To be fair they were handed way too short of a turnaround.

It would be hard to get up for the 7th game in 12 days in an essentially meaningless game as they've already qualified for the Olympics.

I hope the US wins, but not because I feel sorry for the players - I'd hate for someone as respected as Pop to finish his career as scapegoat for this debacle.

For a team like the USA, playing another 2 games to determine whether they have failed badly, or failed miserably, is rather pointless.
They are out of medal contention, and now they just want to go home.

Team sport. Can't just throw guys together. Never works.

Don't know where all this left-field sympathy for Team USA has come from.

They've dominated for years, their roster has all NBA players and some good ones at that etc. Do they really need our sympathy?

I don't see it particularly extraordinary that they "put everything aside to represent the country" - representing your country is a privilege and an honour, not a 'sacrifice' (regardless of how big your NBA contract is).

Just my opinion, but out of all the teams in the WC, Team USA is the ones I have the smallest amount of sympathy for (although I agree that people shouldn't hold this against Pop).

This will lock in the World Cup year before Olympics now. FIBA wants to see different countries take gold.

You can't blame Pop for players missing foul shots.

However, two areas which could be on Pop and Kerr are
- (on offense) that the US didn’t look to push the ball and use their athleticism to beat the defense, instead bogging down in half-court play which they weren’t suited to
- (on defense) that they didn’t defend more aggressively but stood back from players too much, especially dribblers coming down the court.

Spot on, Hoopie.

Team sport. Can't just throw guys together. Never works.

"Nah I have it on good authority from many months of reading boomers threads here that the best team you can get is by throwing together as many NBA guys as you can find"

And that includes guys who may or may not make the NBA one day but someone said they will, and possibly guys who have watched an NBA game on ESPN once. All better options than solid role players from the NBL....apparently

"Is one problem that they didn't have a clear top dog in the pecking order out of Mitchell or Walker?"

I think that's a good point. No reason why Kemba couldn't be dominating the way Patty does. The difference is Patty knows he's our main man.

"I think you can get away with it if you have supreme talent like the original Dream Team or the best available right now."

Maybe. The problem with this USA team isn't talent, it's the fact they have little combined FIBA experienced and haven't played much together.

After the poor showings in 2002 and 2004, the USA under Colangelo identified they needed to build a national 'team', not just bring in talent.

Over that time they not only got consistency in the team that went to tournaments, but planned ahead in terms of getting younger stars into the training camps to learn what it's about and get used to playing in the system.

That approach literally made them unbeatable, even in 2010 and 2014 when they didn't have close to their best line-ups.

This time around they have a new coach and very few guys who were in the previous program - it's literally ground zero and as such the odds were stacked against them.

I just read this post from yesterday.
"All the while the guys who pulled out are kicking back and enjoying the show."

I can see where some, if not all of them will feel some responsibility for the bashing USA basketball is taking from this WC.

I am sure that there will be ramifications over this in American basketball. They will all feel this humiliation and the millions of fans, who, like us, know nothing about what really happens in these selection processes will be furious as well as humiliated. I can also imagine that their peers may have lost some respect for those who quit the team. Look at how we have reacted to the Boomers ins and outs. And, how so many people are down on Simmons for not going. And we're winning!

As for Pop, not only did he give up/sacrifice himself, as did all other participants, he, more than any other NBA coach allowed, probably encouraged, 4 of his team to represent at the WCs. Wonder how many others did the same to get the "super" stars to participate (I separated "super" from stars on purpose). In that vein, I wonder how Brett Brown would answer such a question regarding our Ben!

Extension to Main Theme.

Could this tragic event (not being number 1 is bad eneough, playing for 7th or 8th is tragic) prompt some changes in both the NBA and FIBA.

Much has been said about the change in scheduling from last year to this, pre- Olympic year. Possibly had an influence on whether super and mega stars wanted to go to both and as we now know, lots chose "No".

Had the choice been now or in 2 years, many may have said "Yes"' simply because that extra year may have made a difference with their own selection chances. Purely because of age, LeBron may be a good example. 2 years from now and he's probably fighting for his spot against Zion(?), at least contesting the starting role. Those of you who know the NBA will be able to add lots of other names. Next year's Olympics may be his last chance to 1, represent his beloved USA or 2, go out with a bang!

Also, I have already heard/read how FIBA are hurting over being relegated to 2nd top status behind the Olympics. Whether that's true or not is unimportant.
Returning the WCs to its previous schedule would at least make both comps joint No 1s, perhaps. I'd be happy with that.

In fact this WC may justify FIBA claiming top spot stating that not even Olympic's basketball will be better than this.

Olympics are just special!

"Also, I have already heard/read how FIBA are hurting over being relegated to 2nd top status behind the Olympics. Whether that's true or not is unimportant."

FIBA embraces that the Olympics is the most iconic basketball event on the planet, afterall, along with athletics, basketball is the most viewed sport at the world's most viewed sporting event. That's a huge win for the sport.

Couple that with the huge growth in reach the WC has experienced across the past two tournaments, and the huge reach of the H&A qualifiers where there used to be no exposure for international basketball at most of those times, and international hoops is in a very good spot ATM.

Paul, does that mean that you prefer 1 year out from Olympics to 2 + 2, as was?

No

"Paul, does that mean that you prefer 1 year out from Olympics to 2 + 2, as was?"

Both ways have merit. The commercial success of the WC is what will determine if they stick with the current set up, not whether the US had their best team or not. In fact, the USA losing has probably generated more interest in the tournament than if they had dominated.

I think what's crucial is the WC is the qualifier for the Olympics, because that's the carrot for the best players to want to play. I think you'll find the USA sending a stronger team next WC because they'll know they could easily have been in Olympic qualifiers next year had Brazil not had a really bad day against the Czechs.

Wouldn't be surprised to see the tournament earlier in the year next time though, so players can get a break afterwards before heading to training camps.