Heres my tips as per another post:

1. Spain (in OT!!!)
2. USA
3. Greece

Another 8 teams ahve a chance of making the final 4 medal round IMO. It is that tight.

Who's in the greek team. Are there any NBA players on their roster?

Bolks, they have one-Kosta Koufous who came through the 2008 NBA Draft and was selected by the Utah Jazz.
However, the Greeks do have alot of quality Euroleague Players, who mainly play for Panathanaikos.

The French didn't qualify for the Olympics. They finished 8th in the 2007 Eurobasket championships.

The Greek team is pretty similiar to the one that defeated the USA in the 2006 World Championships I think which contained no NBA players.

Rat10, didn't the French make it to the Olympics.? WOW! Shows you just how good European basketball is. I wonder if parker, turiaf and diaw were all playing in the Eurobasket Champs.
Greece have one NBA player Rat10, Kosta Koufos. He only just got drafted, so he isn't a fully rostered NBA player.

Try here for some information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_basketball_team

Thanks Rat10, I just had a look. Interesting to see that the French had all those 3 players-Parker,Turiaf and Diaw for the 2007 Eurobasket.
Maybe, the other players are lacking in ability and skill, as i would have thought that to come 8th out of 16th at Eurobasket with some quality NBA players was dissappointing.

I think the French really lack quality inside scoring, which would then open things up more for their perimeter players. That's probably why they don't do as well as most would assume they would in international competition.

I think it's a bit too early to tell who'll finish where, seeing as there are good teams that are still in the midst of qualifying.

Germany should be one to watch with Kaman and Dirk working together

There's just soo many teams who can win it. Anyone can grab the Gold, simply because there is so many quality teams, especially from Europe.
You got to watch out for those darkhorse teams-those teams that have slipped under the radar, but are still one hell of a good team.
I think Germany,Italy,Brazil,China, Russia and Lithuiania are the dark horse teams. Any one of them can knock off the more favoured Spanish, American and Argentinian teams.

Are Russia a bit of a dark horse after their Euro glory last year? Would love to see a Russia USA final just for old times sake, and if it's tight maybe they could keep replaying the final few secnods until Russia wins.

yes, the opals will be playing as well, I think they have a good chance of winning gold.

Spain or Argentina is gonna win. de Yanks are gonna hav Howard in trouble ..so bye bye big man..den teams will play Redd tight ..goodbye 3 point shootin.

As for Aus team ..well dey hav a chance ta beat the africans and maybe China .. dats it. Foget about it !!!

Playa, you reckon that the USA team are gone if Howard and Redd are shutdown. They have Kobe,Lebron,CP3,J-Kidd etc.
Every team is going to have a tough job trying to shut down the US Team. If you shutdown one superstar, another one will just come up and do their own thing.

The only way the USA team can lose the Olympics is if they shoot really badly and don't play defence. Other than that they have an advantage in every other aspect of the game-Athleticism,Overall skill,Intelligence and they also have a more superior coach with Coach K.

de other playas are slashers ... now with zone d n refs calling travels n hav no touch fouls de guys lik wade n lebron etc are not gonna hav a go at d basket. watch de world championship if ya don't believe me. dey needed some more 3 pt shootas plus 1-2 more big men sides Howard !!!

i meant ta say .. Howard is gonna get foul troubles ..ask Duncan how he go in de Olympics !!!

I really think the US should have included Tyson Chandler in their selected squad for the Olympics. He's a great rebounder and shot blocker, and would have been very valueable at International level, to spell and/or work with Dwight Howard.

Howard is the only big man for the US!! i guess chris bosh and carlos boozer are nobody's. anyone see boozers stats last season??

dey may be somebodies in da nba but dey nobodies internatonal ... sides they power forwrds n not centres ... 6.9 ... 6.10 n Bosh is a skinny one at dat n Boozer cant score and is slow

3, I agree with you. Tyson Chandler would have been a great inclusion into the team.
And let's not forget that CP3 is in the team, and they both work so well together(CP3 loves throwing ooops to Chandler).

Boozer can't score? That's ridiculous. His type (big, strong body with inside post moves) have a lot of success in the International game. And Bosh's length, athleticism and ability to hit the mid-range (and sometimes 3-point) jumpshot should give teams some problems as well. I really don't think that two guys who score 20 points per game in the world's best league (and don't rely on dribble moves and getting calls as much as say a LeBron or Wade do) will have any problems getting it done on the International stage.

Chandler was amongst the 30 or so shortlisted for Olympic consideration (I think he might have even played in qualifying), but he puzzlingly didn't make the final cut. He'd add another dimension for the US team, and would really help shoulder the inside load on defense. He wouldn't take away from anyone else on the offensive end either. He'd set screens, score on putbacks and the occasional alley-oop dunk, just like he does in the NBA. He (combined with Chris Paul) would be right at home in the International game IMO.

Greece has much better than the 2006 team which defeated USA.
USA,Spain & Greece are the favourites

Dont take this thw wrong way NPBHS but clearly you didnt watch Greece at all . Thats obvious cause u didnt mention Greece as one of the favourites . They have a better team than the one that beat USA in the World Championship in 2006 . Also u probably dont know how good greek players are . Since Spanoulis ( go to youtube and watch the Spanoulis tribute video ) left the Houston Rockets cause his coach didnt like him , they dont have players in the NBA mainly cause the players in the team dont want to go in the nba. e.g. Papaloukas and Diamantidis.They boh said that they re not interested in the nba . Kostas Koufos isnt in the Team.
Greece is the favourite with USA , Spain and Argentina.
Please watch Greece games in the pre Olympic tournament and u will see what a great team they are !
they won the Eurobasket in 2005 the won USA in 2006 Mundobasket and lost from Spain in the final and they lost in 2007 eurobasket small final from Lithuania and finish 4th although they were unluky with spain and could have went in the final with russia who won the game from spain .
I think they re far better now and in great form . They will be unstoppable .

So if greece dosnt play usa in the semi final the will go to the final for sure . So Greece vs USA in the final . if USA beats Spain or Argentina !
I think usa will have a better chance winning the 2012 Olympics .Good luck USA for the 2012 games .