re: Team USA Basketball Training Camp Thread

My bad

This could also be Coach K's doing in trying to light a fire under Cousins' arse coming into tonight's scrimmage, seeing how he will respond to possibly being on the outside looking in, if he will go out and earn it or get upset at the news and quit

Honestly, I have no problem with Cousins not making the team. When we thought Griffin and Love were going to be participating, I didn't have him on the roster, and I can understand hesitancy towards using him because he can be a black hole on offense. He is certainly far better than the other options on offense, but we have phenomenal guards, forwards, and shooters so we don't need medium efficiency plays from our bigs.

However, Mason Plumlee is not the answer. He is obviously not a ball stopper on offense, but that is his only advantage other than him being an easy person to get along with because he is mentally stable and quiet. "Mentally stable", "quiet", and "not a ball hog" should not be the three best traits of someone on the national team.

The biggest mistake for me was not calling in a defensive stopper in the front court. Cousins is not a defensive stopper. Neither is Plumlee. I'd say they are about the same on defense, and both are mediocre. Faried isn't the answer, either. He rebounds well, but he is much shorter and not a good defender really.

Taj Gibson would have been the best choice. Gibson should have been called up. He is a great defender and basically as easy to get along with/not a ball hog as Plumlee on the offensive end of the court. Plus Thibs knows how to use him so well.

But without Gibson, I'd like to see the following:

Point guard: Rose (if as healthy as the coaches indicate, Irving, Wall

Shooting guard: Curry, Harden, Klay Thompson

Small forward: Durant, Paul George

Bigs: Davis, Millsap, Drummond, Cousins.

I'd take Gibson over Cousins for the national team at any moment though.

Cut: Lillard (too many great point guards), Beal, DeRozan, Korver, Hayward, Parsons, Faried, Plumlee

I like that roster you have. Maybe Parsons over Millsap for a little more versatility, but I could go either way there

quote:

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Point guard: Rose (if as healthy as the coaches indicate, Irving, Wall

Shooting guard: Curry, Harden, Klay Thompson Small

forward: Durant, Paul George

Bigs: Davis, Millsap, Drummond, Cousins. I'd take Gibson over Cousins for the national team at any moment though.

Cut: Lillard (too many great point guards), Beal, DeRozan, Korver, Hayward, Parsons, Faried, Plumlee

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In an effort to get the image of George's leg out of my head, I took a shot at the roster after tonight's scrimmage.

I broke it down a little differently basically combining the usual 2's, 3's and to some extent 4's into wings because these guys are all capable of playing at least 2 of those positions.


Point guard: rose, curry, lillard/Irving

Rose is clearly back and that is a really great thing, for this summer and the nba going forward.

Curry seems to struggle at times in the point guard role when bigger guys get on him and guard him tight. But he's obviously on the team and can service as a backup pg or a wing.

I have a hard time separating lillard and Irving, but if I had to choose right now I'd go with lillard because he's a better shooter and that fits into the international game better. Irving is obviously a better ball handler, but that's more suited for the nba game. This is completely splitting hairs and I'd like to hear other opinions on these 2.

Wings: durant, harden, Thompson, derozan, milsap/beal/Hayward/parsons

First 3 are self explanatory. Derozan may have played his way onto to the team tonight before the injury, but now he's a necessity and will end up being a very important player on this team IMO. After rose He was the most encouraging part of the scrimmage.

For depth purposes now there needs to be another wing player, preferably someone that can defend international 4s. I think that part eliminates beal because of his size. The leaves parsons, Hayward, and milsap. I think I'd go with milsap because that's more of his natural position anyway, while Hayward and parsons are more traditional 3s.

Bigs: Davis, cousins, Drummond, faried

Honestly, I thought cousins showed the most of all the potential bigs. Yes he did have some mistakes, but all the questions about his effort and hustle going in seemed to be answered tonight. Ironically his established offensive game, his best asset, was probably his worst thing tonight.

Davis is obviously on.

Drummond didn't look all that great except for a flash or 2, but we need bodies there.

Faried almost becomes a necessity to me because at least you know what you're going to get out of him. Drummond, cousins, and even Davis to some extent are completely capable of looking completely lost out there at times.

Cuts: Korver, wall, plumlee, whoever is left over from above choices

There have been years where Korver would've been a lock for this team because it would've needed his shooting. But with durant, curry, Thompson, and possibly lillard and beal or parsons, that shouldn't be an issue thus year. And honestly, this team has too many weak spots for a 1 trick pony taking up a roster spot.

Wall looked bad tonight, and honestly his game just doesn't fit the international style.

Plumlee is who everyone thought he was. Other than lobs and uncontested put backs he looked like he had no business being out there, on both ends.

Interested to hear everyone else's thoughts.

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Argentina is a shell of what they were.

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Nothing to fear from the Argies. Their old guard is just that--old. And they've done a piss poor job as a national team in grooming replacements. Hell, it's still up in the air as to whether they'll even play due to consternation within the organization.

Crying shame for them, tbh.

Ibaka is going to do what? Shoot jump shots? Get dunked on?

He is a nice player but he is the only player Spain has that can run with TEAM USA. So that means a lot of clips with him standing under the basket while someone dunks

Does that leave 15 left for 12 spots?