2016 Olympics ( Rio de Janeiro ) - your final thoughts

[Mindozas]

Did you enjoy the tournament ?

Group phase - yes, play-offs the most boring I've seen (1992 onwards)

What do you think about your team/ opponents results and performances ?

Biggest surprise was definitely Australia, dissapointment Brazil

Best players or biggest disappointment ?

MVP - Durant
Surprise - Kalnietis
Dissapointment - Valanciunas

best game of the tournament ?

Brazil-Argentina

was this tournament more interesting for you than London 2012 ?

No

Thoughts... now it's kinda sad. Olympics are over, the basketball tournament didn't meet my expectations, basically cause of play-offs. Sad cause for lot of top stars it was last Olympics and we won't see them again in Tokyo, it won't be the same without them. Sad cause next world wide tournament will be only in 2019

[Shawshank]

I didnt like playoofs stage,alot of blowouts...but generally i liked Olympic games as i always do (since my first experience in 1996 i started watching being kid).So grew up with this generation players like Jasikevicius,Javtokas,Ginobili,Scola,Nowitzky,Gaso l,Navarro,,Parker,Diaw,Bogut,Anderson,Melo and so on ...i feel this early 2000s generation was fantastic for international basketball fans ! Enjoyed every minute and every tournament with them.But this was final cut with last of them,fiba changed format and generation will fully change too without those familiars names that i was growing up for 15 years

What i will remember from this Olympic most? Ginobili tears after 20 years in Argentina uniform...myself my eyes begin to water seeing that live...Great great men and Olympic champion !

Biggest dissapintment? Team home team Brasil...player Valanciunas...

Biggest suprise Croatia/Australia

Best game Argentina-Brasil this game will be for ages that you can watch and watch


Olympics is always best tournament no matter what,because you feel that everybody gives everything...there is no other tournament where player play harder than Olympivs overall,i mean all of them gives their hearts out in Olympics.

[MZT Skopje]

To me most negative thing is that USA won the olympic games playing with out heart in 7 out of 8 matches.

Australia is the biggest positive story only had one bad game and that wos in te semifinal.

Spais wos sleeping during the first 2-3 games and that become expensive bc needed to face USA in the semifinal instead of the final. One of the reasons is the bio biorhythm take some time beofore it seattle.

Serbia with extrem organisation and huge heart won the silver medal with four defeats. The extrem organisation works against all teams in the world part from motivated USA, just a different dimension of basketball nothing can be done when Paul George kills Teodosic in defense.

Basketball needs to become bigger in eurupe and latin america more media cover like football. 99% of Europens can not mention 2 players in the starting line up of CSKA Moscow. Bc poor media cover it become difficult to attract young kids to choose basketall. Europ has very limited registered players.

In USA basketball is a super bigg sport. Everyone play basketball.

[Obina]

IMO World Cup in Spain was better.

My impressions:

Biggest disappointments
France, Batum, Valanciunas

Surprises
Kalnietis and Australia

Best players
Teodosic
Mills
Bogdanovic Bojan
Durant
Gasol

MVP
Kevin Durant

Best games of the tournament
Brazil - Argentina
Spain - Australia

Was this tournament more interesting for you than London 2012
No for me

[Darrell Armstrong]

Group games were more itneresting than final round.The thing i'll remember from this olympics is the disgusting robbery of Australia.I'll never forget it,the refs simply took their bronze and handed it to Spain.What a shameful behavior to a country where bball isnt even top 10 sport but they've been producing solid players for 20 years now.

LOL. Aussies deserved to win, not because they played better, but as reward for their overall contributions for the sport :roll eyes:

I agree it's a shame they eliminated all chances of an Australian win by disqualifying Andersen for purposely elbowing Llull. Oh, wait...

[Bruno Díaz es Batman]

LOL. Aussies deserved to win, not because they played better, but as reward for their overall contributions for the sport :roll eyes:

I agree it's a shame they eliminated all chances of an Australian win by disqualifying Andersen for purposely elbowing Llull. Oh, wait...

He forgot this:

[Victorious]

There is an upside and a downside. The upside is that the US played four relatively close games. Seeing how the game against Spain played out, one can see that the US without a couple of its superstars is now slightly better than the best international team which is in decline.
In all of the four close games the US has played, it is the European teams which played more aesthetically pleasing basketball. The European teams simply couldn't match the athletic abilities of the USA. Especially the rebounds. I can accept that a country of 320 million inhabitants can line up 12 forces of nature, but it's their loss to have lost against the rest of the world on the tactical side.

The downside for basketball is that, the final, which had by far the highest viewer ratings, was a disaster for the sport and international basketball. The fact that Serbia was unable to compete with the US made it look like basketball hadn't developed for the last three decades. Probably the worst final ever since the US started sending NBA players.

[Bad Boys 2882]

There is an upside and a downside. The upside is that the US played four relatively close games. Seeing how the game against Spain played out, one can see that the US without a couple of its superstars is now slightly better than the best international team which is in decline.
In all of the four close games the US has played, it is the European teams which played more aesthetically pleasing basketball. The European teams simply couldn't match the athletic abilities of the USA. Especially the rebounds. I can accept that a country of 320 million inhabitants can line up 12 forces of nature, but it's their loss to have lost against the rest of the world on the tactical side.

The downside for basketball is that, the final, which had by far the highest viewer ratings, was a disaster for the sport and international basketball. The fact that Serbia was unable to compete with the US made it look like basketball hadn't developed for the last three decades. Probably the worst final ever since the US started sending NBA players.

They've had larger margins of victory in the 1994 and 2014 world finals. This is the biggest Olympic final margin since 1992, of course.

[Beez]

There is an upside and a downside. The upside is that the US played four relatively close games. Seeing how the game against Spain played out, one can see that the US without a couple of its superstars is now slightly better than the best international team which is in decline.

A couple? How about Lebron, Chris Paul, Blake Griffith, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Aldridge, Drummond. I could go on...not a single international player made the 1st, 2nd or 3rd All-NBA team.

In all of the four close games the US has played, it is the European teams which played more aesthetically pleasing basketball.

Aesthetically pleasing? This isn't figure skating. No points are awarded for artistic merit. And there was nothing pretty about Argentina, Spain and Serbia shooting under 40% against USA.

The European teams simply couldn't match the athletic abilities of the USA. Especially the rebounds.

How about put a body on someone? Delly had 8 rebounds against Spain and he's neither athletic nor American. He's just physical and plays with heart.

I can accept that a country of 320 million inhabitants can line up 12 forces of nature, but it's their loss to have lost against the rest of the world on the tactical side.

No, last time I checked our players still had their gold medals.

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The downside for basketball is that, the final, which had by far the highest viewer ratings, was a disaster for the sport and international basketball. The fact that Serbia was unable to compete with the US made it look like basketball hadn't developed for the last three decades. Probably the worst final ever since the US started sending NBA players.

I hope you're wrong on this one. I think most people realize that Serbia is a small nation. And knowledgeable NBA fans know that teams like the Spurs and Warriors have learned a lot from the international game.

[HeinrichMohr]

A couple? How about Lebron, Chris Paul, Blake Griffith, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Aldridge, Drummond. I could go on...not a single international player made the 1st, 2nd or 3rd All-NBA team.

We all know that they could build 3 or 4 teams able to win any international tournament. Even some fans complained in 2008 about some "missing" players so go figure.

No, last time I checked our players still had their gold medals.

No one is questioning their efficiency. Excellent perimeter shooting + Monster offensive rebound. Those are their strengths and it's logical that they do so because it's practical, but for some neutral fans, not all but for some, they are not always fun to watch because their team play is almost non existent. That has nothing to do with to like or dislike NBA basketball because i like all kinds of basketball: NBA, ACB and Euroleague. Though when it comes into watching a basketball game, i enjoy much more any team that plays with IQ and common sense and not a bunch of great individual players.

[Beez]

No one is questioning their efficiency. Excellent perimeter shooting + Monster offensive rebound. Those are their strengths and it's logical that they do so because it's practical, but for some neutral fans, not all but for some, they are not always fun to watch because their team play is almost non existent. That has nothing to do with to like or dislike NBA basketball because i like all kinds of basketball: NBA, ACB and Euroleague. Though when it comes into watching a basketball game, i enjoy much more any team that plays with IQ and common sense and not a bunch of great individual players.

Yes, I like to watch high IQ basketball as well. With the NBA TV package, I tend to watch more Warriors' and Spurs' game for that very reason. I also enjoy watching how opposing teams counter them. NBA playoff defense is amazing. I also like college basketball simply for the passion of the fans and players.

As for FIBA play, I simply want my team to win. The wisest strategy of the USA is to build a team around defense and rebounding. Those aspects of the game are more consistent than offense, especially with a team that doesn't practice together on a regular basis. I wouldn't want USA basketball to change anything until it stops working.

I can understand how someone may not enjoying watching that style of basketball. It's not for everyone. Personally, I don't enjoy watching opposing team fouling the US players at half-court, "mucking up" the game and stalling on offense. I wish every team played the US like Argentina does. But I understand teams that "muck up" the game are doing what gives them the best chance to win. In the end, that's how every team should play.

[guilherme.rcf]

Magnano is no longer the coach of the brazilian basketball national team.

[Victorious]

Personally, I don't enjoy watching opposing team fouling the US players at half-court, "mucking up" the game and stalling on offense

In that case you will be delighted to find out that as of now (ending of Olympic cycle) that is not allowed anymore in FIBA basketball. You will get a technical foul for that.

[locdogjr]

I'm going to throw my thoughts here, just need a bit of a ramble.

I feel very disappointed by this round of olympics. First of all, it all started last summer when Canada got screwed on a phantom call to hand Venezuela the win. Canada should not have been in that position, some dumb coaching happened, food poisoning, etc. It was a big let down though regardless. The Venezuelans went on to prove they are a tough, talented and passionate team though. Then Canada failed to qualify in Manila, they did well, but lost to a better French side, again disappointing.

Onto the actual tournament. You know why North AMericans hate FIBA and think it is a joke? Look at the Australia vs. Spain game. A toughly contested match came down to the wire and a phantom call gives the win to Spain. It happens far too often and people will always see FIBA as a joke because of that. Also, the American team wins by so much and so consistently that takes a lot of intrigue out of things except for the biggest basketball nerds (us).

Next, a small rant about game times. I live in Asia and found the tournament very difficult to watch. The 9 am games were always rubbish and I'm not watching games at 1 am or 5 am. Even if I did, only the American games are broadcast on TV here. How can I watch the other matches? There is no streaming, no replays. Some countries do, but mine doesn't so I just get what is on TV or I stay up late or get the games in an illegal fashion. I enjoyed the matches I saw but they were often difficult to view or low quality due to the methods in which I saw them. Even using a VPN to head over to cbc.ca didn't work very well. Anyway, I guess this is more personal because a certain area is going to always get screwed time zone wise! 2019 the games are in China which will be nice, especially if the games are all broadcast on livebasketball.tv

Another weird thing I noticed is this, zero discussion of the new qualifying system. I listened to announcers from a few different countries over the course of the games and I didn't hear ONE announcers mention ANYTHING about the new system. Shouldn't that be heavily discussed so people know the change is coming and to get excited (or not)??!?!?! It is only next year, so I'd suspect FIBA would be pushing this so that countries get excited to see their teams on home soil. Very odd that this news has been almost silent and is largely unknown outside of us nerds. I have had to tell all my friends who are only NBA fans about it, they don't have a clue, and probably didn't even know how people qualified before this.

International basketball is a joy when done well and it has the possibility to add a lot to the game of basketball. I like the stagger year for the WC and that it stands alone and will have 32 teams. That should help grow the sport. Furthermore, I hope the WC does become the premier basketball event in the world. Smaller events are what makes the olympics great, swimming, track, handball, sports that don't get love the way the NBA does. As for the actually basketball of the tournament, I enjoyed it. It was cool to see some of the old guard make a last stand, Argentina and Parker. Croatia and Australia seem to have lots of talent for the future.

In the end, Colangelos statements are where the focus needs to rest. America is just too good. But how does the rest of the world, catch up and compete?
America has every single advantage that a country requires. A huge population with a huge net to catch those physical freaks required to be top notch. They have the best league in the world, and also the best developmental league in the world (NCAA) both staffed by the best coaches in the world, which also lead the way in sports science and player development. They are the hub of everything basketball in the world from sneaker companies, endorsements, NIKE hoops summit, AAU, and many other advantages their players can receive. Talent, money and coaching. Few countries have all of those. Lithuania has wonderful coaching, but they don't have a large population. China has a population and money, but the coaching/system just isn't there. Then you have countries like Spain or Brazil who at times will produce generations that are incredible, but they lack the above mentioned resources to do it consistently every year AND have "B" teams that are still world class.

In the end, a fun tournament that America stomped through when they weren't hung over. Perhaps in a few years, we'll see some times rise up to compete and knock them off their pedestal but that is a long road. Which country can become the next Argentina or Spain and truly rival the Americans, and most importantly, be good enough to make me want to wake up at 230 am to watch the game?

[Bad Boys 2882]

The reality is that Canada and Australia are the two counties with the best shot to field teams that can at least rival a USA "C" Team on paper.

Unfortunately as we've seen those countries don't have the structure or history that the perennial European powers have. They need to build a winning culture from scratch, which is a very difficult climb.