FIBA Americas - Day 10 (Medal Round)

[TDW]

PR has a chance, but not a big one next year. They're not consistent enough to leave two of Spain/Lithuania/France/Russia/Greece/Serbia/Slovenia behind them, plus Angola and Dominican Republic are contenders too.

Who do you mean by "They"? We were pretty consistent except for the game agaist Brazil who played beautifully that game.

Yes our chance is not big, but we are missing 5 players that played on the WBC, if they play, I like our chances.

[JGX]

Just when I thought the curse of Athens was being lifted...Carlos Arroyo showed up.

[Silvio A.]

Who do you mean by "They"? We were pretty consistent except for the game agaist Brazil who played beautifully that game.

Yes our chance is not big, but we are missing 5 players that played on the WBC, if they play, I like our chances.

who are?

[GustavoGanso]

DR fans need to quit crying. You shot more freethrows than Brazil, got every call in the paint, and still lost. Just not good enough, nothing to do with the refs

100% agreed.

we had 2 players with 5 fouls (Giovannoni and Hettsheimeir) and more 2 players with 4... we won against refs and all people!

[cardenales]

Are players missing for this Tournament of The Americas are:

Are starting front court:

Angel Vasallo SF, Nathan Peavey PF and Peter John Ramos P

The backup: Carmelo Lee SF

Our back up shooting guard and most probable starting shooting guard: David Huertas.

Best big man prospect that should be in this team: Angel Piwi Garcia

Angel Vasallo, Nahtan Peavey, Peter John Ramos Angel Garcia and David Huertas should be in the team for sure.

Others that could be in the team, this ones have really a big shot to be in the team are:

Mike Rosario Combo guard
Jorge Brian Diaz Pivot

For this tournament at least, but not sure for the olympic qualifer next year were:

Richard Chaney
Ramon Clemente
Victor Davila


Still many players missed, and we had a good tournament.
Puerto Rico highlight of this tournament was the DEFENSE
Even thoe with all the absentees we had in the tournament are bench was very solid, they really did a good job in every game.

weakness: Offense

I think that we have a good shot for next year olympic qualifier.

[cardenales]

Another big player missing for this tournament was Guillermo Diaz.

[JGX]

PR has a chance, but not a big one next year.

Ivory Coast and Trinidad didn't make it to the qualifying tournament so that improves their odds.

PR may have been missing some players this year, but where's the evidence that they play any better with those guys in the squad? I thought they played well at this tournament.

[cardenales]

We played well in this tournament but the players missing will gave us more offense that is really what we need in this tournament. Carlos Arroyo, JJ Barea and Daniel Santiago were are only true offensive weapons in this tournament because Alex Galindo and Ricky Sanchez did not score as it was expected from them to be. Plus the players missing are most consistent that the ones that were in this team. Defense is what really this team did very well and team played but with the new coaching staff that we have now, which is by far a lot better than last years with Manolo, with the players missing we would perform a lot better and the ticket to London will be in our hands for sure.

Now, I just have to hope that all the players needed for the next year qualifying tournament will be in good health condition for the tournament.

[saalsapr]

Ivory Coast and Trinidad didn't make it to the qualifying tournament so that improves their odds.

PR may have been missing some players this year, but where's the evidence that they play any better with those guys in the squad? I thought they played well at this tournament.

Well would you rather win by 10 against Uruguay and by 5 against Canada>

Or would you rather beat those teams by 17 and 20 points respectively (like we did back in 09 without Peavy, Balkman and Barea)?

Would you rather lose by 22 against Brazil and by 2 against a probably washed up Argentina?

Or would you rather lose by 3 in a questionable game against Greece and by 2 against silver world medalist Turkey without Arroyo?

Not to mention the biggest change we could have made since Turkey(coach Flor for the cheerleader)

This team will be so good I bet we beat the europeans (depending on who they are) by 10-20 points. To say right now they look better because they crushed Panama and Paraguay, and barely beat Canada and Uruguay is crazy.

[saalsapr]

You say Brazil needs their NBA to be better, but the only guy they really need is Tiago, cause he bring offense and defense. Varejao brings defense, but his offense is almost non existant, Leandro can shoot, but he cant play the defense Giovanni plays. Nene's fat

Until the Gold Medal match of 2009, Brazil had not beaten Puerto Rico in a Fiba Americas competition this past decade. Not even when they won gold in 2005 and both teams had sent their B teams.

Why did I bring Brazil to this conversation? Cause everyone says: "Oh if Brazil had their NBA's in this squad they would be even better". Heres reality, back in 2007 we beat Brazil by 22 points after losing to Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico. We crushed Brazil even with Leandro, Nene, and Splitter.

Now was Puerto Rico that much better than Brazil back then? No, on paper Brazil was clearly better than team Puerto Rico who had no bench.

Was it an inexperience problem from Brazil? No, Barbosa and co had already played in Fiba Americas before, and Barbosa was in his NBA prime.

Was it because of coaching problems? You got that right. Brazil actually played better without their coach in the bronze medal game than they did with their coach in the second round.

Same story goes for Puerto Rico. Do they have a better squad than the one in Turkey? This shouldnt even be a question.

Is it that the players of this team give more for their country than the ones from the A team? Hell no, Vassallo always had a puerto rican symbol, even when playing in Vtech and dominated Brazil almsot by himself in 09. Peavy was raising his hands everytime one of his teamates made a clutch shot and like Balkman, he shows a lot of passion every game. Huertas always said he wanted to participate with the NT. Only questionable one is Ramos

Could it possibly be that this team then, much like Brazil could have possibly looked better now even with a weaker team, thanks to changing a coach that cant even keep a job in the BSN, for a coach whose won titles in various leagues, and has a history of coaching National teams? I think so.

[JGX]

Would you rather lose by 22 against Brazil and by 2 against a probably washed up Argentina?

Or would you rather lose by 3 in a questionable game against Greece and by 2 against silver world medalist Turkey without Arroyo?

Or lose to Ivory Coast in the most important game of the tournament...or lose to Trinidad & Tobago (!!!)?

Losing by 2 on the road against "washed up" Argentina is a good result...the glorious 2009 team only split with an understrength Argentina at home, and the legendary 2010 team did much worse than a similarly weakened Argentina team at the WC.


I do agree that Arroyo doesn't add much to the team these days.

This team will be so good I bet we beat the europeans (depending on who they are) by 10-20 points.

I will take the European teams plus 15 points. We can figure out the terms of the bet over the next year.

[saalsapr]

Or lose to Ivory Coast in the most important game of the tournament...or lose to Trinidad & Tobago (!!!)?

Losing by 2 on the road against "washed up" Argentina is a good result...the glorious 2009 team only split with an understrength Argentina at home, and the legendary 2010 team did much worse than a similarly weakened Argentina team at the WC.


I do agree that Arroyo doesn't add much to the team these days.



I will take the European teams plus 15 points. We can figure out the terms of the bet over the next year.

Dude against T&T we where without half of the team, not to mention the bad conditions on the court practically made it a 50-50 game.

No excuse for the Ivory Coast loss, Manolo's just a dumbass.

[Silvio A.]

Are players missing for this Tournament of The Americas are:

Are starting front court:

Angel Vasallo SF, Nathan Peavey PF and Peter John Ramos P

The backup: Carmelo Lee SF

Our back up shooting guard and most probable starting shooting guard: David Huertas.

Best big man prospect that should be in this team: Angel Piwi Garcia

Angel Vasallo, Nahtan Peavey, Peter John Ramos Angel Garcia and David Huertas should be in the team for sure.

Others that could be in the team, this ones have really a big shot to be in the team are:

Mike Rosario Combo guard
Jorge Brian Diaz Pivot

For this tournament at least, but not sure for the olympic qualifer next year were:

Richard Chaney
Ramon Clemente
Victor Davila


Still many players missed, and we had a good tournament.
Puerto Rico highlight of this tournament was the DEFENSE
Even thoe with all the absentees we had in the tournament are bench was very solid, they really did a good job in every game.

weakness: Offense

I think that we have a good shot for next year olympic qualifier.

another great player is Rick Apodaca

[GustavoGanso]

You say Brazil needs their NBA to be better, but the only guy they really need is Tiago, cause he bring offense and defense. Varejao brings defense, but his offense is almost non existant, Leandro can shoot, but he cant play the defense Giovanni plays. Nene's fat

Until the Gold Medal match of 2009, Brazil had not beaten Puerto Rico in a Fiba Americas competition this past decade. Not even when they won gold in 2005 and both teams had sent their B teams.

Why did I bring Brazil to this conversation? Cause everyone says: "Oh if Brazil had their NBA's in this squad they would be even better". Heres reality, back in 2007 we beat Brazil by 22 points after losing to Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico. We crushed Brazil even with Leandro, Nene, and Splitter.

Now was Puerto Rico that much better than Brazil back then? No, on paper Brazil was clearly better than team Puerto Rico who had no bench.

Was it an inexperience problem from Brazil? No, Barbosa and co had already played in Fiba Americas before, and Barbosa was in his NBA prime.

Was it because of coaching problems? You got that right. Brazil actually played better without their coach in the bronze medal game than they did with their coach in the second round.

Same story goes for Puerto Rico. Do they have a better squad than the one in Turkey? This shouldnt even be a question.

Is it that the players of this team give more for their country than the ones from the A team? Hell no, Vassallo always had a puerto rican symbol, even when playing in Vtech and dominated Brazil almsot by himself in 09. Peavy was raising his hands everytime one of his teamates made a clutch shot and like Balkman, he shows a lot of passion every game. Huertas always said he wanted to participate with the NT. Only questionable one is Ramos

Could it possibly be that this team then, much like Brazil could have possibly looked better now even with a weaker team, thanks to changing a coach that cant even keep a job in the BSN, for a coach whose won titles in various leagues, and has a history of coaching National teams? I think so.

man

please don't talk crap

we won the final against complete Puerto Rico in his own home (2009) without Marquinhos and Nene Hilario.

that Brazil had a big internal problems, don't compare 2007 with 2011, today the team is WAY BETTER than that.

[TDW]

Or lose to Ivory Coast in the most important game of the tournament...or lose to Trinidad & Tobago (!!!)?

Losing by 2 on the road against "washed up" Argentina is a good result...the glorious 2009 team only split with an understrength Argentina at home, and the legendary 2010 team did much worse than a similarly weakened Argentina team at the WC.


I do agree that Arroyo doesn't add much to the team these days.



I will take the European teams plus 15 points. We can figure out the terms of the bet over the next year.

Arroyo was the best player in this tournament (for Puerto Rico) and you say he doesn't add much to the team?

who are?

PJ Ramos - Starting C in 2010

Angel Vasallo - Starting SG in 2010

Carmelo Lee - Starting SF in 2010

Nathan Peavy - Best PF in 2010 but Manolo decided to start Ricky Sanchez who should not even be in this team

Guillermo Diaz - Back up PG/SG in 2010

David Huertas - Back up SG in 2010

And actually there 6 players not 5