Major Absences from Team Rosters

[christodoulou76]

Any updates on the food poisoning of Grigonis and Sabonis?

[Dtown]

And the hits just keep on coming. Kyle Kuzma out with injury.
That hurts.

Big loss, he was quite impressive in both the wins against Spain and Australia.

[usagre]

So player loss after loss we finally know the US 12. And it is without a doubt the weakest USA/NBA team ever. A lot of mediocre players might play significant minutes but I hope not.

Kemba. Smart
Mitchell

Very good three guard rotation and White is the odd man out of the rotation.

Middleton
Tatum
Brown
Barnes

Very solid wings with plenty of shooting. Harris would be my odd man out of rotation.

The bigs is the obvious weakness of the team. Turner is solid but Lopez and Plumlee not so much. Neither brings much to the table although I prefer Lopez.

[Jon_Koncak]

And the hits just keep on coming. Kyle Kuzma out with injury.
That hurts.

It takes quite an effort to not find a single american power forward willing to play for USA NT.Cause with Kuzma out there is simply no 4 in this roster.Harrison Barnes will start and Tatum will play there.That's a joke.Also what is with players withdrawing after the slightest injury?It was just a sore ankle,reporters said it was nothing serious and suddenly he's out.

[Hepcat]

Any updates on the food poisoning of Grigonis and Sabonis?

Not yet. My understanding is that Domantas Sabonis started feeling queasy right before game time and let Coach Adomaitis know that he didn't think he could/should play. I suspect it's nothing serious but the team is taking no chances though and both players have been taken to the hospital for tests. We'll know later today.

Of course this raises the question of what Sabonis and Marius Grigonis were eating. Hopefully they weren't sampling street vendors' fare! And what in general is the protocol for the Lithuanian and other teams when they're travelling to exotic locales? I take it they don't bring their own cook along but just eat from a buffet set up for them in a hotel meeting room the team rents for their stay.

This of course touches upon what can become a serious problem. A few of the members of Team Canada had contracted food poisoning in 2015 prior to a pivotal semi against Venezuela which determined which team qualified for the Olympics.

[usagre]

It’s funny over the years of i have heard so many times how you can’t just throw a bunch of all stars together and expect to win.
You need role players the argument went. Will this unit will have role players galore. Definitely a couple of stars in the backcourt and all star/borderline all star couple of wings. Yes weak up front but in totality it’s still better on paper than what everyone else has even Serbia who is a close second.

[CoachZ]

It’s funny over the years of heard so many times how you can’t just throw a bunch of all stars together and expect to win.
You need role players the argument went. Will this unit will have role players galore. Definitely a couple of stars in the backcourt and all star/borderline all star couple of wings. Yes weak up front but in totality it’s still better on paper than what everyone else has even Serbia who is a close second.

It is funny, I agree. Somehow, if someone is talented, hard worker and is an all-star caliber player, he is a minus for a team? That is just crazy. Like all these guys on the all star level somehow are lockerroom cancers, ballhogs or something. That is just a nasty way to look at sports, and frankly mixed up with sprinkles of prejudice, jealousy and racism. Most of NBA players are not divas, they are not "me" first types of guys, they do care about winning and they love the game of basketball.

All-Star player can play a role as well, while offering something much more. Let's take the Carmelo Anthony in Team USA. Was he the focus on those teams, nope. Still, his presence was felt. Kemba Walker is probably the main handler here and he will try to get other guys involved. Jason Tatum would be the best player on probably 29 out of 32 teams in WC2019. Outside of Jokic on Serbia, Giannis on Greece and Kemba/Mitchell on USA. He will probably be the No. 4 option for Team USA. That should say enough about this non-sense that this team is not talented.

[usagre]

@Coach Z

Absolutely great points. Another way to look at it is if team USA was to divide its entire player pool into caliber groups
Of A,B,C etc.

Kemba, Mitchell and Middleton are no doubt level B. Tatum arguably as well. That’s 4 right there. Turner, Brown and Barnes probably C level. That’s 7 players right there. Sure the 5 remaining roster players are level lower but again this should be enough to be the favorite.

[CoachZ]

@Coach Z

Absolutely great points. Another way to look at it is if team USA was to divide its entire player pool into caliber groups
Of A,B,C etc.

Kemba, Mitchell and Middleton are no doubt level B. Tatum arguably as well. That’s 4 right there. Turner, Brown and Barnes probably C level. That’s 7 players right there. Sure the 5 remaining roster players are level lower but again this should be enough to be the favorite.

Even if we don't separate the players into tiers in terms of talent level, and look at the skillset you will find that there are not a lot of weaknesses on this roster. I would point out that traditional post-up play is a weakness and defending it as well, but I have to be honest that the importance of that has been decreasing year after year. They have shooting, they have transition/slashing, they have willing and able defenders in Brown, Smart, Middleton, Tatum, Turner etc. Another point is the experience of the team, and that is something that might show up as well. Yet, all things given, it's not even close that Team USA is the most talented here.

[Straight forward]

Jason Tatum would be the best player on probably 29 out of 32 teams in WC2019. Outside of Jokic on Serbia, Giannis on Greece and Kemba/Mitchell on USA. He will probably be the No. 4 option for Team USA. That should say enough about this non-sense that this team is not talented.

I agree with your general point, but you exaggerating Tatum or ranking him with a projection to the future. At the moment he's not as good as you described. France's Gobert is surely a better NBA player, I would argue a case for Sabonis (or JV) probably (advanced stats would be needed), Patty Mills is way better FIBA player instantly, IMO, (well that's new criteria, but still), the same goes for Bogdanovic and Fournier and some other FIBA greats (Schroder f.e). Jacking off 13 shots with 45/37 shooting is not super impressive, he wasn't super efficient. The material is great, but he's not that super good now. The kids still needs time.

[usagre]

I agree with your general point, but you exaggerating Tatum or ranking him with a projection to the future. At the moment he's not as good as you described. France's Gobert is surely a better NBA player, I would argue a case for Sabonis probably (advanced stats would be needed), Patty Mills is way better FIBA player instantly, IMO, (well that's new criteria, but still), the same goes for Bogdanovic and Fournier and some other FIBA greats (Schroder f.e). Jacking off 13 shots with 45/37 shooting is not super impressive, he wasn't super efficient. The material is great, but he's not that super good now. The kids still needs time.

He took a step back last year mainly due to playing with Kyrie Irving but I disagree with you and agree with the Coach. Other than Gobert that you mentioned he’s better than all those guys.

[CoachZ]

I agree with your general point, but you exaggerating Tatum or ranking him with a projection to the future. At the moment he's not as good as you described. France's Gobert is surely a better NBA player, I would argue a case for Sabonis (or JV) probably (advanced stats would be needed), Patty Mills is way better FIBA player instantly, IMO, (well that's new criteria, but still), the same goes for Bogdanovic and Fournier and some other FIBA greats (Schroder f.e). Jacking off 13 shots with 45/37 shooting is not super impressive, he wasn't super efficient. The material is great, but he's not that super good now. The kids still needs time.

I disagree because:

- He is a great all-around talent, with no clear weakness in his game and tons of room to improve.
- Gobert is an elite rimprotector who is SEVERELY limited as an offensive player. He has a great impact as a role player, but never will be a guy that can be the franchise leader. He needs others to facilitate for him, he needs a scheme etc.
- Bogdanovic is a better shooter than Tatum, everything else goes other way. Also, they do not play a same position in reality.
- Patty Mills is a microwave player, with a limited skillset. He gets a free reign in Team Australia but we saw how that translates to team success in Rio 2016.
- Sabonis is a crafty big man caught between positions who doesn't posses one elite skill. He is quite adept at few things, but lacks any real difference making skills and talent to be a teamleader.

Jayson Tatum is a 50/40/90 combo forward, that can handle the ball. His main weakness at the moment is creating for others. He is not elite at that. Think of it this way, but be 100% honest, if you put Tatum on let's say Team Serbia and give him the Bogdanovic treatment, free to shoot and run everything to him, do you think he would perform better individually or worse? I am Serbian and you know my answer.

[Straight forward]

Jayson Tatum is a 50/40/90 combo forward, that can handle the ball. His main weakness at the moment is creating for others. He is not elite at that. Think of it this way, but be 100% honest, if you put Tatum on let's say Team Serbia and give him the Bogdanovic treatment, free to shoot and run everything to him, do you think he would perform better individually or worse? I am Serbian and you know my answer.

OK, you made some legit points, but I actually wouldn't be so sure about the last part. I can easily see Tatum jacking of shots, chucking in a given night. Bog already went through this and is much more matured player and knows his limits. I surely can see Tatum overdoing too much, being a bet case, sinking opponents or Serbia it self. Even for current USA, he's like, "I'm coming out and giving a huge energy, scoring boost, or jacking of some shots and pushing thing up, making semi-crappy shots and hitting the bench", specially when it goes against best defences of the tournament. We'll see.

[CoachZ]

OK, you made some legit points, but I actually wouldn't be so sure about the last part. I can easily see Tatum jacking of shots, chucking in a given night. Bog already went through this and is much more matured player and knows his limits. I surely can see Tatum overdoing too much, being a bet case, sinking opponents or Serbia it self. Even for current USA, he's like, "I'm coming out and giving a huge energy, scoring boost, or jacking of some shots and pushing thing up, making semi-crappy shots and hitting the bench", specially when it goes against best defences of the tournament. We'll see.

We agree on all points. I am not saying he is some kind of monster that will kill it everywhere etc, but he is extremely talented and already playing at a high level. Whether that will lead to Team USA winning gold, that's a different story. My bigger worry is how a Kemba/Mitchell backcourt will handle bigger guys like Jovic/Bogdanovic, Ntilikina/Fournier, Calathes/whoever, even Kalnietis/Grigonis. This might be the Achilles' Heel

[Hepcat]

It's not talent that Team U.S.A. lacks. The team has oodles of talent. The problem is that all the turmoil caused by the dropouts along the way hurts morale and thus team cohesiveness. The team building process has been a challenge for every U.S.A. coach and Gregg Popovich is now really learning this the hard way.