Official 2024 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Thread

[ace3g]

First time in Olympic history Men's and Women's Gold Medal Match is the same countries.

[Chinook]

Brazil reacted on your inacuracies and overall simplification of a complex subject along with a form that again seems condescending rather than logically humble on a topic you don't master as much as people who have practiced it all their lives.

French people are not innately more aware of French imperialism than non-French people. To believe that they are is extremely condescending. Denying imperialism accusations by saying, "*scoff* I think we would know if we were imperialist" is ridiculous. It's not an actual point. It's multiple logical fallacies wrapped into one lazy take. Because you guys believe it's beyond debate, you don't try to defend it. You just think it's self-evidently true, even though Brazil admitted that doesn't make sense in the next post he made.

No. Foreign policy is usually not a part of domestic political discussions in imperialist nations. That's not how politics work. Not in the US, not in France, not in Russia, not in the UK and not in China. There are million upon millions of Americans who don't know how US foreign policy works. Trump was one of those Americans, and he was the president. UK voters not understanding how the EU was helping their economy. Putin doing all kinds of gymnastics to prevent the nation's core from feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine. It's bizarre that French people think they wouldn't have the same situation.

Unless you're a French diplomat, you've never practiced French foreign policy before. Until you guys understand being "I'm French" isn't an argument, there's no headway to be made. But I'm not the one refusing to take in new information. You guys are. You don't believe you have to take in new information, because you assume you already know more.

You keep using for ex the word Imperialism when it's not adapted to our era at all neither to the way France's foreign policy works. It's always a 2 way road and mostly dodgy businesses that every countries in the world do and we'll never know enough about to have a solid opinion on.

The world isn't the same as 20-30 years ago, thei are lots of new economical and political powerfull places that keep growing, France like most the old europe only chance to survive remains Europe (unfortunately) and most decisions are heavily influenced by Bruxelles as much as Paris

The word "imperialism" has changed too. There have always been multiple types of empire. The US's current empire is hegemonic. Rather than acquiring land, we acquire influence over other nations to serve our interests. That's why we never want to annex any of the nations we take and why Trump trying to buy Greenland and invade Mexico were met with shock and outrage. Favorable trade deals? Sure. Your best and brightest? Yessir. Your land? No thanks, we have plenty. That's why words like neocolonial and "spheres of influence" exist.

Not every European nation behaves the same. France as France and not as a member of the EU continues to have its own relationships around the word, and Macron more than most is trying to make that distinction. France is getting weaker, in large part because Putin is squeezing them out of their sphere of influence in Africa. But them getting kicked out of Africa isn't the same thing as them having given up their imperialist ambitions or stance. France's heart isn't changed. Its hands are just tied.

[Chinook]

First time in Olympic history Men's and Women's Gold Medal Match is the same countries.

I was going to wonder if it's the first time a non-US host has had teams in both gold-medal matches, but that's almost the same thing.

[heyheymymy]

USA Women's team is NASTY

Loaded roster and dominant play.

[heyheymymy]

I'm going for France in the Men's game and USA in Women's lol is that weird

Would love to see Wemby get some gold but guaranteed a medal and no less than silver is going to be a good start for Wemby. So glad they got past CAN and GER so Wemby could get some deep playoff experience. This is huge for him to develop and something I feel will definitely translate to the NBA Spurs.

Crazy how nervous he seemed, especially in the Germany game. And then when they advanced to the gold medal game he was so furiously emotional you can tell this is a super formative experience for Wemby.

[DAF86]

2028 Olympics.

Wemby, Traore, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr vs the Jason Tatum lead US. Who's winning?

[Robz4000]

2028 Olympics.

Wemby, Traore, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr vs the Jason Tatum lead US. Who's winning?

I don't think Tatum ever suits up for the Olympics again after this

[spurraider21]

Tatum was much better in 2021 olympics than 2024. very different roles. in 2021, durant was basically carrying the offensive load and Tatum would fill that role when Durant was resting. he was the most consistent performer for the good guys aside from durant, averaged over 15ppg on 49% shooting. on a team with lebron and durant, there isn't really room for a tatum type player who is a good not great shooter and isnt really a connector type either

the weird part to me has been Booker being completely ineffective and invisible in international play

[spurraider21]

2028 Olympics.

Wemby, Traore, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr vs the Jason Tatum lead US. Who's winning?

we can assume wemby will be a monster, but nobody really knows how the rest of those guys will look

by 2028 i would assume Edwards is the lead dog for the US team. there arent going to be a lot of great ~30 year old in their peaks for US, but there will be some up and comers like Holmgren, Banchero, Flagg as well

[heyheymymy]

by 2028 i would assume Edwards is the lead dog for the US team

Not Bronny???

[Sugus]

I'm gonna try to be as neutral as I can but if you ask to a Brazilian who are the most racists people in the world they will start their list with Argentina... Now I managed plants in Argentina, I went there very frequently I never noticed any particular racism BUT if you go to a football arena, that's crazy... argentinean soccer fans are the most racist bunch I've seen in my life. Must be a football thing I guess.

Also easier to see the issues in the others rather looking into our own

I don't think any French would contest French colonialism history but the so called actual neo colonialism is more complex than it seems. And again compared to china, russia, us or even uk.. france is a toddler

Yeah, Brazil vs Arg is a damn old rivalry, and football brings out the worst of it, including xenophobia, sadly. It's one of the reasons I never followed the sport much, a terrible ambient to it - but I argue it's a prevalent thing of football worldwide (hooligans are notorious in many places). Besides football, I've actually had and seen plenty of positive interactions between peoples of both countries, and (I know it's nothing in the grand scheme but) I have friends in Brazil and have learned basic Portuguese myself. Great country.

Otherwise, I'm glad your personal experience confirms what I also think to be true, that Argentinians are remarkably un-racist in a normal setting and everyday life. Especially for a South-American country. I wasn't trying to come at you earlier, just genuinely surprised at Arg being compared to places like Korea, where racism and discrimination are on another level, as is the case in most of Asia.

I've lived in Argentina for close to 30 years, and now having lived less than 3 in Spain, I've seen more direct instances of racism and discrimination from both Spanish and French people, than I ever saw back home. Your point about being easier to see "outside" is true, but the sheer degree of weight on race and "other"ness that you see here is palpably different. I've seen people referrered to as s , in broad daylight, for their skin color. Just shocking tbh.

Or that where French people pretend like they can't understand you if you have the slightest foreign accent, I have a friend who gets mad about that every time

[ace3g]

[Chinook]

It's a nice send-off for a guy who almost single-handedly kept the team's streak alive by agreeing to play in Tokyo. Seems like it'll Curry, Booker, Durant, James, Embiid. You'd think Holiday would be better for balancing purposes, but the FNT doesn't exactly have guards to focus on defending. That's an all-offense lineup. Seems like they'll try to jump on France early and coast to a victory.

[The Truth #6]

2028 roster is fascinating to consider. Less superstars could work if there are great role players that buy in to a team concept, but that's sort of an hetical to the American way, reeks of socialism et cetera, so, yes, the future will be interesting.

[Limguogolo]

The next time a crowd chants “air ball” during a missed shot should we call them imperialist? (It's to know.)

Not every European nation behaves the same. France as France and not as a member of the EU continues to have its own relationships around the word, and Macron more than most is trying to make that distinction. France is getting weaker, in large part because Putin is squeezing them out of their sphere of influence in Africa. But them getting kicked out of Africa isn't the same thing as them having given up their imperialist ambitions or stance. France's heart isn't changed. Its hands are just tied.

I will try to summarize your thoughts (excuse me, you like to summarize things that you already don't understand, and I hope that this way you will understand better).

(I'm going to continue talking about “colonialism” because the term you use “imperialism” does not apply to a former great power like France which currently has only minor weight in the world. For talk about the conflictual relationship between France, its ins utions, its companies, we then more readily speak of “neocolonialism”.)

The French whistle Embiid nicely because he is an opportunistic and individualistic weathervane. And you find that inappropriate from a former colonizing country towards a person born in one of these former colonies.

And now you tell us about the compe ion with Putin. So okay, we're starting to see where the mistake lies. You are talking about the presence in the Sahel of the (tiny) French army. Just a few geopolitical details: I have already said that the neocolonial question in Africa today mainly concerns French multinationals working and exploiting resources in Africa. On the purely geopolitical question, apart from Libya (which is not a former French colony), you will find no serious source to assert that France is seeking to impose its views in Africa. France defends its interests in the world like all nations, and sometimes there are scandals, like with other Occidental countries, but this is not part of a general “imperialist” or even neocolonial logic. These are often scandals linked to money, to elites and corruption. France therefore defended its interests in the Sahel because it sought to prevent what had happened in Syria and Iraq: the establishment of an Islamic State on the ruins of a deficient State. Hence, the presence also of Europeans and Americans in the Sahel. This was done with the collaboration of the Nations of the region, precisely because the terrorists operating there seek to shake up the pre-existing nations. Sorry to say it, the French, like the Europeans or the Americans, in the region sought not to impose their views to sell Hamburgers or croissants to Africans, but to prevent the collapse of weak nations and defend international law. They had a UN mandate in the region, so what, the UN is imperialist too?

Westerners failed to dislodge terrorist groups (sorry, we're not Superman), and rightly or wrongly, this destabilized the powers in place who fell to new leaders who came to power after coups and who intends to stay there thanks to the support of Russian militias and a lot of francophobia. I find it damn ironic to be called an imperialist when precisely the West was asserting international law in these countries.

What does this have to do with Embiid? Well actually none. You force the “imperialist” accusation to actually mask a Francophobic criticism, actually suggesting the idea that the French are racist. With the logic itself being racist: Embiid is African, the French are involved in the Sahel, therefore the French do not like Embiid because he reminds them of their failure in the Sahel for the benefit of Putin (a great democrat as everyone knows).

Now, let's talk a little about Embiid since it's his pride hurt by the evil White French imperialist that we're talking about.

Racism in France, we agree to point out that there is indeed racism in France (no more, no less than elsewhere, it is specific and complicated). Would this have concerned Embiid if he had grown up in France? No. Why? Because Embiid is not the cliché of the African who arrived in Europe after a miserable and dangerous journey. Embiid is the son of an army general from Cameroon. He's a sort of son of privileged people and dictators. Before talking about imperialism regarding France, you should have looked at Cameroon's international rankings for human rights. Embiid is not a poor African, he is a privileged one. He first played volleyball. Volleyball for Cameroon must be polo in Argentina or golf in Scotland: it's not really a street sport.

French (and Swiss, and American) universities are full of children of dictators. They are not to be pitied and if France, through its companies, still practices a certain form of neocolonialism, this is also done with the complicity of local elites who then send their offspring to Europe to study or to feast in their embassies. I doubt that Embiid's family who lives in France are in the ghettos, but rather in the chic neighborhoods of western Paris.

He can get whistled at Bercy because he's a clown, he has absolutely no connection with colonization, nor with racism (when you're rich and powerful, racists know how to keep their mouths shut), nor with a so-saying imperialism. He is not a victim, and he does not alone represent all the victims of colonization or racism. There is no point in trying to defend his poor persecuted honor. If you want to preserve the violated dignity of people truly persecuted by malicious powers (even French ones), you have a big choice. But Embiid isn't quite the victim you think he might be. He's a privileged clown, as they say in France, “the king is naked”, so we laugh. Like an air ball. Embiid should recover without too much problem.

[Pauleta14]

French people are not innately more aware of French imperialism than non-French people. To believe that they are is extremely condescending. Denying imperialism accusations by saying, "*scoff* I think we would know if we were imperialist" is ridiculous. It's not an actual point. It's multiple logical fallacies wrapped into one lazy take. Because you guys believe it's beyond debate, you don't try to defend it. You just think it's self-evidently true, even though Brazil admitted that doesn't make sense in the next post he made.

No. Foreign policy is usually not a part of domestic political discussions in imperialist nations. That's not how politics work. Not in the US, not in France, not in Russia, not in the UK and not in China. There are million upon millions of Americans who don't know how US foreign policy works. Trump was one of those Americans, and he was the president. UK voters not understanding how the EU was helping their economy. Putin doing all kinds of gymnastics to prevent the nation's core from feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine. It's bizarre that French people think they wouldn't have the same situation.

Unless you're a French diplomat, you've never practiced French foreign policy before. Until you guys understand being "I'm French" isn't an argument, there's no headway to be made. But I'm not the one refusing to take in new information. You guys are. You don't believe you have to take in new information, because you assume you already know more.



The word "imperialism" has changed too. There have always been multiple types of empire. The US's current empire is hegemonic. Rather than acquiring land, we acquire influence over other nations to serve our interests. That's why we never want to annex any of the nations we take and why Trump trying to buy Greenland and invade Mexico were met with shock and outrage. Favorable trade deals? Sure. Your best and brightest? Yessir. Your land? No thanks, we have plenty. That's why words like neocolonial and "spheres of influence" exist.

Not every European nation behaves the same. France as France and not as a member of the EU continues to have its own relationships around the word, and Macron more than most is trying to make that distinction. France is getting weaker, in large part because Putin is squeezing them out of their sphere of influence in Africa. But them getting kicked out of Africa isn't the same thing as them having given up their imperialist ambitions or stance. France's heart isn't changed. Its hands are just tied.

Just passing by, I'll try to answer later in more detail but... I mean come on...

You can't seriously think invading Mexico has at any point been a serious poject, can you???

[Pauleta14]

2028 Olympics.

Wemby, Traore, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr vs the Jason Tatum lead US. Who's winning?

Sarr will suck imo (I don't see the heart in his game) but others will come up

I know it wasn't ur question, but it the only thing I had ^^

[Ice009]

I'm going for France in the Men's game and USA in Women's lol is that weird

Would love to see Wemby get some gold but guaranteed a medal and no less than silver is going to be a good start for Wemby. So glad they got past CAN and GER so Wemby could get some deep playoff experience. This is huge for him to develop and something I feel will definitely translate to the NBA Spurs.

Crazy how nervous he seemed, especially in the Germany game. And then when they advanced to the gold medal game he was so furiously emotional you can tell this is a super formative experience for Wemby.

You think it was nerves and not frustration that he was playing poorly (I should say shooting poorly, as he's played well/great in other areas). I also wonder if he's tired and a bit banged up? I think he is a big game player, so I'm surprised at the way he's shot. Maybe he's trying too hard playing for France on top of everything else? It's been great that he's gotten experience with this deep run. It's what I really wanted for him (I've enjoyed staying up watching all the games [even the pre-olympic warmup games]), but now that they're there in the gold medal game, I believe he can and will play his best game.

Does anyone have any translated news or quotes from any of the French players or coaches on the gold medal game? What their approach is, and what do they think of the challenge ahead? I assume most of it would be in French, so I wouldn't be able to read it myself.

[JPB]

I'm going for France in the Men's game and USA in Women's lol is that weird

Would love to see Wemby get some gold but guaranteed a medal and no less than silver is going to be a good start for Wemby. So glad they got past CAN and GER so Wemby could get some deep playoff experience. This is huge for him to develop and something I feel will definitely translate to the NBA Spurs.

Crazy how nervous he seemed, especially in the Germany game. And then when they advanced to the gold medal game he was so furiously emotional you can tell this is a super formative experience for Wemby.

It is. Just like the experience Chet is getting very early is extremely valuable for him. You improve much faster and better in a compe ive environment, not matter your age, because you're lifted up, and understand and get impregnated of what it takes on all aspects.

It's never good to stay and play too long on a losing, dysfunctional environment, which can pull you down.

[JPB]

Does anyone have any translated news or quotes from any of the French players or coaches on the gold medal game? What their approach is, and what do they think of the challenge ahead? I assume most of it would be in French, so I wouldn't be able to read it myself.

(Too lazy to translate myself, so I Google translated, which is pretty accurate).

Victor Wembanyama (centre for the Blues, after the 73-69 victory over Germany ) :

“We have the opportunity to make history. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Emotion? It was incredible. An incredible moment. The fans... It’s hard not to want to cry. Changes? We found a way to use our tools, avoiding mistakes, it’s normal for a team to go through this kind of difficulty. Clumsiness? I keep shooting. In a tournament like this, we don’t have much time to train. But my shot is always there in the big moments. Defense and effort? The national team gets that out of everyone. We see how intense we were in the last few matches. It’s something we all feel. We love our jersey, our country. We want to give it our all. The intentions were there, but maybe we weren’t doing it the right way. I’m sure losing to Germany in the group stage helped us win.” (...) They imposed the physical duel in the 7 minutes, then we imposed ours and that was the key. They scored 8 points in the second quarter. If we put these teams at 8 points per quarter, we win everything."

[JPB]

Rudy Gobert (French team pivot) :

“It’s a dream. I remember when I was 13-14, in my bedroom, I started playing basketball and I dreamed of that moment, of playing in an Olympic final, doing it at home and here we are. All the work of the group, of the staff, having been able to overcome the storms, learning from these storms, it leads us to where we are today. The semi-final? They made a great start to the match, it took us a few minutes to get into it and then, our defense brought us back into the score, and when the defense was in place, it stayed there. And we were able to take control of the match little by little. They’re a team of champions so they didn’t give up. They came back at the end but we hung on. Buried too early? All the adversity we have been through in recent weeks, culminating in the defeat against Germany, has brought us face to face with ourselves. When that happens, there are two choices: you crumble or you come together and use it to become stronger."

[JPB]

Evan Fournier (France team fullback) :

“We started badly but we adapted to what they offered and little by little, it widened the gap. Heart? This group was born in 2019. It was our trademark. The number of big matches we played with this team... Since we arrived in Paris, something happened, and we showed our balls. Isaïa? He's gaining confidence. I admit, I've never seen him play like that. He's a guy who works. I'm proud of him, really happy, he's a great guy. He deserves everything he gets. Atmosphere? The free seats (in VIP), it's shameful, but the French who are here are doing an exceptional job, thank you to them. (...) What's important is that it shows that last year, it was a mistake, we made a mistake. The fact of responding is proof that what we were saying was not crap. Collet? His role is preponderant. He has been giving us masterclasses for two matches. (...) We were so euphoric, we wanted to enjoy ourselves with the fans."

[JPB]

Isaïa Cordinier (French team guard) :

“Olympic final? It’s unique! Honestly, not many people believed in us, after the preparation and the group stage, but we stayed confident, we knew who we were, we found ourselves in the quarter-finals, we pressed on the same thing in the semi-finals and damn, we did it! We’re not finished, there’s one more match, a final, at home, in front of our families and the French fans. We’re going to give it our all until the end. The tournament of a lifetime? In truth, it’s my first real tournament, where I was taken from the start. Last year, I replaced an injured player. It’s special for me to take over from my father who did the Olympics in Atlanta. It was always a goal to do the Olympics in Paris, I stay true to myself and it’s paying off today. But above all, it’s still a team victory. A mountain in the final? We don't care. If we stay the thugs that we are, only we can stop ourselves. Public? Incredible, unique... We'll never experience that again in our lives, I think. That's one more reason to tear everything apart on Saturday. The changes? After the group stage, we talked to each other, we told each other things, with the players, the staff, we gave ourselves a common direction. We remembered who we were and it's paying off."

[John B]

2028 Olympics.

Wemby, Traore, Coulibaly, Risacher, Sarr vs the Jason Tatum lead US. Who's winning?

You’re forgetting Sidy

[heyheymymy]

Aside from a clear strategy from some teams to focus on Wemby and deny him the ball... and I still say looks like some nerves are affecting him but agree with what others have said about Wemby playing near year round and fatigue becoming a factor. There was a play in I think the GER game where Wemby needed to recover his position defensively and he went to move his body and it just wasn't following with him. Like Wemby got stuck in quicksand. I get that way sometimes even on my amateur workouts. Like my arms and legs are noodles lol

Not sure when he is going to get some recovery time too with summer camp coming up. Wonder if Spurs build in a little break for him early next season? Nothing extreme but a little mins management for the first month to let him heal up some?