2016 Olympic Power Rankings

[usagre]

everyone thinks Green will start but I would put some money on Cousins starting over him and Green either being the starting 4 or the backup 4.

I am sure Cousins will start but I would bet my house that Green gets more minutes than him. Historically nba USA centers never get even 20 minutes per game dating back to 1992.
Green is gonna get a lot of minutes at the 4 and 5 positions.

[unnamed]

Forget it man.Noone will stop USA's domination.Bad news for the rest of the wolrd but the times of USA sending teams led by Shawn Marion,Richard Jefferson or the corpse of Reggie Miller are long gone and arent coming back.The moment USA understood the importance of 3 point play it was game over for the rest of the world..Cant wait to see euro teams against a line up of Irving-Klay-George-Durant-Green..it's gonna be fun.

I agree. USA is nearly twice as better then 2nd best team in this group - France. Difference between Serbia and France is not big, excluding Ajinca. Difference between Serbia and Australia is larger then France and Serbia. I did some statistics and I gotten following strength ratio:

1, USA
2. France (1.89x weaker then USA)
3. Serbia (1.02x weaker then France)
4. Australia (1.19x weaker then Serbia)

[madmax]

Forget it man.Noone will stop USA's domination.Bad news for the rest of the wolrd but the times of USA sending teams led by Shawn Marion,Richard Jefferson or the corpse of Reggie Miller are long gone and arent coming back.The moment USA understood the importance of 3 point play it was game over for the rest of the world..Cant wait to see euro teams against a line up of Irving-Klay-George-Durant-Green..it's gonna be fun.

on a same note, 2004 and 2006 US teams had players like Iverson, Duncan, Wade, Anthony and LBJ on their roster and still lost...I think the main difference here is the coaching change, not the players' selection. If US team still had NBA coach leading them, their chances of falling short would increase dramatically

[G&B]

Man, it seems like you just learn basics of mathematics and are trying to use it to calculate result in basketball in different tournaments... OG is stronger when EC no doubt, you forgot how our group looked in EC? There are only 12 teams in OG and tournament is shorter and much more intense. There is no time to use the same tactic we used in EC "lets calculate and reach our peak in 1/4". Every game is live or die and in our death group you have to be at peak from the first game.

Do you think, that about it dont know Kazlauskas and his team?
Before the EC has been the physical shape and exercise load, as required strained longer match schedule, now practically already on Monday will begin command shape and combinations of harmonization of improvement.

[Steadysoul]

Forget it man.Noone will stop USA's domination.Bad news for the rest of the wolrd but the times of USA sending teams led by Shawn Marion,Richard Jefferson or the corpse of Reggie Miller are long gone and arent coming back.The moment USA understood the importance of 3 point play it was game over for the rest of the world..Cant wait to see euro teams against a line up of Irving-Klay-George-Durant-Green..it's gonna be fun.

everyone thinks Green will start but I would put some money on Cousins starting over him and Green either being the starting 4 or the backup 4.

[Ashtrusis_dantis]

Well, we now have a more complete team than the silvery EC 2013 and EC-2015 and especially the 2014 CM. Essentially, the EC is still above the level of the OG and especially CM, since the EC is not a command tourists. So OG and CM contribute one extra class team, the other is below the class, such as Venezuela is South America's champion, but is it better than OG unpublished Greece, Italy?

So bronze medals as EC vice-champion of the last two would be minimum OG.

Man, it seems like you just learn basics of mathematics and are trying to use it to calculate result in basketball in different tournaments... OG is stronger when EC no doubt, you forgot how our group looked in EC? There are only 12 teams in OG and tournament is shorter and much more intense. There is no time to use the same tactic we used in EC "lets calculate and reach our peak in 1/4". Every game is live or die and in our death group you have to be at peak from the first game.

[G&B]

What? You mean if this team would not win medals it will be a failure? I don't think so. There are 8 teams who can win medals, 7 of them are almost the same level and there are only 3 medals (ok, most realistically 2), so not wining a medal will not be a disaster. Not getting out of a group would be a disaster.

Well, we now have a more complete team than the silvery EC 2013 and EC-2015 and especially the 2014 CM. Essentially, the EC is still above the level of the OG and especially CM, since the EC is not a command tourists. So OG and CM contribute one extra class team, the other is below the class, such as Venezuela is South America's champion, but is it better than OG unpublished Greece, Italy?

So bronze medals as EC vice-champion of the last two would be minimum OG.

[Ashtrusis_dantis]

And if this team medals disaster it will be a failure.

What? You mean if this team will not win medals it will be a failure? I don't think so. There are 8 teams who can win medals, 7 of them are almost the same level and there are only 3 medals (ok, most realistically 2), so not wining a medal will not be a disaster. Not getting out of a group would be a disaster.

[Jon_Koncak]

At least the USA is going to have some tough opponents as of the QF as well as in the group phase. In the last two international tournaments they played some good teams starting the semi's.

I will be supporting every team who plays against the USA. The last time they lost was a decade ago already. Only France, Serbia and Spain stand a chance in beating them.

Forget it man.Noone will stop USA's domination.Bad news for the rest of the wolrd but the times of USA sending teams led by Shawn Marion,Richard Jefferson or the corpse of Reggie Miller are long gone and arent coming back.The moment USA understood the importance of 3 point play it was game over for the rest of the world..Cant wait to see euro teams against a line up of Irving-Klay-George-Durant-Green..it's gonna be fun.

[G&B]

I also believe that everything will be fine, although Motiejunas loss is a great loss, but I believe that Kazlauskas prepare 99% of the remaining players.

And if this team medals disaster it will be a failure.

[Ashtrusis_dantis]

I see bitching started again and again there will be the same situation - other fans will cry how terrible Lithuanian fans are, but it won't be us who after win or loss of other teams will come to discussions of other teams to tell that they are not that good, they were just lucky and so on, and so on... Ou no, that will be some Turkish, some Serbian, some Russian and few other guys who will come to our discussion (even if we were not playing their team) to tell all that and + to tell us what a terrible fans we are...

Ok, back to rating:

1.USA (there is no question about it)

2. Spain, France, Serbia, Lithuania. In that particular order. Difference is small and anyone can beat anyone at particular day, but chances of victory would be like Spain-France 55-45, Spain-Serbia 60-40, Spain-Lithuania 65-35. You get the idea.

3. Croatia, Brasil, Argentina. Croatia looked good and i'm in big doubt. I wanted to put Croatia in second group, didn't put in only because they brake in elimination round for last decade. But I wouldn't be surprised if that would be their tournament. Brasil next because I don't think home walls is such a factor, it can be a distraction and additional pressure (call it a scar of EC2011 ). Argentina is the third because they are really old... And their old stars don't have strong supporting crew.

4. Venezuela, Nigeria, China.

I am very surprised people think Lithuania will have weaker team when in EC2015. Are you serious? Valanciunas improved hugely, Kuzminskas improved hugely, Kalnietis looks much much better compared to the last year, Jankunas had a great season and looks at his peak, Maciulis is simply Maciulis, finally we have some young PG/SG/SF (Marius Grigonis, Edgaras Ulanovas) who has size, spead and strength to guard their oponents and give 10-15 min. rest to main players - Kalnietis was barely walking last year in the semifinal and final playing all tournament 35 min. per game and we are worse? Someone is not thinking. And all that cry about friendly games... Is it a joke? Seibutis didn't look good last year in friendlies, but was saving our asses against Serbia with his one on one game, Domantas Sabonis looked great in friendlies last year so what? Who remembers Vasiliauskas who looked fantastic in friendly games? The way how players spend their season is much better indicator. We have much more balanced team and we are worse? Ok believe what you want.

[usagre]

At least the USA is going to have some tough opponents as of the QF as well as in the group phase. In the last two international tournaments they played some good teams starting the semi's.

I will be supporting every team who plays against the USA. The last time they lost was a decade ago already. Only France, Serbia and Spain stand a chance in beating them.

Not true. 2014 was weak competition until the semis. But 2012 they played France, Argentina and Lithuania in Preliminary group play. And the Lithuania game was tougher and closer than the final vs Spain.

[Victorious]

At least the USA is going to have some tough opponents as of the QF as well as in the group phase. In the last two international tournaments they played some good teams starting the semi's.

I will be supporting every team who plays against the USA. The last time they lost was a decade ago already. Only France, Serbia and Spain stand a chance in beating them.

[SashKX]

Do you think Croatia and/or Serbia can get a medal? I hope so as I love the jugobasket.

For Serbia it depends how groups go. There's also a question mark about Bjelica still, who will most likely play, but you never know. So assuming he's there and if 2nd place is secured somehow, which is possible, then whoever is 3rd from group B can definitely be defeated. After that it's semis against Spain most likely, or maybe France, either of which can be won as well, I'd give it 50% chance, and there's the medal. Having 3rd place in group most likely means facing USA in semis, and being 4th most likely means Spain in quarter finals, so chances drop significantly. You never know though, no one can tell you how will Spain place in group B, knowing how slow they usually start. Also if Serbia loses semis, I wouldn't bet on that team in bronze medal game, they almost never fight for 3rd place.

For Croatia it doesn't look good. They are highly unlikely to make it to top of group B, and will in any case most likely have to face one of the big 3 from group A in quarter finals, which is a game they are almost sure to lose.

[cigarafterten2016]

Do you think Croatia and/or Serbia can get a medal? I hope so as I love the jugobasket.