Team usa plays Luka and maybe Giannis this weekend.

[Kblaze8855]

Luka is gonna go crazy I assume. Unless he sandbags because it doesn’t count yet like Carlos Arroyo and Manu used to in warmup games before running wild in real ones.

[90sgoat]

Yeah the Euro teams are unlikely to show their hand, but neither is the US with Popovich (?), so it will probably be a bunch of young players and testing various marginal plays and so on.

[Xiao Yao You]

Yeah the Euro teams are unlikely to show their hand, but neither is the US with Popovich (?), so it will probably be a bunch of young players and testing various marginal plays and so on.

Kerr

[FultzNationRISE]

Always surprised when dudes wanna spend their offseason playing more basketball.

[Kblaze8855]

Always surprised when dudes wanna spend their offseason playing more basketball.

It’s a relatively small part of their life really. It’s time consuming like everyone’s job is but unlike most they are considered too old to do it by their mid 30s usually. They’ll spend a long time wishing they could still get out there in most cases. Those who enjoy it especially. Plus I’m sure it’s nice to get that gold medal just for the hell of it if you’re in a position to seriously compete for it. The Eastern Europeans come from places full of fans who just live for it too.

Ever see games where people like Luka and Jokic are from? They look like soccer hooligans mixed with college football fans. They aren’t ****ing around over there.

[Phoenix]

It’s a relatively small part of their life really. It’s time consuming like everyone’s job is but unlike most they are considered too old to do it by their mid 30s usually. They’ll spend a long time wishing they could still get out there in most cases. Those who enjoy it especially. Plus I’m sure it’s nice to get that gold medal just for the hell of it if you’re in a position to seriously compete for it. The Eastern Europeans come from places full of fans who just live for it too.

Ever see games where people like Luka and Jokic are from? They look like soccer hooligans mixed with college football fans. They aren’t ****ing around over there.

Reminds me of the time I went to Russia vs Croatia 94 FIBA cup at the Skydome. There was damn near a riot at the concession stands during half-time between the respective fan camps.

[90sgoat]

For euros, the national team is by far the most important in their career.

That's what they care about. Americans need to understand that for euros, national teams are a serious matter. If you make a costly mistake in euro national games, you'll never stop hearing about it. It will be replayed, retold, over and over, for 50 years.

On the other hand, if you won glory for the team, you're a national hero forever.

That's also why they don't really care about beating the US, it's nice, but it's not important. Euro teams care about beating their neighbors first of all, they have beefs going back hundreds of years, or they'll have religious or ethnic beefs. Like Bosnia vs Serbia or Poland vs Germany, England vs France. This is real serious ish.

[FultzNationRISE]

I guess so. I just think of how time consuming and travel intensive an NBA schedule is, and even tho it’s a luxurious lifestyle, you dont get more than a day or two in a row to just get away from basketball for a bit until the seasons over.

It’s like working at google and using your vacation time to do an internship at Microsoft. Id just be like yo… I need some time to do other shit.

[Kblaze8855]

I say it’s more like being a world-class international real estate agent for billionaires, and using some time off to visit a castle being sold by one of your connects. It’s kiiiinda work adjacent but when that’s work? Is it really?

[FultzNationRISE]

Yeah but you still have to show up to practices, team meetings, tournament games and stuff. Im sure its not a huge workload but there is a time commitment. Id want that time each offseason to just do my own things on my own schedule. Everyones different tho ofc.

[Kblaze8855]

It’s it’s a couple weeks in Manila where most of those guys will play like an hour of total basketball and have a couple practices? Personally, I would go just for that. But of course I’m the type to just get up and go to Indianapolis for the week for no better reason than a podcast I listen to mentioned some good breadsticks at a downtown bar. I’ll travel just for the **** of it and because I have the resources and freedom to do it. if I can do it while trying to win gold medals in my prime, presumably having another 60 years of life to do whatever I will be missing for two weeks at home? I’d go.

Id hope they sprang for some world class accommodations and not some fiba lodging but that would be my only issue.

[Ghost1]

Slovenia is not that good this year.. The two best power forwards with ACL tears and a joke of a coach.

[Xiao Yao You]

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Everyone knows my passion and love for my National Team has and never will change. Since the conclusion of my NBA season I have been pushing my body to the limits to be the player I need to be to help our team achieve the goals we set. But after months of work and multiple meetings with medical staff it is clear that i am not ready to compete in the level that I need to be to participate in the World Cup (https://*********.com/social/tweets/).
– via Twitter Giannis_An34 (https://twitter.com/Giannis_An34)

[Kblaze8855]

Luka is sitting too.

You really can’t plan to watch anything with nba players involved these days.