Official 2024 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Thread

[Pauleta14]

Wow, I didn't know the coach is stepping down. I thought some of the French fans said he had a job for life.

As for the player, I wonder who it was. Who is the president of the French basketball federation? What job does Boris Diaw hold? Doesn't he have one of those positions?

I genuinely thought so, hence my relief

He's already been in place +15years and kept his job despite shameful results

Boris is the manager and since he's in place you can see things moving a bit.

[Pauleta14]

FNT has always been the theatre of a lot of drama tbh... between the NBA players and Euro players, with the coach, the president... and even the fact that they had to play in Lille for the Olympics. At one point things were a bit more calm with Tony who basically was running the show and established himself as the alpha, that did not happen yet with Victor but he will have to. It is a next step for Victor and for the Spurs too, he needs to make it clear that it is his team and people needs to play for him and not around

I learned that the reason the bb stage group had to be played in Lille was bc the french Olympic boss was a former badmington champion and wanted the badmington competition in Paris/Bercy... :lmao

The amount of dodgy business in France will never surprise me

[MultiTroll]

Fathorst revealing that the MVP vote was taken before the final TWO games. :downspin::drunk

Brian Windhorst says the Olympic MVP award was voted on before Curry's breakout games (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/brian-windhorst-says-the-olympic-mvp-award-was-voted-on-before-curry-s-breakout-games/ar-AA1oMLTh?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=5314c3d2848f4451a614508577660924&ei=11)
1823123934684045509

[John B]

Fathorst revealing that the MVP vote was taken before the final TWO games. :downspin::drunk

Brian Windhorst says the Olympic MVP award was voted on before Curry's breakout games (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/brian-windhorst-says-the-olympic-mvp-award-was-voted-on-before-curry-s-breakout-games/ar-AA1oMLTh?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=5314c3d2848f4451a614508577660924&ei=11)
1823123934684045509

Without Curry the Team USA would’ve been playing for Bronze, and Wemby would’ve won gold.

[MultiTroll]

Without Curry the Team USA would’ve been playing for Bronze, and Wemby would’ve won gold.
Without Lebron they'd also be playing for the Bronze.

But to burn Curry out of 17 3 pointers in the final two games, wow.
Or any other player for that matter.

[TD 21]

Without Lebron they'd also be playing for the Bronze.

But to burn Curry out of 17 3 pointers in the final two games, wow.
Or any other player for that matter.

Obviously they should be waiting until after the gold medal game to decide MVP, but it's obviously (correctly, as the NBA playoffs should be) based on the entirety, not guy who finally progressed to the mean in the final two games but otherwise wasn't among the best players on the team.

[Limguogolo]

At least there was a winner. In France, after a vote, we invented the status quo. (What an imperialist country…)

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Fathorst revealing that the MVP vote was taken before the final TWO games. :downspin::drunk

Brian Windhorst says the Olympic MVP award was voted on before Curry's breakout games (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/brian-windhorst-says-the-olympic-mvp-award-was-voted-on-before-curry-s-breakout-games/ar-AA1oMLTh?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=5314c3d2848f4451a614508577660924&ei=11)
1823123934684045509

They didn't really vote on it. USA Basketball and Nike selected him.

[Spurminator]

I didn't even know there WAS an "Olympics MVP" before today, who cares?

The awards are Gold, Silver and Bronze.

[MultiTroll]

I didn't even know there WAS an "Olympics MVP" before today, who cares?
Believe this is the 1st Olympics the corporations have chosen one.

Mildly interesting to see it's just as corrupt / incompetent as the NBA etc awards.

[Brazil]

I learned that the reason the bb stage group had to be played in Lille was bc the french Olympic boss was a former badmington champion and wanted the badmington competition in Paris/Bercy... :lmao

The amount of dodgy business in France will never surprise me

well it was an evil for a good, Lille crowd was awesome tbh...

[Pauleta14]

well it was an evil for a good, Lille crowd was awesome tbh...

That's what I heard as well and not a fan of Bercy, too much space between the fans and the floor

But my point was mainly to highlight the french way of doing business and politic, 1st criteria is never the merit but always the personal or network interest.

If in the end it was fine, it didn't make any sense to start with

[JPB]

Fun fact:

I checked ESPN yesterday and they had Yabusele dunking on Lebron (that you can see falling) on their front page to illustrate an article...

I cheked today and you still still see Yabusele dunking but... they cropped the pic to remove Lebron...

:lol

[Strategic]

Anyone have an idea of what quality of BB team the Russians could have put on the floor for these Olympics?

[Pauleta14]

Anyone have an idea of what quality of BB team the Russians could have put on the floor for these Olympics?

They'd have needed to qualify for the Olympics for that.

Only 2 teams from Europe, Germany World Champs and Serbia best team in europe when Jokic plays. (France automatically qualified as host)

[heyheymymy]

On the French Women's team obviously assume that's Tidjane's sister, Salaun. But is that player named Rupert any relation to Rayan Rupert or is that just a common French name?

[Pauleta14]

On the French Women's team obviously assume that's Tidjane's sister, Salaun. But is that player named Rupert any relation to Rayan Rupert or is that just a common French name?

She's the daughter of Thierry Rupert (former French International PF) and sister of Rayan

[heyheymymy]

She's the daughter of Thierry Rupert (former French International PF) and sister of Rayan

thanks

[Uriel]

How’s Rayan Rupert doing these days? He was always my counterfactual to drafting Sidy.

[Pauleta14]

How’s Rayan Rupert doing these days? He was always my counterfactual to drafting Sidy.

POR seem to like him, Billups praised his mentality and work ethic.

I like his size/length a lot (6'6 and 7'3" wingspan)

[99 Problems]

Moving forward how many Olympics until USA Men win gold again. Serious question.
No Bron or Stef out on patrol lifesaving from here on tbh.

[Pauleta14]

Moving forward how many Olympics until USA Men win gold again. Serious question.
No Bron or Stef out on patrol lifesaving from here on tbh.

2028 is still USA's to lose by a large margin, they play at home. Wemby will be elite but the rest of the French team still very (too?) young

2032 is when Wemby and most french players will be in their prime.

[Dex]

2028 is still USA's to lose by a large margin, they play at home. Wemby will be elite but the rest of the French team still very (too?) young

2032 is when Wemby and most french players will be in their prime.

Agree. USA was tested this time but it's not the first time that's happened. People act like the 2008 and 2012 teams were unstoppable but those gold medal games against Spain were no cakewalk. Obviously, the rest of the world continues to catch up since then.

Obviously the big three of LeBron / Curry / Durant won't be there (or be the same), but young guys like Ant, Booker, Tatum, etc will be in their primes.

We should continue to have the strong advantage in talent, but all it takes is one bad shooting night for things to swing quickly.

[LeBowen]

Obviously the big three of LeBron / Curry / Durant won't be there (or be the same), but young guys like Ant, Booker, Tatum, etc will be in their primes.

That's a massive downgrade.
Lebron/Steph/KD are good enough to excel in any kind of situation without much preparation.
They're all-time greats. A tier above regular MVP level players.


We should continue to have the strong advantage in talent, but all it takes is one bad shooting night for things to swing quickly.

Noone who's 28 or under looks like legit MVP candidate. And they'll have to carry in '28.
Even something like Haliburton/Booker/Ant/Tatum/Bam would be enough to win gold, but only if they get a lot of practice together and are on '27 World Cup team.
If you're not a Lebron/Steph/KD level player, you need team chemistry.

It took amonster performance from the veterans to beat Serbia that has no talent on paper outside Jokic and Bogdanovic, without those three it's an easy blowout for them.
Jokic has one more Olympics in him, Serbia will surely aim for gold. If Jovic and Topic become good NBA players, it could get ugly for team USA.
With France potentially being more talented than Serbia.

[Dex]

That's a massive downgrade.
Lebron/Steph/KD are good enough to excel in any kind of situation without much preparation.
They're all-time greats. A tier above regular MVP level players.



Noone who's 28 or under looks like legit MVP candidate. And they'll have to carry in '28.
Even something like Haliburton/Booker/Ant/Tatum/Bam would be enough to win gold, but only if they get a lot of practice together and are on '27 World Cup team.
If you're not a Lebron/Steph/KD level player, you need team chemistry.

It took amonster performance from the veterans to beat Serbia that has no talent on paper outside Jokic and Bogdanovic, without those three it's an easy blowout for them.
Jokic has one more Olympics in him, Serbia will surely aim for gold. If Jovic and Topic become good NBA players, it could get ugly for team USA.
With France potentially being more talented than Serbia.

Good points. I don't disagree, just saying a lot can change in 4 years...these young guys have been fighting for MVPs with the likes of LeBron / Steph / KD for years but there has to be a changing of the guard at some point.

Every generation has its own "generational" talent...the problem for the USA is, a lot of those are currently coming from other countries (Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Wemby, etc)

[Pauleta14]

Agree. USA was tested this time but it's not the first time that's happened. People act like the 2008 and 2012 teams were unstoppable but those gold medal games against Spain were no cakewalk. Obviously, the rest of the world continues to catch up since then.

Obviously the big three of LeBron / Curry / Durant won't be there (or be the same), but young guys like Ant, Booker, Tatum, etc will be in their primes.

We should continue to have the strong advantage in talent, but all it takes is one bad shooting night for things to swing quickly.

The US will never lack talent but the interrogation is in terms of leadership and overall BBIQ bc FIBA basketball requires a different game AND attitude.

I love ANT for ex, but he wants to have fun a bit too much, he's far from an MJ or Kobe he's often compared to, in that regard. I don't see leadership qualities in Tatum either.

Still 4 years for them to develop and some surprises to arise tho, Cooper Flagg seems to be a high character/alpha dude for ex

[Limguogolo]

In 2032, make no mistake, it will be the turn of the African teams. (And Embiid will enter the presidential race in France.)