2024 Olympics - Men's Basketball - Gold!

CBS Sports takes a stab at a 2028 Olympic men's basketball roster. It's Celtic-free, as they rule out anyone who will be age 34 or older (Jrue Holiday and Derrick White) and assume that Jayson Tatum won't return and Jaylen Brown will say no. Instead they add three of the Villanova Knicks, and tried to rationalize adding the fourth. They also go through some mental gymnastics to leave out Paolo Banchero.

Returners:
Bam Adebayo
Devin Booker
Anthony Edwards
Tyrese Haliburton

Newcomers:
Mikal Bridges
Jalen Brunson
Josh Hart
Chet Holmgren
Herb Jones
Jalen Suggs
Jalen Williams
Zion Williamson

They see Erik Spoelstra taking over as head coach.
 
AGDukesky said:
I’d give Cooper Flagg a better chance of being on the team than Zion- with his injury history I doubt he or his employer would want him playing
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Yeah, I was surprised to see Zion Williamson as the only Duke representative on Team USA. I would rank him fifth in order of likelihood -- assuming Kyrie Irving is left out because he'll be 36 by then.

1. Jayson Tatum (returner)
2. Paolo Banchero
3. Cooper Flagg
4. Dereck Lively II
5. Zion Williamson

Those are your Duke invites to the Team USA pool, and I could see Tatum and Banchero making the roster. Flagg plays a popular position, and unless he emerges as this ultimate do-everything guy as a young pro, I think the preference is to add somewhat more experienced players. A roster that already has Bam Adebayo might add two centers, tops. Will Lively skip the line and be one of them? I have my doubts. Zion would bring something unique to the roster, but he might need to be consistently healthy for the next few years to stand a chance.
 
brevity said:
Yeah, I was surprised to see Zion Williamson as the only Duke representative on Team USA. I would rank him fifth in order of likelihood -- assuming Kyrie Irving is left out because he'll be 36 by then.

1. Jayson Tatum (returner)
2. Paolo Banchero
3. Cooper Flagg
4. Dereck Lively II
5. Zion Williamson

Those are your Duke invites to the Team USA pool, and I could see Tatum and Banchero making the roster. Flagg plays a popular position, and unless he emerges as this ultimate do-everything guy as a young pro, I think the preference is to add somewhat more experienced players. A roster that already has Bam Adebayo might add two centers, tops. Will Lively skip the line and be one of them? I have my doubts. Zion would bring something unique to the roster, but he might need to be consistently healthy for the next few years to stand a chance.
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I could see Paolo being an absolute beast in the FIBA game.
 
brevity said:
CBS Sports takes a stab at a 2028 Olympic men's basketball roster. It's Celtic-free, as they rule out anyone who will be age 34 or older (Jrue Holiday and Derrick White) and assume that Jayson Tatum won't return and Jaylen Brown will say no. Instead they add three of the Villanova Knicks, and tried to rationalize adding the fourth. They also go through some mental gymnastics to leave out Paolo Banchero.

Returners:
Bam Adebayo
Devin Booker
Anthony Edwards
Tyrese Haliburton

Newcomers:
Mikal Bridges
Jalen Brunson
Josh Hart
Chet Holmgren
Herb Jones
Jalen Suggs
Jalen Williams
Zion Williamson

They see Erik Spoelstra taking over as head coach.
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I’d say the chances that Paolo is a starter on the 28 team are better than the chances he doesn’t make it at all.
 
After all the drama with Tatum’s playing time, I remember the past teams that had a couple of college players. They did not come in with expectations of playing time but got great experience. I would not be against returning to such a roster.
 
robed deity said:
I could see Paolo being an absolute beast in the FIBA game.
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He was on the 2023 Fiba team that got 4th place. He was not one of the top 5 players.

For 2028, you have to get the veterans that have had Olympics experience first.

That's Tatum (2021 second leading scorer), Ant, Booker.

That's your PF/SF, SG, PG.

I would add Cooper Flagg to the starting 5 because I think he'll be that good.

As for the center, hopefully, Anthony Davis is still up for it in 2028, considering it'll be in LA.

Would love to see Tyrese Maxey, Paolo Banchero, Derek Lively join. Derrick White if he is still capable at 34.
 
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Another note: I see articles including Zion Williamson when he has never shown interest in the past for competing on Team USA in the youth world cups.
 
g-money said:
Reflecting overnight on Curry’s last shot, the behind the back, fall away 3… that might have been the most incredible big game, big moment shot I’ve ever seen.
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Reflecting on this 48 hours later - Laettner and some others were probably “bigger” - but durn if that wasn’t an incredible shot! Maybe the biggest shot of Steph’s career.

Saw a reference online to the Maginot 3-point Line and may never stop laughing.😆
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
If anyone else takes that shot it is awful. But he’s Steph Curry. Wow. That was unbelievable.
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Imagine being so good that it's perfectly acceptable to take an off-balance fadeaway 25-footer over two defenders when you've got two all-timers wide open. Lebron James AND Kevin Durant were to his left - totally unguarded for open 3's - and every American watching was thinking "DON'T PASS - SHOOT IT!" It's almost inconceivable.
 
proelitedota said:
He was on the 2023 Fiba team that got 4th place. He was not one of the top 5 players.

For 2028, you have to get the veterans that have had Olympics experience first.

That's Tatum (2021 second leading scorer), Ant, Booker.

That's your PF/SF, SG, PG.

I would add Cooper Flagg to the starting 5 because I think he'll be that good.

As for the center, hopefully, Anthony Davis is still up for it in 2028, considering it'll be in LA.

Would love to see Tyrese Maxey, Paolo Banchero, Derek Lively join. Derrick White if he is still capable at 34.
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Davis will be either 34 or 35 years old at that time, with a significant injury history and a lot of wear on his tires. Plus he has his gold medal. I don't see him playing again. And LA is not his hometown. He just works here. He's from Chicago.

I would definitely expect to see Banchero and Maxey on the team, and Brunson if he hasn't declined yet at age 32, along with returnees Ant, Booker, Bam, and Halliburton. Tatum -- who knows if he'll want to do this again?

But there will be a lot of spots open and many other excellent players to choose from. Just hard to project it out four years in advance.
 
tommy said:
Davis will be either 34 or 35 years old at that time, with a significant injury history and a lot of wear on his tires. Plus he has his gold medal. I don't see him playing again. And LA is not his hometown. He just works here. He's from Chicago.

I would definitely expect to see Banchero and Maxey on the team, and Brunson if he hasn't declined yet at age 32, along with returnees Ant, Booker, Bam, and Halliburton. Tatum -- who knows if he'll want to do this again?

But there will be a lot of spots open and many other excellent players to choose from. Just hard to project it out four years in advance.
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Well... Tatum is 26... already has 2 Olympic gold medals... will be 30 next Olympics.... and 34 the following Olympics. Who knows... he may be the next one to 4 Olympic gold medals, if he so desires. :cool:
 
YmoBeThere said:
I believe several years back he intentionally dropped weight for that very reason. I think 15-20 lbs.
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The weight loss may also have been an attempt to deal with cramp lr tgtnģg&issues. In 2104, the year the Spurs knocked off the Heat in the NBA finals, LeBron had some serious issues with cramping. A leaner and less muscular build was seen as a way to reduce the odds of cramping.
 
tommy said:
The debate is, or should be, over.
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It is over unless Lebron manages to win 9 scoring titles and 2 more titles in the next decade!
Jordan's productivity in a more compressed time frame makes his accomplishments even more
impressive relative to LBJ's rather average by All-Time standards 4 titles and 4 MVPs in what will be
a 25-year career.
 
JDNC64 said:
It is over unless Lebron manages to win 9 scoring titles and 2 more titles in the next decade!
Jordan's productivity in a more compressed time frame makes his accomplishments even more
impressive relative to LBJ's rather average by All-Time standards 4 titles and 4 MVPs in what will be
a 25-year career.
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REPORTED. This is the Duke Basketball Report, after all.
 
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