1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,540 Greetings my peeps and welcome to the all things basketball podcast with your boy GD. 2 00:00:11,540 --> 00:00:15,200 In this episode we'll be talking FIBA World Cup. 3 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:21,120 We'll give you a wrap up of that as far as the USA team goes and what lies ahead for 4 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:22,120 them. 5 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:34,640 Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. 6 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:40,600 Okay guys so we are back with the all things basketball with GD podcast with yours truly 7 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:48,800 of course and right about now we're going to break down the FIBA World Games as far 8 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:55,560 as the games of basketball that was being played for meddling all those sort of things. 9 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:00,840 So let's get into it of course our focus is on the USA. 10 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,640 I'll tell you the roster of the team. 11 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,640 I'll do it alphabetical. 12 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:12,680 At forward Paolo Banchero and he played with the Orlando Magic and by the way he's coming 13 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,720 off his rookie season so there's that. 14 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,720 Also at forward Mikael Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets. 15 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:26,960 At guard Jaylen Brunson of the New York Knicks who was actually the captain of this team. 16 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:31,440 Guard Anthony Edwards from the Minnesota Timberwolves. 17 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,840 Guard Tyrese Holly Burton of the Indiana Pacers. 18 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:40,120 Forward Josh Hart of the New York Knicks. 19 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:44,520 Forward Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans. 20 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:50,600 At slash center I would say Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies. 21 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,880 Forward Cameron Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets. 22 00:01:53,880 --> 00:02:01,880 At center Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz who also is coming off his rookie season. 23 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:10,600 Center forward Bobby Portas Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks and then rounding out guard Austin Reeves 24 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:15,600 so that is your roster as far as the USA go. 25 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:21,320 They played in five exhibition games and won all five of those games. 26 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:29,200 They beat the likes of Puerto Rico, Slovenia, they also beat Spain, Germany and kind of 27 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:35,920 a close game and also Greece so they go five and no on their exhibition tour. 28 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:44,200 So with that said they enter the Feeber World Cup and in the first round they do well. 29 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:52,800 They beat New Zealand 99-72 that's the game where New Zealand does kind of the tribal 30 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,040 war channel and so forth. 31 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:03,240 Supposed to intimidate their opponents not so much for the USA so the USA wins big in 32 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:04,760 that game. 33 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:12,680 In the next game they would go on to win 109-81 over Greece and then in the third game of 34 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:22,240 the first round they defeat Jordan 110-62 so they go through the first round, unscathed 35 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,280 3-0 then you go to the second round. 36 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:34,680 Second round they face and defeat Montenegro 85-73 and then they suffer their first loss 37 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:46,240 in the Feeber World Games where they lose to Lithuania and they lose that game 110-104 38 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,040 and that's a game where Lithuania was absolutely unconscious from three. 39 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:56,880 They actually hit their first nine shots from three and for the game they end up going 14 40 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:06,200 or 25 so they couldn't miss from three and that really sunk the US team so they end up 41 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,360 losing the game so now they're 4-1. 42 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:18,880 Then they reach the quarterfinals where they beat Italy 163 and then the next two games 43 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,880 not so good guys. 44 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:31,520 In the semi-finals they are defeated by Germany 113-111 in a very close game there but they 45 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,880 couldn't get the win and in that game there was no Brandon Ingram. 46 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:40,240 I'll talk about the players in depth in a minute. 47 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:47,320 And then in the bronze game where they face Canada a team that's pretty loaded with NBA 48 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:57,840 star talent and in that bronze game they go down to Canada 127-118 and that game actually 49 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,880 went into overtime. 50 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:05,000 So the US team comes home without any medals. 51 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:13,400 Of course they are now the subject of ridicule all over the place and you know this roster 52 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:14,400 was flawed. 53 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,400 I'll give you that definitely could use some more bigs. 54 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:25,440 I mean the fact that you had to go with Jaren Jackson Jr. who's a fine player in his own 55 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,520 right but I think you need it more than him. 56 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,960 Walker Kessler this is a kid coming off his rookie season so for him to be thrown into 57 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,880 international play right off the bat I don't think that was fair to him. 58 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:45,960 Bobby Portis Jr. I mean you know it wasn't good inside that's for sure. 59 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,120 You could have used the likes of a Brook Lopez. 60 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,560 You could have used the likes of a Jared Allen. 61 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:57,440 You could have used the likes of even Evan Mobley who's a defensive presence inside 62 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,960 who can defend multiple positions as well. 63 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:06,480 But yeah so not good guys not good. 64 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:12,800 And Paulo Boncara I mean he's a power forward but he kind of plays to the outside he's not 65 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:19,600 really a banger like that he's taking this game more to the perimeter so there's that. 66 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,720 But you would think they would at least get a medal which they make history with this 67 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,280 for them actually back to back years not to medal. 68 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:32,880 It hasn't happened since the 70s I want to say. 69 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:40,840 And then for a team like Canada they get their first medal in 60 years so and I was talking 70 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:43,480 to my boy D about this. 71 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:50,800 You know I remember Canada where you barely had one or two players who had any kind of 72 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,840 NBA background. 73 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:59,240 Now you got a team full of them so this is a different Canada team than the teams I grew 74 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:00,240 up with. 75 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:06,640 I remember Steve Nash being on there but not much of anything else to be honest with you. 76 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:13,440 So Canada has come a long way and I think the bottom line guys is the world has caught 77 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:20,560 up and you know if you're the USA you got to bring a solid team there you have to do 78 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:21,560 it. 79 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:29,200 You know now you got players saying before I even go there in terms of the players that 80 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:37,880 could return maybe for the Paris Olympics in 2024 I would say definitely Anthony Edwards 81 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,840 who really showed himself in this round of play. 82 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:43,640 He really played well. 83 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:49,960 Mikhail Bridges is a guy I think you can bring back especially a guy who's durable who can 84 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:55,320 defend definitely need those type of role players on your team so I could definitely see him 85 00:07:55,320 --> 00:08:03,160 coming back maybe a Josh Hart even though him and Mikhail is kind of in the same vein 86 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,200 in that regard. 87 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:11,600 Josh Hart a better rebounder that's for sure so you need those kind of role players amongst 88 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,240 the stars you need guys to do the dirty work. 89 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:21,960 Therese Holly Burton I'm lukewarm on that I don't know if he comes back especially if 90 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:28,600 you get guys like the guys I'm going to name then where's their room for Holly Burton so 91 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:29,600 so there's that. 92 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:35,440 Austin Reeves I think a guy who could possibly be on the fence he played well in this tournament 93 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,400 I grant you that he definitely did. 94 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:45,000 Jaylen Brunson I think his game more caters to the NBA than international play you know 95 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,160 it's just hard for him to kind of get off the type of shots that he usually gets in 96 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:56,360 NBA during the international play but you know he did the best he could then you have 97 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:02,520 guys like Brandon Ingram I don't know what happened with him but him and Steve Kerr just 98 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:09,240 didn't click whatsoever and he was kind of made the fall guy a little bit there then 99 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:16,400 Steve Kerr replaced him in the lineup with Josh Hart so there's that dynamic so I would 100 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:23,200 think when the season starts guys I would circle the first Pelicans Warriors game because 101 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:28,320 I think Brandon Ingram probably is going to have a chip on his shoulder from you know 102 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,360 the way he was dealt with in these games but that's the story for another day. 103 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:38,880 Jaren Jackson I just think too much of the load was on him he ended up getting into foul 104 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:45,720 trouble and things like that and once that happened the USA team really got exposed so 105 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:51,960 again if you have a guy like Jared Allen in there you don't have to tax Jaren Jackson 106 00:09:51,960 --> 00:10:00,000 Jr. that much you needed another legit big in there someone with I guess kind of experience 107 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:06,280 of Brooke Lopez somebody who's a vet who's played internationally before he's a guy 108 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:12,360 you could have used and that was the other floor with this team there was no player with 109 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:20,680 previous international experience other than maybe Jalen Brunson when he was with the 19 110 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:28,800 and under team I mean apart from that no one here really had international play experience 111 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:36,520 and you have to have that on your team I think yeah so that was another thing with this team 112 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:44,480 and then now you have before I go to the guys wanting to play so when all is said and done 113 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:53,280 Germany ends up getting the gold medal they beat Serbia 83 to 77 Germany with a team 114 00:10:53,280 --> 00:11:00,160 comprising of Dennis Shroeder who was actually the captain and remember during these fee 115 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,480 the games him and the coach got into a little bit but I guess you know sometimes a little 116 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:12,000 tension is good for your team so I guess that kind of helped the team so you had Dennis 117 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,040 Shroeder as the captain Franz Wagner from Darlando magic along with his brother Mo 118 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:27,200 Wagner and Daniel Thice who's with the Indiana Pacers at last check so you have these guys 119 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:32,720 here with international experience and plus you have a German team that's you know played 120 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:39,200 together pretty much during the Euroleagues and all that kind of stuff so and that's the 121 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:45,760 thing guys when you already have a team that's formed and you're just adding pieces like a 122 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:52,160 Shroeder like the Wagner boys you know it's not much of an adjustment you have to make 123 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:59,040 whereas the USA team you just throwing everybody together and hoping for the best so there's 124 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:08,240 that dynamic Serbia actually that is the Joker's his team but he didn't play in these games 125 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:14,840 on Nikolaj Jokic he didn't play in these games but Bogdan Bogdanovich did and he was the 126 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:23,720 captain of the Serbian team along with Nikola Jovic not to be confused with Jokic and he's 127 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:31,360 the young player from the Miami Heat actually the forward from the Miami Heat and Felipe 128 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:40,640 Petruzev that's another player with NBA experience as well and then of course the Lithuanian 129 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:48,080 team that the USA lost to during the second round that had Janus Balachunis on there as 130 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:59,720 well as Ignas Radeci and also Madagascar Kamenstas these are guys who played in the NBA at some 131 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:09,160 point actually two of these guys were former Nicks and then you have Rokas Jokic Biotis 132 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:15,160 and the Nicks have the draft rights to him but he continues to stay overseas so one day 133 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:21,440 he'll come over we'll see yeah so you have that dynamic there and then the Canadian team 134 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:29,000 full of NBA players like I said Kelly Olanik he was actually the captain of this team RJ 135 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:36,880 Barrett of the Nicks was there Shai Gilkis Alexander Dylan Brooks as well as Lou Dort 136 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:43,320 Dwight Powell Nikhil Alexander Walker so you have all these guys that's played in the NBA 137 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:51,600 so again I say the fact that most of these teams have at least one player who is playing 138 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:57,960 in or has played in the NBA so and that's the whole thing with you know the NBA being 139 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:04,240 so global these guys are gonna come in and you know they come from all these different 140 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:10,080 countries and that's a good thing to grow your game but in the same token you gotta 141 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:18,520 know that the growth of the game means your team has to adapt to that growth yeah so with 142 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:25,440 all that said again USA no medals they come home empty handed now you got players who 143 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:32,200 want to play now Bron James has come out he said him and AD would like to be a part of 144 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:39,760 the next team also Steph Curry that's been rumblings about him joining Kevin Durant, 145 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:47,240 De'Aaron Fox now even Kyrie Irvin I heard his name that would be an interesting dynamic 146 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:53,200 Devin Booker, Dremon Green, Damian Lilith those are the names that are being thrown 147 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:59,520 out there most of these guys have played on the international stage so and that's the 148 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:07,120 whole thing somebody in the USA's I want to say front office but amongst management 149 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:13,000 there has to impress upon these players the importance of playing in these international 150 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:19,160 games not just the Olympic games but the FIBA games which are highly competitive and some 151 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:24,800 people say it's even more competitive than the Olympics themselves so someone has to 152 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:30,080 get that point across I understand I get it Grant Hill is now in charge of that sort of 153 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:36,160 thing now that he's been handed the reins but you know Grant and that's the thing Grant 154 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:43,280 is such a nice guy but he's got to you know lay down the law that look you know we need 155 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:49,000 you for these other tournaments as well as the Olympics so I don't know how you get that 156 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:56,200 done but Grant Hill and the powers that be have to figure that out so with that said 157 00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:04,080 is terms of the coaching I would say something that probably gonna sound outlandish but I'll 158 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:12,240 say it Steve Kerr needs to be one and done as USA coach he does too much of this small 159 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:19,800 ball and that's not gonna work on the international stage it just isn't so predecessor of his 160 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:27,200 Don Nelson even he knew better when he coached Dream Team 2 he had Shaquille O'Neal on there 161 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:32,800 he can't he can't go small when you got a Shaquille O'Neal in your arsenal no way you 162 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:40,480 have to adapt to the international play so I say and it's not unprecedented guys where 163 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:46,840 a coach is like one and done we've seen it with for instance how this stuff all came 164 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:53,800 to be John Thompson the late John Thompson he coached that 1988 team of college kids 165 00:16:53,800 --> 00:17:00,680 that pretty much got ran over by the Russian team and others and that kind of laid the 166 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:10,200 groundwork for NBA players to now be invited or part of the international play so so he 167 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:17,440 was one and done Larry Brown who we know what his team did I believe they even failed the 168 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:23,800 medal and you saw what happened with that so it's not out of the realm of possibility 169 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:33,600 to have a coach one and done so I say put Eric Spolstra as the next USA Olympic coach 170 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:40,640 Eric Spolstra I trust him to employ bigs because you're gonna need them especially in the Olympics 171 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:46,400 especially if you end up getting a guy like Bam out of bayou to be on the team you know 172 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:52,960 Spolstra is gonna play him you know you're adding a guy like Anthony Davis and Jared 173 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:59,600 Jackson Jr. then you got a solid middle there so you add those three guys now you're saying 174 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:05,720 something but this small ball stuff that's not gonna work overseas is just not you know 175 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:13,360 the fact that Josh Hart ended up being the lead rebounder over there is insane so yeah 176 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:19,120 I think Steve Kerr if I was Grand Hill I'd be like Steve Kerr you know we appreciate 177 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:23,840 what you did in this brief time but we need to go in a different direction and that's 178 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:31,760 okay that's alright again a guy like Eric Spolstra I can even go Tyron Lou if you want but I 179 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:37,600 would say Eric Spolstra first get a guy like that to coach this team and then you know 180 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:43,280 you're saying something but and then you know Steve Kerr he wants to make excuses as far 181 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:52,160 as those teams had continuity we didn't you know now could be the complaint of any USA 182 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:57,680 basketball coach that could be their complaint but you got to suck it up and whip these guys 183 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:03,280 into shape and have them go out there you know you didn't say that during the exhibition 184 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:08,680 games where you went five and oh so why is it all of a sudden the problem when you start 185 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:14,880 getting into the latter stages of the tournament so I'm just putting it out there guys Grand 186 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:20,880 Hill I don't know if you're listening but yeah tell Steve Kerr you know we appreciate 187 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:26,360 what you did but we're going in a different direction and you're bringing the Eric Spolstra 188 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:34,120 then you bring home the gold in 2024 so that's just my thought on that so anyhow so I think 189 00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:39,920 this this is going to be a short episode guys I just wanted to cover the FIBA and so forth 190 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:46,760 my next episode which will probably run together with this will be the WNBA the season's over 191 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:54,280 now we now get to talk WNBA playoffs we'll do that we'll talk about everything that's 192 00:19:54,280 --> 00:20:00,240 happened at the end I'll give you my predictions for the postseason awards and so on and so 193 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:07,880 forth so alright guys so that's going to do it for me all things basketball with GD.com 194 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:18,320 that's the website to email me that sportsdudegd.com you can send emails there write reviews guys 195 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:25,680 write it on the website you can I'm on YouTube you can go and like the video you can comment 196 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:31,480 over there as well Apple podcast I'm there as well you can also do reviews there also 197 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:37,960 so you know I'm all over the place social media and so forth Twitter and X you know we don't 198 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:45,320 get along but if I get desperate then I go there alright so that is it guys as always 199 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:54,360 I thank you for listening and we will talk 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