USA Basketball introduced the team for Rio yesterday.
I don't know what you guys think, but this isn't a "Dream Team". There are so many guys missing that it's not even funny anymore. LeBron wants to rest, Curry wants to rest, Westbrook says "the decision wasn't easy", same argument for Harden. Kawhi nowhere to be found, Aldridge is hurt, Davis is getting his knee fixed, Griffin's quad is an issue, Paul's hand is still not healed, Lillard has a foot injury and Wall's knee isn't 100%. What about Gordon Hayward or Andre Drummond?
Selected for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, which is seeking a third consecutive Olympic title, were: Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks/Syracuse); Harrison Barnes (Golden State Warriors/North Carolina); Jimmy Butler (Chicago Bulls/Marquette); DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings/Kentucky); DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors/USC); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder/Texas); Paul George (Indiana Pacers/Fresno State); Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors/Michigan State); Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers/Duke); DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers/Texas A&M); Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors/Villanova); and Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors/Washington State).
It almost looks like the most notable players on this team are Melo and Durant.
If Thompson plays in his mid-season form and Draymond keeps his hands away from other dudes' areas those two should be pretty good. They were on fire during the regular season.
It's not a bad roster, but Harrison Barnes really doesn't belong. I can think of much better wings that are available (I'd even take Rudy Gay over him). It's still a roster that will dump on everyone they face.
Also, I can't wait to see the spectacle that is Draymond Green and Boogie Cousins as your frontcourt. Draymond setting illegal screens and doling out nut-shots everywhere and Boogie being a psycho belligerent toward basically everyone makes for some good entertainment.
Draymond + Boogie = come at me, bro
You think? Spain has a pretty good roster, too, and it wouldn't be the first time that Spain can be a serious contender for the Gold
Everyone hypes up Spain, but it's an aging roster at this point. They couldn't even get past France in the quarterfinals of the FIBA 2014 tournament (that's actually a sneaky dark horse team with Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Nicholas Batum, Rudy Gobert, etc). Spain's best chances to beat Team USA were in 2008 and 2012, and they came fairly close both times, but Kobe single-handedly shut them down in '08 and in '12, KD dropped 30 on them to go along with some clutch buckets from CP3 and LeBron in the final minutes. KD is still around and there really is nobody on Spain's roster who can guard him (maybe Rudy Fernandez in short spurts, but KD would smoke him if he has to guard him the entire game). Marc Gasol is still playing well, but both Boogie and DeAndre Jordan can check him. Pau is old now, Ricky Rubio still can't shoot, and Serge Ibaka will take a nut-shot from Draymond. Yeah, I think Team USA has got this.
all in all i'm excited with this roster, everyone belongs here except harrison barnes ... I am curious to see how jimmy butler will behave on the olympics trip considering the conflicts he's had with his own team.
This team is garbage. The Dream Team would beat these guys by 40. I think it's too bad that alot of young players have no sense of national pride and would rather "rest" than represent the country.
To be fair, I wouldn't want to go to Brazil right now. Zika alone is scary stuff.
That's a good point. I forgot about that.
what young players are you referring to? Other than Harden and Westbrook I think most young players who can play and are as good/better than this team are represented.
p.s. calling a team that consists of 90%+ NBA all-stars "garbage" is a bit much, isn't it?
By young players, I meant current generation of players.
To me, this is the All NBA B/C Team, I just would've like to see a better roster.
Just looking forward to Jordan Spieth kicking ass on the Rio golf courses.
Even with this squad we are pretty much a lock for gold.
Would like to see more competition by only allowing freshman/sophomores to participate - we would get to see what the young talent could do if they were given the reins.
Yeah, USA should be fine barring a complete and total meltdown at 1/14 for Gold.
The rest of the world is really weak this year.
Seeing Barnes on this team is definitely a joke, the guy wasn't even an All-Star and he played terribly in the Finals. I would've liked to see more young players on this team (Booker,LaVine, Wiggins), but odds are USA will still take gold in Rio.
Wiggins is Canadian.
Thats like being from Puerto Rico, he will play with us if we ask.
(Just kidding Canada)
Shit, I missed that. Thanks for the correction.
we're still going to run train
This team definitely isn't the NBA's best, but it's more than enough to blow out the rest of the competition. Not worried about Spain, as their roster is super old. This team has tons of shooting (KD, Klay, Paul George, Kyrie Irving) and elite defenders (George, Klay, Draymond, DeAndre, and Butler). Our big guys Jordan and Cousins will overpower international bigs. We can go small if needed or we can just destroy teams with size. I hate the Warriors, but those guys do know how to move the basketball incredibly well. With 4 legitimate guys on the roster with rings (Kyrie, Klay, Draymond, Barnes), there will be plenty of winning basketball being played and not the terrible basketball that cost us the 04 gold medal.
Boogie gonna Boogie
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