Current Events > USA just lost both baseball and basketball world tournaments this year

(+) Yeah! (+)

Our best two sports, we were never best in hockey so that doesn't matter. I guess football (American) is left for us now.

Do we take those tournaments seriously?

Some of the best players in both sports didn't play on the national teams because it's not worth risking injury and time for a tournament that has no reward. The baseball team had better representation than it's had in past years but it was still missing a lot of pitchers, who understandably care the most about keeping healthy. That's also not an excuse for losing though because Japan and Latin America are legit just really awesome at baseball.

https://www.usab.com/teams/5x5-mens-world-cup/roster

I don't know a single player on this roster

We also lost in womens soccer which is another sport we have often been best at.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Do we take those tournaments seriously?

I don't think we send our best to the basketball tournament - even with that being the case the US has still won that particular tourney the most out of any other nation that competes in it.

I don't know why the best Baseball players would want to play a world tournament right now.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Do we take those tournaments seriously?

I think so.

The baseball teams at WBC had some of the best players and was a very good match (keep in mind many of Japan's players are also playing in the MLB). However the basketball team was obviously not made of top pros.

uwnim posted...

We also lost in womens soccer which is another sport we have often been best at.

This is actually a much more noteworthy "upset" than the two losses in the title.

The women's soccer and basketball teams have been the most dominant sides in their sports for decades, while USA Baseball has always been challenged by orhers internationally and the US men's basketball team has been inconsistent for near on 20 years.

VeggetaX posted...

I think so.

Not anymore. For NBA players it makes zero sense for them to participate, risk injury, and risk literally hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts.

So the people who do play are usually young up and coming talents or B-level starters.

The American teams are a joke anyway since most of the best American players don't participate.

US's talent pool is getting worse and worse in basketball while other countries are getting better

LeBron, Curry, and KD are aging

Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Embiid (kinda still a whiny shameless flopper) are the best players in the NBA right now and Wemby is the most hyped prospect

Our national teams are almost never made up top talent, it just isn't worth it for most players. Every few years there's a push to put together on 92 Dream Team and then everyone goes back to not really caring about international competition, mostly because the top international talent is usually already competing in a North American league. (for baseball and basketball, we love our womens soccer team but our mens is not good).

GS4Life posted...

US's talent pool is getting worse and worse in basketball while other countries are getting better

LeBron, Curry, and KD are aging

Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Embiid (kinda still a whiny shameless flopper) are the best players in the NBA right now and Wemby is the most hyped prospect

...this isn't the answer though.

Here's the answer. No one cares about fiba, that's why.

I mean this USA Team still should have won but Kerr is a fraud who was made to look good by Curry and KD

US's starting lineup was undersized, constantly getting off to slow starts and killed on the boards

Brunson, Ingram, and later Hart had no business starting. The ball movement was terrible when Brunson and Ant were both on the floor together

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

https://www.usab.com/teams/5x5-mens-world-cup/roster

I don't know a single player on this roster

I watch NBA religiously and even I couldnt tell you who or what team Walker Kessler plays for

idk about baseball but in basketball, the best players aren't playing. despite medical procedures being better, basketball players are injured a lot and rather save it for the nba.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

https://www.usab.com/teams/5x5-mens-world-cup/roster

I don't know a single player on this roster

Are you being hyperbolic, or are you just not a big basketball fan?

pauIie posted...

idk about baseball but in basketball, the best players aren't playing. despite medical procedures being better, basketball players are injured a lot and rather save it for the nba.

we still shouldn't need the fucking 1992 Dream Team to win Gold every time

This is one of the worst teams ever. When Jalen Brunson is your best player on a nationals team, you're fucked.

Maybe in 20 years we'll look back at this team as really good, just not good at the time, guys like Ant, Paolo, and Haliburton could turn into amazing players down the line, but right now, they're not.

ClayGuida posted...

This is one of the worst teams ever. When Jalen Brunson is your best player on a nationals team, you're fucked.

Maybe in 20 years we'll look back at this team as really good, just not good at the time, guys like Ant, Paolo, and Haliburton could turn into amazing players down the line, but right now, they're not.

lol Ant, Banchero, Haliburton, Bridges, and Reaves were all better than Brunson
Kerr was terrible at Rotations and kept putting in undersized lineups

Thats what happens when the best players in your team are Anthony Edwards and Austin Reeves.

Neither tournaments had our best players, so meh

GS4Life posted...

we still shouldn't need the fucking 1992 Dream Team to win Gold every time

You don't. The 2023 dream team would probably be Lebron, Steph, KD, AD, Tatum? You could build a gold winning team without those guys. USA has plenty of tier 2 dudes. Not even those guys are playing.

pauIie posted...

You don't. The 2023 dream team would probably be Lebron, Steph, KD, AD, Tatum? You could build a gold winning team without those guys. USA has plenty of tier 2 dudes. Not even those guys are playing.

I mean it's not Franz Wagner and Dennis Schorder are more talented than the majority of the US team
Germany was better coached, had more discipline, and American players have gotten way too soft given that any tiny bit of contact in the NBA is a foul nowadays.

Now if they loss Serbia with Jokic then you could say yes we needed another Superstar but Jokic isn't even playing.

If only Yugoslavia was still a country.

Germany outmuscled US small ball.

international play is different than local.

also - the team wasnt comprised of the best players we have and neither was the baseball team which still had solid talent.

asian and Latin American teams have more pride to play for and they take it much more seriously.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/1/AAcTOIAAE0sH.jpg

GS4Life posted...

I mean it's not Franz Wagner and Dennis Schorder are more talented than the majority of the US team
Germany was better coached, had more discipline, and American players have gotten way too soft given that any tiny bit of contact in the NBA is a foul nowadays.

Now if they loss Serbia with Jokic then you could say yes we needed another Superstar but Jokic isn't even playing.

Lol I'm not talkin about no Dennis Schroeder. Would he even play for USA btw?

By tier 2s I mean just players that aren't top 5. 5-10, 10-20 USA players I think gets it done. The dbooks, Donovan mitchells, jimmy butlers, dfox, Kyrie, dame, etc. They wouldn't be the starting 5 of the dream team, and would beat everybody imo

pauIie posted...

Lol I'm not talkin about no Dennis Schroeder. Would he even play for USA btw?

By tier 2s I mean just players that aren't top 5. 5-10, 10-20 USA players I think gets it done. The dbooks, Donovan mitchells, jimmy butlers, dfox, Kyrie, dame, etc. They wouldn't be the starting 5 of the dream team, and would beat everybody imo

Schroder is German, he was one the guys who beat Team USA

Mitchell was medicore in the 2019 FIBA World cup

Lillard and Booker won Gold in the last Olympics but they were honestly pretty bad. KD, Tatum, and Jrue all outplayed them by a wide margin. Kyrie was amazing in the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics but he's also completely lost his marbles over the years, is aging and very injury prone.

The USA team that came fourth in the FIBA World Cup is literally the only team with a roster full of NBA players. I don't care if they are bench players; they are still NBA players. The teams they lost to have players who aren't even bench players in the NBA.

Regardless of whether the USA sent their A Team, the fact is this team still should have won gold based on talent alone. In fact, they were the favourites to do so before the tournament started.

Oh no, we lost in tournaments we dont care about and dont remotely send our best players to.

Slight overstatement on the WBC roster aspect, admittedly.

Oh my...

https://theathletic.com/4849490/2023/09/11/lebron-james-2024-olympics-paris/

When Austin Reaves is the best player on the team, it's not too surprising.

Even if we send our best players

LeBron, Curry, KD are older and injury prone may not be physically able to commit
AD is injury prone
Booker and Lillard were terrible last Olympics