Awful iso ball, nonstop. Patty Mills torched Kemba. Just an entire team of guys who think they're better than they actually are. (Yes, including, right today, my guy Tatum. Who also was terrible.)

It's like an entire generation of players are watching Steph and Kyrie and Harden and how great they are in iso and all think, "Yes, I can also do that at that level." Yet, in addition to their HOF-level iso skills, all three of those guys also have career assist rates of over 30%, something *no one* on this Team USA has. If you're worse in iso than those three guys and a worse passer/playmaker than those three guys, stop trying to play offense like those three guys. Or at least play better defense than those three guys to try to make up the difference. But no one on this team was doing that either.

Anyway. We knew a loss would probably happen, but still so insanely inexcusable that Andrew Bogut had 4 assists for Australia... and would've led Team USA in assists. Pass the goddamn ball.

... then it wouldn't have hurt to sign Melo.

Pop has to loosen the reigns on Kemba and stop this Spurs bullshit. He isn't coaching the San Antonio Spurs... This loss is a direct result of San Antonio Spurs philosophy. That fact and most importantly all of the superstars pulling out.

>This loss
>is a direct result of San Antonio Spurs philosophy.

>That fact
>and most importantly all of the superstars pulling out.

News to me.

Let Kemba go out there and play his full game. The Spurs systems results in close games. That fact along with Patty Mills getting hot doomed us this game.

Just an
>entire team of guys who think they're better than they
>actually are. (Yes, including, right today, my guy Tatum. Who
>also was terrible.)
.

This World Cup is going to make the last World Cup of Hockey and the Copa America look like fucking marquee events.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GAMES? How do they expect the top talent to sign on for a whole goddamn summer of exhibitions and tournaments and ridiculous travel? Whoever thought of this should be drawn and quartered.

won't compete.

>This World Cup is going to make the last World Cup of Hockey
>and the Copa America look like fucking marquee events.
>
>WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GAMES? How do they expect the top talent
>to sign on for a whole goddamn summer of exhibitions and
>tournaments and ridiculous travel? Whoever thought of this
>should be drawn and quartered.

The sting is being felt more by Canada and Australia because their top guys aren't there and unlike the U.S. they don't have a mile-long line of NBA-level replacements to choose from. I think some of the smaller but still formidable programs make out OK like Serbia and Greece--they get Jokic and Giannis, for now--but they are still not winning anything, especially Greece. Also why would FIBA intentionally want LESS talent and marquee names? They want people to attend and make money. Who wins is not all that relevant either, the main thing is qualifying and it's pretty much a mortal lock that the U.S. qualifies (and again why would FIBA want the best team with most of the best players out of the Olympics?).

The whole thing is watered down by this unreasonable schedule.

dominate every year, they games being more competitive might actually boost ticked sales.

Other countries will be excited to be able to say they beat the US even if it was our JV squad.

US men...

>dominate every year, they games being more competitive might
>actually boost ticked sales.
>
>Other countries will be excited to be able to say they beat
>the US even if it was our JV squad.

barely a starter in the NBA lol

Considering that Donovan Mitchell and Kemba Walker are average 3-point shooters at best, it makes sense to have someone out there whose sole role is to drain open 3s. And Harris shot over 47% from 3 last year, which is... nuts.

Also, Harris hasn't started every game or anything. Pop has been trying a variety of starters. I imagine when the real tournament starts, it'll be Walker and Mitchell as the backcourt, Turner at center, and the last two are up for grabs. But if he wheels out, say, Jaylen Brown and Harrison Barnes as his other two starters, then there isn't a single guy on the floor who's known for being a "good 3-point shooter." I'd strongly consider starting either Middleton or Harris in one of those spots for exactly that reason, and then either Brown, Tatum, or Barnes as the fifth starter.

(You know who I'd pick, but I'm obviously biased, lol-- admittedly Tatum hasn't played very consistently in these prelim games, so wouldn't surprise me if he's more of a first-off-the-bench guy.)

then I looked at the rest of the roster and said ok lol

Instead of trying to convince NBA players to play; why not just develop a separate team that is the National Team?

This way you develop an actual team and not a bunch of players that are just going to go for theirs.


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College kids and D leaguers?

Lmao. Damn shame.

People want to act like his big stats for bad teams will translate to him being an easy Kyrie replacement in Boston... but Kemba is who he is. The Celtics will need continued growth from Tatum and Brown to have even a prayer of contention.

*shrug*

Though I agree with the basic point that Kyrie > Kemba.

>Though I agree with the basic point that Kyrie > Kemba.

And they happened to be the same person: Celts were overrated as fuck and if the bucks had beaten them in round one last year like they were supposed to, expirations wouldn’t have been so high for the Celts. They were trash.

Ntilikina the Kemba killer, lmao

y'all know I'm usually all in on USA Basketball but I barely paid attention to them this time and the couple of games I tried to watch I knew it was going to be bad lol.

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

If the team was going to eschew defense and play only iso ball on offense, there’s no reason *not* to take Melo. You don’t take Melo if you want strong defense or ball movement or 3-point shooting... but since this team wasn’t trying to do any of that, Melo is one of the best iso players in the last two decades. Let him come in and work.

I can't tell if you're trying to out troll the Troll King in Orbit_Established or if that was a serious and genuine response.

Job well done, sir.

Carmelo is very good at what he's good at-- an all-timer in the modern era, really. But as he's gotten older, things like his defense and his passing have taken a tumble, diminishing his value in a team construct. So I was someone arguing in the other post that I understand why teams, including teams with Melo's friends, don't want Melo on their NBA team.

But this team wasn't putting together to value any of Melo's areas of weakness. It was constructed, apparently, to do what Melo does best. And Melo has more experience than all these guys. So if you want a guy to run iso ball in international play, you honestly could do a *lot* worse than Melo. Like, Brook Lopez is a good piece if you want ball movement, pick-and-pop, 3-point shooting at a high percentage, drop coverage defense, etc... but if you're emphasizing iso ball on offense, the fuck is Brook Lopez on your roster for? Y'know?

So yeah, I know in the other thread the Melo talk got a little heated, but I think Melo is an all-timer at certain skills and a first-ballot HOF guy. Considering the flaws of this team and the construct of this team, I think it's a given that Melo belonged over some of the other guys.

could get to show up. I don't think anybody envisioned Joe Harris in the starting lineup.

If your team revolves around ball movement, perimeter shooting, and team defense, then Joe honestly makes sense as a piece! He just makes NO sense if your creators are all iso guys.

So whatever that hypothetical team that Joe Harris
is one and thrives (I'm not sure it exists), this team
sure as heck isn't it

like, if you're not going to use him, then...

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

bc we won the 2nd quarter like 33-10

>bc we won the 2nd quarter like 33-10
.

Him, Jay Wright, Kerr and whomever the hell else they have on that staff.

This shit just irks me man

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "