Team USA 2023 FIBA World Cup (Trae Watch)

[AHF]

4 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

I hate to toss doubt on the "if they had Trae" narrative, but I have wonder . . .

Did the US "throw" that game vs Lithuania?

 

The right side of that bracket is the "Side of Death", compared to the US side.

FIBA Rank of teams:

• USA ( 2nd )
  • Italy ( 10th )
• Germany ( 11th )
  • Latvia ( 29th )
• Lithuania ( 1st )
  • Serbia ( 6th )
• Slovenia ( 7th )
  • Canada ( 15th )

 

Was the US was ducking Bogi and Serbia, a team that could get hot from the outside and knock them out, and hoping they'd knock Lithuania out? 

Also, Canada is ranked 15th, but with all of the NBA players on that roster, they're probably closer to 5th. Then you have Luka, who tends to excel in international ball.

That side of the bracket with Serbia, Slovenia, and Canada . . is much more formidable than Italy, Germany, and Latvia.

They may have thrown that game.

If the US is throwing games to avoid Serbia, Canada, etc. that is a pretty huge indictment of how good a job was done building the team.  The US shouldn’t be so worried about those teams that it is willing to take the reputational damage of this kind of loss.

[Spud2nique]

AUSTIN REEVES YOU BUMMY, how’s you this foo make it again. Oh ya, Kerr pushing the white dude..  

Watch him here just gettin punked! this! I hope we treat him like $hit too in Atlanta and LA, he shouldn’t be in the league he ain’t that good. He got the Luka BS treatment of overexposure and overrated!!

 

[AHF]

Let me fix this one, Spud:

59 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

AUSTIN REEVES YOU BUMMY, how’s you this foo make it again. Oh ya, Kerr pushing [role players]..  

Watch him here just gettin punked! this! I hope we treat him like $hit too in Atlanta and LA, he shouldn’t be in the [national team program] he ain’t that good. He got the Luka BS treatment of overexposure and overrated!!

 

Reaves obviously belongs in the NBA just like many other successful role players.  Reaves had a great season last year for LA finishing with 5.4 Win Shares, 14.9 PER, 0.7 BPM, 1.2 VORP.  Great for a low $ role player.  Expectations will need to rise for him with his new contract and he may not live up to that but that would hardly put him in unprecedent territory (we've had a few overpaid guys in Atlanta).  Just for comparison's sake with our Atlanta Hawks, Reaves numbers would have put him 4th in WS, 6th in PER (behind Bey and above Bogi), 6th in BPM (behind OO and above Bey), and 5th in VORP (behind OO and above Bogi).  His last season was very much in the mix with players like Bey and Bogi who aren't stars but who are valuable members in their teams rotations.  

But I think the true point of your post is that a player like Reaves shouldn't be a consideration for the national team and that is 100% correct.  Kerr passed on the best and brightest for inferior players in a variety of areas for this team and Reaves could be a poster boy for that.

 

[RedDawg#8]

6 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

The WORLD (it’s a big place folks, seriously travel outside the states to catch talent) BEAT the snot out of the Americans…

 

I gotta tell ya, I feel really good about it. I don’t think I’ve ever rooted against the US till this stupid world NBA BS and Trae not getting on the team. 

Lithuania won a game against the USA D team. Nowhere near close to the argument that the NBA has the best collection of international talent in the world.

That debate was never as simple as NBA = USA = Best, it was NBA = International = Best. Lyles and those who agree with him are missing the point. You guys are stuck on the where games are played in the NBA and not where players come from to play in the NBA. 

I’m against this version of team USA as much as anyone, but don’t convolute their sole 6 point loss with the debate of NBA competition vs non NBA competition. Team USA has none of their best players. This is essentially the USA select team (aka the practice squad) we are watching.

 

 

[kg01]

Oof. Anybody see the stat line for J Jonah Jameson (jjj)?  Using little j's for a reason, btw.

 

Ol' boy outchea with more fouls than rebounds, just as I predicted.  Folx outchea touting how great he was gonna be in the iNTeRnaTioNal game.  Like they forgot Tim Duncan struggled in FIBA.  But chea, jjj gon' be aiiggt.  Smh

He'll be fine back in the nba where all his defensive stats can get back to being inflated so no worries. 

[AHF]

2 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Lithuania won a game against the USA D team. Nowhere near close to the argument that the NBA has the best collection of international talent in the world.

That debate was never as simple as NBA = USA = Best, it was NBA = International = Best. Lyles and those who agree with him are missing the point. You guys are stuck on the where games are played in the NBA and not where players come from to play in the NBA. 

I’m against this version of team USA as much as anyone, but don’t convolute their sole 6 point loss with the debate of NBA competition vs non NBA competition. Team USA has none of their best players. This is essentially the USA select team (aka the practice squad) we are watching.

 

 

The leading scorer among Lithanuania's starters was NBA player Jonas Valanciunas (he also led the team in blocks and was second in rebounds).  This is not shocking since he leads the team in most categories - notably including in advanced metrics, scoring and rebounding overall for the tournament and is their biggest star player. 

For the tournament, Lithanuania's top 4 scoring leaders are all NBA affiliated:

• current NBA player Jonas V;
• former NBA player Mindaugas Kuzminskas;
• NBA draft pick Rokas Jokubaitus; and
• former NBA player Ignas Brazdeikis.

The roster also includes former NBA players Donatas Motiejūnas and Deividas Sirvydis.

Basically, strip away the NBA talent from Lithuania and you are left with a shell of a team that isn't remotely competitive.  This is almost always the case with international teams because the best talent goes to the NBA from around the world.

[kg01]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

AUSTIN REEVES YOU BUMMY, how’s you this foo make it again. Oh ya, Kerr pushing the white dude..  

Watch him here just gettin punked! this! I hope we treat him like $hit too in Atlanta and LA, he shouldn’t be in the league he ain’t that good. He got the Luka BS treatment of overexposure and overrated!!

 

I'm not defending Kerr who is a fraud that was born on 3rd base, but keeps parading around like he hit a triple.  Nah, that's too soft.  Kerr was born on 3rd base but acts like he hit a homerun but, since he's sooooo charitable, he decided to stay on 3rd to make everybody feel better.

But him pushing Reeves down throats isnt a race thing.  It's him acting like he sees something in this roleplayer that no one else sees.  It's bizarro imposter syndrome.  Neither of them belong where they are but they act like they deserve more.

[RedDawg#8]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

The leading scorer among Lithanuania's starters was NBA player Jonas Valanciunas (he also led the team in blocks and was second in rebounds).  This is not shocking since he leads the team in most categories - notably including in advanced metrics, scoring and rebounding overall for the tournament and is their biggest star player. 

For the tournament, Lithanuania's top 4 scoring leaders are all NBA affiliated:

• current NBA player Jonas V;
• former NBA player Mindaugas Kuzminskas;
• NBA draft pick Rokas Jokubaitus; and
• former NBA player Ignas Brazdeikis.

The roster also includes former NBA players Donatas Motiejūnas and Deividas Sirvydis.

Basically, strip away the NBA talent from Lithuania and you are left with a shell of a team that isn't remotely competitive.  This is almost always the case with international teams because the best talent goes to the NBA from around the world.

Thanks for that, I didn’t have the energy to look up their roster, but I knew there were more NBA players than the 2 I recognized.

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, AHF said:

role players.

Ya not Olympic, it’s like putting David Wood of the Warriors on the Olympics in the late 90’s.  

2 hours ago, AHF said:

But I think the true point of your post is that a player like Reaves shouldn't be a consideration for the national team and that is 100% correct.  Kerr passed on the best and brightest for inferior players in a variety of areas for this team and Reaves could be a poster boy for that.

 

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Lithuania won a game against the USA D team. Nowhere near close to the argument that the NBA has the best collection of international talent in the world.

That debate was never as simple as NBA = USA = Best, it was NBA = International = Best. Lyles and those who agree with him are missing the point. You guys are stuck on the where games are played in the NBA and not where players come from to play in the NBA. 

I’m against this version of team USA as much as anyone, but don’t convolute their sole 6 point loss with the debate of NBA competition vs non NBA competition. Team USA has none of their best players. This is essentially the USA select team (aka the practice squad) we are watching.

 

 

Stop making excuses the Americans lost give it a rest. Why don’t you ever say, ya you’re right Spud I was waaaayyy off. I’d respect you a lil more.

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

But him pushing Reeves down throats isnt a race thing.  It's him acting like he sees something in this roleplayer that no one else sees. 

Ya possibly that, his egotistical as they get. 

[Spud2nique]

58 minutes ago, RedDawg#8 said:

than the 2 I recognized.

Hey bro I just named the two most popular that are and we’re in the league but if you want a list just look at the boxscore and every player beat the snot out of the US, and happier I could not be.

 

[JayBirdHawk]

My word. Incredible.

 

This is the play he got injured on.

 

 

[bleachkit]

4 hours ago, AHF said:

Let me fix this one, Spud:

Reaves obviously belongs in the NBA just like many other successful role players.  Reaves had a great season last year for LA finishing with 5.4 Win Shares, 14.9 PER, 0.7 BPM, 1.2 VORP.  Great for a low $ role player.  Expectations will need to rise for him with his new contract and he may not live up to that but that would hardly put him in unprecedent territory (we've had a few overpaid guys in Atlanta).  Just for comparison's sake with our Atlanta Hawks, Reaves numbers would have put him 4th in WS, 6th in PER (behind Bey and above Bogi), 6th in BPM (behind OO and above Bey), and 5th in VORP (behind OO and above Bogi).  His last season was very much in the mix with players like Bey and Bogi who aren't stars but who are valuable members in their teams rotations.  

But I think the true point of your post is that a player like Reaves shouldn't be a consideration for the national team and that is 100% correct.  Kerr passed on the best and brightest for inferior players in a variety of areas for this team and Reaves could be a poster boy for that.

 

Many players declined when it became clear premiere stars would not be attending. 

[RedDawg#8]

7 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Stop making excuses the Americans lost give it a rest. Why don’t you ever say, ya you’re right Spud I was waaaayyy off. I’d respect you a lil more.

Because I disagree with the parallels.

Im ashamed that I am selfishly rooting against this version of Team USA. But, most of us agreed that their lineup was weak long before Noah went on his soapbox. At first loss I was ready to crap all over Kerr and the rest of the USA leadership for excluding Trae.

But that doesn’t make it true that this illustrates Noah’s point.

The only way that point would be made is if a team with only non-NBA talent defeated a team with the best NBA talent for a championship. This is not about geographical boundaries. This was never a USA vs the world argument. That may have been Noah’s premise, but he was off base and anyone who continues to echo that is off base.

In the end, we both agree that this Team USA squad just got exposed, and that just being from the US doesn’t give them superiority over any other country.

This FIBA championship will be won by a team with NBA players on their roster. Every remaining team has them. So the point about the NBA still remains. 

[shakes]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/usa-basketballs-loss-to-lithuania-looks-even-worse-after-all-the-noah-lyles-ridicule/

 

just gonna leave this here.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 9/3/2023 at 11:43 PM, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Was the US was ducking Bogi and Serbia, a team that could get hot from the outside and knock them out, and hoping they'd knock Lithuania out?

 

TOLD YOU!!!

 

 

 

Bogi is a MONSTER!

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Meanwhile . . . Team USA is up by 22 over Italy at halftime.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

More from Bogi after the game.