Tag: Slovenia

Goran Dragic returning to Slovenian national team?

Although it’s not official yet, Goran Dragic is highly likely to dress up again for the Slovenian national team for one last and also crucial game, according to multiple reports. Dragic will reunite with Luka Doncic with whom he led Slovenia to …

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Eurohoops @Eurohoopsnet
Goran Dragic reportedly making his return to the Slovenian national team
eurohoops.net/en/fibawc/1351… – 12:02 PM

More on this storyline

This summer will mark Zubac’s return to the national team and it’s an ambitious one. “I think we have a really good chance to do something in the EuroBasket this summer,” Zubac said. “We got a lot of good players and I think that this is the year that we’re all going to come together. We can get a good result. Of course [I’m committed]. I’ll be there. Hopefully, everyone else will. I think we have a good team and this is a good chance for us to finally fight for the medal.” -via EuroHoops.net / May 26, 2022
You have confirmed that you want to play the Summer League and the Eurobasket. Usman Garuba: Yes, of course. What I need now is to play games. After a season where I suffered some injuries, I started to play regularly by the end of March. Just when we played the last game I was like ‘Is that it? I want to play more!’ The Rockets know that if I’m healthy, I want to play for the Spanish team – if they call me – and they’re OK with it. -via HoopsHype / May 9, 2022
Speaking in an interview with AS, Houston Rockets rookie Usman Garuba said he will be at Sergio Scariolo disposal for the upcoming EuroBasket 2022: “I want to go to the EuroBasket and I am at Sergio Scariolo’s disposal. We are Spain and Spain always competes. We want to fight for medals despite the circumstances, despite the absences. We are ready for everything”. -via Sportando / May 1, 2022

It turns out the USA Men’s Basketball Team is still pretty far ahead of the rest of the world

Nobody is touching the US when it comes to basketball. And it’s not close.

As we entered into the Olympics, there were plenty of concerns about Team USA’s Men’s Basketball team.

Yes, they were riding in off of a 25 game winning streak. But they were also missing a bunch of their stars. There was no LeBron James. There was no James Harden. There was no Steph Curry. There was no Dwyane Wade. No Carmelo Anthony.

All of the big stars we were used to seeing just weren’t there anymore with the exception of Kevin Durant. This team felt like Kevin Durant and a bunch of guys despite the squad having stars like Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and more.

It just didn’t…feel the same. And then the unthinkable happened — they lost to Nigeria in their first exhibition game. Then they lost again to Australia after that. Then, once Olympic play actually started, they lost to France.

Everyone started to pile on. This team wasn’t built right. There were too many stars who weren’t doing the little things. The rest of the world was catching up.

Gregg Popovich said it himself to reporters in Tokyo, per the AP.

“The gap is smaller and smaller every year as far as talent is concerned,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said.

And you know what? He’s right. The talent around the rest of the world has gotten a lot better. Teams are catching up.

You’ve got teams in France, Spain and Australia with tons of NBA talent like Nic Batum, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Ricky Rubio and more. You’ve also got Slovenia with Luka Doncic, who can be the best player int he world on any given night.

Ben Simmons didn’t play this year. Neither did Giannis Antetokounmpo. Canada is only getting better. The rest of the world has improved and will continue to do so.

But Team USA’s run here makes it clear: As good as the rest of the world is getting, the United States is still comfortably better than their best.

Kevin Durant said it best himself in his Instagram Live session. It’s still not close.

“They had some power rankings out. They had us fourth. Behind Slovenia. Talking about they catching up to us, like, are you serious? This skill is unmatched. You dig?” 

He’s right. It is unmatched. And, despite a shaky start to the Games, they proved it.

Team USA’s margin of victory over the rest of the field through their five games of Olympic play was 20 points after their 87-82 win over France. It just wasn’t close. Kevin Durant was the best player on the floor in every game and that’s really all they needed to happen.

This isn’t to say that the path they took was easy. That isn’t true at all. They certainly had their struggles and they’ve alluded to them throughout the process. But they still dominated. And they won gold. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

So is the rest of the world better? Absolutely. But Team USA is still the best. And it’s not close.

Watch our sneaker unboxing video, Special Delivery 

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The Top 30 players at the Olympic basketball tournament

HoopsHype ranks the Top 25 basketball players at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, based on perceived FIBA value.

We go from the NBA Finals almost immediately to Olympic basketball in basically no time at all.

There are quite a few star-level absences from global lineups this year (there will only be seven All-Stars and just three players who made All-NBA this year participating), but there’s still quite a good amount of talent competing in the Games for basketball this summer, perhaps even more than many were expecting due to the quick turnaround from the NBA season to the Olympics.

So we decided to rank the Top 30 players competing at the Tokyo Olympic basketball tournament.

Before we get started, we wanted to make clear that we factored in perceived FIBA value a bit into the ranking, which will explain why some guys who are role players in the NBA but stars in international competitions are ranked where they are.

Let’s get into it.

Little did Doncic know on February 28, …

Little did Doncic know on February 28, when he met U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda C. Blanchard before the Mavs-Heat game on Slovenian Night at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, that he soon would need Blanchard’s help. And Doncic almost certainly didn’t fathom that the help he would need stemmed from a developing worldwide pandemic that would force the NBA season into hiatus on the night of March 11, just 12 days after that Dallas-Miami game. The hiatus would last more than 100 days, during which Doncic returned to his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Ljubljana-based Blanchard and her …

Ljubljana-based Blanchard and her embassy staff were able to connect Doncic’s personal advisors at BDA Sports Management in contact with the Slovenian embassy in Washington, D.C. to ensure that he was aware of requirements for entry into Slovenia. Those contacts later made sure Doncic and his family knew where to find the latest information on regulations for re-entering the U.S. “She [Blanchard] helped me from the United States during corona to Slovenia, with all the papers you’ve got to do,” Doncic said Thursday. “And to come back [to Dallas], too. It was very helpful.”