A lot of these "best players in the NBA" are either in their mid-30s or not playing for the US in the Olympics. 3? of the best 5 players in the NBA aren't US players. Half? of the top-10 are too old to add the rigors of Olympic preparation to their summers.
For all the talent the US still has, it's kind of wild when you look at the possible guys who could play the 4 and/or 5 at a tournament like this. Once you take out LeBron and Durant because they've been there/done that and are too old to want to do it, the American-born options kind of suck. I'm guessing that's part of the reason they wanted Banchero to go for reasons that will hopefully pay off down the road. It's a massive weakness that LeBron and Durant being cheat codes have masked from 2008-21.
I can't remember where I saw it but some NBA guys were discussing the theory that American bigs are a dying breed, the traditional style of bigs don't get drafted anymore (the Hunter Dickinsons and Zack Edeys of the world). I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on this but it does kinda make sense when trying to think of the best non LBJ/KD big options for these World tourney teams. Anthony Davis and Bam are the top 2 I can think of...Team USA grooming Banchero makes total sense now that you bring it up
And Davis really isn't an option due to injury concerns. And Bam played in 21 and might not want to do it again after these deep playoff runs. We're pretty screwed if Bam says no. Mobley hopefully gets involved, but he's not a particularly good rebounder either, and he's going to have to pick up the offense for American coaches to put him on the floor for significant minutes. It's an interesting situation. FIBA having no illegal defense rule allows bigs like Edey (who played for Canada in this tourney) to stay on the floor in ways they can't in the league. And for teams to go super big when that's not really an option in American basketball any more.
And I love Bam but we've seen him against the likes of Giannis, Joker, and Embiid. Regardless of his inclusion, we need more.
It is pretty grim. Just sorting by rebound leaders, top American rebounding bigs last year (that qualified to be ranked on the leaderboard) were… AD Julius Randle Jarrett Allen Portis Mitchell Robinson Looney Claxton Bam Evan Mobley Jalen Duren Mason Plumlee Wendell Carter Jr Kessler Robert Williams III I doubt you ever see AD doing national team stuff again. I would just roll with Jarrett Allen, Bam, and Mobley if they wanted to do three bigs. All three good to elite defenders who will rebound and aren’t the type that are going to need a lot of touches on offense to stay happy and engaged.
Can’t remember who said it but I heard someone throw out the idea of KSA buying the lakers since the buss family is basically the last ownership group in the nba whose wealth is disproportionately tied up in the team.
We need more, but off all the bigs in the system, he's the only one who really comes close to combining the defense and rebounding that is required to play the way the team wants to (and kind of needs to) play. JJJ is a terrific NBA defender, but he's not the rebounder you need in international play for a 5. We just don't really have that many options.
I'd say the answer is more grimy SF/undersized PF types that'll rebound through sheer effort, but we had Bobby Portis already
If you have Bam and JJJ you can let Jackson be the roaming FS / perimeter menace and shot blocker you never saw coming and let Bam go bang with the big guys with lots of Js, Cs and vowels in their last name
Sounds great. People keep acting like JJJ is a center. He is not. He is a tremendous help defender/shot blocker on both the perimeter and low post, but he gets bodied and fouls too much when having to directly defend bigs down low. Also, he is and always has been unfortunately a horrendous rebounder.
I can see a scenario where if the Lakers had a bad year even though he's healthy they he'd want to go out and lead a Dream Team, but neither of those things are going to happen
From what i’ve seen you supported human slavery in Qatar, love posting in the Ukraine war porn thread, and enjoy watching Dillon Brooks play basketball. I hope your sadism only goes that far and the US putting together a C squad aside from Austin Reaves appeases your bloodlust
He had Josh Hart at center in the 4th, then Hart fouled out, and he brought in Brunson to replace him
If we send all our aged superstars to Paris, I am prepared for a rash of player injuries in the 24-25 season the likes of which we have never seen.