With Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo and also with Georgios Kalaitzakis, the Milwaukee Bucks have three Greek players on their roster. Giannis and Thanasis have each played 13 games so far this season, while the rookie Kalaitzakis has played in 5 games.
Have there been any other examples of an NBA team having three players from the same country on their team? Excluding USA of course. I can't think of any in recent memory.
I can think of teams with two players from the same country but not three.
Definitely. You only need to look at the current NBA rosters to answer your own question. You might want to start with the Detroit Pistons ...
On another note:
1) Does anyone here have any thoughts about the NBA top 75 list?
2) Who do people on here pick for the NBA awards (MVP, DPOY, ROY, MIP, 6th man) this year?
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Crazy to have Olympics without Turkey, Greece, Lithuania, Serbia and Canada. Never would have bet on Italy or the Czech Republic qualifying. Too bad that Germany will miss most of their players, but at least most of them are young enough to play in 2024.
My prediction for the Olympics:
Group A: USA first, France second
Group B: Australia first, Italy/Germany second
Group C: Spain first, Slovenia second
Medal winners: Gold for USA, silver/bronze for Australia, silver/bronze for Spain/France/Slovenia
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
are Italy and Germany going to add some big names to their squads for the OG ? Belinelli, Hacket, Datome, Galinari ? btw Schroder was the main cheerleader in Split. what about him ?
or maybe too early to ask , they just qualified tonight
For Schröder the insurance was too expansive, he also won’t be in Tokyo. Germany will probably be without Schröder, Theis, Kleber, Hartenstein, F. Wagner, Pleiß and Zipser.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Before the tournament, I expected Brazil to lose at some point, but after reaching the final and against Germany, among all teams, I suddenly had big hopes for Brazil qualifying. It looks like I shouldn't keep my hopes up when it comes to Brazilian basketball.
What do you mean with „against Germany, among all teams“?
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Surprised by Croatia‘s performance. Brazil might be the favorite at this tournament now. Germany hasn’t been convincing in their first game. Too bad that almost all nations are missing many of their top guys.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
The "secret agreement" is revealed. It's the resignation/firing of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey who started the dispute. China CCTV commented "All price have to be paid and wish him good luck".
Funny ... after 1 year and when nobody was talking about it anymore (at least in western countries), he finally felt the pressure and decided to step down. Great win for China!
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Very good draw for Germany. They should field the strongest team in their tournament (especially with Wagner, Bonga and Hartenstein all being one year older), but if they underperform like they did this year, then every other team can beat them. Serbia should be safe (although Italy also has a pretty good team), in tournament B it could be close between Lithuania and Slovenia (but only if Doncic will play). Tournament D is absolutely brutal, Greece and Canada (if they play with their best team) would have been favorites in all other tournaments except for tournament A and Turkey also has a decent team (at least on paper). In my opinion Canada clearly has the 2nd best guard rotation in the world (only behind the US), but their big man situation looks pretty dire, maybe Greece (Giannis) can hurt them there, but Giannis hasn't been spectacular at FIBA level and Milwaukee is very likely to go far in the postseason, so if Canada will play with at least 2 or 3 of their top guards (Alexander-Walker, Murray, RJ, Gilgeous-Alexander, Lyles, Wiggins) they should win their tournament. Only Murray should go far in the postseason, so all the other guys probably will have no excuse to not participate. I would say tournament C is by far the most unpredictable, at least 4 teams could win that tournament.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Great result for Argentina with a team that isn't even among their most talented in recent memory and certainly isn't top 10 in the world when it comes to individual talent, but they played with a lot of passion and that was enough against a french team that clearly didn't have the same intensity as in their game against the US. I feared that the french players would lose their focus after their win against the US and that is exactly what happened. I think everyone can be happy about this result at least a bit. Argentinian people have enough sorrows at home and this result certainly will cheer them up for a while.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Great tournament for both teams, very encouraging for Australia to see that they can compete even without so many NBA players (Simmons, Exum, Maker, Bolden, Broekhoff and so on).
This might be the last chance for this spanish generation to win a major title, so they should be extra motivated in the final.
Edited by OlympicsFan
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Yes, Latvia is clearly better than Slovenia, we saw in last Eurobasket Quarterfinal.
You probably forgot, are reigning European champions, if they don't get a chance in qualifications, then we can really talk about corruption.
Yeah, by that logic Slovenia also is better than Spain/Serbia/France ...
Everything came together for your team last year, but Dragic clearly declined since then and noone can seriously doubt that Latvia has more talent than your team.
Edited by OlympicsFan
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Congratulations to France, finally they were able to play as a team. They always have amazing players, but normally they don't work very well as a team. Also i think that it is good for basketball that the US can't win with a C team, next year they will be dominant enough. France has a great future with guys like Ntilikina, Hayes, Doumbouya, Maledon, Wembanyama, Hoard, Cazalon or Begarin. They clearly have the 2nd best talent pool in the world, ahead of Australia and Canada. Overall this is an amazing year for french sport, first their massive overperformance at the judo world championships and now this ...
Not sure if France can be considered the favorite now? I think France and Australia have been more impressive than Argentina/Spain, but if they battle it out in the semifinal, then Spain might profit from that in the final. I think France could become the 3rd country in history to hold the world title in football and basketball at the same time. Brazil did it in 1958/1959 and 1962/1963 and Spain did it in 2006/2010. France could also become the 4th country to win world cups in both sports, the other nations that did it are Spain, Brazil and Argentina.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Wow, i never thought that Argentina could even get close, but i guess that the match against Spain broke Serbia. Now i would consider Serbia the biggest disappointment at this tournament, ahead of Greece, Germany and Turkey. I can't help but feel as if all the talk about how great this team is and how they could beat the US got to their heads. In my opinion something similar (at a lower level) happened to the german team here. When everyone tells you how great you are, then maybe some day you start believing it and this might lead to you not giving your best effort in some situations. This serbian losso pens up a huge chance for France and especially the Czech Republic. If the US beats France, then the Czech Republic is only 1 victory away from qualifying for the olympics!
I also see some similarities between this and the 2016 european championships/the 2018 world cup in football. I think after such a long NBA/Champions League season most of the top players are very tired, so a lot of the matches are much closer than they should be and we get surprising teams (Portugal/Wales at the 2016 european championships in football, England/Croatia at the 2018 football world cup and now Czech Republic/Argentina here) going very deep.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Amazing job by the Czech Republic! I don't think anyone would have bet anything on them making it out of the 2nd group stage ahead of Brazil and especially Greece and all of that even without Vesely. I guess that the main reason for them making it out of the 2nd group stage was Giannis clearly underperforming, but if you look at their individual quality, then Greece still should have beaten them comfortably. I never considered Greece as strong as many others, but i still thought that Giannis would lead them out of the 2nd group stage and that they then would have a 50/50 match against France/Australia. Looking at the greek roster, i don't see nearly as much individual quality as on the spain/french/serbian roster and i think it might also have something to do with greek teams performing worse and worse every year in the Euroleague.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Before the start of the tournament i considered Greece and Lithuania as the 4th/5th best european teams behind France, Spain and Serbia, but they were pretty disappointing here, so right now i would only consider Serbia/Spain/France clear favorites to qualify for Tokyo. If all nations play with their best players, then my guess would be that Serbia/Spain/France, Greece, Lithuania and Canada will qualify, but if Canada will miss their NBA players again, the question of who gets the 4th spot will be completely open and will mainly depend on the draw. I guess all teams will hope not to be drawn into the group with Serbia/Spain/France.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Two great matches today: Lithuaniva vs. France and USA vs. Greece. Especially Lithuania vs. France should be interesting, Lithuania needs to win this match. Greece vs. USA also is an important match, but so far Greece has been even less convincing than the US, so i am not sure whether they can actually make it a close match.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Brazil is throwing away their Olympic quota and Top8 placement against Czech Republic.
Why? Do we already know that Brazil won't qualify for the world qualifier? I have to say that the american teams have the second most difficult path to the olympics after the european team.
In case they will/can still qualify for the world qualifier: Of course it will/would be difficult for them, but not impossible, especially if other teams like the Domincan Republic or Canada will again miss their best players.
In my opinion there should be 16 teams at the olympics, for example:
USA
Canada
Brazil
Argentina
Dominican Republic
Japan
China
Australia
Nigeria
Cameroon
Spain
Serbia
France
Greece
Lithuania
Germany/Turkey/Italy/Slovenia/Latvia/Croatia
That would be a great tournament with pretty competitive groups, for example:
USA
Lithuania
Brazil
Cameroon (Siakam + Embiid)
Nigeria
Serbia
Australia
Dominican Republic (Towns + Horford)
Japan
Spain
Greece
Canada
Argentina
China
France
Germany/Turkey/Italy/Slovenia/Latvia/Croatia
Edited by OlympicsFan
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Indeed very impressive, especially because Vesely is missing! New Zealand also was rather good so far without Adams. The results here show that the results of the preparation games have absolutely no value. Germany lost against Japan (a team that didn't even make it out of their group and got thrashed by New Zealand), at the same time Germany won against Australia and Czech Republic comfortably and those two teams are doing great so far.
Edited by OlympicsFan
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
There is no wild card...Slovenia and Croatia will play at the OQT as the top 2 non qualified european teams in the ranking.
Great, so FIBA is another corrupt organization that changes the qualifying procedure during the qualification process ...
Latvia is clearly better than those 2 teams and would have had as good a chance as any european nation not named Spain/Serbia/France/Lithuania/Greece to qualify for the olympics.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
The difference is very small ,This is match of football not basket
Spain isn't as good as they used to be. The spanish team in 2008 and 2012 might have been the best european team ever, but they got old. I hope that one day France will reach the same level. They easily have the 2nd best talent pool in the world behind the US, but they often don't play as a team.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Dont forget Slovenia. They are good team, when Doncic,Dragic and Randolf play, they are even great.
Dragic is done and they don't have much depth + they would first have to get a wildcard and Latvia, Croatia and maybe Germany (if they don't qualify here) will also want one. Greece, France and Lithuania are the 3rd, 4th and 5th best teams in europe in my opinion and then we have a lot of nations that could get the 4th ticket (if europe even will be able to win 4 tickets at the world qualifier).
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
I hope it will be France who qualifies at this World Cup
I think Serbia and Spain are safe in the semifinal, so you will probably have to make the semifinal too. If you beat Australia, then you will probably have to beat Greece in the quarterfinal (which seems doable), but if you lose against Australia, you will probably have to beat the US, so i would say the easiest way to make the semifinal for you would be to beat Australia and Greece and then Spain in the 3rd place match, which seems like a really difficult path. I would favor Spain to get the 2nd ticket behind Serbia thanks to the ridiculous draw.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
I think that is very unlikely. I would say Serbia and Spain qualify here and then at the world qualifier 4 additional european teams (in my opinion 4 out of France, Greece, Lithuania, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Italy and Latvia) will hopefully qualify. I think the world cup is the best chance for Italy to qualify for the olympics, they "only" have to beat Spain and then they have to win the 3rd place match or hope that Australia and the US make it to the semifinal.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Serbia yes, Spain I'm not so sure. They lost a friendly to Russia (possible QF opponent) by 20 points last week, also our team was really close to them in the same preparation.
Also, I don't really know about this USA... I can easily see Australia, Lithuania or France beating them in a bad day.
Not sure about France. I always have the feeling that the french team is less than the sum of its parts, while it is the complete opposite with Serbia or Lithuania for example. I think preparation games dont mean much, results were all over the place. Germany lost against Japan and then a couple days later Germany easily won against Australia, while Australia won against the US. I still see the US as a safe finalist and i would be surprised if they would lose against a team other than Serbia, but maybe i am biased considering that they have Donovan Mitchell on their team who is one of my top 3 favorite players currently ...
I think the weakness on the guard positions will kill every team except for maybe France in a match against the US. The american guards are just far superior athletically to the lithuanian or australian guards for example.
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
Absolutely horrible match by Germany, 4 points in the first quarter and only 20 points in the first half!
I am not sure what it tells us about the french team that Germany still could have won this match ... ?
The main reason for the loss were Gobert's amazing defense and the horrible german 2 pt shooting (15/47 = 31.9 % from 2 pt range).
I am a bit surprised that Voigtmann (25 points and an efficiency of 28) was so much better than the 2 NBA players Kleber (6 points and an efficiency of 4) and Theis (7 points and an efficiency of 7), maybe he should start over them in the next matches.
I also can't help but wonder whether it was the right decision to leave Bonga (who is a good defender and probably could have done a better job against Fournier (who scored 26 points today) in this match) and Pleiß/Hartenstein (who are physically better than all other german centers and probably could have had more defensive impact today) at home.
After the first, way too early, impressions i would say that Lithuania should definitely make it out of the 2nd group stage and Australia and France should battle for that 2nd spot. Spain and Serbia are a lock for the semifinal, USA should also make it and i think Lithuania and Greece will fight for the 4th spot.
Edited by OlympicsFan
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
are reigning European champions, if they don't get a chance in qualifications, then we can really talk about corruption.
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Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.
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