⭐ OFFICIAL 2020-2021 NBA Off-Season Thread: Olympics begin 7/23; NBA Draft 7/29⭐

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pmatic said:


Jayson Tatum could be primary Team USA building block for Tokyo Olympics

In the closing moments of an overtime game in Shanghai, way back on Sept. 3, 2019, Jayson Tatum rolled an ankle.

At the time, team doctors didn’t believe the injury was serious. But it sure was impactful, with ramifications perhaps stretching two years into the future.

Team USA points to that ankle injury for Tatum as a deciding factor in its FIBA World Cup misfortunes. Had the Boston Celtics star been healthy, the Americans feel they would not have fallen in the quarterfinals to France, and surely would not have finished a sorely disappointing seventh place. Tatum, of course, believes that too, and if his urge to avenge that injury, and what happened because of it, is strong enough, he might very well lead Team USA into the Tokyo Olympics next month.

“It definitely is something to think about,” Tatum said last week, after the Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets. “Obviously, going two or three years kind of without much of a break, but obviously that’s an incredible opportunity, and something I’ve got to think about further down the line.”

The NBA’s first round of the playoffs is complete, and a whole new crop of stars are now free to commit, or not, to Team USA for Tokyo. Tatum headlines that group, along with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards, and Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat. They join a pool that already included Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and Zach LaVine of the Bulls, among others.

There are two other big names whose NBA team lost in the playoffs, perhaps you’ve heard of them? LeBron James and Anthony Davis are officially on vacation, after the Lakers lost in six games to Phoenix, but neither LeBron nor Davis is expected to play for Team USA due to their terrible seasons of injuries, according to a source close to both players. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the list, but their Clippers survived Game 7 against Dallas (which has no American stars in the Team USA pool) on Sunday — the final game of the entire first round.

Curry, according to a source, is “50-50” on whether he takes his first crack at Olympic gold. Lillard is believed to have strong interest in playing, though no final decision has been made.

Tatum is the kind of linchpin around which Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo could build a roster. Conversations with prospects are “ramping up,” he said, though he chose not to disclose with whom or name which players out of the pool of 57 NBA stars had expressed a desire to play.

Training camp in Las Vegas starts in early July, and now that the first round of the playoffs is over, the pace to begin putting the 12-man roster together is accelerating.

Tatum, 23, is coming off the finest season of his pro career, with averages of 26.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. He hung a 50-piece on the Nets in in Game 3 of that series, Boston’s lone win. The Celtics made a deep playoff run last fall, playing into the Eastern finals in the Disney bubble, in September. And then their new season started on Dec. 23, followed thereafter by Tatum battling for weeks a case of COVID-19, which left him short of breath even after his return to the court.

That’s what he means by saying he hasn’t had much of a break. He suffered a bad break when he turned his ankle in the waning moments of that early round World Cup win over Turkey, as he passed the ball to Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton for the game-winning bucket in overtime. That game — which you can read about here — was bonkers, with coach Gregg Popovich being run over on the sideline and Joe Harris nearly getting into a fight. It also turned out to be the last game Tatum played in the tournament.

The Americans won three more after the injury, including over Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, but lost to Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert and Frank Ntlikina and France after leading that game late. The Americans lost again the following night to Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the Serbians, before winning a seventh-place game over Poland, in Beijing.

Team USA entered the China tournament with a lesser roster, one mostly void of the star power the Americans usually possess when they field a team of pros. Tatum, though he’d already played in a conference finals, was not yet an All-Star — that would come the following February. But he was gifted then and a potential difference maker Team USA didn’t have.

There were four Celtics on that 2019 American squad. Jaylen Brown missed this season’s playoffs after wrist surgery and is a “no” for Tokyo. Kemba Walker has said he is looking forward to a long, full offseason to heal his ailing knee, which would make him an unlikely candidate. Marcus Smart could do it, but he was among the players Colangelo had to recruit after all the stars turned him down. The Americans are hoping to avoid a repeat.

From the Wizards, Westbrook captured Olympic gold in 2012. Beal, meanwhile, wanted to play for Team USA in 2019, but withdrew his name to attend the birth of his child.

The Lakers have three other players — Andre Drummond, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma — who are in the Team USA pool. The Americans had trouble recruiting big men for the 2019 team (settling on Brook Lopez, Myles Turner and Mason Plumlee). Kuzma was originally on that team, but a leg injury forced him off the roster.

Julius Randle, the NBA’s most improved player, is in the pool and available after the Knicks fell to Atlanta in the first round. His injured teammate, Mitchell Robinson, is in the pool, as is Miami’s Duncan Robinson.

If you’re wondering, Memphis’ Ja Morant and the Blazers’ CJ McCollum are not in the American pool of 57.
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This got me thinking who’s USAB best center? Drummond?
 
lawdog1 said:
KP isn’t the one to be complaining, but I could see other players having reservations about playing with Luka because of how high his usage is. If they bring someone else in, that might have to change a bit. Plus, it might help him from burning himself out during the course of games.
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Paul and Harden teamed together at 32 and 27. Luka is only 22 now, but they may not want to wait that long to get him his Chris Paul, whoever that may be at that point.
 
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I hope Zion has been watching Trae Luka and Ja (even RJ) in the playoffs, and using it as motivation to get even better. All of them his age group, in the playoffs before him.
 
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VARNELL HILL said:
I don't think Porzingis paid his accuser anything either. Last story that ever came out from that whole affair was that the FBI was investigating the accuser for extortion. The story disappeared after that.
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I thought there was something about her dropping the charge if he paid her brother's tuition. Been a while since I read that stuff though
 
datznasty said:
I thought there was something about her dropping the charge if he paid her brother's tuition. Been a while since I read that stuff though
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That's not legal :lol:

A civil suit would have had to be filed...and then a settlement would have had to be reached. She can't tell the law "If Kristaps Porzingis pays my brother's tuition...I'll drop this charge".


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She claims she had a contract he signed...which she sent in photocopies of to the Knicks. When asked to produce the original she refused :lol:

Some weird **** went down all around here. I'm just here to point that there was no settlement.

Kobe Bryant is an example of a settlement. He beat his criminal case when the DA dropped the charges...the girl filed a civil suit...and he settled to avoid going to court. That's not what happened here.
 
That KP situation is the weirdest situation I've ever heard of.

Like I do believe he got so smashed he doesn't remember what happened and he got scared he might have done something inappropriate but when the contracts came out with his name misspelled the jig was up.

But who knows I don't put anything past anybody.
 
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