2024 Olympics - General commentary

Here's a more recent post, from about an hour ago as I write this. Khaman is at shootaround for the friendly game and you can also see Luol Deng.

One additional point here: it's true that Khaman isn't currently listed on the South Sudan roster, but I'll also note that it was announced a week ago that Wenyen Gabriel will be playing for South Sudan in the Olympics and he doesn't appear on the roster either. So, I don't even trust the official South Sudan basketball website at this point either.
 
I continue to find Ball Durham to be a trash blog. Their writing is weak and they often exaggerate or outright misreport information.
Ball Durham has some good content but they tend to chase clicks with extremist views and unsubstantiated hot takes. Everything is either the greatest thing that has ever happened or the worst tragedy in history. Their headlines are often misleading without being outright false. I consider them to be an entertainment site. I do enjoy the interviews that their writers will do on various podcasts.
 
Thanks for the updates. Will put Ball Durham on the trash list.
As will I, although I did find it surprisingly hard to get information any other way about Olympic rosters. Does anyone know when the official deadline is/was for the rosters to be final? And is there a clearinghouse for that final version?
 
The Ball Durham article refers to the South Sudan website as the source, but this site is hopelessly out of date. They've played two friendly games as tune-ups for the Olympics - losing 81-72 to Argentina and beating Portugal 80-72.

I haven't managed to find a box score for either of those games, but the photo above suggests he is on the team. Since he made their World Cup roster, it would make sense for him to be on the Olympic team - especially to give him FIBA experience. We should have a much better idea on Saturday, since that box score and video highlights should be available...
 
that splains it. Yeah, info on those guys is astonishingly difficult to get, perhaps some clarity at 3pm EDT on Fox (saturday)
That might tell us something, but then again, there were three players who got minutes in the USA game yesterday who most definitely are not on the USA Olympic Team, including one I had never even heard of (Micah Potter).
 
The friendly game is being streamed on YouTube live. Maluach came off the bench and was productive for a few minutes in the 1st quarter.

 
S. Sudan wins by 3. I was not impressed with our guy. He did play a lot. He looked like a project, but what the hell do I know.
 
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Wasn't goaltending by FIBA rules!
I don't know the FIBA rules that well, but I thought you couldn't touch the ball on a downward path until it hits the rim, at which point you can knock it off. This one was definitely on the way down but was still well above the rim.
 
Given the high level of competition, that's not bad IMHO.

How certain are we that this was a high level of competition? FIBA ranks Great Britain 52nd in the world. (South Sudan is 33, for comparison.) They didn't qualify for the Olympics, and I'm not sure they were particularly close. I'm not a Euroleague savant by any means but none of the names on the GB roster jump out at me. Anyone in a position to say whether Team GB is a step up or down in competition compared to what Khaman faced in BAL?
 
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