Olympic Basketball Tournament Mega Thread

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

good first half, poor second half for Mario.

 

young player stuff.

[Jay Magic 1,240]

good first half, poor second half for Mario.

 

young player stuff.

 

yeah. shame they do not use him properly either.

 

it is what it is.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

yeah. shame they do not use him properly either.

 

it is what it is.

 

eh, im done complaining about the Croatian philosophy of giving bogdanovic all of the perimeter touches and saric all of the post touches. when Mario gets touches good things happen about 80-90% of the time. you deal with the dumb plays here and there because he's shooting 64% from three this tournament.

 

but no, lets give Krunoslav Simon 26 minutes and 10 shots per game. his 28% shooting is for sure the reason Croatia is winning.

[Odin 137]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/team-usa-isnt-getting-better-world-basketball-is-getting-worse/

 

Fivethirtyeight is arguing that international basketball is getting worse. I think this may be somewhat true- but the idea that international basketball has peaked, or that US basketball has stagnated seems either dishonest or willfully ignoring a bigger picture.

 

I will ignore the US team, as they obviously are not full of the absolute top talent of the league this year (though the players who are on the team are no smucks), but there are two reasons why other international teams seem to be sliding:

 

1. the stars that allowed teams to challenge the US are getting older- Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, and Manu are all older and they helped their teams challenge the US. While still good, they are on the decline.

 

2. There has been an influx of young international talent into the NBA in recent years. Yet many of these players are still young, having not yet hit their primes. These players are not yet ready to challenge the US team.

 

I would not be surprised if the US continues to be the best team, but the level of international competition rises as players like Mario, Wiggins, Simmons, and Porzingis continue to improve and become capable of lifting up their international teams.

[Odin 137]

eh, im done complaining about the Croatian philosophy of giving bogdanovic all of the perimeter touches and saric all of the post touches. when Mario gets touches good things happen about 80-90% of the time. you deal with the dumb plays here and there because he's shooting 64% from three this tournament.

 

but no, lets give Krunoslav Simon 26 minutes and 10 shots per game. his 28% shooting is for sure the reason Croatia is winning.

 

They have won using that method, so I doubt they change. Saric has been given a chance to shoot his way out of bad percentages though and both he and bogdanovic turned over the ball horridly this game so it doesn't make great sense. This croatia team should be scary in a couple of years though, as long as they get a smarter coach. Saric, Mario, Bender, and Bogdanovic should be good.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Croatia plays in 3 hours

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Mario starting again

 

Saric finally hit a three

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Mario with a nice drive to the basket and then a three in transition.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

It's starting to feel personal. Hezonja takes two shots within the offense and gets benched 3 minutes in to the second half.

 

Simon is allowed to jack up shots with impunity

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Hey they put Mario back in with 2 minutes left

[fan for too long 2 531]

Does skiles coach Croatia? Lol. Impressive dunk attempt by Mario at the end. And since when did bogdanovic become mj.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Croatia plays again in 12 hours.