Tag: Team USA basketball

Trae Young appeared to take a shot at ex-Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce after Team USA’s loss to Australia

The Lloyd Pierce Effect on display.

While it’s likely a bit early to panic about Team USA men’s basketball dropping two straight exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia respectively, there are serious questions facing the team as the Tokyo Olympic Games approach.

The team’s roster construction immediately comes to mind, and the players left off the squad are taking notice.

Head coach Gregg Popovich elected to go with a team that didn’t include three of the NBA’s top young superstars in Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and Trae Young. And when you look at Young’s snub, it’s difficult to ignore ex-Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce’s inclusion on the Team USA coaching staff.

That might explain the two-emoji tweet that the Hawks star posted on Twitter shortly after Team USA’s 91-83 loss to Australia on Monday.

Underrated emojis right there.

The Hawks fired Pierce in March after starting the season at 14-20 and replaced him with Nate McMillan who led the Hawks to a 27-11 record and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

But even before Pierce’s firing, the Olympic team was a sour subject between the then-head coach and Young. Back in 2020, Pierce didn’t exactly go to bat for Young about Team USA consideration. Instead, he specifically named Harrison Barnes and Mason Plumlee as more deserving Olympians.

Again, it’s still early and the Olympics haven’t even started yet. But that kind of organizational mindset isn’t doing any favors for this Team USA squad. No wonder Young tweeted what he did.

https://youtu.be/pgHz7vbqMWw

Fans everywhere have mixed feelings on Team USA’s new basketball jerseys

Fans have mixed opinions about team USA’s basketball jerseys that were just revealed on Thursday.

It is a rite of passage for every single iteration of Team USA’s basketball team.

Their jerseys have to be judged. They just have to be. It’s all part of the process. And they’re all always going to be compared to two other versions: Either the 1992 Dream Team jerseys that are now one of the greatest retro jerseys ever or the 2012 Olympic team that had so many classic moments.

It’s unfair. But that’s just the way it is. And so, here we are. The new 2020 Olympic team jerseys were revealed with official photos on Thursday and they were…OK?

Here’s a look.

The gradient color scheme feels sort of extra here — just give us some solid colors. These would be great in just an all blue or an all-red scheme. Instead…we have this.

Fans had mixed reactions to them.

Gear up for the 2021 Olympics with the USA Basketball bobblehead series, build your collection now

Get your commemorative USA Basketball bobblehead series as you gear up for the Olympics and build your team now.

As we gear up for the Olympics, many fans will be looking forward to watching USA Basketball and all-star studded team. If you’re looking for some commemorative USA Olympic Basketball pieces, we have you covered with the USA Basketball bobblehead series.

You can start building your USA Olympic team now with the following collections: 2000 Sydney, 1996 Atlanta, ad 1960 Rome. The following collections will be launching soon: 2012 London, 2008 Beijing, 2016 Rio, and 1992 Spain.

2000 Sydney Olympics

Celebrate their golden achievement with one of the team’s brightest stars by adding this Vince Carter USA Basketball 2000 Sydney Games Bobblehead!

*This is a pre-order only and will ship no later than 9/23/2021.

Celebrate their golden achievement with one of the team’s brightest stars by adding this Kevin Garnett USA Basketball 2000 Sydney Games Bobblehead!

These are only $55 pre-order only and will ship no later than 9/23/2021.

Celebrate their golden achievement with one of the team’s brightest stars by adding this Gary Payton USA Basketball 2000 Sydney Games Bobblehead!

These are only $55 pre-order only and will ship no later than 9/23/2021.

1960 Rome Olympics

If you think West is the Best, then you can commemorate his legendary performance with this Jerry West USA Basketball 1960 Rome Games Bobblehead!

These are only $70 pre-order only and will ship no later than 9/16/2021.

1996 Atlanta Olympics

Now, you can celebrate their gold medal glory with this Shaquille O’Neal USA Basketball 1996 Atlanta Games Bobblehead!

These will be each Individually #’d out of 321, only $55, and will ship no later than 10/7/2021.

Now, you can celebrate their gold medal glory with this Karl Malone USA Basketball 1996 Atlanta Games Bobblehead!

These will be each Individually #’d out of 321, only $55, and will ship no later than 10/7/2021.

Now, you can celebrate their gold medal glory with this John Stockton USA Basketball 1996 Atlanta Games Bobblehead!

These will be each Individually #’d out of 321, only $55, and will ship no later than 10/7/2021.

Make sure you check back to see the updated USA Basketball bobbleheads as they are released, you can also check out more that might fit your collection here.

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USA Basketball made some laughable snubs on its preliminary Tokyo Olympics roster

The best 44 players, and they left these guys out?

USA Basketball released a preliminary roster on Monday of 44 names to be considered for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, and while LeBron James and Steph Curry are back in the fold for the national team, the list had some glaring omissions.

Notably, players like Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Carmelo Anthony, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and John Collins were left off the list entirely while Kyle Kuzma, Dwight Howard, Marcus Smart and Derrick White were among the 44 players to receive camp invitations.

Gregg Popovich will once again coach the team alongside Steve Kerr, Lloyd Pierce and Jay Wright. And sure, it’s never an easy task to name the best 44 American basketball players and expect everyone to be happy. But it’s pretty clear that Young, an All-Star starter averaging nearly 30 points per game, is more deserving than the Spurs’ backup point guard.

Even if Morant and Young weren’t going to get included on the final roster this year, you’d like to see USA Basketball work with the players who project to be the foundation of the national team going forward. They opted against that this time around, and plenty of basketball fans weren’t impressed.

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