I GUARANTEE That US Will NOT Win The World Championship
FIBA basketball has no weight on the NBA really lol. If the USA loses, the NBA won't be effected any way noteworthy, other than wanting to win more in 2 years, which would mean more noteworthy players would probably play, which would be an even more scary proposition for the rest of world
Dude, I think the Euro All-Stars would get creamed by the Miami Heat, if you throw in Dwight Howard as the Heat's center.
You really think it's going to change the way we look at the L?
This is basically our JV squad compared to '08, and you're going to be happy by beating our JV squad with your varsity? Cmon man!
That might be true..Watching the game Sunday against Spain..Spain looked uninspired the 1st few minutes of the game..
Allowing Team USA to get a big lead..Only to bounce back in the 2nd half to make it a close game as the USA leading by 1 point won in the finals seconds on a block by Durant....
Team USA incredible pressing defense,athleticism & outside shooting will keep them in games...But they come out from the begining and try to put teams away...
Durant & Rose have prove they can get their shots whenever they want..So they should be starters..
Rudy Gay's length,shot blocking and in & outside game will be valuable..
Iggy has been a surprise on both ends of the floor..
Westbrook seem to save the best for last..Sunday he made a couple of great plays on the defensive end..
USA weakness will be in the front court..Odom can play center in International games..But does he have the Girth to guard guys like Marc Gasol down low?
Love's wide body,rebounding,outlet passes will be a big help...
I want to know how iggy has been a surprise on both ends of the floor.Hes does same things on the sixers just better because of chemistry,role playing, plus plays and schemes designed by the coach to fit the sixers style of play. I want to know how iggy was a surprise what you didnt expect him to play the passing lanes?You didnt expect him to have 3 point range? You didnt expect him to push the tempo as much as he can when that was once the sixers style of play or set up other players being the only foward behind lebron james in assit this season. What was it thats a surprise? You cant count the U.S out tho We have been playing sloppy if we didnt get as many "travel violations" the game wouldnt have been so close.Spain played at its best we didnt play at our best and still won.We didnt lost yet at our worst other teams lost at there best.The exhibition games is an extended part of training camp in a way there is still a cut to be made.So even tho we played sloppy other teams still have. to fear the fact if we figure out the rules and gameplay a liite better and play at our best.U.S is doing that as we speak
Tongue-Out-Like-23 - most european teams also are using their "jv teams" such as germany, france, spain (mostly jv), and espicially serbia. the reason is because fiba world championship is not as big as the olypics so most players r deciding not to waste their time
I disagree,no Pau for spain,no dirk for germany,no ginobili(sp) for argentina,no nene for brazil(and carrot top is hurt too),france is without all of its guards and has a chunky boris diaw,this US team isn't the greatest group of talent assembled,but they are good enough. It wouldn't shock me if they won it all,came in 3rd,or lost in the gold medal game.
" most european teams also are using their "jv teams" such as germany, france, spain (mostly jv), and espicially serbia. the reason is because fiba world championship is not as big as the olypics so most players r deciding not to waste their time"
"I disagree,no Pau for spain,no dirk for germany,no ginobili(sp) for argentina,no nene for brazil(and carrot top is hurt too),france is without all of its guards and has a chunky boris diaw,this US team isn't the greatest group of talent assembled,but they are good enough. It wouldn't shock me if they won it all,came in 3rd,or lost in the gold medal game."
Can't compare who these Euro teams are missingn their roster to the USA, who is missing Kobe, LeBron, Howard, Wade, CP3...Players of that caliber...Kobe, LeBron and Wade are the top three players in the World.
you are comparing argentina missing ginobili to usa missing kobe, lebron, wade, dwight, cp3 etc.?!
Plus they Americans have to deal with a different style, rule changes and the fact that they have only been playing together for a few months while these European teams are bred for games like this. Lets see these great European teams get their second rate stars assembled last minute and come play on US soil and play by the NBA rules and lets see if the games are close.
I'm also pretty sure that USA team won Gold recently in the Olympics...
@European Baller
Aren't you the guy who said all the way back in May that Big Sofo signed a guaranteed three year deal worth $8 million with the Clippers lol?
Yep... It was you.
look, if someone told me that my life depended on me choosing the field or usa, i would probably go with the field. but your argument makes no sense at all. the nba will always be relevant because its in america. nobody from here would watch euro basketball exclusively. none of our best players would go to europe for their whole career. even our best college players sometimes have to go to europe because our league is too good. its not knocking euro ball, euro has some very good teams but it will never be on the nbas level. nobody grows up saying i want to be good enough to just make euro ball. everyones dream is the nba. thats why all the best international players play in the nba. see pau gasol, dirk nowitzki, tony parker, yao ming, and manu ginobili.
Well put trinajoe, I don't see how the USA not winning the FIBA Championship has any impact on the NBA. You obviously have more of a bias towards the NBA and American basketball fans than the majority of us have towards European basketball and European fans and as a result you predict some of the most outlandish things in order to discredit the NBA ( Big Sofo being a dominant force in the US ). However; I would take him in a fight over Nenad Kristic, lol
Who do you think is gonna beat us... Pau? he's out. We already beat Spain , and i'm pretty sure that they could beat them again. Who else has a chance to beat us... no one, exactly! USA might not be the same team for 08 but their pretty decent. The rest of the world is different too, most of them don't even have their best players. Even if they don't win this year, you will mark your words because the US is getting Paul Anthony and Kobe back by the Olympics in Paris.
id say usa, spain and greece are the favorites with a couple other countries having chances. if i had to break down percentages of who would win, it would go like this: spain- 35%, us 30%, greece 15% and everyone else 20%(combined). most likely the winner is usa or spain. so it would be hard to guarantee the us not winning but they are still a heavy favorite.
I think that people are realizing that the best players in Europe are indeed fantastic, but, the best European players still play in the NBA. Their still has only been one European team that has beaten an NBA team, and the best player on that team was once an NBA player that went onto to go back and become a solid though unspectacular role player. It is true, the teams of the world have shown an ability to almost play up to the abilities of some of the best the US has to offer, though I think the past World Championship teams have been less than the best the US has to offer, though that is more USA basketball than anything else. But even so, their full time job (NBA, which has a much more rigorous game and travel schedule than European) seems to take precedent, even in the case of some of the top international players. But, if you take NBA teams, and play them against other top European teams, many of which have players that have tried to play in the NBA before, you see just how strong the level of competition is in the NBA. The rules of the game are completely different defensively. This is not only with handchecking, but with illegal defense. In international play, the emphasis is on shooting as the teams center can stay in the paint for as long as they want, regardless of whether they are within arms length of a player. This of course would leave less ability to take the ball to the basket and create a much more team oriented spread out offense, as isolation would become incredibly difficult under these circumstances. This has made the NBA different from international basketball and has led to more scoring and less of a premium of relying on outside shooting, hence the NBA game is much better environment for the more athletic player. I am not saying it is better to have illegal defense than not, but I think it certainly seems to work to give the NBA game its fast paced feel and gives players an ability to do some things you have a very difficult time doing in FIBA games. So, to say the NBA will lose its lustre if Team USA loses, I think is just straight up not true. Indeed, it will give more credit to some great European basketball players, but the NBA still has a majority of the best players in the world and the world even knows this to be true. FC Barcelona is filled with players who could indeed play in the NBA, but one of its leading scorers is Pete Mickeal, someone who knows just how strong the NBA players and teams are in comparison. Pete could probably play in the NBA, but he would not be one of the star players as he was on the Euroleague championship team. So, to say that the European teams are far below NBA teams would show a lack of knowledge of the players overseas, but to say that the Euroleague teams would provide heavy competition to NBA teams just does not seem to make sense. International teams may indeed have that ability, certainly some of the top nations would be interesting to watch against NBA teams, but European club teams I do not think would have that much of an effect in the NBA. You are probably saying this more for reaction than anything, and indeed Team USA could lose, but to gurantee victory without really listing a sure winner or favorite is kind of the cowards way out. You are European Baller, but at least pick a country, I know I am choosing the USA because I always do. I think the American basketball players are still many of the best in the world and their record shows they are no slouch against international comp. Gold in U-18 and U-17 and we will see what happens this year, but I would not count us out. To say that the USA will lose without choosing a sure winner though, or at least the final couple teams in the tournament (go through the bracket and make sure it works first) does not exactly make it a situation where you appear to be a basketball Nostradamus.
Go ahead. All the NBA only fans can talk all their delusional nonsense right here. PLEASE DO IT. You will own yourselves. Because there is not a chance in hell that the current US team can win. Mark my words.
After this tournament, the NBA will NEVER be seen the same way again. It will no longer have any status over the Euroleague ever again after this tournament. Mark my words.