FIBA World Cup [USA vs. TUR: 9/3, 8:30 AM EST (ESPN+)]

[Fierce1]

terrible just terrible

the good

Tatum would have made a difference

the bad

Smart, Brown keep showing lack of ability to come through in tough situations against good teams

Haven't seen enough of Walker to make this judgement (but he wasn't good vs France). He doesn't have favorable stats to be considered a very good 4th quarter player


Would have been a big boost for the Celtics players to come home with a gold medal

Just look at what Smart and Brown did in Game 7 of the 2018 east finals.

Smart went 1-10 and Brown went 5-18 in FGs.

Just look at the many games Smart and Brown have won for us in close minutes. For example, Brown single-handedly shifted the game against Greece in USA's favor.

Also, Brown led us to multiple wins in the 2018 playoffs. Does one bad game cancel all of those great games? Smart is well-known as a playmaker who makes winning plays.

Clearly both guys struggled at the end, but so did Mitchell and Walker and Middleton and Barnes. Should we consign all of them to "not winning basketball players."

Sheesh, these negative narratives are a bit much.

It's not being negative.

I'm not saying Brown is bad or he's not a good player.
What I keep repeating that many here don't get is I don't see Brown as a superstar.
According to reports, if you don't believe me, Jaylen is a complementary player, not a star player.

So why is that a big deal to me?

Because I think the Celts are better off packaging Smart and Brown for a player like Bradley Beal.

The fit would be horrible lol. I'd rather we use that type of package for a guy like KAT.

I totally agree with you about KAT.

But the Wolves would just laugh at that offer.

I mean come on, KAT is a generational player like Anthony Davis.

You can always find guys like Smart and Brown in the top 10 of the lottery every year.

[hpantazo]

Team USA's problem was lack of quality big men. We need AD and Drummond on the Olympics squad, not gus like Plumlee and Lopez.

Unfortunately many of the current top big men in the NBA are foreign players.

[Somebody]

terrible just terrible

the good

Tatum would have made a difference

the bad

Smart, Brown keep showing lack of ability to come through in tough situations against good teams

Haven't seen enough of Walker to make this judgement (but he wasn't good vs France). He doesn't have favorable stats to be considered a very good 4th quarter player


Would have been a big boost for the Celtics players to come home with a gold medal

Just look at what Smart and Brown did in Game 7 of the 2018 east finals.

Smart went 1-10 and Brown went 5-18 in FGs.

Just look at the many games Smart and Brown have won for us in close minutes. For example, Brown single-handedly shifted the game against Greece in USA's favor.

Also, Brown led us to multiple wins in the 2018 playoffs. Does one bad game cancel all of those great games? Smart is well-known as a playmaker who makes winning plays.

Clearly both guys struggled at the end, but so did Mitchell and Walker and Middleton and Barnes. Should we consign all of them to "not winning basketball players."

Sheesh, these negative narratives are a bit much.

It's not being negative.

I'm not saying Brown is bad or he's not a good player.
What I keep repeating that many here don't get is I don't see Brown as a superstar.
According to reports, if you don't believe me, Jaylen is a complementary player, not a star player.

So why is that a big deal to me?

Because I think the Celts are better off packaging Smart and Brown for a player like Bradley Beal.

The fit would be horrible lol. I'd rather we use that type of package for a guy like KAT.

I totally agree with you about KAT.

But the Wolves would just laugh at that offer.

I mean come on, KAT is a generational player like Anthony Davis.

You can always find guys like Smart and Brown in the top 10 of the lottery every year.

Come on it's not like the Pelicans got a generational talent in return for AD.

[Somebody]

Team USA's problem was lack of quality big men. We need AD and Drummond on the Olympics squad, not gus like Plumlee and Lopez.

Unfortunately many of the current top big men in the NBA are foreign players.

I mean a guy like Dedmon would be infinitely better than Lopez and Plumlee.

[Fafnir]

Lopez looking so bad just reminds you that the Bucks were really a perfect fit for him to shine last season.

[Fierce1]

terrible just terrible

the good

Tatum would have made a difference

the bad

Smart, Brown keep showing lack of ability to come through in tough situations against good teams

Haven't seen enough of Walker to make this judgement (but he wasn't good vs France). He doesn't have favorable stats to be considered a very good 4th quarter player


Would have been a big boost for the Celtics players to come home with a gold medal

Just look at what Smart and Brown did in Game 7 of the 2018 east finals.

Smart went 1-10 and Brown went 5-18 in FGs.

Just look at the many games Smart and Brown have won for us in close minutes. For example, Brown single-handedly shifted the game against Greece in USA's favor.

Also, Brown led us to multiple wins in the 2018 playoffs. Does one bad game cancel all of those great games? Smart is well-known as a playmaker who makes winning plays.

Clearly both guys struggled at the end, but so did Mitchell and Walker and Middleton and Barnes. Should we consign all of them to "not winning basketball players."

Sheesh, these negative narratives are a bit much.

It's not being negative.

I'm not saying Brown is bad or he's not a good player.
What I keep repeating that many here don't get is I don't see Brown as a superstar.
According to reports, if you don't believe me, Jaylen is a complementary player, not a star player.

So why is that a big deal to me?

Because I think the Celts are better off packaging Smart and Brown for a player like Bradley Beal.

The fit would be horrible lol. I'd rather we use that type of package for a guy like KAT.

I totally agree with you about KAT.

But the Wolves would just laugh at that offer.

I mean come on, KAT is a generational player like Anthony Davis.

You can always find guys like Smart and Brown in the top 10 of the lottery every year.

Come on it's not like the Pelicans got a generational talent in return for AD.

When you're trading a generational talent, there's no way you get equal value.

But getting 7 potential 1st rounders for AD is the closest thing to getting equal value.

[Adelaide Celt]

Argentina v France

Australia v Spain

Thoughts, predictions?

We owe Spain one for the Rio Olympics...

[saltlover]

Argentina v France

Australia v Spain

Thoughts, predictions?

We owe Spain one for the Rio Olympics...

I expect Spain vs. France in the finals, with a win for Spain, but I’m rooting for Scola and Argentina.

[MichiganAdam]

Why did the three USA big men only play 16 minutes of the 40 in the game, meanwhile Gobert killed them. I didn't see it. But could they have been worse than letting joe Harris guard Gobert?  Seems weird to me.

[saltlover]

Why did the three USA big men only play 16 minutes of the 40 in the game, meanwhile Gobert killed them. I didn't see it. But could they have been worse than letting joe Harris guard Gobert?  Seems weird to me.

Turner got into foul trouble which limited him.  I’m not sure about Plumlee and Lopez.  If you weren’t going to use them in this game, you shouldn’t have brought them at all.

[Fierce1]

Why did the three USA big men only play 16 minutes of the 40 in the game, meanwhile Gobert killed them. I didn't see it. But could they have been worse than letting joe Harris guard Gobert?  Seems weird to me.

Turner got into foul trouble which limited him.  I’m not sure about Plumlee and Lopez.  If you weren’t going to use them in this game, you shouldn’t have brought them at all.

Turner got in foul trouble early, but in the 4th qtr., Turner still only had 3 fouls.

It's Pop that wanted to finish the game using small ball.

Going small worked early in the 4th as USA was able to lead by 7 points with 7 minutes remaining.
But in crunch time, France's guards started attacking the basket because USA had no rim protection.

Pop should have put Turner back in when USA still had the lead for rim protection.

[Androslav]

It will be interesting to see if USA can beat Serbia today.
Serbia has incentive to win. If I am right they need to be 5th in order to secure the Olympics.

Funny, since 4 days ago we thought this would be WC finals.

[Celtics4ever]

Why did the three USA big men only play 16 minutes of the 40 in the game, meanwhile Gobert killed them. I didn't see it. But could they have been worse than letting joe Harris guard Gobert?  Seems weird to me.

Sounds like he was auditioning for our coaching job or channeling Brad Stevens to me.   Small ball is a gimmick and some times it can change the pace of games and give you a boost but when it is relied on as the sole method it exposes a team and can be exploited by the opposition.

[Somebody]

Why did the three USA big men only play 16 minutes of the 40 in the game, meanwhile Gobert killed them. I didn't see it. But could they have been worse than letting joe Harris guard Gobert?  Seems weird to me.

Sounds like he was auditioning for our coaching job or channeling Brad Stevens to me.   Small ball is a gimmick and some times it can change the pace of games and give you a boost but when it is relied on as the sole method it exposes a team and can be exploited by the opposition.

The latter sounds more reasonable, Pop iirc is a huge fan of Stevens' coaching. This sucks because if Pop played the style of play he started with at the beginning of the Spurs dynasty, the US would've probably won.

[Rikibellevie]

It will be interesting to see if USA can beat Serbia today.
Serbia has incentive to win. If I am right they need to be 5th in order to secure the Olympics.

Funny, since 4 days ago we thought this would be WC finals.

No, there is only spots two for european teams. They have to pass by the qualifying tournament (which is not agood thing because it disturb the preparation for Olympics (France lost a lot of energy 4 years ago to win this tournament)