Basketball - World Championship

Hmmmm....

...noone seems to have started a topic about this. I have returned for that one...


Anyway Greece beat the US 101-95 in the semifinal and will meet Spain in the final.

My comments/Trivia:

1. Another 'Yankee go home' for the US team who have not seen a gold medal for 3 (I think) of World Tournaments.

2. The Japanese fans were chearing for ...the US. Having being nuked and all that I would expect them to support anyone but. I ll never understand the Japanese...

3. The US is at the moment, undoubtedly, the most hated nation in the world (thanks to its administration). A rumour has it that the Greek victory was publicly cheered allover the world (Especially Arabic countries and Serbia)...Can anyone confirm this?

4. None of the 12 Greek players players (despite being European Champions) play at the NBA. ...So much for NBA Scouters...


5. Isnt it time for the Americans to learn how to play defence?


6. Nash, Nowitzki, Gasol, Ming etc are non-americans and star at the NBA. Team usa cannot even reach the final. Is this the end of the US basketball talent?

7. Greece has a population of 10m , the US has 250m ( I think)

8. LeBron James approached Sofoklis Schortsianitis after the game and asked him 'Why arent you playing in the NBA yet?'

If there is anyone out there who cares about Basketball out there feel free to comment or predict the outcome of Sunday's game (Greece-Spain)


For now free drinks for everyone. A great victory, an all European Final, and some humble-pie for some 'favorites' like the US and Argentina.

:2thumbsup:

I actually like this. The state of basketball in the US has been pretty bad for a while. NBA teams have been wasting draft picks on high-schoolers and college freshmen, not allowing them time to learn the fundamentals of the game. Guaranteed contracts in the NBA have killed some teams, leaving them stuck with overpaid stiffs. The NBA has been pretty unwatchable over the past 10-15 years, and the college game has suffered as well (mainly from the aforementioned talent drain). Getting beat in international tourneys, importing more players into the NBA, and the new age threshold should help some, maybe in another 10 years I will want to watch the games again.

Congrats, Greece!

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1. Another 'Yankee go home' for the US team who have not seen a gold medal for 3 (I think) of World Tournaments.

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That is a rough, but welcome, stretch. The game has declined in the US. Maybe with enough losses on the international stage it will influence the way we play the game here.

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2. The Japanese fans were chearing for ...the US. Having being nuked and all that I would expect them to support anyone but. I ll never understand the Japanese...

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They like Michael Jackson too. Maybe they have a way of looking beyond the ills and appreciating the skills. :shrug:

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3. The US is at the moment, undoubtedly, the most hated nation in the world (thanks to its administration). A rumour has it that the Greek victory was publicly cheered allover the world (Especially Arabic countries and Serbia)...Can anyone confirm this?

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I'd like to see a continent by continent rundown with top 3 most hated countries. Good spinoff topic for the backroom.

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4. None of the 12 Greek players players (despite being European Champions) play at the NBA. ...So much for NBA Scouters...

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Maybe they couldn't sign the top prospects because their current teams were asking for too much. Of the 12 do you think even a third of them would be worthy of the investment to scout and recruit them ?

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5. Isnt it time for the Americans to learn how to play defence?

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Maybe the players are convinced that they actually have competition now. Maybe they'll start to try a bit harder. They used to be able to sleepwalk through the poor competition. People have caught up. Sleepwalking isn't enough now.

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6. Nash, Nowitzki, Gasol, Ming etc are non-americans and star at the NBA. Team usa cannot even reach the final. Is this the end of the US basketball talent?

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Of course not. The talen has always been there. Its a question of drive for a lot of these players. Of the three you mentioned not a one of them has a championship ring and with the exception of Nash not one of them has sniffed an MVP trophy. Sans Nash the scouting report is pretty much the same: Tall guy who can sooot. Reboudning optional, defense soft.

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7. Greece has a population of 10m , the US has 250m ( I think)

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This might account for the 5,000 other sports the US does better.

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8. LeBron James approached Sofoklis Schortsianitis after the game and asked him 'Why arent you playing in the NBA yet?'

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Good question. An undersized post player who has heart and desire. Corliss Williamson, Ben Wallace, or Charles Barkley ? Haven't watched the guy personally and the scouting report I read was 5 years old, but it seems like his height fluctuates between 6-9 and 6-10. The NBA is littered with these types of players. Corliss being avg, Wallace being good, and Barkley being outstanding. If he's Corliss or below thats fine, but why wast time negotiating in Greece when you can draft an undersized guy out of college ?

1) Maybe they couldn't sign the top prospects because their current teams were asking for too much. Of the 12 do you think even a third of them would be worthy of the investment to scout and recruit them ?

3) Good question. An undersized post player who has heart and desire. Corliss Williamson, Ben Wallace, or Charles Barkley ? Haven't watched the guy personally and the scouting report I read was 5 years old, but it seems like his height fluctuates between 6-9 and 6-10. The NBA is littered with these types of players. Corliss being avg, Wallace being good, and Barkley being outstanding. If he's Corliss or below thats fine, but why wast time negotiating in Greece when you can draft an undersized guy out of college ?[/QUOTE]
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1) All 12 of them are more or less equally good. This is not a team of 2-3 good players and 9 others to assist (like Spain) or an one man team (Germany). These guys are 12 equally good players. If you check their stats you will see that the top scorer is different in almost every game. Thats why the team wins.

Some of these guys were drafted and then released by NBA teams. Others were drafted very low. On the other hand very average European Players (darko Milisic etc) have an NBA career. It is not that these players have not been discovered, they all play in top Euroleague teams. I still believe its bad, really bad, scouting...

3) Err....Undersized?

http://www.sportime.gr/UserFiles/Ima...a/greusa26.jpg

He is definately not undersized....

...this guy scored 15 points against Yao Ming and dunked the ball in front of him twice...in about 15-20 mins. He scored 14 points against the US in 13 minutes of play, being basically unstoppable.

He did all this coming from the bench, he doesnt get more than 20 mins per game. How better do you need to be at 21 to play at the NBA? Especially now that the NBA is seriously lacking decent big men. I think LeBron was dead honest with him...

RE: More Greek players in NBA

Roster limits and the historic lack of a minor league system. 12 man rosters, I'm not drafting for the next Steve Kerr or Greg Ostertag. Great team players on the Greek team but they lack the dread....upside. The NBA is way to the right and guys are playing like individuals with GM's paying very little attention to augmenting the few true great individual players with complementary team players.

Darko was drafted because of....upside. He is tall. He is young. He didn't have the label of being another soft tall Euro. His game was supposed to translate better to the rough and tumble NBA.


RE: Sofo

He looks way short in that picture. Not even up to the guys armpits. Terrible! As for dunking on Yao, Yao is the next Shawn Bradley. People dunk on them all the time because they are tall. And it will get you on the highlight reels. He dunked on a tall guy! Hooray! He doesn't start on the Greek team ?

And its not a question of could he play in the NBA. Its a question of who are you getting. Are you getting a Mailman, an XMan, or a 12thman ? So when Sofo is in the NBA, what what are you predicitng ?

Err....he is not short. He is hanging from the basket, and the ring is all bent. Look at the pic carefully.

You gotta watch the game to see what I am talking about. :2thumbsup:

He did dunk... 4 times...in a row...and the US team never got the lead after that.

Regarding NBA:

If Sofo defices to join the NBA he will need the right sort of team that will support his development. He is a bit of a mummy's boy :D

He needs to play in a team with good shooters who will take advantage of his screen and with a good fast pointguard. He needs a coach that will help him develop further.

I believe that if he likes the life over there, he will be one of the best european NBAers (Nowitzki, Stoyakovich). If Milicic managed to play at the NBA then Sofo is a sure thing.



P.S: He doesnt start in the team. Papadopoulos is the basic C. Not as physically impressive as Schortsianitis but a very technical player, something similar to Gasol.

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Originally Posted by rasoforos

Err....he is not short. He is hanging from the basket, and the ring is all bent. Look at the pic carefully.

You gotta watch the game to see what I am talking about. :2thumbsup:

He did dunk... 4 times...in a row...and the US team never got the lead after that.

Regarding NBA:

If Sofo defices to join the NBA he will need the right sort of team that will support his development. He is a bit of a mummy's boy :D

He needs to play in a team with good shooters who will take advantage of his screen and with a good fast pointguard. He needs a coach that will help him develop further.

I believe that if he likes the life over there, he will be one of the best european NBAers (Nowitzki, Stoyakovich). If Milicic managed to play at the NBA then Sofo is a sure thing.



P.S: He doesnt start in the team. Papadopoulos is the basic C. Not as physically impressive as Schortsianitis but a very technical player, something similar to Gasol.

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I was being silly in regards to the picture. He's a big boy.

I really do have to see him play. A Greek I know from a sports forum was really pumping him up as well. Its difficult to make any type of judgment about a guy without seeing any game action. I'll check the tv listings, hopefully they'll show a replay of the game.

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Originally Posted by rasoforos

For now free drinks for everyone. A great victory, an all European Final, and some humble-pie for some 'favorites' like the US and Argentina.

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Wow!! So people see Argentina as a favourite now?...:2thumbsup:
Anyway haven't watched it until the match against Spain, and only to see my team lose.:no:

Well, they killed the NBA game by changing way too many rules. They did it mainly to stimulate scoring.

The 3rd-4th place battle between the US and Argentina is on now. Will the US take a medal or will Argentina claim yet another victory?

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Hmmmm....

...noone seems to have started a topic about this. I have returned for that one...

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Heh, why's that surprising, this is basketball y'know, it's not cricket ferchristssake ;)

Anyway, after a mediocre WC with not many truly interesting matches, the Basketball World Championship offered some pretty exciting games, I can say enjoyed this one a lot.

On the final, I got to admit that it's a shame Gasol won't be playing, it's a big loss for the game as a whole. But maybe the injury will provide the psychological boost to take on the Greek team, so you never know what can happen...

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Originally Posted by rasoforos

The 3rd-4th place battle between the US and Argentina is on now. Will the US take a medal or will Argentina claim yet another victory?

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Damn!! The yanks kicked our ***!! Well sometimes you win and the next time it returns biting your own ***. Nice revenge US, see you when I see you.:devil:

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Originally Posted by L'Impresario

Heh, why's that surprising, this is basketball y'know, it's not cricket ferchristssake ;)

On the final, I got to admit that it's a shame Gasol won't be playing, it's a big loss for the game as a whole. But maybe the injury will provide the psychological boost to take on the Greek team, so you never know what can happen...

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...Cricket....yes...in live in England and at the moment you can spend hours on tv watching debates about whether people should be allowed to scratch a cricket ball or not...and noone seems to be aware of the World Championship...

It a great shame that Gasol is not playing, I wanted to see Spain in full strength. However it is a change for Spain to prove that they are not a 1 man team. Yannakis (Greek coach) is probably working like crazy to change his defence plans for a team without Gazol.

~:mecry:

Why did Greece had to lose? I wanted Greece!!! ~:mecry:

By the way, US and Argentina sucked both. Especially USA, with their big superstars, they didn't do a single dime. Wade sucked, Carmelo did something, but LeBron sucked completely. He was totally off-topic.

I didn't even know there was something called the Basketball World Championship. I suppose, you never stop to learn...

Quid

Yes, Greece got beaten soundly heh
Too bad the game ended around the 2nd quarter. The Spanish were so dominating. The Greeks were nervous to the boot and at no point did they manage to recover. Spain became the underdog after Gasol's injury and they played with an admirable composure and a cool head. They were already playing very good during the whole tourney but in that last game they were phenomenal. There was only one team in the arena.
Well, it didn't leave room for much excitement and the heartbreaking finale many were expecting, the semifinals were quite better in that respect.

Greeks were emotionaly empty after they defeated USA. That's the reason why they lost so easy. After GREAT victory over USA, they thought it will be easy to defeat Spain.

Anyway, GREAT WIN for European basketball. Last three championships won Europeans (1998 - FR Yugoslavia, 2002 - FR Yugoslavia, 2006 - K. Spain).