The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 28: Olympics Knockout Round With Tate Frazier and Jonathan Tjarks

Episode Date: August 16, 2016

The Ringer's Tate Frazier and Jonathan Tjarks discuss the upcoming Olympic basketball knockout round, the expectations for Team USA, which team is the biggest dark horse, the standout stars from Rio, and Coach K's final farewell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NBA show. I'm Tate Frazier, a producer for the ringer.com, and I'm joined by a staff writer from the ringer.com, and that is Jonathan Charks. Charks, what's up, man? Nothing much, man. How you doing? Team USA. We are not on a banana boat, instead we are on a cruiser off the coast of Brazil. Charks, so far, Team USA is squeaked by three straight wins, starting with Australia, giving them a little bit scare, with Delavadova and Bogot, you know, teaming up together to try to get their revenge against the many ghosts of their past. And then they had a close encounter with Serbia and the young Jokic. And then they had an even closer bout.

I guess it was the same as a three-point loss or three-point win against France. Just so far from Team USA, what kind is your take on them? And what's the temperature of Coach K's squad? I mean, it's pretty surprising, obviously. I don't think anyone expected them to be in so many close games, especially in pool play. But I guess if you think about it, like if you look at the last Olympics, they're all about defense, getting in transition, turning them over. And then they replaced Anthony Davis, LeBron, and Chris Paul in the starting lineup with Kyrie, Mello, and Boogie. So I guess maybe we should have expected some kind of shortfall a little bit just from that.

Yeah, I was just thinking about that yesterday. So Coach K obviously took over this team in 2006, and they had their one loss. And there was some talk back then with Coach K dealing with youth and trying to connect to the youth. And now it's like the second generation of this team USA. And there's a lot of young guys on this team. And really the only old guy that he can rely on is Mello. And Mello is not a defensive presence. You know, he's a score.

So it's kind of the U.S. is in a weird spot. And they've just been getting killed on the pick and roll. And if you look at the pick and roll, that's your point guard and your center. And that's her two weakest spots and your foreman. Like your best offense are two in the three positions. And you've got your weakest guys at the main two spots to pick and roll. Yeah. Watching the France game, which was the last game to Team USA played, which was on Sunday,

Tony Parker obviously did not play in that game. They're kind of been shorting him on his minutes. I think the most minutes he's played in the tournament was like 22 minutes or something. But they had Hurtle, Thomas Hurtle, the point guard that came in and he just torched the U.S. I mean, he torched Karee. He had nine assists, just one turnover in 27 minutes.

What did you see from Hurtle and like when you have a guy like that that's not necessarily a world-renowned player do that to your starting point guard? Like what's the next step for Team USA? Is it to go all in on defense and just hope that? you can put up enough points to get the win or what? I mean, you look at it. It was the same thing in Australia. Patty Mills had like 30 points.

In Delhi did whatever he wanted. It was the same thing with Serbia too with Tia Dosich. And really, I'm not even sure Hortle's worse than Tony Parker at this point in their careers. Parker's looking kind of old and washed, in my opinion. Yeah. I wouldn't stunned. Hurtle kind of went off instead.

So you just named three guards that really had huge games respectively against Team USA. I thought an interesting wrinkle for Team USA just, you know, as far as like the minutes that have been kind of dished out. Coach Kay has been kind of good, given everybody their own, you know, chance. I mean, Harrison Barnes even has a game started. So does Draymond. They're on the low end of minutes. They both only played 74 minutes in the tournament so far.

But Kyrie has played less minutes than Kyle Lowry, which is kind of astounding to me, even though Kyrie's made such an impact on the offensive end. What have you seen from him defensively? of, I guess, hindered the success and let other point guards and other teams kind of go off. Well, I mean, that's kind of his story. That's always been his story, right? He's always been a guy who gets buckets more than he's really getting in. He's not super athletic. He's not super big. And he's a bucket getter. So that right there, like out of together, you got a bad combination for defense. I've been, I've just been really confused by Team USA because they have these spurts

of scoring where it looks like everything's okay. And then, then all of a sudden it's just like everyone looks locked up and no one can make a shot. I mean, Jimmy Butler really hasn't done, I mean, anything from like, I mean, he's getting open three point looks from teams and he's like unwilling to shoot it. Dremon is shooting like 11% from three. And when he's in the game, he looks lost. Like who is Dremont Green right now? He looks like a totally different guy.

Yeah, I mean, for one thing, it's just they're calling way more contact. Like Dremont's whole bit is like, I'm smaller than you. so I'm going to mug you in the lane. I don't let you do anything on defense. And the refs just call the fouls on them. So it's like, what's you going to do? It's same with the buggy a bit. Like a lot of these guys aren't addressing the international play.

And it just seems like looking back on it, the way his roster was built. Like, do you need Jimmy B, Damar, and Harry B? It really seems like they added way too many of the same kind of players. Like this team could really use J.D. Redick really badly. It's like a bunch of guys that all do similar things that they need to almost be in the game to get their rhythm to get going. And when you're, you know, have them on the bench and they're coming off and on and don't really know who's going to be getting shots that night.

It kind of, I don't know, it kind of keeps those guys disengaged from the game. And when, I mean, someone like De Rosen is a great example. I mean, when he's not necessarily involved in the offense, I mean, you see him out there and you're like, what does this guy really bring to the table at all? Yeah. I'm not really sure. I mean, like there's not, it's not like really clear role distribution either. Like you have one game, Katie, shoot 16.

times, one game he shoots four times. It doesn't really feel like they know who's getting the ball and who's spreading the floor. And they're just like, I started what I was saying. They're taking turns, kind of taking turns shooting the ball instead of really playing team offense. They're not guarding anybody. So if you're not playing any defense and you're not really moving the ball, you're definitely vulnerable to being upset. Paul George and Kevin Durant have been just getting killed on these back screens where basically the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thing is just, you know, man and ball. You know, it's pretty simple.

And these teams, like, have just been cutting them up, especially Kevin Duran. I mean, he's, like, lost on defense. I mean, I was watching the France game and we were sort of joking with, I was watching with the cruel people. And we were just sort of joking that, like, what if Kevin Durant, like, what if he doesn't even care about playing defense, you know? Because it just looks like hilarious how much these guys are just, like, completely just breaking him down and he doesn't look face by it at all.

And even like, on the- Yeah, just ball watching. Yeah, just ball watching. like not even looking like he's engaged at all. But Kay had a good point when he was doing his press conference after France, and he was sort of like, you know, these guys have been treating this like it's group play. And once we get in and we know it's like do or die, I think not necessarily the intensity, we know will like it hasn't been there before, which it definitely hasn't.

But he was just saying that he thinks that a new team USA will sort of show up, which, you know, I'm intrigued to see. I don't know what that crunch time five looks like. we kind of have mentioned that a little bit. I mean, just for your sake, I mean, do you take Kyrie out? Do you put Lowry in? What's kind of the move? Well, to me, that's what I'm curious about.

Like, is Coach Kui going to bench any of his stars? I don't know that he will. He might be getting a little old and soft. Like, is he going to bench Mello the veteran leader? I don't know, right? Mello, our greatest Olympian. Yeah. Breaking Michael Jordan's scoring record to get third and then breaking LeBron James'

scoring record to do first. I get the feeling he has to field goal. Temps record and that's really where Mello really shines. He's no Bagdanovich though that's the real that's the real champion. Which one, Bowion or Bogdanon? Oh, bojohn. The Croatian, the Croatian by Donovic. That is the he gets buckets man. He's not messing around out there. He is the Ben Bintle MVP of the Olympics for sure. I mean that that guy has, I don't know if it's because the coach tells him he can shoot whatever he wants to, but he's going to. He just shooting whatever he wants and the coach can get with the program. Exactly.

They really had more fun to watch than the U.S., Croatia, but I guess you can wait to that. It's a little later in the podcast. We'll wait until we jump in with the young... Croatia takes. Yeah, you mentioned Mello. I mean, before this all jumped off, we sort of said Mello was going to be,

this was going to be his Olympics, his show. And, I mean, it has been to a certain extent, especially in the first two games, but Clay took over against France, finally. What's kind of your, I mean, do you still believe in Mello? Are you waiting for Mello to have his gold medal moment

and to take this team to the promised land. Well, I feel like it has been his team because they don't play defense and they hold the ball. So, like, clearly they got Mello's identity on both sides of the ball. They're playing way too much with Mello and their free time.

Yeah, you're right. I think me personally, I would just say whatever. I would go Durant, George, Clay Thompson. Those are my three guys I'd roll with. They can guard positions, smooth the ball, shoot it. Then I might go like Kyle Lowry and D'Andre. I think that's probably your best defensive unit. Yeah, I like that.

I mean, D'Andre is kind of an interesting, like, person to look at because if you've been watching this whole tournament, sort of like passing big men, like big seven-footers that can be involved in getting people, setting screens, running the pick and roll, like the Bogut types, have been really, you know, that's kind of the international game guys that can help that are big guys. But, I mean, D'Andre Jordan is a complete liability unless you're throwing him lob. So it's sort of this weird spot where I don't know why. continues to lean on DeAndre, but DeAndre seems like no matter what, he's going to be a big cog in whatever team USA does.

Well, that's because boogie can't plan board in like 15 minutes a game without fouling out. So there's a lot of minutes at the five position. What is it? Boogie fouled out in nine minutes, right? It was really impressive. He looked at his face, too. He fell out like in three minutes terms of his body language. Yeah.

He was not having a good time. No. And he, I can't remember. It might have been the Serbia game where he had four turnovers and four possessions, I think, back. the back or maybe I'm getting that wrong but I mean he he's had he's had a pretty horrible horrible olympics so far yeah it seems like either he's getting an offensive foul or traveling whenever he gets in the lane like the refs just have no time for his stuff him or draymond really it's sort of weird i mean it seems as if you know sometimes you'll say like prefer the you know guys given their status

will get you know preferential treatment but it seems like since draymond is like technically the 11th man on team USA he is getting treated like any other 11th man on any other international team by these officials. I mean, he gets nothing. And it's kind of funny to see because he's doing similar stuff that he always does for for the warriors just isn't working in this format. Yeah, that's the question, I guess, because like theoretically, if you had Dremont, you could just switch screens. But I'm not sure like what's easier for a team defense to switch screens, keep track every new man or to actually run a pick and roll defense. I would think switching screens, but it seems like K is not going to Dremont. He's playing with the four when he plays

at all. Yeah, that's the other thing. I mean, you know, obviously, you know, you've written about this, and it's been talked about and discussed a lot, just like the small ball lineup and what it would look like with Draymon at the five or even maybe even Mellow at the five. And Team USA just, you know, Coach K does not seem to be set and ready to run that lineup at all, which is, you know, a little strange. I guess in theory, if you're getting killed on defense,

you want to stay bigger, but they're big guys being killed on defense too. Like, I feel like they're very vulnerable. I'm just not sure anyone is going to beat them. them in this field. Yeah. Speaking of the rest of the field, we have the remaining teams, now that we are finally into the quarterfinals, we have Australia, Lithuania, Spain, France, the U.S., of course, Argentina, Croatia, Serbia. And you and I are sort of talking about, like, who is the top flight contender outside of the United States, who is, you know, obviously the favorite, I mean, most would say Spain, Spain was the silver medalist in 2008 and 2012.

and now Spain is on the same side of the bracket as U.S. But what team have you seen that you're just like, yeah, that that's the squad that Team USA does not want to see in the quarterfinals? Well, I mean, to me the team of most interested me is Australia. I feel like Bogut's been the best center in the tournament, probably. And they've got two point guards you can get buckets against Kyrie anyways, and Mills and Deladova. So Bogot's set some great screens.

He's passed on the ball, protecting the rim. because I think to beat the U.S., you've got to play good defense. Because you figure most teams will score in the U.S. are playing such bad defense. So who's the best defensive team left? You know that the numbers, it's either Spain or Australia. And I definitely trust Bogot more than power on defense. Yeah, I mean, Bogut seems like, I mean, he was pissed off when someone asked him

if it was like a moral victory with their game against the U.S. And, you know, he pretty much told that guy what he thought about him. But yeah, he's been incredible. I mean, he looks like a younger version of himself. Delova has been so active, just making like, you know, smart basketball plays as you would expect Delhi to do. And Australia in general, I mean, they have a ton of NBA guys. I mean, Joe Ingalls has been terrible.

Great Joe Ingalls. Yeah. Joe Ingalls has been. Our boss's favorite player. Yeah. Ask Bill Simmons about Joe Ingalls sometime. Joe Ingalls has been on the floor. We do know that.

That's been a good thing. And you've got Aaron Baines, that samurai haircut is going on. Yeah, I have no idea what that is all about. But, I mean, yeah, I think Australia is definitely a team to watch. And there's a weird, like, revenge factor with Kyrie not being on that team. And if Kyrie was, how good they would be. No one, no one knows. I mean, what do you get in somewhere Deladova?

Who can say, right? I mean, it's pretty much. That's Delhi's team, man. Yeah, it's back. He took Delhi's spot. He did it already this year. He did it with the calves. That is true.

But there was politics of play there, obviously. Tons of politics. It had nothing to do with the basketball performance. performance on the floor for sure. My team that I kind of have been mulling over this whole tournament is the Jordan brand exclusive and that is Team Croatia. So maybe we can get off some of our Croatian takes a little bit. I just have a few thoughts.

These are some notes I took throughout my time watching Croatia. One, Hizonia is just a specialist, you know. I think everyone's been giving him like, oh, he's a score, oh, he's this great off guard. Oh, he's J.R. Smith. It's like, Hazzoni just comes into the game, and it's Saraj and Bokanovich and Simone, like, Simone, whoever it is, like, just trying to find Hizonia for a spot-up three, which is great. He's also shown a couple of times. I thought in the Lithuania game, he had one time,

Bogdanovich kicked it out, and Hizondonia should have just taken a usual bad three that was contested, but instead he drove to the basket and got filed. So that was great. I was really excited to see that. Sarich is just a great offensive rebounder, and I think, Team USA, like we were saying. I mean, they haven't done a great job on the boards. K.D. hasn't done a great job rebounding.

And I can see Sarge, you know, making an impact there. And then Bogdanovich is J.R. Smith, you know, like the old J.R. Not this new J.R. that's all nice and polished, you know, like Bogdanovich is the old J.R. He's out there. If he was like really, really slow and a little taller. Like if J.R. Smith played like concrete shoes, he'd be Bogdanovich for sure. I mean, it's just like that it's not even about the way they play or like, you know, the way he looks like with a basketball

on his hand. It's just the fact that this dude is there for buckets. No conscience? Absolutely. He isn't even thinking about anything else but getting buckets. I mean, you got him and Mario together is pretty great. I forget what game it was. Mario just dunked on someone and started yelling in his face. It was pretty all.

I think it was Argentina. I'm not sure. Yeah, they lost it. Dunked right in someone's face. Yeah. I mean, the Croatian team in general, like the formula to beat Team USA is basically like get rebounds, make the extra pass, and hit threes. And like Croatia against Lithuania yesterday,

they were nine for 11 from three, 82% heading into the fourth quarter. Like that's nuts. Yeah, they're one of the only team with like a bunch of wings with NBA size and athletic ability. Who could like match up with the U.S. Because you have like, against Australia, you Mello killed Aaron Baines at the fourth spot.

But they can put Sarge on Mello and at least give someone with his size and speed on them. Same with Hisonia. And like that guy, Bobich isn't bad. Like they got a lot of. wings you can play basketball. I was going to say I wrote down like Bobbich is just crafty like you know you almost need like a guard to kind of offset the the flow like basically Croatia's flow is like we're going to run the offense through Sarge or Bagdanovich and basically like run little picks and

rolls and just get those guys into space and let them do their thing but when you have Bobbich out there I mean he has the ability to get to the basket and like it basically just puts pressure on Kyrie to play defense and and if that's the case then Larry comes in Larry doesn't offer the same thing on offense and you never know. The best thing about these eight teams, I think, is that these games aren't all set in stone. I can see any of these teams sort of like pulling off an upset, which is great. I mean, I think after one, two through eight, two through eight are all pretty similar. Like, they're all pretty good teams. Yeah. Quick break to get a word from our sponsor, Blue Apron. Not all ingredients are created equal, fresh, high quality ingredients taste better and are better

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again download the free seekie gap and enter promo code ringer NBA today just another matchup that's kind of kind of on the horizon that that's a big matchup just national power Spain in France France has just been um they've been fun to watch man I don't know I don't know if it's because I'm team Boris um but everyone is team Boris has no enemies. Yeah, I mean, Boris had a great quote about Team USA. He said, we can say they're struggling, but they're winning, you know?

Just, you know, keeping it honest. Like, we're over here freaking out, and Boris is like, whatever, man. Those guys are just winning games. It doesn't matter how. And you got this Spain-France rivalry coming up. So, like, in 2014, it was the world championships in Spain, and France beats them. Yep.

2015, it was Eurobasket in France, and Spain beats them. And you got the 2012, the Nicholas Batum Karate Chop. I think that on Navarro. Yeah, it was. I tried to like cash trade them, basically. That's the wrong word. But tried to like do some, do some damage down there.

It was a serious chop. Yeah, that was a, that was a, that was a, Chris Paul was even like a little astounded by the chop. Chris Paul here taking notes. It's like, that's the move. That's the, that's the, that's the one. I was pretty surprised. Ricky Rubio is like hit a couple threes in a couple of games I watch,

which is, you know, always a surprising, like, fun thing to see. Miratich has been fun to watch. I mean, Miratich is shooting, like, he's taking like 25 threes or something ridiculous, which is fun to watch, and then you think about it, and you're like,

wow, that's the Bulls' best three-point shooter. And I think he's shooting like 35% or something ridiculous. Yeah, it's like Clay Thompson for the Bulls. Those numbers. Exactly. They're just giving him the rock and letting him shoot threes. Is there anything else from France?

I mean, basically if Team USA handles business against Argentina, which we'll talk about a little bit later, I mean, they're going to play one of those teams. Is there one in particular that you think the U.S. matches up with better than the other? Or is it basically just kind of more of the same? I would think they match up better with Spain. Because I'm thinking to beat the U.S., you got to play D at the 5 and score at the 1.

And Spain's got it reversed. So the U.S. to let Rubio shoot and pick and roll, they'll under everything. And they'll attack power to pick and roll constantly. Or they'll attack him in space. Whereas France has got Gaubert up front. They got a bunch of little guards you can score. They got former Spurs grade and none of the cross. Colo, Marboi Hortel.

It'd be Tony Parker something left from the tank. So I would think they'd want to see Spain. Because, I mean, that France game was pretty close by the fourth quarter. The Tony Parker thing is really the main thing that's entreat me about this team. But, I mean, you even said it, you even mentioned earlier that you thought Hortel may be better than Parker at this point. But if you are able to have Hortel, like, play at that same level, get, you know, his points and, you know, be involved in offense and then have a second wave. Like, if Parker comes off the bench, then I think. I really think France is a real tough matchup

because Gobert is going to get boards and just stay involved. And then you have, you know, say Batum gets hot from three, D.L. does the little things like he always does. I mean, I think that's a scary, a semi-final matchup for the U.S., especially since they kind of like have been teeter. I mean, they should have lost that game against France.

And then, you know, to get them in the next round would be a pretty tough thing for them to do, I think. Yeah, theoretically like Batum can at least match up with the rant theoretically. Yeah, on paper. Boris and Carmelo's like Boris can play like Carmelo's bully ball fat man game too. Yeah. Pretty much Carmelo, all he wants to do is back you down in the post and take a turnaround

and all Boris D.L is going to do is just stand there and not get pushed down by Carmelo. Yeah, they have two guys with equal to fitness and Boris and Carmelo going head to head. They probably just going and get dinner together, you know, talk about posting each other. Absolutely, yeah. Some team or whatnot. One team that I think a lot of people have kind of, I don't know, thrown to the side, I guess would be a nice way to say it, is Lithuania. And Lithuania has a history of just being, you know, basically in the top of basketball. I mean, Cal Natus had 26 against Croatia.

And that dude, I mean, he has like the highest efficiency in the tournament so far. I mean, and first of all, his name is Mantis, like a praying mantis, which is something to, you know, to conserve. turn yourself with. It's Montas. It's Montas. It's M-A-M-T-A-S. Yeah, that's the... No, we'll actually be there.

That's the proper pronunciation. I liked Mantis, Callanatus, or whatever. That sounded way more threatening. And that team is like the most fundamentally sound basketball team I've ever seen when they put it all together. And that's like a scary site for a team like USA that is playing the furthest thing from fundamental basketball. Yeah, they've always put the U.S. tough in these tournaments, Lithuania.

Lithuania was, I think, the... I may have this wrong. They played team. I think they were the last team to come the closest to beating team USA, maybe in like 2013 or 2012. I just remember watching the game and being like, wow, like Lithuania. And then, you know, when you put all together, it's like, oh, well, you have basically Soviet Union guys, you know, you have obviously little Sabonis out there.

And then Valenciunus has been great. And then, like I said, my man Montas or Mantis, depending on how you want to call them. I mean, they got a bunch of studs. I mean, they're a fun team to watch. They got former Mavs draft picks, Rinaldus Sabudas out there shooting threes. Yep. Future Nick's great, Mendesas, Kasmuskis.

I butchered his name out there. They had a bunch of guys who shoot threes and foul a lot. So, I mean, they'll be a good game. They have them in Australia. I worry with them, though, because you have, like, Bogut versus Jonas. And he kind of runs all of Jonas's bits a little better, he's little older and stronger.

So I wonder if you can kind of neutralize their best player. Yeah. I guess Kahn is their best player. player. Yeah, they had this weird, like Lithuania, they had, they had, they had Valen Tunis, like, they were basically getting him as deep as possible, and he, you know, he was just working in his own, like, underneath the basket and getting easy buckets. And then once Croatia, they, uh, they got their big man, uh, what's his name? 15. Bylon, I think it was his name. Yeah, bylon. Yeah, I mean, he, he was taking Valentunus down and was basically just being smarter, like

doing pump fakes. He got a couple of three. point plays. He took Valentunus out to the three point line, like opened the lane up for hisonia one time. And I was watching that game and I was like, the only problem with Lithuania is that they can, like, Valentunus himself can get a little lazy on D. And then when you have someone like Bogot and Delvedova and Paddy Mills and just smart guys that play basketball like that, I mean, they'll just pick that apart. Yes, I think, I remember that one. I think Sarich had a big game too. He was taking my man's a bonus off the dribble. Oh yeah. A lot of speed on the wings, but I guess Croatia, I mean,

Austria doesn't have any either. Yeah, except for Joe Ingalls, who's just a stug. Yeah, defensive stopper all around elite basketball player, Joe Ingalls. He's just a downhill guy, you know, straight to the basket, just exactly what you'd expect. One team we haven't really touched on at all is the other Bogdanovich in Serbia. Serbia will play Croatia. That's the late game tomorrow.

I mean, the Serbs, I've watched them play a couple of times. I mean, they played the U.S. really well. They have, I mean, you wrote a great piece on Jokage for theringer.com, which basically described what, but what have you seen from Jokic? I mean, I watched the first game when Jokic played Australia and basically Bogut made him look like he was nobody. And then he is completely transformed himself and seemed like a totally different guy since that game. So what have you seen his improvement just throughout this tournament?

Well, but a lot of it, Tilly's sharing minutes with Rajul. I don't know if you remember him from the NBA. He played for a few years. Miroslav, right? Yeah. He's like 20 pounds. He has like arm sleeve tattoos, big beard. He's like a poor man's Peckovich, I guess.

Yeah, I like that. He's like the veteran of the team. So for a while, they had Jokic coming off the bench. And after that big USA game, he got in the starting lineup. And he's just, I mean, he's a really good player. I think he'll be a problem for Croatia up front. That's probably their best chance in that game. It's just because Joe,

If he gets the ball, good things are happening. He can shoot and pass and dribble a little bit too. And he can score from all over the floor. He's just a really, really good offensive basketball player. Yeah. And another guy they have is Milos Tia Doshich. I hope I didn't butcher his name too bad there. And, you know, basically Milos is, I mean, he's on NBA radars and stuff.

And he's, he had a great game against the U.S. He had one of the best passes I've seen. I was just going to say, I know exactly what you're talking about. The behind the back pass is a three-point shooter. To Bagdanovich, who, I mean, he missed it. How do you miss that? You can't. I know.

He missed two shots like that in the last minute of that game. Yeah. And I think the score at that point, I think it was like a five or six-point game. And Milos made that incredible, you know, kick out to Bagdanovich. I mean, cut it to a two-point game there. And, you know, they ended up losing by three. So you can do the math. I mean, the-Los tried some real yolo passes.

It's pretty great. It can't try any pass in the book. It's kind of like monies. a little bit, but like not as, not as wild. Yeah, I guess we should cover Argentina a bit, speaking of Manu. They're playing Team USA first in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Yeah, that is, that game's at 545 Eastern Standard Time. The U.S. takes on Argentina, kind of the, really the team that spurred the whole

revolution in USA basketball in 2004. So the golden era, the golden generation of Argentinian basketball players have kind of kind of reached the end here, but Manu's back, and they seem set and ready to go. I mean, what do you expect to see from Argentina? A lot of pick and roll, I guess. Yeah, they'll move the ball. They've got three guys. They've got three or four guys so you can score it.

They got Campazo, who's been pretty good. He's the only younger players. And they still have Scola, Nosioni, and Genobley, like doing the same thing they were doing 15 years ago, but just a lot slower. God, Scola is so slow. I watch him play, and I'm just amazed that people just, like, let him operate. Yeah, I don't see how he guards Carmelo in this game. I don't see how Carmelo guards him either.

So that'll be interesting matchup. I think with Argentina, I worry about them because they'll score in the U.S., but how are they going to stop the U.S.? They have no real shot blocking and no real perimeter defense. They got Delphino out there as their wing stopper at 34. So I think if the U.S. just gets the ball to the rim, they should be okay in that game. What's a, I think they had, yeah, they have one guy coming off the bench.

I was trying to think, basically, with Team USA, I mean, if you're a smart team, you don't want to, like, try to outscore them. You want to keep the game sort of contained and hope that you can play enough defense to kind of eke one out. But they have a guy coming off the bench. They can go, Kuna is his name, Asuna or whatever. Yeah. He's had a couple blocks for them. I mean, but, like, the guy that would be their rim protector, quote-unquote, is nocioni, which is, I mean, that's, you know, Team USA should be fine. I mean, throw some law up to DeAndre.

Well, I think they'll probably pack it in, try to make Team USA be in from the outside, hope Team USA misses run off the misses. Yeah. So I would think it's a lot of it's just going to be K's rotation. Is he going to be like, you play guys who can get to the rim and then play shooting around them? As opposed to like, don't play too many guys who can't shoot at the same time. And don't play too many guys who don't just shoot the ball and don't get to the rim at the same time. When you look at Argentina and just like a historical perspective on it, I mean, This is obviously the last time the golden generation, quote unquote, for Argentina will all be together.

They're a pretty close-knit group led by Manu. If they were able to pull off this subset against the U.S., that would be probably the best, you know, goodbye president of all time for that whole squad of players. It would be unbelievable, especially with the crowd that they've had all these games. I mean, the crowd that they've had come out for these games, especially against Brazil. I mean, they had to tell the crowd. Yeah, they had to tell the crowd to, like, chill out before the game. I mean, if they beat Team USA at that age, I think are you rooting for that as a coach Kayeater?

That would be a pretty ultimate way from the end of Olympic career, wouldn't it? Lose to a bunch of 40-year-olds? It would honestly, it would come full circle because of what happened in 2004 and some of the comments that Kay made about that team and like how they should never lose to Argentina and for him to go out, you know, after everything that's gone on. I mean, you know, regardless of how great he's been this whole time. I mean, they're on a 50-game win street.

right now. I mean, that's incredible. I mean, all the odds say that you're eventually going to lose if you've won 50 trade games at some point in the near future. And I think Argentina was, that was the match. When Croatia was playing Lithuanian, it was kind of up in there who US would face. I was thinking to myself, man, that's pretty wild because they played Argentina in, I think, in an exhibition game, and Manu didn't even really play at all. And, you know, in US won by like 50 points. But, you know, they're going to come out 100% and get. give it their last go, I think. I mean, it's just crazy because you think, like,

I think they played him for the first time in 2002 in those world championships. Yeah. And they're going up against, like, Paul Pierce and Michael Finley and Jermaine O'Neill. And it's the same guys playing the U.S. 15 years, like, what, 12 years later? Yeah. And it happened to about 14 years later.

And, I mean, some of that you could say, well, Manu was the six men on the Spurs and he didn't play as many star minutes, blah, blah, blah. But it's like, at the same time, all these guys have stayed interconnected. and even after 2012, I mean, it was, like, they thought that they could win it in 2012. It's a confident bunch that really knows how to play with each other.

When you're dealing with little fundamental problems, like not keeping your eye on the man in the ball, like we've had with Paul George and Kevin Durant and Harrison Barnes, whoever it is coming off the bench on some of these backs. And Harry B, I'll tell you that. Can we get some Harry B love? Hashtack free Harry B out here. Mass fans need to see our franchise player out. I mean, come on. Why can't my man get some minutes, you know?

That's pretty much been the story of Team USA is why Harrison Barnes right now. He's three for 10 from three, you know. I mean, he's 12 from 27 from the field. That's a nice 44%, charks. Hashtag free Harry B. Get some time out there. Coach K, you know, let the man get some foul. Let him sore, you know, let him sore.

I will say this. If the game is close, like with three or four minutes left, I probably would trust Argentina more to execute than team. Team USA. If they keep this thing close to the final minutes. Who's going to be the one for Team USA to, I mean, I guess it would be Carmelo. You got to think they gave it to Mello, right? Yeah. But like, I mean, is that our best bet? You know, I mean, that's pretty much what it comes on to. He has the quote of the veteran experience, right? Clearly it'll come in handy.

He's the old, 32 men, oldest guy on the team. All they have is Kyle Lowry, who is a young 30. I can't believe he's 30 years old. He's not a weird career. He's done a really weird career. He's a late bloomer, man. I do think they should, like, I feel at the end of the day, Argentinians are so old and so unathletic. The U.S. should be able to get that one. And then I think it goes up in difficulty, Spain or France,

and then whoever comes out of the other side of the bracket, those should be two pretty good games. Let's take a next step. Let's look at some picks. Let's just make our predictions for what the semifinal will look like, who we think the final will be, and just sort of who will end up

with the gold at the end just for you just jumping off I mean Australia Lithuania who do you have there Oh man All these picks would make us look so dumb And maybe just me look really dumb in a few days It's all right

I'll go with Australia Yeah definitely I would take Australia Lithuania I have a little crush on Lithuania But I'll let that go Spain France Which is the second game on Wednesday Oh man that's a tough one

Yeah, it's up in the air. A lot of these games are coin tosses, basically. Yeah, I mean, pretty much anyone in the team USA games. Oh, man, I'll go with Spain. I'll say France, bring Parker back in. I'll go with Spain. That should be a good game. Yeah.

What if Parker is the reason why France, you know, goes down a little bit? That's my hot take of the tournament. Yeah. With Tony Parker. I like that. And then, yeah, I'm going to take France. Why not? I'm team Batum.

Let Batum. live, you know. Hey, Sean Hornet's franchise player. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But Zoom versus Barnes, man. I'll be the big matchup in the next round. I'm pulling for franchise guys. That's all I have.

U.S. Argentina. Are you riding with the golden generation? I'll go with the U.S. in that one. They can't have as much old guys. Yeah, I don't see that. I mean, I think as much of the storyline would be incredible, especially being in South America. It's basically a home game for, you know, it is a home game now that Brazil is out of the tournament.

I can't see U.S. losing Argentina. and then the final one the young Croatians aka the young gunners for Serbia I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with the Croatia on that one

why not go with Jordan Brand always they're they're I mean they're just the fun team to watch I mean I think they're the most fun team to watch in the tournament I mean did you see at the end of the end of the Lithuania

Croatia game the buzzer goes off you know most guys they just dribble the ball out shake hands blah, blah, blah. Bogdanovich instead goes down and just dunks it as hard as he can and like almost gets injured. Like he pulled up his groin.

Like he came up. I was like, oh shit, I think I hurt my groin. And that's like the best. That's awesome. That's the best way that I want anyone to ever end the game, you know? Like go up for the big dunk that doesn't matter and doesn't count. And like, who knows, maybe you get injured. Okay.

I'm looking at their team page on Fiba.com. Yeah. And they have this picture of Bogdanovich, Saurich and his own years looking so ridiculous. They look like, you know, in stepbrothers, they're those tantam interviews and the guys are popping up from behind each other. Hello. It's a pretty great picture. It kind of captures their whole essence as a team. I called them the baby face team because they can't grow facial hair.

And as someone that can't grow facial hair and tries, you know, I, I empathize and sympathize with everyone that has everyone. Dario's really trying with this like half mustache, half-go-tee thing going on. So is his, they both have the exact same facial hair, which. I know what it is. You can only grow a mustache and you're just trying. You just got to stop, you know? You just got to stop. Well, they are younger than you, so maybe they'll get some hair on their chest.

Barely, though. I'm just trying to say, like, I could flex and act like I'm on Team Croatia. I could do the same facial hair. I could be a part of the team. You have to be Tate Frazerovich or something like that. What's your dad's name? Clay. It'd be Clayovic.

It's like the son of. Yeah. Clayovich. Yeah, it'd be Tate Klayovich. That'd be perfect. Which would be it. I love that guy Bogdan Bogdanovich. His name is Bogdan, son of Bogdan.

I mean, how incredible is it going to be? First of all, these announcers that if you don't watch the stream and you watch the actual broadcast on NBC Sports, the announcers, they literally, it's like as if they pick two guys from the crowd. And they're like, all right, you're calling this game. Because they have no idea what the player's names are. They say things like, look at number four with the lay. And they said for D.L, they called him D.

all. There's just been some great ones where they, there was a D-A-A-on that team, isn't there? Like D-I-O-T. Well, they were calling the France game and they were calling Boris D-A. They were calling them D-A-L,

like, all, like that. And then the best one was Joe Chi for China. They were calling him Zoo. So they were like, they were like, Zoo Key for another. That was my favorite for sure.

But it's been great to watch these games and to, to sort of see these international guys. I mean, is there any guy that is not currently on an NBA roster that you've watched and you're like, man, that guy needs to get some looks? I like those two point guards. I'm going to be talking about the guy for France, Whartle, and then Tia Dossich. I don't know if those guys can play defense, but they can win pick and roll.

They can get buckets. They can move the ball in the pick and roll. There's a place for that in the league. Yeah. And Montes-Kaladas from Lithuania, I mean, that guy is a baller. He's a hooper. He's 29, though. so I know no NBA team is really looking for a 29-year-old, you know,

guard to come in and start playing. Then again, Pablo Prigiani was 35, came over to the league. There you go. Maybe there is hope for Count Nitis, but, I mean, he literally just is so fun to watch for Lithuania, and he's so efficient. I don't understand why anyone would play off of him. It seems like he has tons of open looks,

and it makes no sense to me. I mean, that threat of Jonas and the pick and roll, man. Yeah. Open it up for everybody else. I guess, going back to the picks, we got, I'll take Croatia. So we got Croatia, Australia, Spain, U.S. Yeah.

I'm going to go with Croatia to the finals because why not? I'm going to ride there with you. I think I'm going to see Australia, Croatia. As much as I want Andrew Bogot to get his redemption against Coach K and everyone else who's ever slighted him in his life, including Kevin Durant, I do think the young Croatians are going to make it to the finals. And I think they may get obliterated by Team USA.

But, I mean, that would just be so fun to see those guys. Well, I guess if you're picking Croatia, I'll pick Australia for some variety. Okay. Let's go. I'll go U.S. Australia and you got U.S. Croatia. That's a good compromise, man.

I wanted to go Australia, but I don't, I can't turn on Croatia now. Fair enough. They're too great. Team Jordan. He knew it. Tony Koochooch knew it too. Like, I'm going to pick the U.S. to win,

but I feel like they're the best team meets matchup, but it's going to be close. It should be fun to watch these games. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, it's going to be a great. Wednesday, which is tomorrow. It's going to be a fun day at basketball. It starts at 10 a.m. with Australia, Lithuania. And it goes all day. I mean, I honestly, I think that USA, Argentina game is going to be very, very interesting. I think that they're going to give it all they have,

which, you know, of course they would. It's do or die. But I mean, this is the last hurrah for that whole group of guys and their serious competitors. And it's home court too for them. Yeah. And it's just like, it would not, I mean, as much as we just said, we just made our picks and I think it's been Croatia, US in the final, I would not be overwhelmingly shocked if Argentina pulled up the upset because it's just too great of a story. I wouldn't mind the U.S. losing any more interesting, right? Oh, man. It would, it would, I mean, we have a lot of takes, right? And we're in the take business. We're in the take business. And the takes after that, and I think the takes would honestly take a dark turn. And they would, and people,

would start blaming Steph Curry and LeBron James, which would honestly be some of the best, like, revisionist history and blaming people for all this blah, blah, blah, after the fact, which, you know, that's only entertainment. That's going to be great. I'll need your anti-coachay take down when you've been waiting years to write. No, I, you know, I'm, look, I'm a patriot, man. I'm pulling, I'm pulling for Team USA. I want them to win. But it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I will say that. Let Larry Brown live. Right? Yeah.

Let Larry. He needs his moment to sign that. It's time for Larry Brown to, you know, let people get on his back, man. Yeah, stop talking trash about 2004, man. Larry was just trying to put a dream team together of guys he loved. They just didn't like basketball. Larry's playing the right way. It don't matter what the score is.

The game is going to be played the right way. Exactly. Larry Brown will be coaching like Latvia in 2020, bringing out back. And let me just tell you, when Larry Brown starts coaching team Croatia in 2020, No, that'll be the end of him. Coaching Mario and Bojan, that'll be the end of him. I think Bogdanovich will never play again. Yeah, that'll be the end of Bugdanovich's career if Larry Brown goes to Croatia.

Well, Charks, on that note, we're looking forward to the games ahead in the quarterfinals, and we're hoping that team USA can ride out in glory once again. But if not, blame K. Always. It's going to be his fault either way. Absolutely. It's the players if they win, it's K if they lose. I'm going to stick with that.

No doubt, no doubt, man. Well, we'll be back after and we'll kind of wrap up the Olympic coverage. Charks, thanks, man. All right, have a good one, man.