My money is on an "accidental" knee. Nico probably doesn't want to stand in for a charge defending a fast break. I don't think it will be one of those three.
If he weren't one of Nic's buddies, I'd say Ibaka. And Nic is close with the three you mentioned as well, so it won't be them. I'm thinking one of their scrub goons like Mumbru will do it.
I agree, but wasn't it the Blazers' idea that he should become a stretch 4? Or was that just because that's what he played for Spain last time, because Pau wasn't around.
It's gotta be tough coming to the bench in the NBA after being a rotation player in Spain. Rudy, Rubio, Sergio, Victor...and even Freeland played in Spain. If I'm not mistaken the FIBA MVP for back to back years was Scola. Victor can shoot. He's just spent way too much time in a suit with a DNP on the roster. Maybe he did run over Stotts dog but I think it's more a serious language barrier..he struggles to communicate in english and probably even comprehending what coaches scream out from the sidelines. He is a very, very smart defender and I agree he could lose some weight and play the 3. He said the 3 is his natural position
Its pretty simply the fact wasn't hitting any shots at all last year. He played smart when he got minutes and wasn't bad but he just couldn't hit a three to save his life. Stotts seemed to care less about D or anything else if you could hit the three.
His shooting was bad. He got a few minutes in the playoffs and couldn't make his fee throws. To bad because he does so much other stuff well. His best game was at backup center when LMA, Trob, Freeland and Meyers were all injured. Instead of trying to make him a slow SF should he be a Boris Diaw style big man?
Kevin Love announced today that he was dropping out (because of his trade situation, supposedly) and Blake Griffin announced earlier, and Aldridge earlier than that. Apparently the starter for the US team will be Kenneth Faried. Meanwhile, Spain has a frontcourt rotation of Gasol, Gasol and Ibaka.
I was going to say this must be a confidence issue, because he was a good shooter in Spain, but then I checked the stats, and he wasn't that great. He shot around 35% from 3 over his career, but his FT% is worryingly low. Hmm. He needs to hire a shot coach and just work on that relentlessly. Didn't Przybilla dramatically improve his FT% over his career? So it is possible.
As I've written before, the Blazers are doing Claver no favor by keeping him a tweener. He can't shoot, he's about 6-11, so make him a PF--have him gain weight, slow down, think only of rebounds, and stop prancing around like a jackrabbit SF. As for the posts saying he should lose weight, I don't think he can get any thinner.
Any guesses on Team USA's final 12? Basically, these are the players still in play after Griffin and Love pulled out: Frontcourt: Durant, Davis, George, Drummond, Cousins, Hayward, Parsons, Faried, Korver Backcourt: Curry, Harden, Wall, Irving, Rose, Lillard, DeRozan, Thompson, Beal My 12 (a combination of who I think should go and who will atually go): C: Drummond / Cousins PF: Davis / Parsons SF: Durant / George SG: Harden / Curry / Thompson PG: Wall / Rose / Lillard First off, I would take 3 true big men (Davis, Drummond, Cousins), that should be enough with Parsons and Durant able to play the 4 against less bulky teams (Faried is too short anyway to defend tall Euro PFs). Parsons, even though I don't like him, should be the token white guy, his height and ability to play the 4 puts him above Hayward and Korver in my eyes. Obviously I am not a fan of Harden, but I think there is no chance he is left out. We are absolutely stacked at PG, so that's why I put Curry at SG. Thompson gets the nod over Beal mainly due to his height/versatility and chemistry with Curry. DeRozan is left out because he is not a great 3 pt shooter. Rose wants to prove to himself he can still play, so I am banking on a nice comeback story there. Wall would be great in the Westbrook role, i.e., a speedy attacker/ball-hawking defender. Last but not least, I really hope Lillard beats out Irving, as I would love to see him on the team playing 10-15 minutes a game, since first time Team USA guys usually take a big leap the year after (Westbrook, Harden, Love, Davis etc).
This is kind of cool: a round 1 game of the U18 Fiba World Championship between deadly rivals Turkey and Greece is live RIGHT NOW on YouTube: [video=youtube;U9My3enM_Rs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9My3enM_Rs[/video]
I can't fathom him not making the team. Last years USA camp had everyone raving about how good Lillard was and the fact he can play off the ball and is great at catch and shooting, something Kyrie is not, gives him a nice edge.
Irving played for Coach K in college, though. I think they both make it, anyhow. C: Drummond/Cousins PF: Davis/Faried SF: Durant/George SG: Harden/Curry PG: Rose/Irving Out of rotation but on bench in case shooting is needed: Lillard/Korver I also think it's complete BS that Rose is trying to play, but I suppose adidas is forcing his hand. The Bulls can't be thrilled about it, though.
Link Nice addition, although I was thinking Greg Monroe would get a call first due to his versatility -- I guess the fact that he is still an unsigned RFA would have made him decline an offer anyway. But Millsap is surely the better two-way player at the moment, not to mention he now has range out to the 3pt line. He should make the final 12 over Parsons, Faried etc. (if they take 4 bigs or cut Drummond due to his FT problems as Sheridan says -- although I still think Drummond could be great in a Howard role earlier in the game).
Millsap should have probably been there over Faried in the first place. Cancel Faried and put Millsap in his place on my roster. Faried is only on it because he's a rebounder, but Millsap is a rebounder, can defend a bit, and can score if needed.
