Yeah it would not shock me if Lithuania won. As I said, I could see everyone from Group B advancing. Spain has a 10-11 man rotation and no one has played more than 23 minutes which is pretty crazy. As you mentioned they also naturalized Lorenzo Brown which actually upset Rudy Fernandez.
Yeah, I mean, Rudy is probably the best Spanish player in history whose last name isnât Gasol, but heâs also 37, and hasnât been a particularly good European player in years. His prime is better than Brown, but hard to say heâs a better player right now.
Peripherally - I think the NBA not finding a way to make his career work is a serious missed opportunity by Portland - I think he was definitely a low-tier All-Star caliber player.
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Spain has by far the best national team infrastructure, and can make up for their lack of current âstar powerâ
Yeah, I think lots of these countries are âclosing the gapâ with the US so to speak (at this point, we basically need to send our A team, the B teams wonât cut it anymore) due to commitment to the enterprise (roster continuity basically for their entire career, playing together annually, etc) that the US simply doesnât muster (throwing together a questionably constructed hodge-podge 45 days out). Like, there has not been a whisper of intrigue about whether Giannis or Jokic would be playing for their country at Eurobasket, the way every major tournament elicits questions of âwill ____ play???â in the US.
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I checked the Eurobasket website which led me to click on the ânational teamsâ of . . . basically all the countries in the world. For the United States ânational teamâ there were 24 players listed for the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 roster. I recognized about five players. Thatâs not the B team - thatâs the E team. I suppose they gather a higher caliber of player for the Olympics and FIBA World Championships, but that was surprising.
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Maybe they should find Bo Cruz and play him (and yes, Iâm aware that the actor is on that team).
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Talent wise thereâs a massive gap still. But there are other high end players(maybe the 3 best players for the next 6-7 years are all European) but depth isnât close. Like you said though, the only thing keeping it close is that US has no team infrastructure so we basically send a rotating all star team every couple years while these players in other countries have played together for years.
I would argue the US just sent a B team and won last year
One of the solutions is to send the core of a top NBA team that are mostly made of US players, and patch it with players from other teams if necessary. This yearâs Warriors or Celtics would serve the purpose well.
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Yeah qualifiers we send a sub-G-Legaue quality team
For world championships we canât always muster our best either - we just finished 7th in 2021.
Obviously, our biggest problem is commitment.
Which on the one hand I totally understand. These guys make their money and reputation in the NBA while growing up completely indifferent toward international competitions. This isnât hockey, where national team events are still a big deal and have been forever.
On the other hand, when you see guys like Jokic, Giannis, Doncic and Gobert all playing EuroBasket while so many US players are sitting out NBA games for load management reasons it is mildly annoying. I get it and canât say I would be motivated to play if I were Lebron, KD, etc.
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Franz had a 14/5 in a win over Montenegro to advance to the quarterfinals, Schröeder finally played a good game.
Ignas has 5 right now as Lithuania is pulling away from Spain, thanks to Mindaugas Kuzminskas doing a Kevin Durant
I heard Franz injured his ankle
Rudy Fernandez trying to make me declaring him done look stupid.
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Didnât see the game, but google has a quote describing a âpretty bad sprainâ
Big and-one driving layup from Iggy
Has all of the Dennis Schröder slander been based solely on box scores? 
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No! I watched most of the other games! Also watched him play hundreds of NBA games so Iâm familiar with the ouerve
I watched their games vs France, Lithuania, and Slovenia. He is talented, he shoots way too much (and poorly)
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Iâm not a huge fan of his game or anything, I just think heâs one of the only guys on the roster that can do anything with the ball. Itâs one thing to âshoot way too muchâ on an NBA roster, but he needs to play that role for Germany.
Just didnât think he was playing âabominable gamesâ when I watched Germany play.
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I wish he wouldnât shoot double digit threes off the dribble early in the shot clock, which he did a few times.
The game I called âabominableâ was the French game, and Iâll stand by that - he took 14 shots to take 11 points and had 5 assists to 5 turnovers.
He hasnât shot well until today, but his facilitating game has definitely improved.
I think Lö has looked ok with the ball? But I admittedly know nothing about him.
Ignas go ahead three, 35 secs remain
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