Ranking The Olympic Basketball Teams From Team USA To The Surging South Sudan.
Ranking The Olympic Basketball Teams.
As A Millennial Non-American Who Didn't Start Watching Basketball Religiously Until 2007, I'm Not Aware Of How Significant The Drop Off of America' Status As The World's Premier Basketball Force In 2000 Must Have Felt And How Much It Mattered. I Learned Through The 2008 Redeem—Which The Name Itself Describes The Importance of—That Since The Early 90s, 1992 Barcelona Olympics When The USA Included NBA players And Star Players, The U.S. Would Routinely Mob The Floor With Other Countries For The Better Part OF 12 Years Starting 24-0 Over The First Three Olympics('92,' 96, '00) That Featured NBA players. Starting With The Dream In 92, With Micheal Jordan And Co., Then Part 2 in 96, and Again In 2000 With Vince Carter and Dunk of Death Stuff. The U.S. Introduced Most Of The World To The Sport Invented Just North Of Their Border, They Put The Western World And Inspire Comradery With The Rest Of The World With them Standing At The Top Helping The Rest Of The World Along. All Great Powers Need Rivals To Push Them, But Something Happened In The 2000s: The World Surpassed The U.S. In Prominence After What Projected Like Decades Of Dominance To Come After The 90s. In 2024, After Four Olympics Of Redemption, The U.S. Looks To Bounce Back From A Lost In The FIBA World Cup In The Paris Olympics. However, Never Has The World Looked More Fearsome Than Now In 2024, THe World No Longer Looks To "Catch Up" With The U.S. In The Basketball, The Worlds And The MAny Developed Nations HAve Hopped Into The Drivers Seat. In this write-up, I'll seek to discuss and evaluate all the challenges faced by the U.S. Some of these teams possess professionals in the NBA, and others from around the world.
USA—
Last season, when Team USA basketball went un-medal in the FIBA World Cup Tournament, the roster mainly consisted of Comers to the highest level of international play. Team USA Brain Trust wanted to get the younger talent more international experience. The Roster Steve Kerr And Co. Assembled To Help Maintain the United States Dominance Over The Games Enters Possesses A lot Of Experience, Including LeBron Making His Fifth Trip To The Olympics, Kevin Durant, The U.S. All-Time Leading Scorer, But The Team This Team Suffers From Age And Injury Concerns. The Group Of Basketball Relics Should Go Shipped To Paris With a Fragile Sticker on The Plane. By Exchanging Youth For Experience, Team USA Has Left ThemselvEs Vulnerable To Injuries Like We've Already Seen With Kevin Durant Sideline With A Calf Injury. The Rest Of The Team in the USA Have Extensive Injury histories, with the U.S. needing to Coming Off A Significant Injury. Anthony Davis Also Shares a Kindred Spirit Of Brittleness With Embiid. The U.S. Also Lacks A Floor General, A Maestro To Control The Tempo of Play. Steph Curry Will Go Down As The Greatest Player To wear The Moniker Point Guard, But He's More Of a Shooter and scorer. Jrue Holiday is more of a ball handler than a play setter, and Derek White is a role Player.
Canada—
Team USA Ranks As The Only Tier A Team On The List, But North America's Other Squad Canada Boost A lot Of NBA Talent AS Well. The Canadian Emerged Out Of The Woodwork And Into Basketball Thanks To The NBA's Investment Into Canada With The Toronto Raptors In The '90s. Now, nearly 30 years later, the Canadians look like the U.S.'s greatest adversary will emerge from the North, like Game of Thrones. Canada failed to qualify for any of the five Olympic tournaments, But This Roster Boost Ten NBA with multiple Standouts Like Andrew Wiggins, Shaedon Sharpe, Benedict Mathurin, And Big Man Zach Edey, Whose Size Would Put Canada In The A Tier, All Off The ROSTER. With Guard Talents Like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, And RJ Barrett, The Canadians' STARTING five Scorers Can Nearly Match The U.S. Divine Brooks For All His 'Antics' Provides a Nose Do-It-All Defensive And A Decent Three POINT shooter Along With Lou Dort Of The Thunder Who Share A Similar Role. The Guard Rotation Also Features NBA Guards Andrew Nembhard And Nickel Alexander-Walker Coming Off The Bench. The Talent Teters Off A Bit. Kelly Olynyk Can Thrive As A Floor Spacing Big, But Once Canada Dips Into Its Reserves, The Talent Level Dwindles. If The U.S. suffers A Slip-Up, I See The Canadians Taking Over The Top Spot. I Still Lean More Toward Canada Despite the Early Loss to The U.S. Simply Because The Canadian Roster Leans More toward Team Ball.
France—
The Host Country, France, Will Have Eyes Looked In On The Men's National Team, and all-universe Star Victor Wembayama is Coming Off Of A Stellar Rookie Season For The Spurs And Now Looks To Demand The International Stage. France Lost Joel Embiid To The Americans, But Wemby And Veteran Rudy Gobert Made France The Largest Team In The Tournament. France May Roll Out Three Bigs In The Their Starting Lineup Regardless. The International Game Tends To Favor Talented Bigs, Which makes The Deftly Talented Wemby The Most Threatening Force On The Court In This Tournament Next To Kevin Durant. Whomever The French Face, No One Can Truly Matchup One On One With Wemby. France Also Boost Of Veteran Swingman Nicholas Batum, Bilal Coulibaly and Veteran Guard Evan Fournier. The U.S. and Canadians have the edge in talent, but France looks dangerous with its length upfront and potential Shot-making.
Germany—
The Reigning FIBA World Champs, The Germans Attack Centers On The Guard Combination Of Franz Wagner And Dennis Shroder. Last Year World, Franz Looked Like The All World Player He Project As Coming Out Of Michigan, Standing 6'10 With Guard Skills and a Threatening Three Point Shot As He Leads The Germans To The Top Of The World. Wagner's Point Stroke Suffered Last Season For The Magic(28%), But If He Can Lift his Shooting Game Back UP, The Germans Could Find Themselves in the Gold Medal Conversation. Next To Wagner Stands Dennis Schroder, The League Veteran Who Always Seems To Turn Into A Superhuman Basketball Machine During International P.L.; he's Coming to OfAn an MVP Performance last World Championship. When Dennis plays at the top of his ga, the German offense runs as efficiently as German engineering. Support Franz And Dennis, Wagner's Brother Mo, Daniel Theis, and Guard Isaac Bonga.
Serbia—
The Serbians Couldn't Withstand The Full Rush Of The U.SU.S. in last Week's Friendly, But They Boosted Three-Time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, Who Dominated a Game Nearly Single-Handedly. The Serbians, However, Will Need Output From Other Notable League Standouts Like Nikola Topic and Bogdan Bogdanović If Serbia Hopes To Survive A Tough Group Draw.
Greece—
I Want To Lean Australia Here, But Giannis has Looked Strong, Leading Greece To One Of The Final Qualifying Nearly Single-handedly Dominating The Competition In The Qualifying Round. The Antekounmpo Brothers stand on This Greek, But The Team Will Go As Far As The Former League MVP And Defensive Player Of The Year Will Take Them. The Spacing of International Play Varies as Defenses Have Shown A Greater Willingness To Flare And Double Team Stars On The Wing, forcing Other Players To Win. If Anyone Other Than Giannis On The Greek Roster Begins To Play Heady Ball, I Expect Greece To Go Down With A Few Fights.
Australia—
The Aussie's Suffer From The Inverse Problem Of The Greeks The Boomers Lack a True Superstar. Playing A Brand Of Socialist Ball Center On The PLAY of Veteran Patty Mills, The Creative Prowess Of Josh Giddey, THE versatility Of Dyson Daniels, And The Ball Handling Of Dante Exum, The Aussie's Boast A Complete Roster And, In Some Parts Look Like A Safer Bet. The Down Under also supports Jalen Green, a young shot-making defender, and the tough defense and shot-making of Joe Ingles. The Aussie's Look The Part Of A Dark Horse To Make The Medal Round.
International Games Tend To Favor Execution, Technical Attention, and Making Over One Individual Talent.
Spain—
Not too long ago, Spain and The U.S. reigned As The Only Two Dominant Powers In The World, And The Rest Of The International Competition Just Came Along For The Ride. In the Decade Since Their Last Silver Medal, SPAIN has Watched The Wealth Of The Country's Basketball Talent Wither and Retire. Juan Herman Gomez leads a Spanish team that is light on NBA talent but exceedingly functional at other positions, with steady guard play from guys like Sergio Lull and Lorenzo Brown. Former NBA Vet Rudy Fernandez Will Make What Looks Like His Final Appearances In International Competition. Spain will have a difficult time living up to any passing glory.
Japan—
The Japanese have one Of The Better Offenses In The Tournament. They Can Light It Up From Three Point Line. Lead By Rui Hachimura And Yuta Watanabe, The Japs Can Dish Out The Offense With The Best Of Them. If Any Of The Japanese Early Matchups Turn Into Shootouts, Expect The Asian Giant To Have The Advantage. Defensively, this team doesn't have the size to mix it With the other more prominent teams in the tournament.
Brazil—
The South American Brazilian Giants Brazil has a solid unit led by former Raptors' first-round pick, Bruno Caboclo, and a man once compared to Kevin Durant. Caboclo never reached that lofty expectation, but his fantastic left Made him a menace on the board and inside, and he shot 57% Of the three in the qualifying round. No One Else On Brazil's Roster Scored Better Than 12 Points During The Qualifying Round, So the Roster Has A Thinness You Can't Ignore. Christianity Felicio And Raul Neto Bring NBA Experience To This Group.
South Sudan—
Before Their Showcase Matchup With The U.S., I didn't quite know how South Sudan could make the Olympics over more significant, more prominent countries in the sport. However, after a strong performance in last year's World Cup, the African country recognized its name by taking the "automatic berth for Africa." Organized By Former NBA Star Luol Deng and coached by Former NBA Point Guard Royal Ivey, The Sudanese Feature A Roster Of Young, Unproven NBA Who Play A Style Of Ball Beyond Their Years. South Sudan Rest In Central Africa, West Of Ethiopia. The Roster features a host of pro talent, including a handful of guys with NBA experience, including Wenyen Gabriel, who played at Kentucky and briefly with the Lakers. JT Thor Of The Hornets Made A Couple Of Crucial Threes Against The U.S. Carlik Jones, A Solid Floor General, One Of The Better Floor Generals In This Tournament. Khaman Maluach, the 17-year-old big man, headed to Duke with a sweet shooting stroke from a distance and a solid defensive upside. The Sudanese possess the Talent To Match Up Well With Any Team In This Tournament, But they are Young, And They Displayed That Disjointedness, Young, Still Sliding the Learning Curve To Finishing Games And Taking Home Wins. If You're A Young Team, Making Your First Olympics, or Representing Your Country Absent From PLAY In Decades, you Have To Ice That Win. South Sudan Will Face the U.S. Again In Group Play.
Puerto Rico—
The Smallest In Size and The Only Caribbean On The Docket, It Comes In Battle Tested, Having Beat Lithuania To Qualify. Lead By Pelicans Guard Jose Alvarado, The Puerto Ricans Play A Spirited Brand Of "Leave It All" On The Line Ball, As Witnessed By Jose Alvarado Diving On The Ground For The Ball To Save A Possession Versus Canada. Puerto Rico's Other Tremont Waters He's Got League Experience On Top Of His Knock Down Shot Making Prowess. Puerto Rico will Play The Role Of David(IN A David Vs. Goliath Sense) Against Any Team That Faces These Olympics, But They're Sneaky Because No One Knows What To Expect When Puerto Rico Takes The Court. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if they went toe-to-toe with any team they faced against in the Group C Ans Tournament.
