Sue Bird and Carmelo Anthony talked about their experiences playing for team USA basketball in a recent episode of Melo’s podcast. Bird claimed that playing for team USA was the most uncomfortable basketball she’s ever played. Do you think the players’ on the men’s team feel the same way?
It’s like Nike is paying Sue Bird to justify why they had Grant HIll pick Derrick White and not Jaylen Brown.
Genius damage control. /s
Sounds like a bunch of superstar talk. You are playing for your country. Play that role that the team needs for you to succeed. I guess i watch too much soccer where players do this all the time. Sacrifice their style of play for the success of the team.
Take someone like Alphonso Davies one of the best left backs in the world. But he plays for Canada and they need him to play in an attacking role to succeed.
Women
The men’s team looks more cohesive and loose IMO
The bench celebrations are dope and they seem to support each other.
That’s because Tyrese Haliburton is the LeBron James of Thanasis Antetokounmpos.
Boy I gotta award on my main account with yo name on it 😭🤝🏾
I love that this makes perfect sense to me
Hahaha. Who’s most comfortable because Hali is on the team? Ant?
Haven’t they had more time to gel? WNBA is mid season
I don’t think so. I thought the women had been doing camps together all year. That’s why Caitlin and Angel weren’t invited.
I think the pressure of being heavy favorites, losing to the WNBA all stars, and extra media coverage is getting to them. They play tight and seem exhausted despite being the deepest team left.
They didn’t really have a camp since March. They got together for the all star game then flew france.
Reeve has been bad. It’s also team USA’s first year without Bird, and an aging Taurasi. And it’s showing.
First three games she had three power forwards starting, whose skills overlap and who all want to run…with a 42 year old shooting guard and injured point guard… both of which would rather player half court.
Then, she’d have Griner come in with a bunch of guards that want to move the ball quickly. Griner doesn’t want to run, and the guards don’t know how to play with BG (it’s a whole learned skill in itself)
She finally swapped it around a little bit. She’s at least putting Taurasi and BG together (and both played much better because of it), though poor Gray is still stuck trying to run with her bad leg.
It’s hard, Bird retired and they don’t get much time together. I expect Clark and Bueckers will be running the offense next time, because Gray/Sabrina/Plum aren’t great at it. CC and Angel didn’t make the team because they didn’t try out, not because they were missing practice.
I mean, the guard play has been inconsistent if I’m being kind and extremely poor if I’m being mean. Taurasi and Grey started each game in group and combined for 1.33 ppg. Yes, really. Neither scored against Belgium or Germany and DT’s total statline in those games was a single assist. That shouldn’t be a thing for a Team USA bench player but for a starter to have a multi-game statline like that is nuts.
Fortunately, Reeve saw the writing on the wall and went with Young and Gray this time with Young providing a major spark. I hope she sticks with Young and I’d like to see her start either Loyd or Kah, the former for her defense and the latter for her offense. We’ll see what she does against the Opals.
I mean, ultimately it’s not going to matter because between A’ja, Stewie, AT, and BG it’s a god-tier frontcourt untouchable by anyone else but the guard play this year has left an awful taste in my mouth. The best PG/facilitator on the team is probably AT and while she’s elite, that shouldn’t be the case. That problem should solve itself by LA, however, and possibly sooner at the World Cup in '26, should probably see CC at that one. And idk, I’d love for them to collectively get out of this god awful 3 point shooting funk that’s gone the entire tournament. 24/78 30.7% and not a single player has been consistent, that stat would be demonstrably worse if a few players didn’t have a single great performance here and there.
It’s nitpicking but we’re fortunate we’re so blessed with the depth and frontcourt we have because if this was another country, the guard play probably would cost us if it hadn’t already. But I get it. We’re crashing boards better than everyone and spreading the ball around like crazy (+40 assists through 4 games compared to the opposition) and the defense is strong and we’re great at staying out of foul trouble. Whatever wins gold is what matters but just hope we get better guard play in the future.
I wonder how much that has to do with the fact that it’s the NBA offseason, so some of the season and postseason adrenaline and angst has worn off. They came in much more relaxed. Whereas the WNBA players go from competing against each other then playing with each other, knowing that they’ll be going right back to playing against each other. Like, I don’t want to spend a month becoming too friendly with someone I’m currently competing against in the league for a championship.
It’s definitely a good point, but it’s more like players are being TOO unselfish and too deferential instead of all trying to earn that alpha spot.
You could definitely see a lot of over-passing and some janky offense, and aside from Lebron, KD, Ant, Stewie, and A’ja, players on both teams are playing vastly different roles on Team USA.
Yes it has different rules and you have to adjust. Those that can’t probably find it difficult compared to the US leagues
We’re watching LeBron not you. Move along.
Do you think the players’ on the men’s team feel the same way?
For the most part, yes. Besides the players with an immediately translatable game (superstar role players) its a CRAZY sacrifice going from 20 shots, unlimited touches, priority looks, etc to rotation minutes and spot looks. My favorite thing to watch in Olympic years is how good the stars are at dirty work. When you’re relied upon to create offense/anchor defense, the odd jobs (boxing out, diving on loose balls, fighting screens) that are crucial to wins aren’t expected of you.
That all makes sense but at the same time how do these guys not understand how to just play ball and help your team win
This was actually part of what killed Canada against France yesterday. We didn’t have great bigs on our roster but our players weren’t making up for it by boxing out. You could tell a lot of these dudes are used to playing with actual bigs on their NBA teams and aren’t used to crashing the boards/boxing out, which is part of the reason we lost. Giving up some OREB’s make sense because obviously we’re the smaller team, but we gave up way too many because a lot of our players were just ball watching or running back to the other end.
This is why I didn’t understand the Jaylen Brown controversy at all. The last thing team USA needed is another guy that is used to taking 20+ shots a game and having the ball in their hands. Someone like White who is used to not getting a ton of shots or time on-ball is the perfect fit.
From a Celtics fan perspective, Jaylen never really played point forward until these past 2 years. Yeah he’d take it up sometimes, but between Kyrie, Kemba, Dennis Schoder?, Smart, White and Jrue he never needed to initiate the offense. He also just came off a season with elite defense and great rebounding for his position. White was the perfect fit, but the issue was more of a why wasn’t this dude included in the first place?
Who do you think should be cut for Jaylen? I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if he got no minutes in a game like Jayson too.
Lebron
Great comment. It’s something most of us don’t realize watching the games.
That’s why I kinda wish they attempted to build the team more from a cohesion perspective. Like, sure - get your top 5-7 guys to be the best guys you can get. But then for the rest - just get elite role players.
Like go get Jarrett Allen, Herb Jones, Draymond maybe? KCP, Aaron Gordon. Plenty of phenomenal guys who don’t need a bunch of touches but do critical things that contribute to winning.They should’ve got Draymond tbh, he was a part of the previous olympics team, and he has chemistry with KD and Steph
That’s why KD is my GOAT. Need him to be the guy with the ball in his hands all game? Elite. Need him off ball while another ball dominant player has the ball in their hands? Elite. Need him off the bench to provide instant, efficient offense? Elite.
His defense is nice, too.
He’s not there in terms of accolades or reputation, but I agree that he has a strong argument for best in terms of pure play.
KD not there in reputation? Are you 3 years old?
I mean to be in the GOAT conversation. You can’t really compare KD to MJ in terms of reputation/aura.
Oh my b. I bought you meant in terms of elite level
Yeah, I can see how that would happen. I was just responding to that commenters first sentence.
If we’re talking Olympic Team USA GOAT there’s an argument to be made
I gotta watch this interview. I’m the biggest Melo stan, but his pods and colabs are mostly about him, his takes, and how he feels about his guests’ stories compared to HIS journey. With Melo being the goat of USA Olympics in modern times vs S.Bird with a very different experience, I can only imagine a wild ride
Yeah I feel the same about Melo. When I tune in I generally hate hearing him on the podcast. Thank goodness Med is there. I never really liked his public persona, often appears centered around him or like he’s saving face. I’d bet he’s more down to earth in his personal life with his friends.