Haliburton benched. Hasn't played today as far as I've seen. They put Davis in for him apparently for better defense.
***2024 Olympics Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
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NWB has gotten a lot of run in Germany's 2nd unit at the point, been solid with low TO's but has only taken a couple shots. Facilitated well.
If LeBron was not on the squad they would have lost these last 2 games.
Not sure, but he played the first half of the South Sudan game, got replaced by Davis and hasn't seen the floor since. I saw a Pacers podcast that said he was benched, but who knows.
Seems to me he had two good games, then two bad games. Pretty harsh to bench him completely for a tuneup if he's not hurt.
I know foreign talent is better but this is ridiculous. Hopefully they are not putting in full effort because these are exhibitions but jfc step your game up USA.
I do expect them to play better, but this team is a combination of old, soft and just not particularly good.
- LeBron is 85
- Anthony Davis is fragile, and yet one of the more physical guys we have
- Curry is old and dinged up
- Embiid is a gigantic puss
- Durant isn’t playing because of an injury (he’s probably the key to this team winning) and…old
- Tatum isn’t old, but he’s a flake
- Jrue Holiday is a decent defensive player, but nothing special and, well, he’s old
- Booker is nothing special/ bordering on terrible
- Adebayo is nothing special
- Derrick White? Give me a break
- Haliburton has apparently been benched
- Anthony Edwards is a stud, but I just don’t know if he’s ready for this kind of basketball yet. It should be good experience for him
Just not a good roster. Add to it Kerr sucks, and here we are.
They should medal, but even that isn’t a guarantee. If they win gold, I will be absolutely shocked.
After making that post I said let's see who is on the roster and sure enough full of aging and injury prone guys and a few mid talents and then some young guys new to this type of competition.
Then I thought about nba stars missing. Gianni nope foreign, Joker foreign, Luka foreign.
Let's face it the international stars are becoming the faces of the nba.
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Since all these guys are old, soft, and not good, what exactly would you like the roster to look like? Good luck putting together a better one than this lol
I didn’t say there was a better roster available, did I? All I’m saying is this particular roster isn’t great by US standards, and it’s not a foregone conclusion the US will win gold. Winning the gold medal in basketball should be demanded by the US.
I am guessing their is a roster of US players that could be better than this one, I just haven’t put much thought into it.
Basketball has changed, Friend. The US just might not have the best players in a world anymore. That is the point I’m making.
There may be better US rosters in the past, but this is about as good as it gets with todays players. By far the best and most talented roster in the world.
I actually think them getting tested in these tune up games is going to help them along the way to winning gold.
I think having two 5s that struggle to stay healthy may have been a bad move but maybe it'll be fine in a short spurt.
Globally basketball is just so different now and USA's best just may not hold up as well.
Gotta win this year cause France may be setting up to dominate for a couple cycles at least.
