***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***

[CRobi21]

@MarcJSpearsESPN - No NBA team will have more than one four games-in-five days this season. Range of back-to-back games reduced and condensed to 14-18 per team 

Edited August 11, 2016 by STBonecrusher21

[TradeTheBeal!]

This team kinda sucks.

[Going Commando]

Yep.  The worst Team USA since they allowed NBA players to compete.

[StillUnknown]

Kyrie went full Carlton on that late possession 

[Bozo the kKklown]

Coach K needs to play Draymond at point forward. A lot of the USA problems are down to Coach K.

On August 12, 2016 at 7:55 PM, stevemcqueen1 said:

Yep.  The worst Team USA since they allowed NBA players to compete.

2002 was the worst team

[Destino]

I think it's a good sign for basketball that if the US sends NBA all stars instead of the very best team they can put together, several games become competitive.  

[Mr. Sinister]

Its like nuclear deterrence.  Team of Curry, Paul, Westbrook, Harden, Lebron,George, Davis, etc could leave the court a smoldering mess. But they don't have too.

[Going Commando]

7 hours ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

2002 was the worst team

 

Yeah that team was crap.  The 1998 WC team was also terrible.  Probably the absolute worst we've fielded in international competition in decades because of the NBA lockout.  This is the worst Olympic team though.

[RonArtest15]

On 8/12/2016 at 7:16 PM, TryTheBeal! said:

This team kinda sucks.

 

That's an understatement.  There are guys on this team, while NBA All-Stars, have ZERO business being on Team USA.  However, that's the trickle-down effect of most of the NBA's best players opting out from the 2016 games. 

I honestly would not be shocked if this team doesn't win gold. 

 

[justice98]

Eh, I'd still take any 2 or 3 guys on Team USA over the two best players in the rest of the field, not named Pau Gasol.  Australia's out there leaning on Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavadova.  We got 7 All-NBA players from last season, the rest of the world has ONE all-star.  So it's certainly not about the talent.  

I was frustrated wondering what Coach K is doing when they're out there playing iso and letting teams back in the game.  Cuz after the game, they inmediately talk about how they shouldnt have done that. 

Edited August 15, 2016 by justice98

[Destino]

They didn't bring great passing point guards and haven't played/practiced together very much.  Thats goingt to create a lot of iso ball.  Their defense should be better though, a lot of guys just falling asleep out there and losing track of their man.  

[Mr. Sinister]

10 minutes ago, Destino said:

They didn't bring great passing point guards and haven't played/practiced together very much.  Thats goingt to create a lot of iso ball.  Their defense should be better though, a lot of guys just falling asleep out there and losing track of their man.  

Yeah that should be a prerequisite for Team USA ball. That stunned me when I saw their PG lineup.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Mr. Sinister

[Going Commando]

This is a terrible international field.  Argentina and got old and Lithuania and Serbia do not have a depth of NBA talent that goes beyond one or two starting caliber players.  France is the only team that can put a line up of NBA players on the court ranging from pretty good to replacement level.  And they're notoriously soft.  A team whose only notable NBA player was a rookie like Nikola Jokic should not have been able to push any Team USA squad.  A team running NBA scrubs like Dellavedova and Bogut should have been blown out by 20+ points.

This Team USA just sucks.  They don't want to be there and they have no clue how to play together.  They're just there to party on that cruise ship and hopefully not embarrass themselves completely on the court.  The situation is reminiscent to those lame Team USAs from just before Colangelo took over and LeBron/Wade/CP3/Melo/Bosh/Howard became the redeem team core.

I agree that Coach K has certainly had a big hand in the decline of the program.  He made stupid and nepotistic roster decisions in the past and turned a lot of guys off from the team.  I'm looking at Derrick Rose making that '14 WC team.  He's failed to take advantage of the explosion in American true big man talent in the NBA, probably our biggest resource.  He's deferred to older veterans of the program who no longer really care about the competitions and tend to mail it in.  Induce some turnover and get some young guys who have probably never been on a good team since college and are hungry to build their brand.  And his rigid shoot-first approach to team and offensive construction led to alienating dynamic PGs like John Wall from the team.  Could have used him this year.  Could have used Damian Lillard.  If the American PGs are leaps and bounds better than the SGs, how about taking more of them and playing them together instead of taking a ****ing stiff like Kyle Korver?

[Diehard Otis]

Agree with Destino & Sinister.  Every time I watch Kyrie Irving bring the ball up the court, pass to no one & take it to the hole by himself against the teeth of the defense I think "why isn't John Wall on this team?"  

It'll be an adventure this cycle, but I expect nothing less than Gold.  That's the standard & this team should be able to meet it.  [Side Note: at this point, I would love to see the squad use Melo more as the #1 option.  I'm definitely confident that he'll get it done.]

But the women on the other hand are taking care of their business.  Honestly, I like the women's team more.

[Destino]

It's not reall team USAs fault.  Coach K doesn't seem to be a fan of Wall's game but even if he was, Wall he had surgery on both knees back in May.  He wasn't available for team USA and might be ready for training camp.  CP3, whose game we don't appreciate enough because he's a nasty little troll, opted out.  Westbrook and Curry are far better passers than Kyrie despite being primary scorers, but again they opted out.  Rondo and team USA want nothing to do with each other.  What passing point guard is left?  

[Ray-Ban Dan]

I'm not the biggest Kyrie fan, but I think he's getting a little too much heat here. He did have 12 assists to no turnovers vs France. That's exceptional. 

I think the biggest problem with this team is that they inexplicably stopped giving effort on the defensive end.

[Mr. Sinister]

Who are you?

[Destino]

31 minutes ago, Ray-Ban Dan said:

I'm not the biggest Kyrie fan, but I think he's getting a little too much heat here. He did have 12 assists to no turnovers vs France. That's exceptional. 

I think the biggest problem with this team is that they inexplicably stopped giving effort on the defensive end.

 

There is a difference between point guards that look to set up the pass and guys that look to score and pass when it's the better option. This isn't to say Kyrie isn't good, he proved he was in the NBA finals, just that he's more gunner than passer.  Look up how often Kyrie manages a double double and compare it to other point guards.

What would have been cool is if Kyrie played for the Australian team.  

[Bozo the kKklown]

Play Draymond at point forward.

[Ray-Ban Dan]

45 minutes ago, Destino said:

 

There is a difference between point guards that look to set up the pass and guys that look to score and pass when it's the better option. This isn't to say Kyrie isn't good, he proved he was in the NBA finals, just that he's more gunner than passer.  Look up how often Kyrie manages a double double and compare it to other point guards.

What would have been cool is if Kyrie played for the Australian team.  

Like I said, I'm not a big fan of his. And what you're saying is normally true of him. I was just pointing out that he's not their biggest problem right now. Far from it, actually. He definitely wasn't last game, as the 12 assists to no turnovers, proves.

What I'm saying is the USA's troubles are mainly on the defensive end. If you recall, they were blowing out teams early in the tournament (and pre-Rio in the qualifiers). Now they are giving up 97 and 91 points to scrub teams like France and Serbia. That just can't happen. When they get serious again about playing D, these conversations will go away. And I say when, not if. Because I think K will eventually get them going on that end.

I definitely agree with most here saying they are one of the worst Olympic squads we've put out there. I don't think there's any question about that.

[Destino]

Good point, I forgot to point out he's a lousy defender too.

[skinsmarydu]

1 hour ago, Destino said:

 

What would have been cool is if Kyrie played for the Australian team.  

 

He can't match Dellavadirty.  (Hate that little ****er, he's like a gnat.)

[Ray-Ban Dan]

6 hours ago, Destino said:

Good point, I forgot to point out he's a lousy defender too.

The whole team has been lately. Dennis Rodman and Gary Payton are turning over in their graves watching this US defense.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Ray-Ban Dan

[Momma There Goes That Man]

there must be programming logic in place here similar to the old Romo sits to pee sits to pee/sucks bit because it seems impossible to mention Kyrie in this thread in any capacity without John Wall's name following somewhere lol

edit: wow now it's "sits to pee" smh that's ridiculous I can see I'll have to go back to calling him Tony R again

Edited August 15, 2016 by Momma There Goes That Man

[Going Commando]

5 hours ago, Destino said:

It's not reall team USAs fault.  Coach K doesn't seem to be a fan of Wall's game but even if he was, Wall he had surgery on both knees back in May.  He wasn't available for team USA and might be ready for training camp.  CP3, whose game we don't appreciate enough because he's a nasty little troll, opted out.  Westbrook and Curry are far better passers than Kyrie despite being primary scorers, but again they opted out.  Rondo and team USA want nothing to do with each other.  What passing point guard is left?  

 

Wall gave up on Team USA because of being a first cut in 2014.  It became a similar situation to Rondo's.  The surgeries he got were elective, if the well hadn't been poisoned in 2014, I bet he would have planned on playing for the team this summer.

Coach K made this bed when he decided to go with Kyrie Irving and Derrick Rose in 2014.