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USA v Lithuania

ukdesi

Junior
Dec 17, 2002
2,880
343
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USA getting steamrolled. We look like a bunch of college all-stars playing one on one, while Lithuania is doing a layup drill or drilling 3s. Embarrassing.
 
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Their center looks like Travis Kelce of the Chiefs lol. USA has to get some stops.
 
Isn't this like a JV USA team though?

I cant recall the roster other than the white kid from the Lakers.
 
Does this game even matter for the FIBA thingy? Round robin crap?
They still advance to the quarterfinals, so no it doesn't matter, but still.....I don't like when the USA loses in basketball. This was eazy peazy for Lithuania -- transition, 2nd chance points, pounding it inside...USA no answer defensively.
 
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I don't follow the NBA -- to me it looks like we constructed an average ish NBA team.
They've got three All Star caliber guards in Edwards, Brunson and Halliburton, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in Jackson, and the Rookie of the Year in Banchero (who's getting very little playing time, btw), so certainly a talent notch well above "average."

But, yeah, still a HUGE drop down from the days of Dream Team type rosters.
 
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Had to look it up but knew Lithuania was a tiny country. Population of 2.7 million-impressive that they produce world class basketball teams.
 
They've got three All Star caliber guards in Edwards, Brunson and Halliburton the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year in Jackson, and the the reigning Rookie of the Year in Banchero (who seems to get very little playing time, btw), so certainly a talent notch well above "average."

But, yeah, also a HUGE step down from the Dream Team days.
Of those you listed, would any of them be in a top 12 roster for the USA? Maybe Edwards.
 
Had to look it up but knew Lithuania was a tiny country. Population of 2.7 million-impressive that they produce world class basketball teams.
Always have. Even back in the USSR days, the best players on the Soviet teams that beat us in the 72 and 88 Olympics were Lithuanians.

No country swings above its population weight class in basketball more than Lithuania.
 
Lithuania did start 9/9 from 3, if they don’t do that USA wins. But this loss is probably good for USA. They get Italy instead of Serbia now
 
Couldn’t happen to a better guy than Steve Kerr if only his side kick in ignorance Greg POPOVICH could be his assistant. If you can’t win with this talent LOL embarrassing to USA basketball
I watched this guy, Steve Kerr, and he was like a little boy who was so scared. He’ll talk about the United States very badly. I watched Popovich. Sort of the same thing, They talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don’t want to say anything bad.
 
Imagine adding, AD, Booker, Tatum, Bam?

Definitely could have come up with a much better team of American born players.
You sure about that? Can’t add AD, Booker, Tatum and Bam if they ain’t willing.

Today’s NBA stars simply aren’t as interested in playing for their country as they were in the past. Which, of course, is why we’re seeing such a clear decline in roster quality.
 
You sure about that? Can’t add AD, Booker, Tatum and Bam if they ain’t willing.

Today’s NBA stars simply aren’t as interested in playing for their country as they were in the past. Which, of course, is why we’re seeing such a clear decline in roster quality.
I was just agreeing that this is B Team level talent. Wasn’t intended as commentary on who would or wouldn’t want to play.

My assumption is that guys like AD/Booker didn’t want to play, or else they would be there.
 
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They've got three All Star caliber guards in Edwards, Brunson and Halliburton, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in Jackson, and the Rookie of the Year in Banchero (who's getting very little playing time, btw), so certainly a talent notch well above "average."

But, yeah, still a HUGE drop down from the days of Dream Team rosters.

Good point. Original dream team was stacked with Hall of Famers in their prime.

Some of these guys might make it some day. Edwards looks like an eventual top 5 player of his era type of talent. But they’re all pretty young. And i’d argue the 10th man on the dream team would still be the best player on this squad.
 
Good point. Original dream team was stacked with Hall of Famers in their prime.

Some of these guys might make it some day. Edwards looks like an eventual top 5 player of his era type of talent. But they’re all pretty young. And i’d argue the 10th man on the dream team would still be the best player on this squad.
Yep, and the difference is not just between this and the original Dream Team, but instead nearly ALL the Team USA rosters between 92 and the 2019 WC team (when we saw a huge drop) featured far more talent than this group.

I agree that Edwards is clearly the best talent on this team. There are a few other all star or near all stars (Brunson, Halliburton, Jackson, Banchero, etc.), but they're only that "borderline" kind of all star talent. Edwards is the only guy who has the sort of superstar potential that used to fill out Team USA rosters.

But I still think they have a good shot at winning Gold ...presuming that today was just that one clunker game they needed to get out of their system.
 
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Fun to think about convincing an all UK team to play in an event like this where they struggle to get top tier guys:

G - Fox, Maxey, Quickley
G - Booker, Herro, Monk,
F - Johnson, Randle, Towns, Vanderbilt
C - Bam, Davis

Coaches
Vogel
Casey
Towns plays for DR though, right? Maybe mix in PJ Washington.
 
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