The 2016 Olympic basketball thread

 Neto. He’s only 24, plays aggressive and has a reliable jumpshot. I don’t neccessarily think he should start of Huertas, but I’ve liked his play so far.

Someone needs to tell Delly he is playing basketball not Australian rules football. 

Where can I watch it? It’s not televised in my country 🙁

Argentina vs Brasil was, by far, the most entertaining game. Campazzo looks like Barea on steroids… the guy can’t stop. Unfortunately, he hasn’t showed the playmaking skills he possess. He’s been shooting a bit too much, but he’s been effective. His man-to-man defense has been great as well… I want to see him against team USA.

 USA beat France by 3.  FRANCE. Nothing to see here…  Anyone watch it?

getting to be like watching your favorite over the hill rassler (Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler) totally kick but at Wrestlemania then 2 months later almost get their butts whooped in a bar fight at the neighborhood Chili’s.  either something happened, it’s fixed, or basketball isn’t the same everywhere.

i mean, you put the top 12 guys from the REST of the Olympic teams (outside the USA) and they would be hard pressed to make the playoffs… What gives?  

 The teams who have give us a run for our money so far…

It looks like they have solid/near all-star caliber bigs: Andrew Bogut, Jokic, and Rudy Gobert.  Bogut is a beast, but he was on some world beating Warriors teams. Not sure he is an anchor to a playoff team if he is YOUR GUY.

LOVE Rudy Gobert — but the Jazz have yet to make the playoffs with him, although this might be their year.

Jokic — solid.

With these big 3, you would have a top 5-10 center in Rudy Gobert, another top 25 guy in Bogut, then Jokic.  

The OTHER guys who gave us a run for our money would be players like Delly (solid, not spectacular, even if he is one of the BEST backup point guards in the league, and probably a serviceable starter night in and night out).

The Frenchies had Nic Batum: good, solid player.  A fringe core guy… not gonna lie.  If he is your fourth guy you should be in good shape, although not an alpha go-to guy.  

Boris Diaw is a highly serviceable role player, best suited for bench work, at either of the front line spots, although perhaps best used as a playmaking, small ball center.

I think there was a Bogdanovic in there, too…

So: LOTS of depth inside, even if no surefire all stars.  Rudy, Bogut, Jokic, and Diaw would be a LOAD.  Not THE BEST front court rotation in history, but a pretty good one.

Batum on the wing can do some things.  Delly can hustle, run some offense, defend, etc.

Looks like one of those teams who can overachieve for 50 plus wins — or somewhat underachieve get 41 or 42 wins and be in a dog fight for the 8th seeds.

… although I probably left out some other really good players that we have played against so far, not to mention the other teams’ top guys.  

Pau Gasol is on Spain, and can really ball.  Still a go-to guy down low, even if he was never a SUPER STAR.  Can probably get 18 points a night in his sleep (to go along with 9 or 10 boards).

Still, even with Pau and those centers, the perimeter talent is lacking a bit… although there are still some "name guys" that NBA/basketball junkies would recognize.

You can count me (another Aussie) in the group that isn’t surprised at what Bogut is doing in Rio.

I agree that Bogut is just so unselfish that he plays within himself for the sake of his team. I honestly think if he had a more consistent midrange jumpshot, he’d be Duncan-esque.

Obviously (not unlike Duncan) Bogut isn’t the most explosive athlete out there but he’s not slow by any stretch. What makes him so effective and where he compares to Duncan, are his fundamentals.

His vision, man-defense, passing, screens, boxing out, taking charges, rebounding, blocked shot timing, understanding of spacing, and high-post playmaking are at an elite level.

If he was featured on offense in the right system like the ‘well-oiled machine’ mentioned by GBee, Bogut could average 16ppg, 12rpg, 5apg and 2.5blocks in an NBA length game.

Anyone know of a site with individual stats for Olympics game, ppg, rpg ..etc

from reading this thread and seeing the scores 

Is it the players or the coaching, we watched the players getting out played but what would generally considered ‘lesser’ players but this must come down to coaching right. So dare I say it but is Coach K being thoroughly out coached? ( thats not a dig for you dukies, this is not his comfort zone but int’l ball is stratigically close to college ball.  When you got CP3,Kobe and Lebron these things can go unoticed. He some good tools at his disposal but they dont seem to be being used to the best of their ability.

 Yeah, I don’t think Coach K is doing a great job…

He is doing ISO ball that might work in college, or with NBA MEGA SUPER STARS, but anything less, and you will struggle.

I mean the guy loses to teams like Mercer when he doesn’t have THE BEST GUYS.  Yeah, he has won some titles and been to a ton of Final Fours — but he has had as many flameouts as anyone.

I don’t think Coach K has a SYSTEM.

Pop has one.  Phil Jackson did.  John Calipari has his black box infomercial offense.  Tom Izzo’s teams have an IDENTITY and gets a lot out of normal players.

Coach K doesn’t really have a SYSTEM — and sometimes it doesn’t look like his teams have an identity either.

For this team, Carmelo Ball might not work… even though we should win.

For what we are doing now, not sure… I haven’t watched a ton of our games, but I have watched bits and pieces of at least two games.

We need to establish an inside game on offense.  Unfortunately, Cousins looks out of shape.  

I would run the offense around Kryie Irving/Draymond Green pick and rolls way out top.

Either guy can shoot or score, or create offense.  Draymond can also pop out for the 3 or the long jumper.  Or, roll to the rim.  You can also post him up in the high post or low post.

Put Klay Thompson on the strong side at the 3 point line.  DeAndre Jordan on the weak side baseline for the alley oop.

I would put Carmelo on the weak side somewhere on the wing.  Where he can get the ball and shoot the mid-range shot.  Or, do a quick post up on the block — or cut to the rim for a layup.  I would also use Carmelo Anthony as a guy who can crash the offensive glass with DeAndre Jordan.  (Draymond hounds the rebounder, with the two guards getting back on defense).

For the rest of the rotations, I might go Contrarian.  Use Cousins as the 6th man either for DeAndre or Draymond.  Go BIG.  Dump it into Cousins on offense, let him use up some fouls, and let the other big do the dirty work.

Then have a SMALL BALL second unit that runs, slashes, and then plays tough perimeter defense.

Kyle Lowry and DeRozan at guards, Jimmy Butler at the 3 and the primary wing defender, with Paul George as a small ball 4, and Kevin Durant as the Stretch 5.

Do Lowry/George Pick and Rolls/Pick and Pops.  Let KD use his quickness and length to post up.  Let Jimmy Butler or DeRozan slash to the rim.  Then let the other wing go to the corner for 3 pointers.

I might go with Jimmy Butler as the corner 3 guy, saving his energy primarily for defense.

Still can’t think of who our 12th guy is…

 Argentina is going to hustle until they can’t anymore. US is going to win, but it is looking good so far. Campazzo forced 3 turnovers already: 1 offensive foul, a steal and a travel call. Awesome!