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Warriors

1 (33.3%)

Celtics

2 (66.7%)

Total Members Voted: 3

Voting closed: June 13, 2022, 11:38:11 PM

[lesterluv]

Well let's hope he can build on that when he's done with Worlds and shows up in camp.

Still think, unlike most, that he's closer (though not in any way close) to being a starter on a winning team then our other PG candidates cause he can already fully bring it on the defensive end.

Didn't really see anybody playing meaningful minutes in last year's finals who couldn't.


*** 13 min game highlights here. https://youtu.be/EoZa1EOkWkY Most important, he's driving into the lane from the first quarter on doing good things.

[kiidcarter8]

- Noticeable with Frank how often he just switched on a ball screen.  Until further notice - for me anyway - he is just a guy with decent defensive instincts to go with his long arms.

[bodiddley]

I only caught highlights.
I noticed 1st half how the shrimpy PG Albicy was out there and not Franc.
And the first Franc sighting was a US highlight as franc had a miserable turnover passing back out.

Then 4Q, under 4 mins to go, Franc pops a 3 to tie the score 76-76 and give France confidence.
Then a little later Franc cans another long jumper over Kemba to stretch France's lead.  I thought both were 3's, but the boxscore shows Franc 1-3 on 3's, so I guess one was a 2.  Still who imagined Franc popping in a long contested J in crunch time.  Franc finished +22, 2nd only to Gobert's +26.

I figured in a close game, the US could outplay most World team's down the stretch, especially given depth and freshness for US players.
USA missed Tatum.  Barnes and Mitchell were the only two over 25 minutes.  Barnes just 4 points in 32 mins.  I was thinking start Jaylen.

MyTurn and Bropez only tallied 15 mins, and plum guy 1 min more.  So US went smallball for 24 of 40 mins.  And Gobert killed them.  France up 78-76, Smart was guarding Gobert, and nearly knocked away the entry pass, but when he missed Gobert had an uncontested dunk.  And that was nearly that. 

Looks like Kemba had a rough game, but got 8 FT's, which is what you do when you're shot isn't going down.  As usual it looked like France went at JoeHorror (fouled out in 19 mins) and short Kemba.

Mitchell iso-ed Gobert late and got blocked on his drive.  Looked like US's last stand.  But really when you have Gobert guarding at the 3-point line, instead of going all macho, pass the damn ball and play 4-on-4 with Gobert out of the lane.

[bodiddley]

Franc puts effort into D.

I think the early drives gave him confidence to launch some J's late.
If he can mix in some drives with some shooting, we'd be fine.  He also needs to throw sharper passes.  Just some okay offense would make him a useful player.

USofA was leading 72-65 early 4Q.  Then collapsed.
Down 4 with just over 1 min left when Mitchell decided to attack Gobert.
Down 6 with 34 secs and Kemba makes 1-3 FT's.
Down 5 20 secs left Middleton steps out on his 3 shot.

[bodiddley]

Box score for anyone interested

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/game/1109/USA-France#tab=boxscore

US qualified for the Olympics, which was the main point of this tourney.
But the US C team wasn't that good.
I thought France, Brazil, Australia were all solid teams, but I thought the US would be a little better.
Argentina, Spain and Serbia were supposed to be the best non-US teams.  Serbia got knocked out by Argentina,  I didn't see one Serbian game.
haven't seen Argentina either.

Argentina v France
&
Australia v Spain

[kiidcarter8]

US qualified for the Olympics, which was the main point of this tourney.

That's quite funny.

[bodiddley]

I didn't even know there was a basketball World Cup.
And would still know next to nothing about it if it wasn't held in China.
Was pretty surprised there were 32 teams involved too.

If this tourney was important to Americans and the NBA then LeBron, Harden, Scurry et al would be out there.  They'll be there for the Tokyo Olympics.

[Yankguy1]

I'm guessing we won't see Lebron in the 2020 Olympics.  He's done his bit.

[kiidcarter8]

I didn't even know there was a basketball World Cup.
And would still know next to nothing about it if it wasn't held in China.
Was pretty surprised there were 32 teams involved too.

If this tourney was important to Americans and the NBA then LeBron, Harden, Scurry et al would be out there.  They'll be there for the Tokyo Olympics.

I dont know - there has been talk that a few stars wont play for Pop.  His eccentric act can wear on you

[lesterluv]

They will be out to play, some of them surely, next summer for the Olympics.

That's part of the problem with this year's World Cup. It used to be held in even years, with a two year gap between it and the Olympics.

Then they messed with the schedule and have it in an odd year, one year before the Olympics. So it's summer WC - NBA Season - summer Olympics back to back to back which nobody really wants to do.

[bodiddley]

Yeah, LeBJ is aging.  Should save his body for the NBA seasons.
But Harden is much more deadly than Donovan
Kawhi and Paul George are big upgrades over Tatum and Jaylen
Scurry, Lillard more killer than Kemba.

Really a big problem was that most international teams have some bulky post-up/rebound/rim protecting Bigs, and the US team fielded Myles Turner and Brook Lopez.  Having Anthony Davis would help a lot.  Dray too.  The US team went smallball a lot, with Jaylen or Smart guarding Goberts.

US team needs better outside shooting.  Harden, Scurry would help plenty.  And Joe Harris was a weak link defender.  France frequently used a Fournier/Gobert PnR to go at Harris/MyTurn.  (or DeColo?Gobert).  Every team went at Harris.

Harden upgrades Harris as both a scorer and defender (and orchestrator).   Harden / Scurry would also get FT's that mostly eluded the US team.
Only Kemba and Barnes got some FT's.

Guys who could/should be back. 
Kemba as backup PG.  Donovan as backup SG.  Tatum/Jaylen.  And Smart can be on my team any day.  They should be rewarded for dedicating their Summer to Team USA.

Joe Harris, Lopez, Plumlee, Derrick White will be ditched.  I thought White played his role well and added energy and craftiness.  But he's just not so high-level.  Harris was the best 3-shooter US had.  But they can add better.
Myles Turner, Middleton, Barnes all are replaceable.
I'm a Middleton fan, but he was disappointing.  Did okay, but was often invisible.

I'd roster:
Scurry - Kemba
Harden - Mitchell - Smart
Kawhi - Paul George - Jaylen
Dray - Tatum
Brow Davis - ??

That's 11. 
Need an extra Backup C.  DeAndrethe Giant?  Drummond?  Mitch?
Or just use Dray as your backup Big?

I was going to go with Conley as my 3rd PG, but just realized that it's only a 12 man roster.  You could also go with Kyrie or Lowry.  I'm not a Kyrie fan and he'd be the weak link defender.  Teams constantly posted Kemba and he manned up and was tough.  I'd reward Kemba for this year's run.  And if he's the backup PG, Conley makes sense as he can accept limited minutes but be ready as needed.  I'd take Lowry over Kyrie too.  But I'd stay loyal to Kemba.  But with a 12 man roster, you probably just go with 2 PG's and Harden is your 3rd PG.  Smart can fill in there too.

So I have 11 and room for one more.
Could go with Beal for more shooting.  Butler for more defense and aggressiveness.  I think Mitchell has taken Booker's slot.   Klay and KD getting back from gimpiness.  I'm not excited about Oladipo.

Really if both Kawhi and PG play, you don't really need Tatum.  But he's a switchable 2-way guy and should be rewarded for being there this Summer.

[facilitatorn]

Joe Johnson is going to camp w Detroit and competing with Christian Wood for the 15th spot. If Johnson puts Wood on the waiver wire (50-50, imo), we should either cut Reggie or move Dot to make room and snatch him up. He’s a play fast, spread the floor, and protect the rim guy with good size who is a good athlete for his size. He’s about the same age as Trier.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/woodch01.html

I’d rather dump Bullock than flip Dotson for a pick and it doesn’t take a partner.

Mitch Portis Wood
Randle Taj Ignas
Morris Knox Dotson
Barrett Trier Ellington
Payton DSJ  Frank

That seems more like an 82 game roster free of major holes.

[kiidcarter8]

Harris had a nice tournament, actually

[facilitatorn]

Harris had a nice tournament, actually

Sure, as much as Jimmer had a nice NBA career.

[bodiddley]

Harris was the only US player who consistently made 3's (until the last game).  And these are short int'l 3's, which even I make regularly.

But teams went at Harris on D all the time.
They either put him in PnR's, or made him chase his man off screens.
Watch highlights and you'll see how often it's Harris' man scoring.
Harris made a legit effort but his D isn't good, he isn't quick, and he fouled too much trying to play D.  He also looked chunky, which didn't help his speed any.

Teams also tried posting Kemba, but he really manned up, poking away dribbles, not giving up position, just fighting his a** off.  I was impressed by his tenacity.  After the first 2 or 3 games, the post-up-short-Kemba was no longer much used.  So it was go-at-Joe.  And feed a Big inside especially when US went to smallball.

One problem with being known as a weak defender is then you get attacked more and you have to play more defense.  I kind of felt bad for Harris.  i'd be interested to see stats  when Harris was the primary defender -- how many times compared to other defenders and the scoring rate.

Mitchell played fairly iffy D, mostly of the unaware variety.  But he's athletic and teams didn't go at him.  Teams seemed to try to avoid Smart, except when he was defending a C down low.

I'd reward Kemba, Mitchell, Smart, Tatum and Jaylen with Olympic spots, just move all of them to the bench.