FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014

[Eddie20]

I personally have never followed international basketball but have loved watching this tournament. These guys are all at different levels of their careers some are teenagers just starting out like exum others are on their figurative last legs as professionals playing for pride in their county (Santiago for PR). It has been fun to watch. The future is looking very bright with Australia and Canada both looking really good in the next few years. Add that the the established Euro powers and the olympics and FIBA will be alot of fun to watch. Greece will also be interesting as Giannis is joined by his brother(s) in the future . Could see the day where 3 brothers Thanasis (22),Giannis (19), Kostas (16) are all playing for greece.

You must not like defense.   I think the D is the worst part and what separates us from them.

Still it is basketball and it fills a gap where there is no basketball so I will take it.

So what happened when Argentina won the gold? I would have to say Spain is the favorite this year.

I think that the beautiful part of watching FIBA plays is that there are no superstar calls. This doesn't mean that I think the officiating is good, but it's consistently poor and doesn't favor stars.

Some of these foreign teams also don't have their better players. How would France look if they added Noah and Parker to a team that already includes NBA players Batum, Diaw, Fournier, and Gobbert?

[Celtics4ever]

Spain has good bigs but isn't their PG Rubio?   I do not see their wings or guards being able to stop us.   They can't play the Gasol Brothers and Ibaka at the same time with out giving up some serious footspeed at some position.

Some of these foreign teams also don't have their better players. How would France look if they added Noah and Parker to a team that already includes NBA players Batum, Diaw, Fournier, and Gobbert?

Not as good as the USA with Durant, James, Aldridge, Love and Melo.  Get real.  The USA team this year is not real strong and Spain has a chance but I think Rubio will get owned on D.

[Vox_Populi]

I think this tournament can also confirm that Irving and Harden's issues on defense aren't just due to a lack of trying, they're also just genuinely clueless.

[Roy H.]

I think this tournament can also confirm that Irving and Harden's issues on defense aren't just due to a lack of trying, they're also just genuinely clueless.

I'm confused by this. Kyrie's defense in the tournament so far has been fantastic. He makes the occasional mistake in the pick-and-roll, but who doesn't?  His man-defense has been borderline lockdown, and he's creating a ton of turnovers.

[Eddie20]

I think this tournament can also confirm that Irving and Harden's issues on defense aren't just due to a lack of trying, they're also just genuinely clueless.

They've both been good actually.

[Eddie20]

Spain has good bigs but isn't their PG Rubio?   I do not see their wings or guards being able to stop us.   They can't play the Gasol Brothers and Ibaka at the same time with out giving up some serious footspeed at some position.

Some of these foreign teams also don't have their better players. How would France look if they added Noah and Parker to a team that already includes NBA players Batum, Diaw, Fournier, and Gobbert?

Not as good as the USA with Durant, James, Aldridge, Love and Melo.  Get real.  The USA team this year is not real strong and Spain has a chance but I think Rubio will get owned on D.

Have you seen Spain play this summer? I ask because of the way you described them. Their PG's are Rubio, Calderon, and Sergio Rodriguez (who has vastly improved since he was in the NBA). They play Calderon a lot at the 2 guard and frequently run a 2 PG backcourt. Their wings are Fernandez, JC Navarro, and Lull, which are all really good shooters. They rely on ball movement (part of the beauty of international play), size, and great perimeter shooting. Similar in style, albeit with more overall talent, then the Argentina and Greek teams that beat the USA.

You mentioned that USA was missing key players, but look at the pool they have to work with. They have a gluttony of talent so when a player goes down or withdraws they can easily be replaced by a host of players. When players such as Ginobili, Dirk, Noah, Parker, etc. are missing from their team the production lost is enormous.

Rubio owned on D? Rubio is actually a very good defender, especially in the passing lanes. His weakness has always been shooting, despite his shooting fundamentals being solid. Still, he has shown a much improved mid-range jumper this summer.

[Vox_Populi]

I think this tournament can also confirm that Irving and Harden's issues on defense aren't just due to a lack of trying, they're also just genuinely clueless.

I'm confused by this. Kyrie's defense in the tournament so far has been fantastic. He makes the occasional mistake in the pick-and-roll, but who doesn't?  His man-defense has been borderline lockdown, and he's creating a ton of turnovers.

Yeah, but every Team USA's perimeter defense has been nearly lockdown. I bet Lillard would be looking good against some of the opponents' guards. None of the other team's players are anywhere close to them athletically which makes pressure defense considerably easier. Their footwork is too quick and the majority don't have the handles to throw them off. Even Curry, the least physically gifted guard, has almost never been beaten in an isolation situation.

What I'm looking for is the same dumb stuff they did in the regular season. Run Kyrie or Harden through two or more pick and rolls and they're often goners. Swing the ball quickly and one of the them will panic double and leave a 3 point shooter open. Put them on the strong side and they'll be caught ball-watching as their defender jogs to the weak side. Run their guy through screens and they'll lose them. Harden was especially susceptible to this in the exhibition games, he'd be in a no man's land. This is what I mean by being clueless, they just don't seem to know what's going on too often. They can usually just recover.

Most of these teams don't have the type of individual talent to create something, so they run a more team oriented offense. I'm not that impressed at how well they force turnovers against Maksym Pustozvonov. I will say that I'm not trying to undermine their effort or the talent of some of these European teams, but I'm seeing they really just get lost.

[CelticBalla32]

For anyone interested, check out my recap of today's USA vs. Mexico Round of 16 opener.

GAME RECAP --- USA vs. MEXICO

[Celtics4ever]

Have you seen Spain play this summer? I ask because of the way you described them. Their PG's are Rubio, Calderon, and Sergio Rodriguez

I still think that our guards will destroy them.  Their bigs are formidable at the 4 and 5.   But 1-3 we can get to them and have an advantage.    Rubio, Calderon and Rodriguez won't be able to stop our guards.    I think they will be helped by it being in Barcelona.   But across the board their talent might be great against FIBA.   Davis is as good as any big they have.   Faried will have trouble with whomever he is guarding because of their size.   But I think our wings and guards are way better than Calderon, Rodriguez and Rubio.   Two of these guys are fringe starters in the NBA.   Rubio is flashy but not very productive.  Calderon is gritty and can shoot but is not on par with our guards.

We will see.   Go USA.

[Eddie20]

Have you seen Spain play this summer? I ask because of the way you described them. Their PG's are Rubio, Calderon, and Sergio Rodriguez

I still think that our guards will destroy them.  Their bigs are formidable at the 4 and 5.   But 1-3 we can get to them and have an advantage.    Rubio, Calderon and Rodriguez won't be able to stop our guards.    I think they will be helped by it being in Barcelona.   But across the board their talent might be great against FIBA.   Davis is as good as any big they have.   Faried will have trouble with whomever he is guarding because of their size.   But I think our wings and guards are way better than Calderon, Rodriguez and Rubio.   Two of these guys are fringe starters in the NBA.   Rubio is flashy but not very productive.  Calderon is gritty and can shoot but is not on par with our guards.

We will see.   Go USA.

You're mistaking FIBA and NBA in terms of thinking the games transcend equally. The athleticism and ability to create offensively in isolation situations of Team USA is nullified because of the true zone allowed in FIBA and the way they will routinely foul on the slightest break to slow things down. That's why we've seen teams like Puerto Rico and Italy beat team USA by double digits in the past. A team that had Duncan, LeBron, Melo, and Wade against those clubs who only had 1 NBA player on both combined rosters (Arroyo) and the differential was nearly minus 40.


I would love to read this article, but I'm not an insider. Would appreciate it if anyone can point me in the right direction.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11469806/is-spain-fiba-world-cup-favorite-nba

At the conclusion of group play at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, the upsets and excitement of the past week have done nothing to change the overwhelming likelihood that everyone but Spain and the United States are playing for bronze.

In fact, with impressive performances in their first five games, the two favorites have shown that if they do meet in the Sept. 14 final, it will be a historic clash.

Here's a look at both teams' dominant runs from a historical perspective and why the Spaniards not only may be the best-ever non-USA team but also the favorites in the finals.

[mgent]

I think this tournament can also confirm that Irving and Harden's issues on defense aren't just due to a lack of trying, they're also just genuinely clueless.

I'm confused by this. Kyrie's defense in the tournament so far has been fantastic. He makes the occasional mistake in the pick-and-roll, but who doesn't?  His man-defense has been borderline lockdown, and he's creating a ton of turnovers.

Yup.  He hasn't become top 5 defensive PG level like I predicted he would from his preliminary play, but I would have a hard time naming 10 NBA PGs that play better defense than what he's playing right now.

Harden on the other hand has been absolutely typical.

[ederson]

I still think that our guards will destroy them.  Their bigs are formidable at the 4 and 5.   But 1-3 we can get to them and have an advantage.    Rubio, Calderon and Rodriguez won't be able to stop our guards.    I think they will be helped by it being in Barcelona.   But across the board their talent might be great against FIBA.   Davis is as good as any big they have.   Faried will have trouble with whomever he is guarding because of their size.   But I think our wings and guards are way better than Calderon, Rodriguez and Rubio.   Two of these guys are fringe starters in the NBA.   Rubio is flashy but not very productive.  Calderon is gritty and can shoot but is not on par with our guards.

We will see.   Go USA.

The thing is that`s it is a team sport.... And Spain is more of a team than USA. I`m not saying better team and can`t argue with anyone saying that USA will win the gold easily but just comparing the player position by position is not the way to go. 

In every tournament the team USA had better players than the competition but still suffered losses.

[sahara]

Anybody watching ESP-SEN? Ricky and Pau killing it.

[Eddie20]

Anybody watching ESP-SEN? Ricky and Pau killing it.

Spain just plays such beautiful basketball to watch. Such great ball movement, easy to see that many of them have been playing with each other since their early teens.

[Celtics18]

The Croatia/France game was really fun to watch.  I like France as a dark horse candidate to go far in the tournament, even without their two superstars.

Also, I was very impressed with Bogdanovic and Tomic for Croatia.  Does an NBA team have the rights to Tomic?  He should come over.  I know Bogdanovic is coming (man, is it going to be confusing when both Bogdanovices come over as rookies in the same season.