I think this will resonate for foreseeable future like the Raptors championship run. Soccer viewership, interest, and participation will rise even more so.
Our men's program specifically since we have so much NBA talent, completely dropped the ball. It would have been huge for basketball in this country. Makes me sad :(
I always wondered this since everyone and their momma refers to Team Australia as The Boomers. Are there any other Countries with a team name or nickname that I missed out on or is Australia somehow special.
Bonus: USA can be the Eagles
Edit: title a little funky. Meant why does Australia have a team name
Source From Marc Stein's Newsletter "The Stein Line" - Pop's likely USAB successor: Steve Kerr
Full Quote:
> Golden State's Steve Kerr has emerged as a favorite to succeed San Antonio's Gregg Popovich as head coach for the USA Basketball senior men's national team, league sources say.
> Miami's Erik Spoelstra is another natural candidate for the position, sources say, but prior experience on the national team coaching staff, given the vagaries of the international game, is believed to be a key prerequisite in the search led by new USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill.
> Kerr was an assistant under Popovich on the Olympic team that overcame a loss to France in its opener in Tokyo to win the United States' fourth successive gold medal in men's basketball. Kerr also coached alongside Popovich at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, where a team weakened by the absence of numerous star players posted the worst showing (seventh) for a USAB team since NBA players were allowed to start playing Olympic basketball at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Spoelstra coached the USAB's select team in last summer’s mini-camp but was not on the bench with the full senior squad.
> In a subsequent interview with my longtime Bay Area colleague Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Kerr affirmed his interest in taking over for Popovich.
> "Of course I'd be interested,' Kerr told Kawakami. "I mean, who wouldn't be?
>USA Basketball men's national team managing director Jerry Colangelo on Zach LaVine's Olympic selection: "He almost jumped through the phone he was so excited about the opportunity. And I love that."
With those hops, he's jumping through anything lol
JaVale McGee has been much maligned for his Tragic Bronson moments, his propensity to commit goaltending in the NBA, and his lack of any graceful offensive skills relative to other NBA players. However, the USA Basketball team was really planning on running with Bam Adebayo and Draymond Green at center with the now-removed Kevin Love. Bam and Draymond are great defenders, with Bam being especially switchable and versatile, and Draymond being a beast in general. However, the niche of tall, athletic, vertical, paint-prowling shot blocker was missing, which can be especially important for FIBA rules. As seen in previous Olympics, DeAndre Jordan was incredibly potent under FIBA rules, and it's not too much of a stretch to think that JaVale could do the same for this team, especially with the lack of defensive 3 second and the goaltending rule change.
USA Basketball was seriously considering playing with only Bam/Draymond against the likes of Gobert, Marc Gasol (yes, he's old but still needs a big body on him), Luis Scola (yes, he's even older but he knows exactly how to use his size to his advantage still), and Australia's collection of solid if not spectacular bigs. They're lucky Lithuania didn't make it (with Valanciunas) and that Jokic didn't play.
As for other options, common names that have been mentioned to fulfill the same positional niche have been Jarrett Allen (probably out for contract), Myles Turner (injured), Zion (injury recovery), Christian Wood (offensively-focused), and Dwight Howard (old but still solid). Mason Plumlee obviously has experience and brings more on offense than McGee, but JaVale should be more of a force around the rim, which seems to be where USAB is lacking at the moment. I haven't heard as much discussion about Brook Lopez (probably wants a break after the finals), Time Lord (injury, young), Montrezl Harrell (would get cooked on defense but would be a Faried-esque choice), Daniel Gafford (digging deep here), and Andre Drummond (could be good, could torpedo the team), but they were passed over or not next up (or turned it down) for whatever reason. Tobias Harris' name was floated and he would have been intriguing too. Evidently, choices for bigs are limited.
I also believe that other positions and roles are more than sufficiently covered, except the team could use more lead/secondary playmakers. Wings are plenty represented and guards lacking in defense are definitely present.
TL;DR: As long as JaVale sticks to rebounding,
... keep reading on reddit ➡The New York Times: Canadian Basketball Hopes a New Floor Will Raise Its Ceiling. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/sports/basketball/canada-basketball-olympics-raptors.html
I just wanted to send a big thank you to the Warriors organization for doing such a classy move and selling their old court to Team Canada.
The court was going to be shredded and used by a brewery. They bought it for $250k and an additional $18k for the centre circle which Warriors wanted to reuse. This court is the most precious keepsake in Canada basketball. Golden state could have easily said no. Thanks to David Marsh head of Warriors Logistics, who so happens to be Canadian too.
