The USA select team would probably win gold too.

I wouldn't be falling too hard for the US team just yet. They easily beat an Argentine team which is a husk of its former glory, but they did it by jacking up junk and dominating them inside.

USA wont be quite so dominant on the O boards against the better teams in the competition. They also don't appear to have much happening from mid-range. If you have a solid inside defensive presence and you make it out to shooters you could potentially trouble or beat the USA.

A team that wants a shot at them would have to be efficient offensively. Turn overs would be costly so you need a team that is either conservative, or can get back on transition defense to nullify their fast break game. Australia did a half decent job of that in 2012 before three quarter time.

Any team that wants a shot would also be praying on a poor shooting night. There will, as usual, be nights when the Americans turn up and simply cant miss. On those nights you might as well just throw in the towel.

But can they be beaten? Yes, they can. And they're at their weakest on paper that they've ever been since 1992

You'll also need to hope the referee they have isn't American who misses a bunch of calls which seems to be a regular occurrence in the Olympics for team USA.

"They are the favourites for sure but wont dominate like you may think.

Spain
Lithuania
Serbia
France

All very good teams..."

I'd put Australia in that mix, especially with Bogut. I wouldn't expect Australia to win against the USA but I think we can give them a game on our day.

Serbia is not as good as they were in the World Cup. They're a team rebuilding and I wouldn't expect them to be in medal calculations. They don't have much of an inside presence now.

Brazil is probably the other threat to the USA and a strong medal candidate.

"USA's worst player would be first picked for the boomers" - yes, probably

"No chance of beating them" - no, some chance, even if only 5%

""USA's worst player would be first picked for the boomers" - yes, probably

"No chance of beating them" - no, some chance, even if only 5%"

Basketball games are played on the court, not on paper. The USA would have never lost a single game if we use that logic. The USA was beaten by Greece, who didn't have a single NBA player at the time.

Good point anon 146. This is the reason that Vukona is (or was) such a great player at international level. His mobility and strength allowed him to match up with mobile 4's and compete with bigger 4's.

"Australia's best player is who, Delly? And we could give the US a run for their money? Please. "

Err, no. Australia's best player is Andrew Bogut, or failing that, Patty Mills.

"

There's one glaring reason why you can't put Australia a chance to compete with the U.S, it's an absolutely horrible matchup.

The U.S play small 1 through 4. We have a glut of bigs that don't have the athleticism to play the 4 against them. On top of that, we don't have any long athletic wings to match them even in the 2 spot, let alone the 4.

Our bigs can contain the 5 spot of the U.S to an extent (nobody is stopping Cousins).

But that 4 spot is going to be the undoing for Australia.
"

Broekhoff or Ingles would probably played the 4 in a small ball line up. We have the versatility to play big and small. A line up with Delly/Lisch Mills, Ingles, Broekhoff, Bogut/Baynes as the main seven and a touch of Bairstow and Goulding with the rest relegated to the bench would atleast be able to keep pace with the Americans when it comes to running the floor.

Broekhoff is a great rebounder at his position. As for who can play the four, what about Motum and Anderson?

Okay, we get it. You've looked at the names on the team and have already assumed a loss. Of course, Greece and Argentina could have done the same in the wins they've had to them. Fact is no one is meant to beat the USA on paper.

I am not even saying I think we can win. I am just talking about potential line ups and strategies to give ourselves some hope of doing so. My belief is that we will lose the USA game but still be in the mix for a medal, and I am basing that off having seen recent games played by France, Spain, Serbia and Argentina. France and Serbia games were serious qualification games.

Well we will get the first good look at them against decent competition tomorrow vs. Lithuania. The game is at 6.30am but I am sure it will stay up on the link afterwards.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0hitU-8O4w

Of the 12 teams at the competition, the Boomers are ranked the 8th best team (barely tipping out Croatia). We are not coming off of a very high base here, and for good reason.

There is understandably a lot of optimism about our team and fortunes, but arguments for a sense of realism about our prospects. It is difficult to point to any of those other teams ranked above us (or Croatia) and say we absolutely should beat them (or vice versa). Can we beat them, yes. But the whole tournament is fraught and we have to be on our best every game. Being in the USA's group is a slight advantage for a change on the cross-over but as 2014 showed you still have to beat your opponent.

We could easily end up anywhere from second to eighth, but a medal would be an over-achieve and a quarter final cross-over loss a disappointment and probable under-achieve.

Yes, the US could probably put three teams together and have a realistic chance of sweeping all the medals. But history shows that they are not infallible, and this might be one of those years given most of their first-choice players are missing. But they are still rightly odds-on favourites for the gold.

I'm with XY.

At least this time the media haven't been exaggerating our medal chances - they've left it to the Boomers themselves to talk medals.

Broekhoff is a great rebounder. Can confirm.

I am also with XY. We are in a log jam with 6 of the top 8 teams who can beat eachother on any given night.

And yes, Broekhoff is a great rebounder. He could be serviceable in the 4 spot at times.

He has a different role in his Euroleague team but he has always been a good rebounder for the Boomers. Plus Euroleague games have fewer shots and are lower scoring.

Seems you just want to hate for the sake of it. Oh well, we will see what happens in 2 weeks time.

#592221

You should watch Broekhoff play sometime.

What will team USA death line up be???
Draymond
Melo
KD
Klay
Kyrie

Or George in for melo

I agree that Broekhoff is a good rebounder. For his size & position.

But put him at the 4 against guys that are bigger than him and whose focus is to block out & get boards (as opposed to the wing players he can get boards against) and it's a different ballgame entirely. Bad idea IMO.

I am not saying we have much of a chance of beating the USA, but I am talking about tactics to give ourselves the best shot. Certainly their 49 point mutilation of China doesn't fill me with much hope. We will be competitive in all other games, and I agree, the Olympics for the Boomers will largely be decided in the first two games.