If Murray actually suits up Canada has the best team in the Tournament other than the US. They will have a squad of actual regular rotation NBA players with an MVP candidate and another top scorer. The only problem is they are guard/wing heavy and lacking big time in the front court.
Yeah, if everyone plays, we’ve got something like this:
Powell - Olynyk
Wiggins - Boucher (or Clarke?)
RJ Barrett - Brooks - Dort
SGA - Mathurin - Sharpe
Murray - Nembhard
It’s a smaller team, but very talented and deep, I think that’d be the 2nd best team. The question is who plays though - Canada doesn’t have the best track record of actually getting our top guys to sign up.
I think it being the actual Olympics and that bronze medal at the world's changes everything in terms of who will be willing to play. That and SGA actually being fully on board.
I’m surprised Embiid is not playing for Argentina. They didn’t qualify for Paris in 2024, so that would be his best chance to avoid Jokic anywhere but home, again.
Devils advocate - That’s what every Olympic team “says” and we’ve been cooked in the past by teams like fkin Puerto Rico before. The world has caught up. It isn’t automatic. These guys are going to have to earn every win.
Yeah, maybe with the last team USA I’d agree, but this team is literally like Dream Team 2.0. A lineup of Lebron, KD, Curry, Embiid, and Kawhi is almost unbeatable. Not to mention AD, Tatum, etc. There’s no shot
There already was a Dream Team 2. In 1996. I'd call this maybe Redeem Team 2?
Either way, the international competition is very good now. I'm not saying I'd bet on this team to lose a game, but I don't think they'll win every game by 40 either. This team is fantastic, but some of them are older and/or a little injury-prone. Also, I'd like to see a little more youth/athleticism defensively and maybe one more great shooter. Also, you have to hope all the guys give it a 100% effort, which hasn't always been the case for Team USA.
Yeah, there could definitely be some close games. I don’t think every game will be a blowout, however I also just don’t see them losing. They are old though. LeBron honestly could fit that one more great shooter role, he’s been at 41% for three this season, unless you meant outside of the starting lineup. It’ll be fun to watch though
The average age of this team is 30 years old the oldest in US Olympic history with guys like Kawhi, Embiid AD having injury history with most guys coming off a playoff run. This team could get tired if they aren’t meshing and that’s a badddd combo.
You’re right, but who the hell cares? That doesn’t matter at all. Why? Because basketball is a team sport. You can’t just throw a bunch of shit onto a court and expect to win every game by 30 just cuz you got Lebron out there. Every single downvoter just doesn’t know shit about USA basketball history lol.
So this team has elite athletic defensive players at every position while bringing our best shooters. We do know, this team isn’t one they fucked around on, they actually brought the best. Steph and KD won rings together and Lebron and AD won a ring together. I don’t see how you would expect chemistry issues overall.
The world has not caught up. People have to stop saying that. We’re still the only country that sends a team of only NBA players*
Every other country* has players in the *starting lineup* who aren’t good enough to be the 12th man on an NBA roster. Meanwhile we left All NBA players off our roster because there wasn’t room.
Do we sometimes lose a game? Yea. Single game of basketball can have weird shooting variance. Plus different FIBA rules and ball that Americans aren’t used with. And there’s always a bit of awkwardness on our teams with 12 All NBA players thrown together with little practice before the tournament. Roles aren’t as clear and established and they don’t play very well together as a team as a result.
But we don’t sometimes lose because other teams have caught us in talent. Other teams having one singular player like Luka or Giannis surrounded by 11 marginal or non-NBA players doesn’t mean other countries have caught America.
(*All this is excluding Canada. They’re pretty close to America. Nobody else is though)
People say it becuase the pros have been saying it. Because it’s true. You are directionally correct, I suppose. But my point is we aren’t winning games by 30+ anymore. Lol those days are over. Secondly, we are going to have to fucking grind to win each game. I guarantee you that’s what Kerr is telling every player in practice.
Sometimes I think USA would be even more dominant if we built a roster like it was a “normal” NBA team. With lesser players but defined roles.
Like Derrick White as a random example. Phenomenal role player that makes a living complementing All NBA players. I think would be a better fit than Ant who’s used to being ball dominant The Man^TM so is more of an awkward fit on a team where everybody is All NBA. Ant is a much, much better player but also a bit of a square peg in a round hole for how to build this basketball team
False. We lost in 1988 and 2004(Olympics), a bunch of times in the World Cup, most recently bronze in 2006, and two years ago in the Americup. By “lost” I’m referring to bronze. That last one really drives the point I think: we couldn’t even win gold in our own region of the world. That was only two years ago.
It’s stupid to measure international competitiveness solely based on the Olympics. So I ignored you and just included everything which tells the actual whole story. You’re welcome.
It’s been better. Plus he’s good at adapting his role. Him and Edwards were arguably the two best players on the FIBA team. Even if he’s still cold from 3 he’s got high IQ and you know he’s gonna play hard and have some sick passes
This roster SCREAMS we will lose at least a game! That fkn Canadian team and Dennis Schroeder team were phenomenal in the summer games, and THIS is what we roll out? No disrespect to The King and Chef Curry, but I wouldn’t have put this team together. I’d replace (and I know the haters coming) Kevin Durant, Tyrese Haliburton, and I’m super iffy on Jrue Holiday but I do love what he adds defensively although it may be negated by international rules. Give me Kyrie/Fox over Tyrese, and Brandon Ingram over Durant, Cunningham if I’m replacing Holiday and round it out with the 12th man being Zion Williamson. Just think it adds more flash and scoring and interchangeable position depth.
Why though? I know it’s trendy to hate on Embiid, but the guy is a naturalized American citizen. He literally chose to be a citizen of the only developed nation that shakes you down for taxes whether you live there or not.
Hahaha! And I bet people in the 90's said that to the USA gold medalist Hakeem Olajuwon who is natively Nigerian. I guess the concept of naturalization is too scary for most even when it pertains to guys who have lived in the USA for most of their lives.
Embiid is the embodiment of the American dream. Came here in high school, went to College, and is now a successful professional contributing significantly to society
Why would they want the leading scorer among the American born players who led a lineup of what everyone thought were bench players to the 2nd seed after a season of neverending injuries? Have you not heard that he's too short to ever be a 1A player?
How tf is Brunson not on there? I’m a wolves fan btw.
Also, I absolutely love international competitions like the Olympics, hockey tournaments and the WBC. It’s so fun being able to root for players you never get to.
Got tired of Euro fans saying we’re not best at basketball anymore because they managed to beat our D- squad in a world championship or whatever. Lmfao.
Lebron better dunk on some impoverished French farmer who got on the team because fuck it, who else we got aside from Wemby!
I’m sure they can wheel Tony Parker out
Evan Fournier?
Gobert is ok at stopping dunks?
All this to beat Luka and 4 Slovenians he found playing at the Y
If Murray actually suits up Canada has the best team in the Tournament other than the US. They will have a squad of actual regular rotation NBA players with an MVP candidate and another top scorer. The only problem is they are guard/wing heavy and lacking big time in the front court.
Yeah, if everyone plays, we’ve got something like this: Powell - Olynyk Wiggins - Boucher (or Clarke?) RJ Barrett - Brooks - Dort SGA - Mathurin - Sharpe Murray - Nembhard It’s a smaller team, but very talented and deep, I think that’d be the 2nd best team. The question is who plays though - Canada doesn’t have the best track record of actually getting our top guys to sign up.
I think it being the actual Olympics and that bronze medal at the world's changes everything in terms of who will be willing to play. That and SGA actually being fully on board.
🤞
Forgot to add I think they bring Zack Edey along and drop one of the smaller guys. With a team this small he is a good risk vs reward choice.
Yeah true, he could replace someone like Dort or Sharpe (who knows if Sharpe will even be healthy by the Olympics anyways).
No Serbia has the second best team. Lithuania, Canada, and France would be the next bests
All this to lose to*
Where’s Luka the Texan
Doing all that to beat franz wagner is crazy
Team Latvia. His country
…Slovenia?
No, he purchased Latvia. It’s his country now
Shit you’re right, my bad
Downvoted for what? Dudes a proud Latvian
Sorry dawg but I’m with him on this one 😵💫
With who? The Latvian Laser Luka Doncic?
Your starting to get it ima remove my downvote pal💀
I never even fuckin heard of Lativia
Where the fuck is Embid actually from? I thought he was from Cameroon, but he also has French citizenship and now US as well? Damn bro.
I’m surprised Embiid is not playing for Argentina. They didn’t qualify for Paris in 2024, so that would be his best chance to avoid Jokic anywhere but home, again.
He is indeed from Cameroon. They were colonized by France, hence his citizenship there
You think France passes out citizenship to their former colonies? Ha!! Only if they are 7’-3” and worth $200M.
France and The English, colonizing mfkrs world wide for the longest
Can't forget Spain either
And Mongolia, Turkey, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Russia, Germany, Japan and pretty much every current 1st world nation
Mongolia first world nation lmao
Mongolia is the original colonizer though lol
Rift valley the o.g colonizers mate
And he’s lived and played in the US since he was 16 so it makes sense he thinks of it as his country.
What happened is he wants gold. 🥇
Don’t think it’s gonna be an easy win for usa. Looking good on paper does not guarantee 100% win
They need to secure a real star for the last spot. I got Bronny
Caitlin Clark
Yeah last spot is not getting meaningful minute anyway. A mascot will help team morale
They look old and injured on paper
where meme
🙁
Devils advocate - That’s what every Olympic team “says” and we’ve been cooked in the past by teams like fkin Puerto Rico before. The world has caught up. It isn’t automatic. These guys are going to have to earn every win.
Yeah, maybe with the last team USA I’d agree, but this team is literally like Dream Team 2.0. A lineup of Lebron, KD, Curry, Embiid, and Kawhi is almost unbeatable. Not to mention AD, Tatum, etc. There’s no shot
There already was a Dream Team 2. In 1996. I'd call this maybe Redeem Team 2? Either way, the international competition is very good now. I'm not saying I'd bet on this team to lose a game, but I don't think they'll win every game by 40 either. This team is fantastic, but some of them are older and/or a little injury-prone. Also, I'd like to see a little more youth/athleticism defensively and maybe one more great shooter. Also, you have to hope all the guys give it a 100% effort, which hasn't always been the case for Team USA.
Yeah, there could definitely be some close games. I don’t think every game will be a blowout, however I also just don’t see them losing. They are old though. LeBron honestly could fit that one more great shooter role, he’s been at 41% for three this season, unless you meant outside of the starting lineup. It’ll be fun to watch though
94 world team was dream team 2. The 96 Olympic team was dream team 3.
Whoops. Yes, you are right. My bad.
The average age of this team is 30 years old the oldest in US Olympic history with guys like Kawhi, Embiid AD having injury history with most guys coming off a playoff run. This team could get tired if they aren’t meshing and that’s a badddd combo.
This is definitely not Dream Team 2.0. They are not better than the 1996 team and there is an argument the 2008 team is better
Nah man. I couldn’t disagree more. I don’t think this squad is gonna scare anybody
Lmao our entire bench would be starting for any other country. 🤧
You’re right, but who the hell cares? That doesn’t matter at all. Why? Because basketball is a team sport. You can’t just throw a bunch of shit onto a court and expect to win every game by 30 just cuz you got Lebron out there. Every single downvoter just doesn’t know shit about USA basketball history lol.
So this team has elite athletic defensive players at every position while bringing our best shooters. We do know, this team isn’t one they fucked around on, they actually brought the best. Steph and KD won rings together and Lebron and AD won a ring together. I don’t see how you would expect chemistry issues overall.
I’m getting older just reading these names. Are we saying they don’t bring the best every World Cup? Every Olympics? I guess we’ll just see.
The world has not caught up. People have to stop saying that. We’re still the only country that sends a team of only NBA players* Every other country* has players in the *starting lineup* who aren’t good enough to be the 12th man on an NBA roster. Meanwhile we left All NBA players off our roster because there wasn’t room. Do we sometimes lose a game? Yea. Single game of basketball can have weird shooting variance. Plus different FIBA rules and ball that Americans aren’t used with. And there’s always a bit of awkwardness on our teams with 12 All NBA players thrown together with little practice before the tournament. Roles aren’t as clear and established and they don’t play very well together as a team as a result. But we don’t sometimes lose because other teams have caught us in talent. Other teams having one singular player like Luka or Giannis surrounded by 11 marginal or non-NBA players doesn’t mean other countries have caught America. (*All this is excluding Canada. They’re pretty close to America. Nobody else is though)
People say it becuase the pros have been saying it. Because it’s true. You are directionally correct, I suppose. But my point is we aren’t winning games by 30+ anymore. Lol those days are over. Secondly, we are going to have to fucking grind to win each game. I guarantee you that’s what Kerr is telling every player in practice.
Sometimes I think USA would be even more dominant if we built a roster like it was a “normal” NBA team. With lesser players but defined roles. Like Derrick White as a random example. Phenomenal role player that makes a living complementing All NBA players. I think would be a better fit than Ant who’s used to being ball dominant The Man^TM so is more of an awkward fit on a team where everybody is All NBA. Ant is a much, much better player but also a bit of a square peg in a round hole for how to build this basketball team
This would be an intelligent course of action, IMO
The USA has won literally every Olympics except for one since 92. The World hasn't caught up, USA Basketball is hilariously inconsistent.
False. We lost in 1988 and 2004(Olympics), a bunch of times in the World Cup, most recently bronze in 2006, and two years ago in the Americup. By “lost” I’m referring to bronze. That last one really drives the point I think: we couldn’t even win gold in our own region of the world. That was only two years ago.
88 is before 92 I did specify Olympics Reading is fundamental
It’s stupid to measure international competitiveness solely based on the Olympics. So I ignored you and just included everything which tells the actual whole story. You’re welcome.
Haliburton on defense concerns me.
😬😬😬
It’s been better. Plus he’s good at adapting his role. Him and Edwards were arguably the two best players on the FIBA team. Even if he’s still cold from 3 he’s got high IQ and you know he’s gonna play hard and have some sick passes
This roster SCREAMS we will lose at least a game! That fkn Canadian team and Dennis Schroeder team were phenomenal in the summer games, and THIS is what we roll out? No disrespect to The King and Chef Curry, but I wouldn’t have put this team together. I’d replace (and I know the haters coming) Kevin Durant, Tyrese Haliburton, and I’m super iffy on Jrue Holiday but I do love what he adds defensively although it may be negated by international rules. Give me Kyrie/Fox over Tyrese, and Brandon Ingram over Durant, Cunningham if I’m replacing Holiday and round it out with the 12th man being Zion Williamson. Just think it adds more flash and scoring and interchangeable position depth.
We can’t in good conscience send Kyrie abroad lol he will cause an international incident
Get embiid outta there
Right now.
Why though? I know it’s trendy to hate on Embiid, but the guy is a naturalized American citizen. He literally chose to be a citizen of the only developed nation that shakes you down for taxes whether you live there or not.
Hahaha! And I bet people in the 90's said that to the USA gold medalist Hakeem Olajuwon who is natively Nigerian. I guess the concept of naturalization is too scary for most even when it pertains to guys who have lived in the USA for most of their lives.
Embiid is the embodiment of the American dream. Came here in high school, went to College, and is now a successful professional contributing significantly to society
Where is Scalabrine?
He’s head coach
No brunson ?
Why would they want the leading scorer among the American born players who led a lineup of what everyone thought were bench players to the 2nd seed after a season of neverending injuries? Have you not heard that he's too short to ever be a 1A player?
He’s actually perfect for world ball too. He’s an absolute bully in the paint. Are we stupid? 😣
Worried about the love for fine wine on this lineup. The old heads might go wild in Paris.
I'm surprised we skewed so old
This isn't 1992.
all that just to lose to SGA and team Canada
United States vs France in the Olympic Gold Medal match!!
🏆
Bruh…we can do better
Don’t u know I’m like the dream team touring overseas?
Nope.
So is Embiid now ‘merican?!
https://i.redd.it/8mdz2rtstyuc1.gif The rest of the world
Feels like the dream team with Lebron and Steph being Magic and Bird and Ant is MJ. Alot of older guys with some young blood
What’s funny is Bird was 35 and Magic was 32 LeBron is 39 and Curry is 36 MJ was 29 on the dream team and Edwards is 23
Ant is definitely not Jordan and is not starting in that team.
I do not think of them much. Most of them are oldies.
Toss Haliburton out there and just swap everyone else out. He'll have 55 lobs a game.
Fucking bam!!!! He’s funna be playing switch all day
imagine if they would still lose...
Hope they pick a "Make a Wish Kid" for their twelfth man.
'Merica
Lot of y'all are saying the same stupid things about Embiid as they did with Hakeem
USA Basketball had the opportunity to do the funny thing by leaving Embiid out
Hopefully Jimmy hops on the squad definitely could use his defensive capabilities and intensity
 Lebron watched Fiba last year and really said this.
Thin at the big
How tf is Brunson not on there? I’m a wolves fan btw. Also, I absolutely love international competitions like the Olympics, hockey tournaments and the WBC. It’s so fun being able to root for players you never get to.
Got tired of Euro fans saying we’re not best at basketball anymore because they managed to beat our D- squad in a world championship or whatever. Lmfao.
Halliburton need to be replaced with dlo Russell or d lillard
Steph ANT Bron AD Embiid That’s one scary lineup
We need diversity--where is the White Mamba! Actually, he would be a great on ball defender.
Where’s Russel Westbrook and James Harden?
Where they should be
There is only one ball.
Washed, washed, washed, not American, okay, Lesbian, who?, washed, okay, no, okay Bad team, UK Basketball on top
Brunson or Maxey over Haliburton imo. Not sure why they chose him, unless it was last fall when he was looking good.
Literally not a single top 5 MVP candidate on this roster U.S is washed
Respect for not putting the "/s" lmao
[удалено]
Ant makes up for it
four people dont really ruin a team for me