I didn't want to be Debbie Downer, but that's the sense I get too.
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I'm sure I'd watch them, but it just isn't the same without fans. One of the very best sports experiences of my life was attending multiple events over several days at the Montreal Olympics in 1976...best people watching ever..."Bruce" Jenner, other amazing track and field events, hoops, what an event.
Been looking around a little bit to see what the tea leaves are on various top-tier players being on the team. I found at least one that seems to be interested.
As my earlier post indicated, Kawhi has never played on an Olympic team. There are also several articles that indicate Steph is interested in trying the Olympics for the first time.Quote:
Kawhi Leonard is planning to play for Gregg Popovich again and chase a gold medal.
Leonard said Sunday at the All-Star Game in Atlanta that he is planning to compete with USA Basketball this summer at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics — which would reunite him with Popovich.
Everyone seems to agree that how deep a team goes in the playoffs will play a significant role in this. Pop is planning on having a training camp for his team on July 2nd. The NBA finals start July 8 and could go as late as July 22. The Olympic tournament will begin on July 25.
So, I think there is a pretty good chance that anyone who makes the NBA finals will opt not to play on the Olympic team. The conference finalists may as well. I feel like guys who go out in the first couple rounds could be more amenable. Westbrook and Beal both just went out in the play-in games and would have 6 weeks before training camp begins. It seems quite possible that Curry and Draymond will as well.
By the way, it is going to be very interesting to see who Canada gets to play. They could roll out a lineup that includes:
PG - SGA and Cory Joseph
Wings - Wiggins, RJ Barrett, Jamal Murray, Dillon Brooks, Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Bigs - Kheem Birch, Tristan Thompson, Olynyk, Brandon Clark, Chris Boucher
That is a darn good team, likely the only team on the planet that can play with the US on the perimeter. And, luckily for Canada, very few of them are on teams that figure to go really far in the NBA playoffs. The one who seems most likely to have a deep playoff run, Jamal Murray on Denver, is out after ACL surgery and I doubt he would be healthy enough to play even if his team was eliminated.
Remember that Canada is in the play-in tournament for the Olympics. They play from June 29-July 4 in Canada against a field of Greece, China, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Uruguay. Depending on how Milwaukee does in the NBA playoffs it seems somewhat likely that Freak misses the Greek play-in tourney.
Canada is coached by Toronto's Nick Nurse, who obviously knows these NBA guys really well. He says he expects very high participation from Canadian NBA players. I know one guy who will be playing... RJ Barrett's father, Rowan Barrett, is the General Manager of Team Canada.
-Jason "I really hope Canada gets to bring a squad of NBA names... it will be fun to see how they fare against Team USA" Evans
When Jamal Murray suffered the ACL tear in April and had his surgery, it was stated that he would be out "indefinitely," but a number of outlets reported that he was likely to miss a chunk of next season as well. Even if that was worst-case, I find it highly unlikely that he would be playing three months later in July for Team Canada.
As a Knicks fan who has loved this season after many years of absolute misery, I am hoping that RJ will not be available for the play-in tournament. Though realistically, I know that is wishful thinking.
Also, not sure how much he would play on this roster, but Lugentz Dort is also Canadian.
I’m pretty shocked that this is one guy you were able to find something on. When I was looking at your earlier list of “elite” players I was thinking zero chance for Kawhi given he a) has backed out late at least once and b) i assume there’s a fractured relationship with Pop when he forced his way out of San Antonio. (It may have been more of a medical team issue...this would suggest that).
Given the proximity of the NBA playoffs to training camp/olympics, I think we are going to have a pretty high drop out rate. I suspect we are heading for a very mediocre team of young’ns and an uninspiring finish. If guys like Tatum & Donovan Mitchell are starting...you can pencil us in for low finish. If guys like Curry, Kawhi, Butler, George are starting...we’ve at least got a shot if we can get the right mix of alpha-dogs in there. Remember, while coach K won a lot, we had a lot of tight games back when we had the elite of elites on the team (Durant, Kobe, Lebron, etc.). You go down 2 notches from there and you can kiss the podium good bye.
(And I’ll basically assume guys like Lebron, CP3, Kyrie, Durant who are too old/injury prone/will go too deep to participate).
The question is who is going to beat us. As discussed above, Canada is solid, but I think we would have to drop to our second or third string for that to be really interesting. France is historically pretty good, as is Australia, but both could get hurt by NBA teams with their best players going deep in the playoffs (Simmons, Ingles and Gobert). Serbia? Spain? Slovenia with Doncic and Dragic? Greece if Freak plays? For a number of these teams, the whole is often greater than the sum of the parts, but the field does not generally look great. But then again, in one game elimination, anything can happen.
I guess that’s A question, but I disagree that its the THE question. Pattern recognition would tell you that several of these teams play greater than the sum of their parts (as you point out), but what you don’t point out is that the inverse always seems to apply to us. Cohesion of their systems vs ours, etc. In 2019 we lost to France AND Serbia, and we beat Turkey by 1 in Overtime. France had one all-star, same for Serbia, and both had some decent NBA talent sprinkled in, but Turkey had 1 decent NBA player i think and that’s really it?
I think THE question is who is on our squad and how much margin for error can we create knowing that we will play < the sum of our parts. If we can’t field a team with at least 3-5 high level all-stars plus a few more mid-low level all-stars off the bench, then we won’t have enough margin for error.
So we’ll need to see who is on the squad, but I’ll stand by my prediction that I’m pretty worried as I suspect the team we field will start a few mid-low level all-stars and then quickly get in to non all-star/all-nba land.
(P.s. I do suppose its possible that COVID + late NBA playoffs could mean other teams play below my expectations. Maybe Serbia & France haven’t been practicing together that much over the last year and won’t have a good training camp b/c of the playoffs either...but again, my pattern recognition says its more about the team that we field and how much margin for error we can create)
Looks like Canada is finally getting a critical mass of these guys to show up...it's on!
https://www.basketball.ca/news/21-at...iFDdLUSCz4nDCA
So, they are missing a pair of outstanding guards in SGA and Murray but you can't get everyone healthy. Aside from those two, this is pretty much the Canadian dream time right now. I would expect this is a team that would absolutely compete for a gold medal. They need to get comfortable playing together but this will be fun and I hope it convinces some of the on-the-fence American players to show up. The interest from top tier Canadian players in the NBA will hopefully convince some top tier American NBA players to also participate.
-Jason "there are good NBA players who are not even going to make team Canada this year... impressive!" Evans
I changed the title of the thread to indicate this is the place to talk about Olympics hoops stuff other than the Men's 5-on-5 tournament. For folks who did not know, there are men's and women's 3-on-3 tournaments in the Olympics this year too. And guess who is coaching the American women?
https://goduke.com/news/2021/5/26/wo...ualifying.aspx
https://goduke.com/images/2021/5/26/...=80&format=jpg
The USA 3x3 Women’s National Team won their first two games vs. Indonesia and France on the 27th.
https://www.usab.com/news-events/new...qt-may-27.aspx
Their next two games are tomorrow vs. Germany and Uraguay.
https://www.usab.com/3x3/3x3-nationa.../schedule.aspx
It appears that there are only four players on the roster: Stefanie Dolson (UConn, Chicago Sky), Allisha Gray (SoCar, Dallas Wings), Kelsey Plum (UWash, Las Vegas Aces) and Katie Lou Samuelson (UConn, Seattle Storm).
I haven't studied the format but with half court play you don't need many substitutions.
The US team is made up of Robbie Hummel (Purdue All-American and former Minnesota Timberwolves), Kareem Maddox (Princeton), Dominique Jones (Ft Hayes St), and Joey King (Minnesota).
The 3-on-3 game is really different from regular basketball as it places a HUGE priority on outside shooting. Baskets from inside the arc are worth 1 point and those outside the arc are worth 2 points. Each game is played to 21. There is a 12-second shot clock. The ball is the size of a women's ball but the weight of a men's ball. Lots more zany stuff too. I'm excited to watch it and figure out the tactics and skills that are key to winning. I mean, with limited help D, I would think a player who could get his shot in the post would be huge, but by placing so much value on outside shots you really skew things the other way.