HuskyWarrior611
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If anyone was still wondering why Tatum didn’t play during the Olympics much.
Olympics Basketball
- Thread starter Bboy Lace
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Lol Hayes is a big bust, he's not striking fear in anyone and he's the reason why I'm taking a wait and see approach with Traore because the draft express guys were hyping the hell outta Hayes and we see where that went. I think Edey will be a big problem in FIBA but Canada has to actually show and prove, alot of hype the past decade without alot of results on the World stage.
As much as the men’s team kind of underwhelmed, I feel like given the even larger talent discrepancy in women’s ball that the women’s team underwhelmed even more. No reason the US doesn’t have the talent to be winning every game comfortably - seems to be a coaching and chemistry problem
HuskyWarrior611
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All very valid. Canada’s biggest issue seemed to be size in these games. Feel like the hope is Edey should fix that.
Anytime you have to put Dwight Powell on the floor probably isn’t going to end well.
willie99
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The great equalizer
When you can maul your opponent without being called for fouls, then the talent disparity is minimized
Plus, did they say the entire French team didn't play in the WNBA this year? They just practiced together? That too makes a difference, when the US team practiced together for a very short time. Chemistry matters
Finally, the very best coaches in the women's game are found at the college level, where they make a ton more money
no one should be wondering, I certainly was not. Thanks for posting that. I knew his perimeter shooting was off, but damn, I didn't know it was 0-16.
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Did I miss something? Didn’t our Men’s and Women’s basketball teams just win gold medals in the 2024 Olympic competition? How the H*#+ can you say these teams underwhelmed?
The worst two players on the court in crunch time of the men’s game were Devin Booker and Anthony Davis on one side of the ball, and Nando de Colo and Bilal Coulibaly on the other side of the ball. That game should have never been in question given the massive talent disparity. For the high scorers in that game we’re talking Steph Curry and Kevin Durant vs. Wemby and Guerschon Yabusele. Two of those players are all time greats while the other two are a rookie and a guy who couldn’t even crack a rotation in the NBA.
The talent disparity is insane, yet the last two games were nail biters. That points to poor mindset and bad coaching
Why do we have to tear people down to say good things about others!
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It also points to guys playing together for a month in roles they're not used to compared to most international teams having played together for multiple tournament cycles and guys playing as they normally do on those teams and even on their international pro teams. Lol @ "poor mindset", the contempt some of you guys have for American basketball players is so bizarre but I have a guess as to where it stems from. Anyway, I thought Sue Bird spoke well on the issues of playing for Team USA in international competition.
Look I’d love for the team to play up to their potential - I grew up on the 2008 team that I feel would smoke today’s teams. Perhaps it’s a composition problem - I wonder if you took the best Americans from the NBA championship team if they’d win because they’re more comfortable playing together and well balanced.
Curious where you think people’s contempt for US basketball players stems from?
HuskyWarrior611
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He’s having a hard time beating the allegations for sure. For someone that just won a gold medal and NBA championship, it seems like he has a lot to prove as an individual player this upcoming season.
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I've always kinda thought that.... NBA champion team plays that Olympics.
The problem, though, is that they have to play some 100 games that season, then have a short break before the Games. Might not wear out the bench, younger guys, and lesser rotation guys that much, but the stars... Think, if LeBron and Steph had gone to the conference finals this year (and one to the finals), they'd be pretty beat. I don't think they'd be flying around like 22-year-olds like they did in the gold medal game.
The problem, though, is that they have to play some 100 games that season, then have a short break before the Games. Might not wear out the bench, younger guys, and lesser rotation guys that much, but the stars... Think, if LeBron and Steph had gone to the conference finals this year (and one to the finals), they'd be pretty beat. I don't think they'd be flying around like 22-year-olds like they did in the gold medal game.
that would have worked out great with the spurs starring slovenian doncic, or maybe take last year's nuggets starring serb jokic. turns out a lot of great players on nba teams aren't american...
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The world is catching up but isn’t caught up yet. 2 games were scary, but Lebron/KD/Curry were not going to lose
Home court will help but 2028 is where I’d start to get worried
4 years is a lot of time for young players to develop but as of now the stars will be Tatum/Ant Edwards/Devin Booker
The PGs will be…Haliburton and Jalen Brunson? Wings will be…Mikal Bridges? Hopefully they invite Jaylen Brown next time. Bigs will be…Bam and Chet Holmgren?
Are we relying on young guys like Steph Castle, Reed Sheppard, Donovan Clingan, and Cooper Flagg to be ready?
This year was a beautiful curtain call for our big 3, and I don’t think there will ever be 3 guys that will be equal to them playing in the same Olympics. Passing the torch will be hard
Home court will help but 2028 is where I’d start to get worried
4 years is a lot of time for young players to develop but as of now the stars will be Tatum/Ant Edwards/Devin Booker
The PGs will be…Haliburton and Jalen Brunson? Wings will be…Mikal Bridges? Hopefully they invite Jaylen Brown next time. Bigs will be…Bam and Chet Holmgren?
Are we relying on young guys like Steph Castle, Reed Sheppard, Donovan Clingan, and Cooper Flagg to be ready?
This year was a beautiful curtain call for our big 3, and I don’t think there will ever be 3 guys that will be equal to them playing in the same Olympics. Passing the torch will be hard
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OK, give me your guess.
gtcam
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There's a whole lot of NBA players who wish they could have JT's game. Everyone has a slump and JT just happened to have his during these Olympics. Celtics don't win squat without him. I am not his biggest fan by any score, but the kid is pure talent. I also think there is something between him and Kerr. Kerr has done the least with the most and has again proven he is not an elite NBA coach.
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The rotations were weird but I think Sue Bird's quote above is the biggest reason, short-term team where players have to perform new roles and get comfortable being uncomfortable. Basketball is still a team sport where knowing your teammates and a collective coordinated effort always makes the whole better than sum of parts. And bottom line b/c the USA wasn't better than sum of its parts we got to see the individual parts shine and that was super entertaining. Not an accident.
Meanwhile for Tatum I think it was simply a combo of being uncomfortable, mental + physical fatigue (downward spiral in jumper continued), whereas Holiday and White assumed almost the same roles for USA as on Celtics. Hopefully Tatum takes a month off and fixes the jump shot, certainly creates a favorable scenario as an NBA champ that now somehow defends the title with even more to prove.
The 'elite' thing with Kerr is kind of a tell. That means absolutely nothing, even if you are a Kerr detractor, he still probably gets a 'B' for the Olympics. Crunch time lineup was correctly deployed in medal round and the results are the results, you don't get a medal above gold for covering point spreads. Kerr is fading but certainly still at least a top coach in the league and he's 6th all-time in coaching titles which may put him in a sports talky category.
HuskyWarrior611
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99.8% of the people in the world (including the guy writing this post) wish they could have Tatum’s game.
His game and production doesn’t match the expectations of his game though as first team All-NBA. He’s talented as all hell, I don’t know what’s been going on with him the past few seasons where it seems like his game has regressed.
Despite the team he’s been on, he’s one of the most inefficient stars and it’s carried right over to the Olympics with an even bigger microscope because he can actually get benched if he’s not playing up to standard.
I don’t think Kerr had anything against Tatum. He simply did not play well in comparison to other guys.
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Tatum in the NBA is an MVP caliber prospect. Prior to this season it has felt like he has underperformed, but that’s only because he saw so much success so early. He’s 26 years old dropping near 30 a game on good-to-great efficiency and was just the best player on a dominant NBA championship team. He’s a legend already, and not even in his prime
In the Olympics he was ice cold on his jumper, was playing behind Lebron and KD, and Devin Booker put in a masterclass role player performance
Maybe Kerr has something against Tatum, maybe not. He’s overrated as a coach imo, but he had to run his team through his Gs and wings. His best wings are US Olympic legends who were playing out of their minds
It’s a big nothing burger!
In the Olympics he was ice cold on his jumper, was playing behind Lebron and KD, and Devin Booker put in a masterclass role player performance
Maybe Kerr has something against Tatum, maybe not. He’s overrated as a coach imo, but he had to run his team through his Gs and wings. His best wings are US Olympic legends who were playing out of their minds
It’s a big nothing burger!
HuskyWarrior611
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Would you say Jayson Tatum is a top 5 player in the NBA?
By the way the awards from the playoffs would say he wasn’t the best player on the team. He also shot cold during that time at 42% and 28% from 3. He’s been cold for awhile.
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I’d say top 4 is some combination of Jokic/Embiid/Luka/Giannis
The next tier is some combination of Tatum/Lebron/SGA/KD/Curry. So Tatum is in the conversation for top 5 but probably just misses out
Jaylen Brown deserved FMVP, but Jayson Tatum is the best player on the Celtics. Went cold, lost the FMVP for it, cold streak extended to the Olympics so there was no reason to play him over guys who were cooking. But he’ll come back next year as a near 30PPG scorer on the best team in the league
HuskyWarrior611
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I agree with your top 4. I’d probably give 5 to the guy who was runner up for MVP and carried his team to a 1 seed way ahead of schedule.
Think the Olympics showed who 6, 7, and 8 still are.
After that it gets debatable on who fills out the rest of that top 10. Ant, Booker, and Brunson all have a case to go with Tatum. Depending on how much you value health you can say Kawhi too.
Jaylen Brown also won ECMVP too. He played better than Tatum all playoffs it seemed. Eventually Tatum actually has to perform like he really is the best player instead of getting the rep because his team is great.
Luckily for Celtic fans it could mean an even hungrier Tatum going into this year.
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I don't think it's crazy to put SGA over Tatum, but I don't think it's as obvious as people are making it out to be. They're the same age, and Tatum has had orders of magnitude more success in his career than SGA's managed, both in the regular-season and especially in the playoffs.
I do wonder if he'll finally have the wrist surgery he's been putting off for a couple of years. Reportedly there's not a 100% chance of success so he's decided to play through it, but this shooting slump is so profound and prolonged that something's got to change.
I do wonder if he'll finally have the wrist surgery he's been putting off for a couple of years. Reportedly there's not a 100% chance of success so he's decided to play through it, but this shooting slump is so profound and prolonged that something's got to change.