:

Sergio Llull (PG, 6'3", 175, 26): He was drafted 34th in 2009, but is unlikely to ever come over although you may know him from international play. He starts at point guard sharing some ball-handling duties with Rudy, but can also shift over to shooting guard. He could probably be a backup guard for a number of NBA teams, but I am not sure which guard spot would be better suited for him in the NBA since he's not really elite at any particular guard skill.

Rudy Fernandez (SG, 6'6", 185, 28): One of the players you are probably familiar with after his 4 NBA seasons. While he was considered at least a functional rotation guard in the NBA, he is the primary backcourt scoring option for this team.

Tremmell Darden (SF, 6'5", 200, 32): He played for Niagara in college, averaging 18 points a game in his senior season scoring 1729 points in total. He is a bit of a late bloomer, making the move to the club last year after an injury to our own Marty Pocius. At this level, his role is primarily to play defense. Obviously guarding NBA small forwards is a little bit different than what he is used to doing.

Nikola Mirotic (PF, 6'10", 210, 22): Drafted 23rd in 2011 and has not come over yet, but you may have heard of him because of the hype surrounding him. Two time winner of the EuroLeague Rising Star award and reigning Spanish League MVP. Possibly the most NBA ready young player in Europe. In this hypothetical move to the NBA, the scoring and rebounding responsibilities would immediately fall on his shoulders. In Europe at least, he is a decent defender and rebounder, but that may not translate in the NBA immediately. Good post scorer with a great jumpshot with range.

Ioannis Bourousis (C, 6'11", 265, 30): It's unlikely you have ever heard of him, but he is a solid European center who is new to the team this year. He is a pretty solid center that can contribute offensively and has been the subject of NBA interest in the past. He is probably the only player on the roster who could play NBA center with any effectiveness.

Second 5:

Sergio Rodriguez (PG, 6'3", 175, 27): You may also know him from a four year NBA career as a backup point guard. Since his return to Europe, he has improved offensively and plays a key role for this team. He is one of the players who would definitely not look out of place in the NBA.

Dontaye Draper (G, 6'0", 180, 29): Played at College of Charleston, scoring 1541 points. In Europe, he is almost exclusively viewed as a defensive stopper, although as the naturalized point guard for Croatia's national team, he did show some offensive skills last summer. While he can defend a variety of perimeter players in Europe, I am not sure it would translate as well in the NBA, where even the small point guards will be bigger and more athletic.

Jaycee Carroll (SG, 6'2", 180, 30): Played at Utah State, averaging over 20 ppg his last two seasons and scoring 2522 points overall. At this level, he is an efficient shooting guard who can come off the bench and deliver points in a hurry. Obviously he would be severely undersized at the NBA level. Also plays for Azerbaijan.

Felipe Reyes (PF, 6'9", 230, 33): Not likely someone you have heard of although he has played on the national team. He is a wily veteran who can score around the rim while grabbing a few boards and playing defense. While he might not have the NBA potential of other players, his experience would probably allow him to be reasonably productive as a backup power forward in the NBA.

Marcus Slaughter (C, 6'9", 230, 28): Played for San Diego State and had 1211 points and 775 rebounds in 3 years before going undrafted after declaring early. Brought into the team last season to provide interior defense and rebounding. The main issue is that is rather undersized to play that role in the NBA whereas his athletic ability compared to European centers allows him to keep up with taller players.

Other 2:

Daniel Diez (SF, 6'8", 200, 20): He only plays a little bit as the 12th man on the roster. Considered a possible second round pick at some point. He would probably look pretty lost in the NBA right now.

Salah Mejri (C, 7'1", 245, 27): Just brought to the team this year after playing a little bit of NBA Summer League. You may remember him from the Olympics for Tunisia. He could probably be a solid backup NBA center.

[blazindw]

As a fan of all things Real Madrid, I follow RM Baloncesto when I can. I think they'd be right in the middle. Not good but not terrible. In other words, a playoff team in the East. :)

Rudy Fernandez can ball as we all know and Sergio Llull would be a pretty good player here too. Our own Marty Pocius was a star on this team until last season, when he left to return to Lithuania to play. And as we all know, Singler was also on the squad for 1/2 a season in 2012 when the lockout ended and did very well before heading to my hometown Detroit Pistons. I think that RM would be undersized as a team in the NBA but they would have some talent that could carry them some games. They'd have to rely on their shooting as I don't think their improved defense would translate to the NBA's physical style of play.

Halamadrid!

[JasonEvans]

Legit question -- is there anyone on this team who would be the best player on a NBA team? I am serious. Even the worst teams in the NBA have at least one or two players better than anyone on Real Madrid, right? From your description it sounds like Rudy Fernandez is their best player. He was little more than a rotation guy in the NBA. He stared a grand total of 10 games over his 4-year NBA career.

And we are just talking about matching up Real's best player with the best player on a awful NBA team. As you move down the roster to the 4th or 5th starter or especially to the first few guys off the bench, the gap between what Real is putting on the floor and what an NBA team is putting out there is going to become MASSIVE!

This is sorta like the debate that comes up every so often when a college team seems really good -- oooh, could 2011 Kentucky/1999 Duke/2001 UNLV/whoever have played competitively against an NBA team? I laugh at these discussions. A NBA team, actually playing to win and caring about the result, would beat the snot out of a club like Real Madrid. Trust me, if any of the guys on Real were good enough to be a top 2 or 3 player on even a bad NBA team, the NBA would be throwing beau coup bucks at him and he would be over here. The fact that these guys are still playing in Europe should tell you all you need to know. Plus, the pace and athleticism of the NBA game would just wipe these guys out. They aren't used to facing the kind of freaks they would face every single day in a NBA contest.

I will say this -- if Real came over to the US and played in the NBA for 3 or 4 years, I think they would start to get to be very competitive. Of course, that would be because they would be getting one of the top picks in the NBA draft every year, which would land them the legit NBA players who could turn their roster into one that could compete.

-Jason "the Bucks would wipe the floor with Real if they played for real. It would be ugly" Evans

[awhom111]

Legit question -- is there anyone on this team who would be the best player on a NBA team? I am serious. Even the worst teams in the NBA have at least one or two players better than anyone on Real Madrid, right? From your description it sounds like Rudy Fernandez is their best player. He was little more than a rotation guy in the NBA. He stared a grand total of 10 games over his 4-year NBA career.

And we are just talking about matching up Real's best player with the best player on a awful NBA team. As you move down the roster to the 4th or 5th starter or especially to the first few guys off the bench, the gap between what Real is putting on the floor and what an NBA team is putting out there is going to become MASSIVE!

This is sorta like the debate that comes up every so often when a college team seems really good -- oooh, could 2011 Kentucky/1999 Duke/2001 UNLV/whoever have played competitively against an NBA team? I laugh at these discussions. A NBA team, actually playing to win and caring about the result, would beat the snot out of a club like Real Madrid. Trust me, if any of the guys on Real were good enough to be a top 2 or 3 player on even a bad NBA team, the NBA would be throwing beau coup bucks at him and he would be over here. The fact that these guys are still playing in Europe should tell you all you need to know. Plus, the pace and athleticism of the NBA game would just wipe these guys out. They aren't used to facing the kind of freaks they would face every single day in a NBA contest.

I will say this -- if Real came over to the US and played in the NBA for 3 or 4 years, I think they would start to get to be very competitive. Of course, that would be because they would be getting one of the top picks in the NBA draft every year, which would land them the legit NBA players who could turn their roster into one that could compete.

-Jason "the Bucks would wipe the floor with Real if they played for real. It would be ugly" Evans

I think Nikola Mirotic is better than anyone on the Magic. The team is probably better balanced and deeper than the Bucks or 76ers. I am not as optimistic as blazindw or whoever voted that they would be better than half the teams. I am reasonably certain that they would not be completely overwhelmed in the NBA.

It is nothing like the question of whether a college team could compete with an NBA team. College teams have inherent limitations that prevent them from matching up in terms of depth, experience, and weight-lifting. Good European teams run 10 or 12 deep and have tons of experience. Real Madrid has almost all of their players right in the prime of their career. I also don't agree with the idea that if a player is good enough to be in the NBA, that he will instantly move there from Europe. There are buyouts and other things to deal with and for the players already established in Europe, they would be taking the risk of leaving a place where they have a defined role and are being paid well to try to make an impression in another league. Most NBA teams are not going to pay hefty buyouts for players in their mid to late 20s, so players would have to run out their own contracts to move. There are plenty of players in Europe who would fit right into good NBA teams who we are not likely to ever see play here.

[FerryFor50]

I think Nikola Mirotic is better than anyone on the Magic. The team is probably better balanced and deeper than the Bucks or 76ers. I am not as optimistic as blazindw or whoever voted that they would be better than half the teams. I am reasonably certain that they would not be completely overwhelmed in the NBA.

It is nothing like the question of whether a college team could compete with an NBA team. College teams have inherent limitations that prevent them from matching up in terms of depth, experience, and weight-lifting. Good European teams run 10 or 12 deep and have tons of experience. Real Madrid has almost all of their players right in the prime of their career. I also don't agree with the idea that if a player is good enough to be in the NBA, that he will instantly move there from Europe. There are buyouts and other things to deal with and for the players already established in Europe, they would be taking the risk of leaving a place where they have a defined role and are being paid well to try to make an impression in another league. Most NBA teams are not going to pay hefty buyouts for players in their mid to late 20s, so players would have to run out their own contracts to move. There are plenty of players in Europe who would fit right into good NBA teams who we are not likely to ever see play here.

I don't think Mirotic is better than Vucevic. Nor Tobias Harris or Victor Oladipo.

Like Jason said, if he were, he'd be in the NBA already...

[JasonEvans]

I also don't agree with the idea that if a player is good enough to be in the NBA, that he will instantly move there from Europe. There are buyouts and other things to deal with and for the players already established in Europe, they would be taking the risk of leaving a place where they have a defined role and are being paid well to try to make an impression in another league. Most NBA teams are not going to pay hefty buyouts for players in their mid to late 20s, so players would have to run out their own contracts to move. There are plenty of players in Europe who would fit right into good NBA teams who we are not likely to ever see play here.

I am not talking about "good enough to be in the NBA." I am sure there are plenty of guys like that in Europe and on Real Madrid. I am talking about a guy good enough to be the best or second best player on a NBA team. Even on bad NBA teams, their best players are paid 5-times are much as the best players in Europe make. The value of having a top flight NBA starter is certainly worth a European buyout to an NBA team. I feel pretty confident in saying there is no one in Europe who would be a top NBA player right now. All the guys like that are already in the NBA (or they are too young to be drafted yet).

My point is that the very best player or two on Real would be overwhelmed by the best player on a NBA team. There might be some parity around the 4th-7th players on each teams... maybe. Though when you get deeper down the bench, the NBA guys are going to be leaps and bounds better than anyone on Real's roster. When the second units come in, Real will get run off the floor.

I am not saying Real would never win a game. But I would expect them to win no more than maybe 1 out of 10 against even middle tier NBA teams and they would not have a chance against pretty much any playoff team.

-Jason "I think Real would finish about 8-74 playing against a regular NBA schedule" Evans

[grad_devil]

... oooh, could 2011 Kentucky/1999 Duke/2001 UNLV/whoever have played competitively against an NBA team? ...

I doubt that the 2001 UNLV team (18-15, I think) would have any shot against an NBA team. Matter-of-fact, I bet Real Madrid Baloncesto would fare pretty well against them, too :)

[CDu]

They have only two players who could reasonably be NBA starters (Mirotic and Fernandez). Their best player (Mirotic) is a 3rd or 4th guy at this point in his young career (probably still a couple of years away from being ready for a bigger role). And Fernandez is a borderline NBA starter (very good sixth man). Llull, Rodriguez, and Bourousis could maybe be rotation players. After that, nobody else is even close to a rotation-quality player in the NBA. And they're woefully undersized, with only one NBA-sized SF (and not a very good one; he doesn't even play) and have only one C. They don't have a starting-caliber PG or C on the roster, and have only two guys who could reasonably be expected to score at the NBA level.

I think this team would be a terrible NBA team. I agree with Jason - this seems like a slightly-less-ridiculous example of the "what could (insert dominant college team) do in the NBA?" question. I don't think they would be a complete embarrassment, but they would be really really bad.

I'd like to note that Mirotic may very well be coming over to the NBA next year as the Bulls may buy out his contract this summer. He's drawn some Nowitzki comparisons, and he might be the best player not in the NBA right now. The only way this team wouldn't be atrocious is if he proves to be much more NBA-ready than most think. Personally, I think he's probably only a borderline starter at the moment. He'd need to be Nowitzki-esque for this team not to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. Even then, they'd be really bad.

[Dukehky]

I think they would be the worst team in the league and would have trouble winning any games. Just because the MLS may have a team or two with some players who could play in the EPL, doesn't mean they would survive over there.

[JasonEvans]

I doubt that the 2001 UNLV team (18-15, I think) would have any shot against an NBA team. Matter-of-fact, I bet Real Madrid Baloncesto would fare pretty well against them, too :)

Yikes. I obviously meant 1991 UNLV. My bad.

-Jason "glad CDu shares my opinion. Makes me feel much better about having that opinion ;) "Evans

[Billy Dat]

I generally agree with the idea that this team could put up a fight but would likely be the worst team in the NBA. Now, if they got a one game shot against every NBA team and the game was played in Europe under their rules with their refs, I think they'd have a chance to beat every NBA team, but that is a different story.

A fun tangent, how would the Spanish National Team do in the NBA? Take all the aforementioned national team guys from Real Madrid and add the Gasol brothers, Victor Claver, Ibaka and Calderon. Plus, I Juan Carlos Navarro is the spiritual leader and as crafty a scorer as I have ever seen.

I think the Spanish National Team, bolstered by their chemistry, is a definite playoff team...in the East.

[nmduke2001]

A fun tangent, how would the Spanish National Team do in the NBA? Take all the aforementioned national team guys from Real Madrid and add the Gasol brothers, Victor Claver, Ibaka and Calderon. Plus, I Juan Carlos Navarro is the spiritual leader and as crafty a scorer as I have ever seen.

I think the Spanish National Team, bolstered by their chemistry, is a definite playoff team...in the East.

IIRC, the Spanish National Team gave Team USA all they could handle in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

[Billy Dat]

IIRC, the Spanish National Team gave Team USA all they could handle in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Right, which is kind of the same scenario by which I said the Real Madrid team could conceivably beat any NBA team in a one-game, FIBA-rules, FIBA-refs showdown. The Spanish National team would have no such advantage over an 82 game NBA season plus playoffs. I think they could make the playoffs considering the fact that they have 2 All Star level players (The Gasols and Ibaka) and plenty of legit NBA talent, but I don't see them being in the top 8.

[brevity]

In response to the original question, I think their ceiling is NBA mediocrity. Obviously they would fare better in the Eastern Conference -- the junior varsity of the NBA, where good basketball goes to die.

More importantly, we need Dontaye Draper in the league. The crazy guys on Madison Avenue would have a field day with that name.

[greybeard]

This is, at its best, a team game played like the Futball played in the Spanish league, magically by RM's chief rival, Barcelona. NBA teams from the relatively recent past, who have at least several starters, and often as many as a couple-3 others who see significant time, from Futball cultures, present terrifically in NNA, sparkple in watching them on offense. Add in Futballers like Nash and Kidd, you can see what RM might bring to league. Elan, small passing game, movement, shared cleverness, inside out to inside out touches for good looks. Magic.

How would they do. Make the game interesting, sensible, enjoyable, in contrast to stat driven, force, showmanship, parallel play that define current NBA concepts. They'd do refreshingly.

Examples that come most to mind, Nash-lead Phoenix (head former World Cup head coach working with small ball pre-season), SA, Dallas' Championship team.) Many Futball Cultue players made teams made/make teams much more interesting.

They'd do refreshingly. But, ESPN could not sell it, and we buy what we are sold.

[Billy Dat]

By the way, make no mistake that Spain is going to be playing this summer like their lives depend on it. This is pretty much the last chance for this Golden Generation to pick off the US. The primary players are in or just past their prime, the US won't be sending the best-of-the-best (although the drop-off is debateable) and the game is being played on their home turf. If the US and Spain can meet for gold, and everyone is healthy, that has the potential to be one of the greatest modern FIBA games of all time.

[Turk]

I am not talking about "good enough to be in the NBA." I am sure there are plenty of guys like that in Europe and on Real Madrid. I am talking about a guy good enough to be the best or second best player on a NBA team. Even on bad NBA teams, their best players are paid 5-times are much as the best players in Europe make. The value of having a top flight NBA starter is certainly worth a European buyout to an NBA team. I feel pretty confident in saying there is no one in Europe who would be a top NBA player right now. All the guys like that are already in the NBA (or they are too young to be drafted yet).

My point is that the very best player or two on Real would be overwhelmed by the best player on a NBA team. There might be some parity around the 4th-7th players on each teams... maybe. Though when you get deeper down the bench, the NBA guys are going to be leaps and bounds better than anyone on Real's roster. When the second units come in, Real will get run off the floor.

I am not saying Real would never win a game. But I would expect them to win no more than maybe 1 out of 10 against even middle tier NBA teams and they would not have a chance against pretty much any playoff team.

-Jason "I think Real would finish about 8-74 playing against a regular NBA schedule" Evans

Given that the team with the worst record in NBA history was the 9-73 Sixers in 72-73, you're saying RM would be historically bad. I beg to differ.

First, in the salary cap era, the NBA rotation guys are the best available that the team can afford in their structure, not the best available period. USA Basketball used to have that all-star mentality - "Go down our roster and theirs - every one of our guys is better than every one of their guys" - until the 2004 Olympics. Trying to slot individual guys doesn't make sense - Player A doesn't fit on this Team X, but all of a sudden he "gets a lot better" on a different team (and vice versa). They're not playing one-on-one or having a dunk contest. If RM can win 30 games in a row, they know how to play together, they are better than the sum of their parts on paper, and their coach might know what he's doing (and is evidently not humble about it).

Next, the challenge is not figuring out how they would do against an NBA team playing its best game. I agree it's obvious RM would get killed. For example, the even the Sixers played out of their minds in their home opener to beat the Heat. The challenge is to figure out how they would play against the *typical* effort of an NBA team. Even the Spurs don't play 100% all the time, especially when Pop schedules a "work-from-home" day for Timmy or Manu. It goes in both directions; we would also have to figure out how RM would do on a five-game West Coast road trip with back-to-backs in Denver and Sacramento.

I have 'em at the 6-10th worst. Better than the Tankapalooza teams, and better than teams with mismatched parts (e.g. Detroit with the failed "triple towers" experiment) or teams that play hero ball (any team with Tyreke Evans on it). I'd be interested in seeing how their advanced metrics look.

[awhom111]

By the way, make no mistake that Spain is going to be playing this summer like their lives depend on it. This is pretty much the last chance for this Golden Generation to pick off the US. The primary players are in or just past their prime, the US won't be sending the best-of-the-best (although the drop-off is debateable) and the game is being played on their home turf. If the US and Spain can meet for gold, and everyone is healthy, that has the potential to be one of the greatest modern FIBA games of all time.

This is exactly why I keep issuing warnings about this tournament. For both patriotic and Duke-selfish reasons, we need to win it all and it may not be easy. If any of our stars want to play, we should include them. Development can be done some other time with less at stake. You can bet the refs will not be helping out if we end up playing the home team.


Given that the team with the worst record in NBA history was the 9-73 Sixers in 72-73, you're saying RM would be historically bad. I beg to differ.

First, in the salary cap era, the NBA rotation guys are the best available that the team can afford in their structure, not the best available period. USA Basketball used to have that all-star mentality - "Go down our roster and theirs - every one of our guys is better than every one of their guys" - until the 2004 Olympics. Trying to slot individual guys doesn't make sense - Player A doesn't fit on this Team X, but all of a sudden he "gets a lot better" on a different team (and vice versa). They're not playing one-on-one or having a dunk contest. If RM can win 30 games in a row, they know how to play together, they are better than the sum of their parts on paper, and their coach might know what he's doing (and is evidently not humble about it).

Next, the challenge is not figuring out how they would do against an NBA team playing its best game. I agree it's obvious RM would get killed. For example, the even the Sixers played out of their minds in their home opener to beat the Heat. The challenge is to figure out how they would play against the *typical* effort of an NBA team. Even the Spurs don't play 100% all the time, especially when Pop schedules a "work-from-home" day for Timmy or Manu. It goes in both directions; we would also have to figure out how RM would do on a five-game West Coast road trip with back-to-backs in Denver and Sacramento.

I have 'em at the 6-10th worst. Better than the Tankapalooza teams, and better than teams with mismatched parts (e.g. Detroit with the failed "triple towers" experiment) or teams that play hero ball (any team with Tyreke Evans on it). I'd be interested in seeing how their advanced metrics look.

Here is a statistics site for EuroLeague:
http://www.in-the-game.org/stats.php?season=2014&league=EL&level=league&sub=advteam

Keep in mind that their numbers are bound to go down as the competition progresses and the weaker teams are eliminated, making their schedule tougher. This is the blog from when their streak was 23 that first got me started thinking about this question:
http://www.in-the-game.org/23-0/

I do think it is interesting that this team is being looked on differently as they were pretty good last year too, but completely fell apart in key situations. Part of that is that their coach is not that great, although he has seemed to get out of the way this year.

Nobody has brought up where this hypothetical team would be playing. If teams had to fly out to Madrid to play them, they might get a decent record in their home games, especially their early Sunday specials. I was assuming we would relocate the team to the US somewhere like Seattle or St. Louis or something.

[UrinalCake]

This is an interesting thread for me as I just watched "Mystery, Alaska" yesterday, one of my all-time favorite and most underrated sports movies. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a fictitious team of hockey players from Alaska who wind up playing against the New York Rangers (back when they were good, presumably). I personally think it is ridiculous to think a team of that level could compete against an NHL team, primarily because of the differences in rules (the Mystery team grew up playing with no checking or hitting and no boards).

Which brings me to this question: how would Real Madrid Baloncesto do in the NBA if all of the teams were forced to play by international rules? As we've seen in the Olympics and World Championships (before Coach K arrived), having the most individual talent doesn't necessarily make you the best team. I'd vote that they would be at least better than half of the NBA teams.

[JNort]

I'm not sure how this thread is still going tbh. In an 82 game schedule I have a hard time imaging them winning more than 1 game if they could even do that. Put them against a team of college all stars would be closer IMO

[Duvall]

I'm not sure how this thread is still going tbh. In an 82 game schedule I have a hard time imaging them winning more than 1 game if they could even do that. Put them against a team of college all stars would be closer IMO

Well, they would get to play Cleveland twice.

[Dukehky]

By the way, make no mistake that Spain is going to be playing this summer like their lives depend on it. This is pretty much the last chance for this Golden Generation to pick off the US. The primary players are in or just past their prime, the US won't be sending the best-of-the-best (although the drop-off is debateable) and the game is being played on their home turf. If the US and Spain can meet for gold, and everyone is healthy, that has the potential to be one of the greatest modern FIBA games of all time.

This is a list of the "locks" and extreme probables for this summer in Spain: Love, Durant (oh have you seen him play recently, so this is like 10x Durant), Aldridge, Griffin, Harden, Dwight. Then you have people who are TRYING TO MAKE THE TEAM: Davis, George, Curry, Irving, Iguodala, Westbrook if healthy.

I know there is no LeBron on there, but good luck Spain. The perimeter defending, interior scoring and outside shooting (What-up Steph). I am still astounded that Spain kept it close for the last 2 gold medal games to be perfectly honest, but this team is on paper, and will be in practice 10 points better than an aging and ailing Spain (Gasols are hampered and that's not going to get better before the summer)

USA USA USA

To reiterate, RM would be the worst team in the league IMO.


Here is the link to the USA Basketball pool list: http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/1281/breaking-down-team-usas-roster-for-spain

[greybeard]

The international game is quite different than the game played in the US. Difference in size and geometry of court and lane is huge, can't be overestimated. Difference in rules regarding walking, goal tending, initiating from out of bounds, and am sure others also very impactful, entire different set of angles present, what is "good" on US Court given an alignment might not be on International court and the reverse. Instinctive reactions around the rim can turn from assets to vulnerabilities with different goal tending rules, different rules regarding timing of initiation of play from sidelines out of bounds changes routine into quick offense opportunities of sort foreign to our game, different rules regarding walking greatly impacts defending against dribble penetration, and small ball background of Futball culture is difficult to replicate, practice against, for US, even by playing lots of friendlies.

International players of quality seem to thrive in NBA and in many instances make teams coherence, make play more elegant, more a function of moving the ball cleverly, moving parts (players cleverly), more economical. Put RM here and give them same opportunity to add a major asset or two, that is, compete on an even level, or rather, a ting of an even level, of current NBA teams, the question becomes much more realistic and the answer different. How much and how so. Depends on the assets.