Team USA 2019/2020

[CHBB]

The US can easily win with players from literally any level if they pick the right players but take a look at thw teams for this year's NBA combine to name just one example. One (barely) point guard out of the entire bunch and a bunch of ball-dominant players who kill their teams. A team like that has no shot. Period. None. Now if instead you went with a team of the actual best players at those levels then it could be reminiscent of 2012. This NBA policy kills Brazil because both of their point guards and their most important player all play in the NBA but Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba don't have that problem. People who don't actually know the sport love to disrespect everybody the US plays like this is the 90s but that's a joke. We're lucky we have the Americas as competition and not Europe but even still the wrong US team can easily lose. National teams in other countries are treated like an organization. They develop an actual team. There's two years from now to 2019. Who knows what will happen basketball-wise in those countries?

[usagre]

You guys are missing the point. Who cares if they don't go undefeated or even lose multiple times. They can finish seventh and still qualify. Basically they can send the worst D leaguer at all 5 positions and still qualify easily.

[Dtown]

Jeff Van Gundy to coach the team through the qualifiers, Greg Popovich still in line to coach at the World Cup http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/06/27/...up-qualifying/

[usagre]

Hopefully by then Popovich will be too old to coach. When I associate Popovich and Usa basketball him being the right hand man of Karl and Brown in 2002 and 2004 is what comes to mind. We've done so well since then I hope Popovich is nowhere near the team in 2019. The most overrated coach in the history of the Nba in my opinion. Give a lot of guys Tim Duncan for a decade and see the results.

[sime0n]

brad stevens will get his shot and hopefully coach usa for decades

[usagre]

brad stevens will get his shot and hopefully coach usa for decades

Yeah I would love that. Hopefully by 2019 and 2020 Popovich and Usa basketball come to their senses and remove the old man from that post. It potentially has the Larry Brown fiasco of 2004 written all over it in my opinion. I would hope USA basketball learned its lesson from that and please no more grumpy old men.

[Steadysoul]

Yeah I would love that. Hopefully by 2019 and 2020 Popovich and Usa basketball come to their senses and remove the old man from that post. It potentially has the Larry Brown fiasco of 2004 written all over it in my opinion. I would hope USA basketball learned its lesson from that and please no more grumpy old men.

Let's not act like Larry Brown and Pop are the same. Pop is grumpy in a goofy kind of way and is pretty open to the changing dynamics of the game. Larry is a stubborn egotistical man who was driven out of the league.

[CoachZ]

Hopefully by then Popovich will be too old to coach. When I associate Popovich and Usa basketball him being the right hand man of Karl and Brown in 2002 and 2004 is what comes to mind. We've done so well since then I hope Popovich is nowhere near the team in 2019. The most overrated coach in the history of the Nba in my opinion. Give a lot of guys Tim Duncan for a decade and see the results.

I agree with you about some of the Pop stuff you wrote but with a certain reserve though. We have to talk about what it means to be a great coach in NBA. If we talk about pure basketball knowledge, Xs and Os, Game Management none of the all time greats will make the top of that list, Popovich is not there either. Unfortunately that is not the only part of being a basketball coach in NBA.

Team management, handling players and egos, getting the right guys for the lockeroom, making sure that guys are working in the same direction and have the same priorities, making sure that players respect the authority and know that they are replaceable etc. In all of these things Pop has done an amazing job over the years. He was also smart to delegate so much to his coaching team and add smart people to help him get where he wants to get. He is also the first one to tell about the importance of other guys in his team. He also has a clear relationship with RC regarding players/scouting and he knows how to trust people.

So yes, he was blessed to have Duncan for almost 2 decades but he also made so many right decisions for his team and managed to do much more with less talent then many others who failed. That makes him a great "coach" let's say. Amazing parallel can be drawn with him and Obradovic in Europe. Obradovic is not the greatest Xs and Os guy, not even a great developer of talent and many other technical aspects of basketball. The way he manages the roster, the decisions he makes regarding his basketball teams/rosters and many other things make him one of all time greats. Same I feel about Pop.

Of course, he is not one of my favorites though

[usagre]

Let's not act like Larry Brown and Pop are the same. Pop is grumpy in a goofy kind of way and is pretty open to the changing dynamics of the game. Larry is a stubborn egotistical man who was driven out of the league.

He's not Larry Brown but at 70 he's too set in his ways to try and take on a unique endeavor like this. Give me someone younger who's gonna be around for a while like a decade so he and the potential pool of players can grow together. Not some caretaker.

[usagre]

@CoachZ

Popovich's accomplishments speak for themselves. But I think he's overrated because of the continuity Duncan provided and the fact they he in essence really did it with one group of guys. I'll take a guy like Pat Riley over Popovich any day of the week. He played fast paced showtime with the Lakers when that was the makeup of his team and won 4 championships. He adapted his style and to half court offense and rugged defense with the Knicks and took them one John Starks three pointer from a title. Then in mid season he took an underachieving team all the way to a title with the Heat in '06.
I'll take that resume over Popovich, Phil Jackson or anybody.

[CoachZ]

@CoachZ

Popovich's accomplishments speak for themselves. But I think he's overrated because of the continuity Duncan provided and the fact they he in essence really did it with one group of guys. I'll take a guy like Pat Riley over Popovich any day of the week. He played fast paced showtime with the Lakers when that was the makeup of his team and won 4 championships. He adapted his style and to half court offense and rugged defense with the Knicks and took them one John Starks three pointer from a title. Then in mid season he took an underachieving team all the way to a title with the Heat in '06.
I'll take that resume over Popovich, Phil Jackson or anybody.

I agree on most of the things. Yes, Duncan was the cornerstone of that franchise and he pushed everybody in the right direction. They did though go through rebuilds. The first title was the Twin Towers + Sean Elliot + Avery etc. Then came the rebuild around Parker/Ginobili, while the last one was Kahwi as the leader. So in essence the transition was smooth over the years, but the teams were built differently.

Regarding Pat, I love him and his resume. I even like how is he going about rebuilding the Heat after LeBron now as a GM. He is a guy that knows what it takes to win and is really good with big egos.

[CHBB]

I think the thing to remember about the Spurs is that they wrote the book on continuity. They've never actually had to rebuild under Pop. They've just slowly replaced guys with other players. You see now how they're doing when having to deal with finding replacements for almost an entire team. Golden State has taken their model and perfected it. It's a thing of beauty, really.

College coaches being the coach makes perfect sense because they only get guys a maximum of four years and have to replace guys constantly. NBA coaches for many years haven't had to deal with that kind of turnover.

[CHBB]

I was thinking last night about how I predicted potential doom and gloom for the US team in the future if they don't build a roster based on the right things but it occurs to me that if say they make a guy like Markelle Fultz the point guard in 2020 behind an actual smart veteran point guard and don't bring in ball-dominant wings or bigs who don't play big then they'll be more than alright.

That's what's both scary and amazing about basketball these days. Impact players can come out of nowhere in any country on Earth. The US was in a serious bind with point guards under 30 and now two drafts have produced some of the best prospects at the position since Chris Paul and Deron Williams, etc.

[Steadysoul]

He's not Larry Brown but at 70 he's too set in his ways to try and take on a unique endeavor like this. Give me someone younger who's gonna be around for a while like a decade so he and the potential pool of players can grow together. Not some caretaker.

Doubtful you find an active NBA coach willing to do this for a decade. You're going to get stints at best. You're insane if you believe an NBA coach is going to pull that kind of double duty willingly.
Also what makes you think he's so set in his ways? That's such a declarative statement with zero facts backing it.

[Steadysoul]

Let me put it like this, it is fine to want Stevens to coach Team USA. You don't need to crap on Pop in the process.