If LeBron was playing in the Olympics

[Newhouser]

do you think we'd be having an easier time in these games? I had posted earlier that this was one of our weaker teams and not having LeBron is proving to be huge.

 

[EastCoast2]

Any Olympic team with Harrison Barnes on the 12-man roster isn't that great.

 

[Cusefan0307]

do you think we'd be having an easier time in these games? I had posted earlier that this was one of our weaker teams and not having LeBron is proving to be huge.

Doubtful. We are struggling more defensively than offensively. We had a weaker team than this in the World's two years ago and still beat this same France team by 30.

The issue is our guys don't play together as much as these other teams.

 

[orangefog]

Doubtful. We are struggling more defensively than offensively. We had a weaker team than this in the World's two years ago and still beat this same France team by 30.

The issue is our guys don't play together as much as these other teams.

They really make a lot of stupid mistakes defensively and then compound the problems by playing old school isolation offense. And the international teams pass the ball so well in general, our guys look clueless at times.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Any Olympic team with Harrison Barnes on the 12-man roster isn't that great.

Mason Plumlee and Kenneth Faried were on the World's team two years ago that destroyed everybody. Barnes is better than them.

 

[thebigeast44]

do you think we'd be having an easier time in these games? I had posted earlier that this was one of our weaker teams and not having LeBron is proving to be huge.

The 2 best players in the world, LeBron and Curry, along with Davis etc would make an enormous difference.

 

[OrangeDW]

The 2 best players in the world, LeBron and Curry, along with Davis etc would make an enormous difference.

I think they're missing Chris Paul almost as much as Lebron. Kyrie is a fantastic scorer...excellent shooter, ball handler, and probably the best finishing small guard in the game. But all the things he's not that good at...defense, running the team, decision making, etc. Chris Paul is still elite at.

 

[Knicks411]

If the best player in the world was playing, I think they'd be doing better.

Really, if you look at their roster, who is the best playmaker on it? Maybe Green? And he's not really playing that much. Melo and KD are decent passers but nothing special. The primary PG (Kyrie/Lowry) aren't great passers.

 

[Knicks411]

I think they're missing Chris Paul almost as much as Lebron. Kyrie is a fantastic scorer...excellent shooter, ball handler, and probably the best finishing small guard in the game. But all the things he's not that good at...defense, running the team, decision making, etc. Chris Paul is still elite at.

Lebron would obviously be a great passer for them, but they could use a distributing PG like Paul or John Wall.

 

[Alsacs]

Kyrie's defense is killing the time right now. We don't have PG who can defend pick and rolls and Kyrie is playing a lot of ISO on offense.

It isn't his fault. The roster is just poorly constructed and Coach K for some reason is under using Draymond Green.
Green and Barnes are the 11th and 12th guys right now. K is playing 2 5 man units.
The first 5 man unit is all offense little defense. Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Carmelo, Durant, and Cousins
The second 5 man unit is better defensively but not as explosive offensively Lowry, DeRozen, George, Butler, and Jordan.
Green and Barnes have been 11th and 12th in the rotation.

I would like to see Melo and Durant only start and close together. Get one of them with the 2nd unit and put George or Butler with that unit and give Green more time at the 5 defending pick and rolls defensively.

Coach K has been poor this tournament. Not many adjustments. Maybe we are just waiting for the medal games now but it has been poor coaching.

 

[RF2044]

Lebron would obviously be a great passer for them, but they could use a distributing PG like Paul or John Wall.

Plus, they need to move away from having these mammoth centers on the squad. Obviously, players like Jordan, Cousins, Drummond [just using him as an example], etc. are very good offensively and monsters on the glass, but their lack of lateral mobility contributes to the team's defensive struggles. And they aren't a great fit for the international game.

 

[OrangeDW]

Lebron would obviously be a great passer for them, but they could use a distributing PG like Paul or John Wall.

Agreed. And Paul is not just an elite distributor...but he's an excellent shooter and can still take over a game with scoring when needed. Maybe not quite as good as Irving at that, but much better at picking his spots and keeping everyone else in the flow.

 

[TinyManInside]

LeBron would definitely make a big difference.

 

[Alsacs]

Lebron isn't needed. This team needs better perimeter defending. The teams with NBA caliber guards have been shredding us. Lebron isn't fixing that.

The French PG got into the paint way too easily. Our defense has been shredded. Melo's hot shooting against Australia, and Klay's against France bailed us out.

This team needs to be keeping teams in the 40% shooting area not over 50%.

 

[br801]

I would think that if you added LeBron to any basketball team that ever existed, they would have an easier time winning games.

 

[Knicks411]

Agreed. And Paul is not just an elite distributor...but he's an excellent shooter and can still take over a game with scoring when needed. Maybe not quite as good as Irving at that, but much better at picking his spots and keeping everyone else in the flow.

Yeah I mean he's probably the second best PG on the planet, so I kind of feel like an idiot for saying they need him, like who wouldn't need Chris Paul? But Irving and Lowry are the same kind of player, neither guy is a great creator for others, so you end up with a decent amount of iso ball, which still works a lot because of the talent, but is less than ideal.

Plus, they need to move away from having these mammoth centers on the squad. Obviously, players like Jordan, Cousins, Drummond [just using him as an example], etc. are very good offensively and monsters on the glass, but their lack of lateral mobility contributes to the team's defensive struggles. And they aren't a great fit for the international game.

I think that's more of an issue with Cousins than Jordan or Drummond, both of those guys can move real well for their size, I think. Maybe Jordan should have gotten some more minutes when Jokic (who btw is a really good young player) was lighting them up a few games ago. France for instance basically played Gobert/Diaw/Joffrey at the 4/5 spots, I don't think those guys are much quicker, if at all, than Jordan. Cousins seemed to get beat a lot though

 

[RF2044]

I think that's more of an issue with Cousins than Jordan or Drummond, both of those guys can move real well for their size, I think. Maybe Jordan should have gotten some more minutes when Jokic (who btw is a really good young player) was lighting them up a few games ago. France for instance basically played Gobert/Diaw/Joffrey at the 4/5 spots, I don't think those guys are much quicker, if at all, than Jordan. Cousins seemed to get beat a lot though

I'll disagree with you there. Because it isn't just about footspeed, it's about having to defend guys away from the basket, which neither Jordan nor Cousins are well suited to do. Players like Davis / Bosh could do it, while also protecting the rim. Our centers might be as quick as those international players--but unlike the international players you mentioned, they aren't used to having to defend on the perimeter. A player like Diaw [from your example] can connect from deep. He can also carve up the defense with slick passing if one of the bigs has to leave the shadow of the basket to come out and defend. Not the type of player our big guys excel at stopping, which is why I mention above that these type of players are generally a poor fit for the international game.

I fully acknowledge that they do damage on the other end.

 

[Briancuse]

Its not about talent, these other teams are used to playing together, this Usa team was just thrown together and expected to win.

 

[Knicks411]

I'll disagree with you there. Because it isn't just about footspeed, it's about having to defend guys away from the basket, which neither Jordan nor Cousins are well suited to do. Players like Davis / Bosh could do it, while also protecting the rim. Our centers might be as quick as those international players--but unlike the international players you mentioned, they aren't used to having to defend on the perimeter. A player like Diaw [from your example] can connect from deep. He can also carve up the defense with slick passing if one of the bigs has to leave the shadow of the basket to come out and defend. Not the type of player our big guys excel at stopping, which is why I mention above that these type of players are generally a poor fit for the international game.

I fully acknowledge that they do damage on the other end.

I'll definitely agree with you on Cousins, and I'll agree that Bosh/Davis are/were better perimeter defenders. I think Jordan would do ok in that role. But the roster would look a lot better with Anthony Davis on it.

 

[Col. Bleep]

The past three games have shown that we have the most talented players in the world.
But (wholly aside from the fact they play together far more often) other teams have a better grasp of basketball as a team game.

The NBA team concept has dissipated over the years.
One-on-one or two man games have come to predominate.
And defense is often an afterthought.
(All reasons to prefer the college game by the way).

 

[OrangeDW]

The past three games have shown that we have the most talented players in the world.
But (wholly aside from the fact they play together far more often) other teams have a better grasp of basketball as a team game.

The NBA team concept has dissipated over the years.
One-on-one or two man games have come to predominate.
And defense is often an afterthought.
(All reasons to prefer the college game by the way).

The "one on one" NBA game is an outdated criticism. It may have been more true before, but that's not the case now. Not on the good teams.

The "defense is an afterthought" isn't true either.

This Olympic teams issues in those areas are because it's a group of guys thrown together that don't normally play together. And it's a bit of a poorly contructed roster in terms of the strengths/weaknesses of a lot of these guys.

 

[EastCoast2]

Swap out Barnes and Green for Iguodala and Leonard and this team is 10 ppg better defensively.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Swap out Barnes and Green for Iguodala and Leonard and this team is 10 ppg better defensively.

How so? Those guys are playing the least amount of minutes on the roster. Barnes has played 20 minutes overall in two games.

If you said swap them for Butler and George, you may have a point, but the problem on defense starts with the guards outside of Klay.

 

[Knicks411]

How so? Those guys are playing the least amount of minutes on the roster. Barnes has played 20 minutes overall in two games.

If you said swap them for Butler and George, you may have a point, but the problem on defense starts with the guards outside of Klay.

If Leonard was on the roster (btw, why isn't Leonard on the roster) he might be leading them in minutes played. So I don't see it as swapping Leonard in for Barnes's role, just a way of saying put him on the roster.

Seems like dudes go by Kyrie left and right.

 

[Cusefan0307]

If Leonard was on the roster (btw, why isn't Leonard on the roster) he might be leading them in minutes played. So I don't see it as swapping Leonard in for Barnes's role, just a way of saying put him on the roster.

Seems like dudes go by Kyrie left and right.

Yeah I hear what your saying, but that means taking Durant and Melo out.

I think Green should get more minutes. True centers are a waste in the Olympics IMO. They really don't provide much if they are not skilled. Green could help there.

I'm shocked Kyrie has been this bad on D. Doesn't look like the same guy that guarded Curry well for a good portion of the finals.