World championships in Turkey

Has anyone else been following the world championships in Turkey? I'm surprised it hasn't been talked about more here, other than Rondo not making the final US roster. Although numerous elite players skipped them this time -- Pau Gasol for Spain, Manu Ginobli for Argentina, Dirk Nowitzki for Germany, Tony Parker and Joakim Noah for France, the entire US roster from the 2008 Olympics -- there have been interesting storylines.

-- For Celtic fans, the development of Semih Erden. Although he's not guaranteed to make the final Celtics roster, he has done well for a guy slated to be third-string center (fourth once Perk returns). He's not a breakout star, but he's been a solid contributor for Turkey. This article (http://www.nesn.com/2010/09/celtics-semih-erden-emerging-as-potential-nba-player-in-world-championships.html) was written a week ago and doesn't even factor in his performance in yesterday's semifinal win against Serbia. He'll have a chance to show more in today's final against the US.

-- The continued rise of Kevin Durant. He's been really impressive as a player (both offensively and defensively) and a grounded individual. Here's an interesting article from Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AvdIzyMVnicg0mO5REYhhMC8vLYF?slug=aw-durantworlds091110).

-- The rise of young US stars. Russell Westbrook and Rudy Gay have been consistent impact players. Kevin Love and Eric Gordon have thrived as role players.

-- The rest of the world is really, really good. It's been evident for some time now, but these guys can play. A lot of countries have very good teams.

-- Watch out for the Thunder. Durant is playing like the best player in the world and Westbrook is an unbelievable athlete who is taking his game to another level. That's a great core to build around, and they have guys like Nenad Krstic (who has played well here for Serbia), Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka, and James Harden who are only going to get better. Nothing's guaranteed, but these guys should be serious contenders.

-- Guys to watch for from other countries. Luis Scola, Linus Kleiza, Yi Jianlian, and Carlos Delfino have all been impact players. Scola in particular has been a stud. Hedo Turkoglu has been an elite player here, which makes me think his year in Toronto was a result of a bad fit and that he should do much better in Phoenix.

-- How well the US "B" team has played. Not a single player from the US 2008 Olympic team is on this roster, the US hasn't won this tournament since 1994 (Joe Dumars was on the roster then, that's how long ago it was), they have no elite centers (Lamar Odom, a forward, starts at center and Tyson Chandler comes off the bench), and yet the US has come together as a unit and played very, very well. To me, this is continued proof that a team of all-stars (think this year's Heat) generally doesn't make the best team and that one or two stars with very good role players (think Celtics, Lakers, and several other teams) is an excellent model.

-- Rondo would've benefitted from making the team. I think most Celtic fans here decided that not making the roster was for the best considering the risk of injury, but I think it has been an invaluable experience for the young US players. Half the roster is 22 or younger, and they will all be better NBA players for this experience.

The US has a tough task in the finals today, playing against a very good Turkey team playing at home. It should be an extremely physical game, based on what I saw in the semifinals yesterday. We'll see what the young US team can do.

Outside

Boy - I love watching Kevin Durant. This kid is just terrific!

I watched every game....and many of the games between other countries. It was a really fun tournament and the USA rose to the occasion every night.

Kevin Durant is a superstar....and Russell Westbrook and Eric Gordon are strong young players. I have a lot more respect for Lamar Odom after watching him the last month. He played smart, hard nosed ball, and was a great teammate.

Very well played throughout for nearly every player on the roster (save for Steph Curry - who was totally over matched physically - and Danny Grainger who totally lost his mojo against the physical play)

USA/Coach K didn't have much choice. It was either Curry or Rondo. Curry can and does score/make free throws, Rondo couldn't. Coach K made it clear right before Rondo released himself what they needed out there. Rondo saw the light and made the decision easy for him.

Curry almost comes across as deceptively lazy on the court, for lack of a better word, at least in college. (I haven't seen any of his pro games) He would appear to just be hanging around, not even moving for most of the shot clock. Then in a matter of about 5 seconds, he would get a pick or two or get open on his own efforts, his teammate would feed him the ball behind the line, and in less than a second the ball was in and out of his hands and into the net. This would happen over and over and over again and he would never miss. All the sudden at halftime, he'd have 22 points. You would witness it, but you still wouldn't believe it. Just like with Rondo and his near 3D's or his record 3D's.

I can see how the physical play would knock him off his game, though.

Hi,
I watched 1/4F, 1/2F and Finals games. very interesting.
Quite different from NBA: only 40 minutes, 3-pt shots are like long 2-pt, open ball above the rim, haven't seen a single T, a lot of refs' mistakes (which is due to the lack of high level experience unlike NBA where some "mistakes" are created by refs' agenda and some mistakes are due to the nursing home syndrome of the refs).
KD is a superstar. I wonder how far he'll carry OKC in playoffs this year.
I think, after watching the games that US team played, that coach K's decision about RR was the right one. RR's QB abilities are better than any pg on the US team. But they need a lot of time and efforts to "bear fruits" on any team. Coach K needed immediate results.
As for Semih Erden, he showed quite a few moves. There's a good possibility for him to stay on the roster.

AK

Canada lost every game, I am soooo embarassed.

I watched the gold medal game yesterday (we were playing Turkey and I wanted to watch Erden).

Durant is a superstar, and a class act. I'm very happy for him and for OKC. If he stays healthy, he's HOF-bound. He was as unconscious from 3 yesterday as Ray Allen was in that Finals game.

They kept daring Westbrook to shoot from outside (him being the weakest shooter on the floor for the US) and he kept making them pay for falling off him. More good news for OKC.

Odom looked very good, especially on defense. The Candy Man was all sugar yesterday.

Iguadala also played tough defense, usually against players several inches taller and a lot of pounds heavier.

And now to Erden. First off, he looks a lot bigger than 240#. You'd think that at 7'1" 240# he'd be a toothpick, but he's not. I think he has an effective inside game. I saw him put the ball on the floor from both low posts and shoot with both hands. He didn't take any jumpers, so that's a limitation to his game but if he's physical inside, I'll take it. He played some decent defense and even got Kevin Durant to turn the ball over when he found himself one-on-one with him out at the 3-point line. He doesn't seem to have much court vision though. Not much passing by him out of the post. I don't see him as a "steal", but I think that as a 3rd-stringer, learning the NBA game, he's a solid bet for us and could develop into a solid rotation player for us over the coming years as Shaq and JO fade into their sunsets.

bob

.

Bob,

I think that's a good assessment of Erden. With a few seasons, he could develop into a decent backup. The risk with him, as with any foreign player, is adjusting to living in the US.

Outside

Outside wrote:Bob,

I think that's a good assessment of Erden. With a few seasons, he could develop into a decent backup. The risk with him, as with any foreign player, is adjusting to living in the US.

Outside

outside,

Ah yes, the "Rudy Syndrome". Well, that's globalization for you, it's a crapshoot. Sometimes you get players like Rudy and Walter Herrmann (whom I like) who aren't happy here and sometimes you get players like Z and Pau who have no desire to leave (if Pau did leave to return to his native Spain, he'd be the Kobe/LeBron of Europe. He'd be to European basketball what Arvydas Sabonis was (I've always regretted that we only got to see him in the twilight of his career. In his prime, he was awesome. Passed from both high and low posts like Walton, pounded inside like Moses Malone (7'3", 295#), ran the floor like Cowens, shot 33% from 3 career and .500 in his last season, almost 11 rp36mpg, a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, 78% from the line and 1.6 bpg). Now, Pau's not even the best player on his team. The same is true of americans who go overseas. Some settle in an acclimate and others, like Carlos Arroyo and Josh Smith, can't wait to get back here.

bob

.

dbrown4 wrote:USA/Coach K didn't have much choice. It was either Curry or Rondo. Curry can and does score/make free throws, Rondo couldn't. Coach K made it clear right before Rondo released himself what they needed out there. Rondo saw the light and made the decision easy for him.

Curry wasnt in the game long enough to get fouled...never mind make free throws. He was a waste of space out there 99% of the time.

If you actually watched the preliminary games, Rondo was a beast on Defense - and would have been a great addition to the team, but he is probably too head strong to deal with a ball breaker like Coach K.

Overall, it was a great tournament. I was very impressed with Eric Gordon - he is a great shooter and Rudy Gay played strong as well.

Mrkleen, it sounds like you saw more games than I did, but I was able to watch a fair share of the games, and I think your assessments are on the money.

Outside...it was fun I really miss basketball, so it helped me get through for the time being.

I think Rondo could have fit in well on the team. They were not all shooters anyway and a lot of their offense was generated from defense + fastbreaks.

Rondo and Billups in the backcourt and then Durant+Iguodala (played terrific defense)+Odom would have been something.

Billups looked old and slow and shot brick after brick - shooting 31% from a High School length 3 point line. Not impressed with him this summer at all.

Agreed. Billups looked like his game fell off a cliff.

USA's best five was Durant, LO, Iggy, Westbrook and Gordon, with Gay and Love also playing well off the bench.

Those seven guys really carried the day.


Rose, Granger, and Chandler joined Billups in my underperform list.

I saw all of the US games and some of the others. Watched them all in Spanish, which was interesting.


Was cool seeing Turkey make that run vs Serbia to win the game.

Erden looks like a good rotation player for the future with the Cs. Mobile and pretty athletic. A couple of years of NBA weight training and learning from the bench and he should be a solid contributor when they retool in a couple of years.