About half of the team Australia put out there have been together for years, the rest are either brand new to the national team, or haven't played much with the senior players. That was only the second game Thybulle has ever played for Australia, but he played great, because he knows how to play his role. I think most of your players have no idea how to play in a team where they're not the focus of the team. That's why Draymond looks so good out there, because he's a glue guy. Most of your players need to step back, and play their role, whilst some need to step up and take control. Lift the defensive effort, get stops, push the ball, score easy fast break points. In the half court focus on getting looks for Dame, Durant, and Booker; everyone else be ready to catch and shoot, and know when to cut. You'll easily win gold.
I agree... has to be the coaches fault! Bad sub patterns No playing the young guys enough Not holding players accountable Too much ISO What did I miss?
I notice Matisse Thybulle has caught Australian off Ben Simmons... Imagine if Kyrie had decided to play for Australia. He'd have to come off the bench behind Patty, mind.
Thybulle moved to Australia when he was 2, and spent his childhood here. His first memories are of Australia. He's a dual citizen. Basketball Australia have been talking to him for years about representing Australia. Brett Brown was the Australian coach at the same time as he was the Philly coach. Patty goes to another level when he pulls on the national jersey.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't those players make a concerted effort to play more as a team, rather than a group of individuals after the bronze in Athens 2004? Isn't that why everyone loves Olympic Melo, because he's not Iso Melo?
Neil is going to see this and think to himself that perhaps surrounding Dame with more talent is not the answer.
agreed that talent is an issue, but roster construction and having the least practice time together of any previous team are even bigger issues.
Team USA winning rings... and now they can measure their oxygen saturation: https://getwellue.com/pages/o2ring-oxygen-monitor They're 0-2 Rings.
The weirdest part about these last two games is that they've been close down the stretch and Dame hasn't taken over.
Too many chiefs not enough Indians. Or something like that. Feels like nobody knows who the main guy is. Or couple of guys. With the lebron and Kobe or Jordan and magic teams even, while the teams were loaded you still knew without question who the alpha dogs were. It feels like this team is unsure. It should be Damian and KD and everyone else needs to just fill their roles. But those two need to take over.
It's up to the players to do that. Dame needs to stop taking a back seat. And for whatever reason, Durant isn't carrying like he has in the past. Nobody told Kobe to take over All-star games. He just did it because he wanted to show he was the best. Dame has the same mentality as Brandon Roy. They go to these things and they just coast.
