Imagine you had to assemble a team to beat this US team, using (non-US, duh) players from this competition. Who would be on it? It might not just be the "best" players, because after all, Ayon had 25 against team USA, but there are probably 5 or 6 better centers in this competition. Nic would probably be on it, as would Diaw. Dragic at PG? You'd have to have Pau Gasol, and maybe Ibaka (just for some athleticism). Dieng? Valanciunas (just so he can piss Boogie off and get him ejected)?
I'm not sure if this is official... [TWEET]511258668520968192[/TWEET] I'm also not sure Batum deserves to be on ahead of Diaw.
I'd go something like this: Rubio / Barbosa Dragic / Teodosic Batum / Saric Diaw / Ibaka Dieng / Gasol
All I can say is if Irving and LeBron can co-exist, the NBA better watch out. That duo could be scary...
It's official, didn't you watch? The 5 all-tournament guys stood there and the head FIBA walked up with the MVP medal. I expected Faried, and when he put it on Irving, Irving broke out in a surprised smile. But in hindsight, Irving had the better championship game. Plus, the Establishment doesn't want to make a hero out of a long-hair.
I didn't watch - the score was too ridiculous too quickly. Really, of course, they should have had at least 3 US players on that team, but it would have put too many noses out of joint. Notice that Anthony Davis was left off.
I love Rubio but he doesn't deserve to be on there. His inability to shoot was part of what made France able to defend Spain so easily. And Saric is too young, and also didn't do all that much when it counted. I was actually surprised how comparatively quiet Marc Gasol was. Maybe he regresses in the shadow of his big bro (who, conversely, looked as good as he has ever been, which is pretty amazing).
I put Rubio in because of his decent defense and playmaking ability. Also I should've been more clear, I put Pau at backup 5 not Marc.
Coach K featured Davis in the early games, but Davis didn't shine, so Cousins starred in the last few games, including today.
Congrats team USA! This FIBA tournament was a win-win-win for me if USA Spain or France medaled so 2 out of 3's not bad! Nico's play the last two games was a thing of beauty! Irving Davis and Faried are fricking great players.
I've been hassling Team USA for selecting Derrick Rose who earlier has horrible stats. Now that it's all over, it surely must have improved, right? Well, no. He finished with 25.4 FG% and 5.3% from 3. That's right, he was 1-19 from 3 point range. Again, most of his 2-point makes were layups. The good news for Bulls fans is that he did show he could still drive, so he didn't completely suck. Rose Fiba page with stats
Thank God. The magical part of the year is soon, World Series, Start of NBA, CFB&NFL getting into some great match-ups.
Wow: I didn't realize how tall Teodosic is: Maybe Nic (and Pau) are wearing much thinner-soled dress shoes? But then Faried is pretty short!
