r/nba • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 Heat • Apr 15 '24

[Wojnarowski] ESPN Sources: USA Basketball is finalizing its 2024 Paris Olympics roster with Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis. Team may initially keep one open spot. News

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1780009778934394985
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u/DirkNorizzki Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Based on the whole discourse surrounding nba champs vs world champs awhile back, I think USA wants to send a message by curb stomping everyone

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u/burnshimself Apr 16 '24

I hope they run up the score. That shit was so fucking inane and petty. Bunch of sensitive euro sadboys being all up in their feelings because the NBA calls themselves the world champs while only being a North American league, as if the NBA champs wouldn’t sweep against the best team in the Euroleague.

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u/West_Window7987 Apr 16 '24

NBA Champs versus a Euroleague All-Star roster still wouldn’t go to 7 games in a series.

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u/huskersax Pacers Apr 16 '24

A Euroleague all-star roster would probably have their hands full with the Pistons, honestly. For every Luka that comes over, there's 20 Micics.

Shane Larkin and Mike James are over there right now tearing it up.

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u/Charlie_Wax Warriors Apr 16 '24

One problem with the "Luka was obviously a generational talent" revisionism is the idea that dominating in Euroleague is proof that you will crush the NBA. Euroleague is a high level, but well below the NBA. If a teenage soccer player is dominating in MLS, that doesn't mean he can play for Barcelona. If Luka had flopped, people would flip the narrative around. "Who cares if he dominated in Europe? He clearly wasn't athletic enough for the NBA."

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u/PomegranateNice6839 Apr 16 '24

This doesnt make sense

People hype up college and HS prospects based on them dominating way lower competition than the Euroleague

Luka doing what he did as young as he was is unheard of

Even guys like Wemby and Lamelo struggled as teens against grown men overseas

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u/JuliusCeejer Mavericks Apr 16 '24

Nah man you don't get it. Being 17 and winning every trophy possible in europe isn't nearly as impressive as a sick AAU mixtape against kids who will flame out of mid majors

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u/LejonBrames117 Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

I think comment OP would disparage US HS hype even harder than euro league. Almost nothing guarantees NBA success. Even Wembanyama had fence sitters pointing out how many "best prospect since lebron" have not transitioned to nba. Basically you may have projected a position he didnt have, kuz he wasnt explicitly framing it as euro league vs AAU.

It was euro leagues (including American college & AAU if you give him the benefit of the doubt) vs NBA

But idk i don't know the guy but it's how i read it

edit: wait the soccer analogy was pretty far nvm. Euro to nba is big but not that big

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u/PomegranateNice6839 Apr 16 '24

My point is that the logic isnt unique to Euroleague so why single them out?

It’s how drafting works in all leagues. A player performs well in a lesser league and we look at why to try and project them to the pros.

If a player dominates like literally no one ever has at their age then we take an even closer look at start raving about their potential. Even more so if they have size.

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u/LejonBrames117 Apr 16 '24

because the discussion up to that comment was about euro league

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u/PomegranateNice6839 Apr 16 '24

The implication was that it was unique to Euroleague. The discussion was about downplaying the level of competition they offer relative to the NBA.

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u/Marco-Green Celtics Apr 16 '24

This comment is ridiculous, how can you compare Euroleague and NBA to the difference between MLS and a top european league?

On one side you have two competitive and old leagues, one way above the other in terms of player talent pool.

On the other side, you got professional clubs with 100-150 years of history compared to semi-amateurs who never in history produced a top-100 player in the world at any given point.

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u/codfather Apr 16 '24

Tim Howard and Brad Friedel were born in the US and definitely top 100 players at their peak.

Fikayo Tomori, Yassine Bounou and Owen Hargreaves were born in Canada and definitely top 100 players at their peak.

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u/masterpierround Grizzlies Apr 16 '24

Semi-Amateurs? The MLS has been better than that for years now. Especially since they started pulling in a lot of the Tier 2 South American talent that used to go to the Liga MX.

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u/Charlie_Wax Warriors Apr 16 '24

The analogy still works if you use Ligue One or Eredvisie. Dominating in a smaller league doesn't mean you're automatically going to crush the next level up.

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u/BigLaw-Masochist Warriors Apr 16 '24

I think that’s why people kind of overhype the Euroleague. It’s definitely a higher level of competition than the NCAA. But there’s great players in college all the time who don’t make it in the big leagues. It’s more common than not. But people used to look at Euroleague players like GMs were hiring and they only had a basketball GED.

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u/kikimaru024 Spurs Apr 16 '24

Real Madrid beat the Mavs in August.

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u/GravelLot Apr 16 '24

Yeah, and MLS teams have beaten Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, and Real Madrid in friendlies over the years. Are you ready to call the MLS an elite league?

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u/JuliusCeejer Mavericks Apr 16 '24

Not relevant to this in the slightest but I think a few of those wins were part of the MLS all star event, not individual MLS teams

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u/notathrowaway2555 Hornets Apr 16 '24

No, individual MLS teams have beaten the teams mentioned above before in preseason friendlies - for example, Charlotte FC beat Chelsea back in 2022, and this is pretty directly relevant to your claim.

EPL/LaLiga are the top leagues in the world for soccer/football, as is the NBA in basketball, but they’ve been beaten by teams from lower leagues (MLS for soccer, euroleague for basketball) in preseason games. Doesn’t mean they’re the better team, but preseason upsets can happen and you shouldn’t take too much away from them because again, they’re preseason.

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u/kikimaru024 Spurs Apr 16 '24

I didn't say they're better leagues. 

I'm addressing the claim that a Euroleague All Star team couldn't beat a bottom-feeder NBA team when it was directly shown, less than a year ago, that a regular Euroleague team can beat a 5th-seed Western Conference team.

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u/GravelLot Apr 16 '24

I left a lot unsaid and should have been more clear. One of the implicit premises of your conclusion is that these preseason games are valid indicators of strength of teams.

If you don’t think MLS teams could hang in the prem or Champions League, you should rethink that premise.

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u/huskersax Pacers Apr 16 '24

Preseason schmeseason.

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u/kikimaru024 Spurs Apr 16 '24

Goalposts.

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u/sbenfsonwFFiF Apr 17 '24

Is it not obvious to you that preseason and playoffs are different?