2024 Olympics (Paris) - Men's Competition

[Darrell Armstrong]

Group of Death confirmed

Australia, Greece, Spain, Canada

That is nuts.

It isn't that bad, considering three of those are very likely to advance. So you have a 75% chance of making it to the QFs and after that it was going to be a crapshoot anyway.

[Serbian_Layup]

I will be very curious to see how teams deal with France and their brutal size. They have destroyed Germany in a prep game (without Wagner and Theis though) with Wembanyama putting absurd numbers in limited minutes. I mean, how do you counter them? Access to the paint is absolutely denied with Gobert and Wembanyiama, so teams will have to try and beat them from the three point line. That's the tricky part too, because their perimeter defense with Coulibaly, Batum, Ntilikina is also very good. However, the first priority would be to cut down on turnovers, because they will murder teams in transition of off turnovers. Then, the way I see it, forcing France to play slow half court basketball is a good tactical approach. They lack true playmakers. And another thing, Wemby is all what people say he is, but I really don't think that serious and tough teams will allow him to dunk on their heads. Also, still to be seen how he reacts with brutal physicality in do or die games. NBA regular season is indication of nothing when it comes to physical intensity. The problem with Wemby is that he has zero post game, back to the basket game, which is very strange considering his enormous size and soft touch. So, if Collet thinks his go-to-move will be Wemby shooting step back threes in crunch time, I'm all for it as their opponent. To sum it up, with all that defensive potential on mind, I don't think France is flawless, they lack on ball creators, De Colo and Fournier are not what they used to be and Collet refused to give a proper chance to some younger guards in the past years. This might hurt them. On the other hand, they can limit their opponents to a really low offensive production. I can see Jokic having really hard time doing his stuff against French frontcourt, especially since the court is smaller and help defense is very quick. It will be interesting to see how teams adjust to French physicality and how they can expose their weaknesses on offense, primarily playmakining and on ball creation from their guards. Unless Collet decides to play Wemby 1-5 LOL.

[fasoulaki]

It isn't that bad, considering three of those are very likely to advance. So you have a 75% chance of making it to the QFs and after that it was going to be a crapshoot anyway.

Only the best two teams at the third sport will advance and having in mind that the other groups have South Soudan and Japan it is very likely that the two best third ranked teams will be also from these weaker groups.

[Serbian_Layup]

Group of Death confirmed

Australia, Greece, Spain, Canada

That is nuts.

Australia has many washed up veterans in their roster and a fair amount of players who never proved themselves outside of Australian league. On top of that, Giddey hasn't really developed since last year.

Greece has some new energy, they won OQT comfortably, still issues with shooting and questions how to maximize Giannis' potential, but I think they will be competitive.

Spain clearly lacks more individual talent, but I still wouldn't bet against them. Lorenzo Brown's p&r mastery is like 90% of their offense. They are smart, very well coached, have great veterans and they know what to do on the court. Brown-Hernangomez p&r connection with Aldama's shooting touch is the major part of their offense.

Canada is coming with experience from last year with basically the same team (plus Jamal Murray) and even better SGA. They will be good.

[Darrell Armstrong]

Only the best two teams at the third sport will advance and having in mind that the other groups have South Soudan and Japan it is very likely that the two best third ranked teams will be also from these weaker groups.

I disagree. Serbia and Team USA can beat Puerto Rico so thoroughly that even a blowout against South Sudan won't be enough to match the other squads with just one win. This is exactly what happened last Olympics with Czech Republic. Found themselves behind by a combined 55 points from France and USA. The other teams which placed third were Germany with -16 and Argentina with -8. No matter how well the Czechs fared against weak Iran (they didn't do very well, anyway), they weren't going to win by the 40+ points margin they needed to advance.

[Darrell Armstrong]

Spain clearly lacks more individual talent, but I still wouldn't bet against them. Lorenzo Brown's p&r mastery is like 90% of their offense. They are smart, very well coached, have great veterans and they know what to do on the court. Brown-Hernangomez p&r connection with Aldama's shooting touch is the major part of their offense.

I believe Spain's best asset coming into this tournament is the psychological advantage we enjoy against both Australia and Greece. Like, they haven't been able to beat us in a meaningful game for a long time and, even though they are favoured this year, that burden they're carrying may give us an edge. The one thing we have going for us is the hustle. We never quit, and even the recent losses have been hard fought battles, never blowouts. If we can get one win against Australia or Greece, that may be all we need to get through the group phase.

Going past that (a top-8 finish) is delusional. But I don't really see any team from group A advancing to semis save maybe Canada if they don't have any misstep like last year's against Brazil.

[christodoulou76]

Is there a chance Sloukas plays in Olympics?

[fasoulaki]

Is there a chance Sloukas plays in Olympics?

Seems not to be the case

Όσον αφορά στους τραυματίες, τα νέα μάλλον δεν είναι αισιόδοξα, αφού οι πιθανότητες δεν είναι υπέρ του Κώστα Σλούκα και του Κώστα Αντετοκούνμπο για να είναι διαθέσιμοι. Χωρίς η συμμετοχή τους να έχει ακόμη αποκλειστεί, τα χρονικά περιθώρια είναι πολύ στενά για τον 34χρονο γκαρντ, που βάσει αρχικών εκτιμήσεων θα χρειαζόταν 4-6 εβδομάδες για να επανέλθει, ενώ ο 27χρονος σέντερ θα υποβληθεί σε εξετάσεις στις αρχές της εβδομάδας για να γίνει πιο ξεκάθαρη η εικόνα.

As for the injured players, the news is probably not optimistic, since the chances are not in favor of Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Antetokounmpo being available. Without their participation being ruled out yet, the time frame is very tight for the 34-year-old guard, who based on initial estimates would need 4-6 weeks to return, while the 27-year-old center will undergo tests early this week to get a clearer picture.

https://www.sport-fm.gr/article/basket/greece/ethniki-mpasket-duskola-stous-olumpiakous-agwnes-sloukas-kai-k-adetokounmpo/4993023#goog_rewarded

[Srle]

I will be very curious to see how teams deal with France and their brutal size. They have destroyed Germany in a prep game (without Wagner and Theis though) with Wembanyama putting absurd numbers in limited minutes. I mean, how do you counter them? Access to the paint is absolutely denied with Gobert and Wembanyiama, so teams will have to try and beat them from the three point line. That's the tricky part too, because their perimeter defense with Coulibaly, Batum, Ntilikina is also very good. However, the first priority would be to cut down on turnovers, because they will murder teams in transition of off turnovers. Then, the way I see it, forcing France to play slow half court basketball is a good tactical approach. They lack true playmakers. And another thing, Wemby is all what people say he is, but I really don't think that serious and tough teams will allow him to dunk on their heads. Also, still to be seen how he reacts with brutal physicality in do or die games. NBA regular season is indication of nothing when it comes to physical intensity. The problem with Wemby is that he has zero post game, back to the basket game, which is very strange considering his enormous size and soft touch. So, if Collet thinks his go-to-move will be Wemby shooting step back threes in crunch time, I'm all for it as their opponent. To sum it up, with all that defensive potential on mind, I don't think France is flawless, they lack on ball creators, De Colo and Fournier are not what they used to be and Collet refused to give a proper chance to some younger guards in the past years. This might hurt them. On the other hand, they can limit their opponents to a really low offensive production. I can see Jokic having really hard time doing his stuff against French frontcourt, especially since the court is smaller and help defense is very quick. It will be interesting to see how teams adjust to French physicality and how they can expose their weaknesses on offense, primarily playmakining and on ball creation from their guards. Unless Collet decides to play Wemby 1-5 LOL.

None of those french bigs can guard Jokic one on one.

[Serbian_Layup]

None of those french bigs can guard Jokic one on one.

I'm not talking about one on one, nobody can guard Jokic in single coverage. I'm talking about situation where you have Gobert as your primary defender, then Wembanyama as help side defender who is roaming the paint. That's scary. Impossible to score and very difficult to find good passing angle due to their ridiculous size and length which will cover all the passing angles. Especially on smaller FIBA court with bigger crowd. That is the situation Jokic will have to figure out if Serbia meets France later in Olympics. It's good that they are playing prep game in a few days because Jokic is so good at collecting data and adjusting to different defensive coverages. But it will be very hard to beat that kind of size and length.

[Ridirkulous]

I will be very curious to see how teams deal with France and their brutal size. They have destroyed Germany in a prep game (without Wagner and Theis though) with Wembanyama putting absurd numbers in limited minutes. I mean, how do you counter them?

Second game in France. Germany with the Wagners (very rusty) but still without Theis (he will be able to play from next game after he signed a contract with the Pelicans today) and Thiemann, for which it's still unclear if he will be fit for the Olympics. Tough blow since he had an incredible season, but Oscar Da Silva is doing a very decent job in replacing him until now. France played without Wemby (viral infection) and Germany won very deservedly 70-65, after a slow start.

I think France without Wemby is a very average team. Fournier, De Colo and Batum are physically done and starting Strazel at PG does not scream medal candidate.
But Wemby is really an alien, he deflects so many shots and intimidates a lot defensively. Offensively if you are the opposing team you have to hope that he falls in love with the 3pt shot and has a cold night.

[Darrell Armstrong]

Seems like Kawhi is the first Team USA player to quit this summer. If traditions are upheld, he won't be the last.

[DenverJokic]

Seems like Kawhi is the first Team USA player to quit this summer. If traditions are upheld, he won't be the last.

I always thought Kawhi was an odd choice with his injury history.

I wonder if the warm up games in Dhubai and London will cause more players to question their month long commitment to USA basketball. Long time to be away from home.

[Darrell Armstrong]

I always thought Kawhi was an odd choice with his injury history.

I wonder if the warm up games in Dhubai and London will cause more players to question their month long commitment to USA basketball. Long time to be away from home.

Actually, you could say the same for several other players on the squad: Durant, Embiid, even Anthony Davis although he was healthier this season.

[DenverJokic]

Actually, you could say the same for several other players on the squad: Durant, Embiid, even Anthony Davis although he was healthier this season.

I’d be surprised if KD makes it through the whole tournament healthy. Embiid and Davis were healthy at the end of the NBA season, so I’m not surprised that they’re playing.

As a side note, the USA-Canada basketball game last night was terrible to watch. Both teams looked real clunky and definitely need all the warm up games they can get.