Would the U.S. win gold with this team?

[quonishturftein]

The U.S. men's basketball team has long been a powerhouse in international tooth gems competitions, and this year's roster appears to be no exception. With a blend of seasoned veterans and young, dynamic talents, the team boasts a depth of skill that rivals any in recent history.

[post]

Some statistical information i figured out related to my 3 starters/9 bench players team that is very interesting, which i calculated by breaking down career and last seasons stats into per minute numbers and factoring in how many minutes each of the 12 players would play in a 48 minute game. So 7 out of 12 stay the same, but Jack, Smith, Dudley, Gibson, and Davis i give 8 minutes extra a piece to get a feel for how this team might look as an actual team playing in the league for 48 minutes a night.

117.4 ppg based on career numbers. It's been 24 years since any NBA team, Chris Mullin's Warriors, averaged more than that.
129.5 ppg last season. 14.5 more than the league leading Warriors last year. 3 more than the all time leading scoring team in nba history.
47.1 career rebounds. In the last 5 years they would've finished 2nd twice and 1st three times in the nba.
51.6 rebounds last season. Most of any team this century. I didn't look further back.
25.7 career assists. In the last 5 years they would've finished 2nd twice and 1st three times in the nba.
29.8 assists last season. Most of any team this century. I didn't look further back.

Also, this team has 3 of the top 11 and 5 of the top 43 in the league at defensive field goal percentage at the rim. Likewise with points saved per 36 minutes at the rim. So no easy baskets.

Finally, this may not be a good method, but in an attempt to get a rough estimate of how good this team is by other statistical measures and to get a comparison with the team USA that just won gold, i calculated offensive and defensive rating for last season.

My team with 3 starters/9 bench players:

Offensive rating=114.4, 2nd in the nba last season
Defensive rating=104.3, 6th in nba last season.

Team USA: 112.8 on offense and 104.3 on defense based on nba stats.

[post]

I'd go with something like this,on a 30-men pool.



Teodosic,Llull,Dragic,Rubio,Schroeder,Satoransky
Belinelli,DeColo,Rodriguez,Fournier,Bogdanovic,Osm an
Batum,Kuzminskas,Datome,Antetokounmpo,Gallinari
Jokic,Saric,Printezis,Motiejunas,Porzingis,Bjelica ,Mirotic
Gasol,Gobert,Valanciunas,Bourousis,Marjanovic,Vuce vic

Any combination you want, i doubt it will make a difference against my team with Durant coming off the bench i posted.

[post]

Well, if we consider that the US has 318 million inhabitans it's logical that they make up a good team even with no black players

But, What if they play vs an European team?

Dragic-Kalnietis-Llull-Rubio-Rodriguez-Heurtel-Satoransky
Bogdanovic-De Colo-Gentile-Belinelli-Bogdanovic (Bogdan)
Gallinari-Rudy-Kuzminskas-Hezonja-Papanikolau
Dirk-Porzingis-Jokic-Bjelica-Mirotic-Teletovic
Pau-Marc-Vucevic-Raduljica-Borousis-Koufos-Kanter-Vesely-Gortat-Pachulia

The team with Durant coming off the bench i posted still has the advantage at every position, starter and bench. The only positions your team could compete at is center and power forward. Everything else is super lopsided in the U.S.'s favor.

[ncjazz]

What if USA takes part with Euroleague players team?

World tournaments are ruined because USA is so dominant. Now Eurobaskets are in trouble because of Fiba. Great times!

As Jerry Colangelo said not up to US to play down to the comp it is up to the rest of the world to rise up and play better. Remember you can only play 5 guys at one time and really need no more than 8 for a game.

[ncjazz]

That's not good at all. What's FIBA's end game? To shake down European teams for a favorable schedule?



USA's starting 5 for its 2017 qualifier against Honduras:

F Shawn Marion
F Kevin Garnett
C Tim Duncan
G Andre Miller
G Kobe Bryant

Will the games be played in wheelchairs?

[Joško Poljak Fan]

The fact is that basketball just isn't as widely played in europe as it is in the US. 2 hours of practices aren't enough if you want to reach some notable level. After that it takes hours of playing in the street to really master the game.
Most often that shows with the guards. People are looking at the number of NBA players from europe and saying we're getting closer, due to more euro players there. What a sloppy bullshit, take a look at how many of those are big man and how many are PG's and SG's, as those are the true indicator of a bball school efficiency. Unless you want to say there is a nation that has a hard time finding adult man under 195 cm of height, there is no excuse there. The fact that almost half of players in europe on PG are americans speaks for itself.
Raising a tall guy? Well first of all, he is tall. If he is remotely talented and dedicated to the sport, almost anyone with 210cm+ can play basketball professionaly at one point. Raising a good C/PF is more a matter of numbers than anything else... or better said, it's less dependent on bball school efficiency, the time players spend on court, knowledge and ability of coaches which they pass on on their players etc.

I witnessed years in my town, when what would nowadays be considered a top-notch talents were passed on solely due to not standing out, these guys were on courts every single available free hour they had and didn't make it, yet some guards from our bball school that stood out made some fine careers considering the 2 million population pool only. Nowadays... well, Slovenia is just getting back to the average bball euro popularity and we'll stop producing those guards eventually since the competition they face among themselves is worse with every following year- and that's the story on why there is such a difference between US and the rest. Forget about the race. Sure jumping ouut of the gym helps, but it's far from being the excuse some people would like it to be...

[Jon_Koncak]

Exactly !

put any nba lineup with only white usa players and they without that athletic ,speed,strenght huge advantage afroameiricans have,than Olympics basketball would be fair and i dont see them as favorites in Olympics...Game of basketball is more suited for africans genes overall and americans understood that 40 years ago...its impossible to beat faster,stronger 12 men lineup when all 12 are have such advantage,doesnt matter if you play smarter or something...You can prepare white body as hard as you want you wont get same abilities as trained africans can have.

will this nonsense ever end?Lets assume what you write here is true.Then explain to me why African teams constantly fail to win more than one or two games in international competitions..If being black alone gives you such a huge advantage why isnt Senegal a powerhouse?Have you seen Senegal squad?They are black!they are athletic!they run as fast as anyone..yet they hardly win any games.what gives?

The truth whether you want to admit it or not is that Americans arent dominating because they are..black..but because they are simply better players.They dribble better,they have elite ballhandling,they are better shooters,they can create their own shot much better than a typical
european.they learn the game on the streets,it's in their blood...they're not waiting for some random trainer to teach them at age of 10 how to pivot or play pick n roll..Americans are better in bball for the same reason Argentinians are better than english in football.BBALL is an integral part of afroamericans culture just like football is in south america.But if you want to believe that Kyrie Irving has the ball handling he has just because of hi color,or Durant shoots the way he does just because he is black,be my guest..

[R1ou]

Well, if we consider that the US has 318 million inhabitans it's logical that they make up a good team even with no black players

But, What if they play vs an European team?

Dragic-Kalnietis-Llull-Rubio-Rodriguez-Heurtel-Satoransky
Bogdanovic-De Colo-Gentile-Belinelli-Bogdanovic (Bogdan)
Gallinari-Rudy-Kuzminskas-Hezonja-Papanikolau
Dirk-Porzingis-Jokic-Bjelica-Mirotic-Teletovic
Pau-Marc-Vucevic-Raduljica-Borousis-Koufos-Kanter-Vesely-Gortat-Pachulia

I'd go with something like this,on a 30-men pool.



Teodosic,Llull,Dragic,Rubio,Schroeder,Satoransky
Belinelli,DeColo,Rodriguez,Fournier,Bogdanovic,Osm an
Batum,Kuzminskas,Datome,Antetokounmpo,Gallinari
Jokic,Saric,Printezis,Motiejunas,Porzingis,Bjelica ,Mirotic
Gasol,Gobert,Valanciunas,Bourousis,Marjanovic,Vuce vic

[Beez]

Still would probably be top favourite to win it all. Hayward, Parsons, Love, Anderson are pretty much at the level to make USA roster on a typical day, let's say borderline USA NT material. Another options also still damn solid. Off course, this team would be much more vulnerable and maybe would suffer because of lack of FIBA's basketball experience.

Love and Hayward turned down spots on this year's team.

If someone made non-black NBA all star team from 2016 it would be Heyward, Love, Lopez, Redick, Dragic. (I used "non-black" instead of "white" because players like Klay Thompson and Blake Griffith are as much white as they are black).

5 year ago it would have been: Dirk, Gasol, Yao Ming, Manu, Nash

That's a rather significant drop off in international players (China can't produce a better basketball player than Jeremy Lin!?). But that's certain to change. Porzingis and Jokic look like future all-stars.

[HeinrichMohr]

nobody naturalises white american players

Spain did in the early 70s with Wayne Brabender and Clifford Luyk.

[Dirtyh]

What if USA takes part with Euroleague players team?

World tournaments are ruined because USA is so dominant. Now Eurobaskets are in trouble because of Fiba. Great times!

[Bruno Díaz es Batman]

Well, if we consider that the US has 318 million inhabitans it's logical that they make up a good team even with no black players

But, What if they play vs an European team?

Dragic-Kalnietis-Llull-Rubio-Rodriguez-Heurtel-Satoransky
Bogdanovic-De Colo-Gentile-Belinelli-Bogdanovic (Bogdan)
Gallinari-Rudy-Kuzminskas-Hezonja-Papanikolau
Dirk-Porzingis-Jokic-Bjelica-Mirotic-Teletovic
Pau-Marc-Vucevic-Raduljica-Borousis-Koufos-Kanter-Vesely-Gortat-Pachulia

[Straight forward]

And with this?

C Lopez-Plumlee
PF Love-Lee-Anderson
SF Parsons-McDermott
SG Hayward-Redick-Korver
PG Lin-McConell

Still would probably be top favourite to win it all. Hayward, Parsons, Love, Anderson are pretty much at the level to make USA roster on a typical day, let's say borderline USA NT material. Another options also still damn solid. Off course, this team would be much more vulnerable and maybe would suffer because of lack of FIBA's basketball experience.

[Shawshank]

And with this?

C Lopez-Plumlee
PF Love-Lee-Anderson
SF Parsons-McDermott
SG Hayward-Redick-Korver
PG Lin-McConell

Exactly !

put any nba lineup with only white usa players and they without that athletic ,speed,strenght huge advantage afroameiricans have,than Olympics basketball would be fair and i dont see them as favorites in Olympics...Game of basketball is more suited for africans genes overall and americans understood that 40 years ago...its impossible to beat faster,stronger 12 men lineup when all 12 are have such advantage,doesnt matter if you play smarter or something...You can prepare white body as hard as you want you wont get same abilities as trained africans can have.There is a reason why we dont see in olympics 100m finals white runners...dont fool yourself if you think they do not train hard...they train even harder than those 100m finalist,but abilities are diffrent.Same in basketball,one naturalised good afro-american PG is changing entire team alot,when they put 12 players like that ofcourse if not realistic to beat them for white,slow players nobody naturalises white american players