Can Great Britain Win Gold With Gordon/Deng?

[??? ??????]

Spain - United Kingdom 84-76
Pau Gasol (214-F/C-80) woke up after the loss from Serbia as Spain barely escaped from another one. The Spanish outfit rolled over Great Britain to celebrate the first victory at Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. It was another proof that Spain is too far from their best games. All the nest happened in the last period of the thriller. Reinking added 2 points for his team for 66:62 as Spain remained scoreless in the last period. Hart buried a three for 66:65 with 7.34. Moreover Lenzly made it 68:66 for Great Britain when Spain was useless in the court. Pau Gasol scored his 20th point to tie the game at 68:68, but Achara gave his team another 70:68 lead. Pau Gasol reduced to 70:69 when Hart nailed three from the perimeter for 73:69. The last minutes became very exciting in the court. Fernandez made a dunk for 73:71 and Pau Gasol nailed three for 74:73 for Spain. The latter scored one free throw later in the quarter, while Navarro's three brought 78:73 with 2 minutes to go. Pau Gasol scored his 27th point for 80:73 with a minute until the end and Navarro added one for 81:73. Great Britaion responded immediately from the three-point line and Hart posted for 81:76. Rubio was perfect from the free throw line to give his team 83:76 and Navarro brought the Final score on the board. Pau Gasol was unstoppable with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Fernandez followed him with 13, whilst Claver poured in 12. Hart finished the night with 15 points in the losing effort and Lenzly had 14. Freeland and Reinking notched 10 points apiece for great Britain.

http://www.eurobasket.com/2009.asp?NewsID=171543

Great Britain almost downed Spain in the European Championship. This would have been probably the biggest upset in international basketball history.

With Gordon/Deng, is GB a legit gold medal contender?

 

[mlewinth]

No

 

[TheStig]

I honestly don't think BG will play for GB. He was using it to get his deal done and he still didn't go.

 

[cool007]

I really hope BG does play for GB. If Deng is healthy then they will contend but I don't think they will win it.

I also don't know much else about that team either so hard to tell but Gordon and Deng does seem a nice combo for them.

 

[??? ??????]

TheStig wrote:

I honestly don't think BG will play for GB. He was using it to get his deal done and he still didn't go.

He just said two days ago that he's committed to playing for Great Britain. He said that he just wanted to make this summer about transitioning from Chicago to Detroit, and transitioning into another player in his career.

I think the guy's going to be working out like crazy this summer (more crazy than his normal summers) to really show how great he is.

I actually think think that it's more likely that Gordon plays for Great Britain in 2012 than it is that Luol Deng does.

 

[??? ??????]

cool007 wrote:

I really hope BG does play for GB. If Deng is healthy then they will contend but I don't think they will win it.

I also don't know much else about that team either so hard to tell but Gordon and Deng does seem a nice combo for them.

They have Robert Archibald and Pops Mensah-Bonsu who are both former NBA players. They have Joel Freeland who plays in Europe I believe, but was drafted by the Blazers a few years ago. They have Andrew Betts, who was drafted by the Hornets in the second round back in the 90's. They didn't make him a contract offer, so he stayed overseas, and has been playing there ever since. The guy is a good talent, big guy, 7'1" 275 pounds, but he is often injured, and missing games.

They're also working on getting Kelenna Azuibuke, who plays for the Warriors, on the team. He can score the basketball quite a bit.

There is some good talent on that Great Britain team. They just need their stars there, and that includes Andy Betts.

If they have Gordon, Deng, and a healthy Betts, I think they will definitely be in the medal hunt.

They have a hell of a coach in Chris Finch too.

 

[houheffna]

They can medal but they are not going to win the gold, not by a longshot.

 

[cool007]

Yeah, that is a good team but for the Gold medal??? I would love to see GB against USA in the Gold Medal game though.

How about Rose in that team USA??? That would be super fun.

 

[TheStig]

??? ?????? wrote:

TheStig wrote:

I honestly don't think BG will play for GB. He was using it to get his deal done and he still didn't go.

He just said two days ago that he's committed to playing for Great Britain. He said that he just wanted to make this summer about transitioning from Chicago to Detroit, and transitioning into another player in his career.

I think the guy's going to be working out like crazy this summer (more crazy than his normal summers) to really show how great he is.

I actually think think that it's more likely that Gordon plays for Great Britain in 2012 than it is that Luol Deng does.

I think its more likely that team usa will give him the mike miller/micheal redd spot. I just think he isn't that committed to them. He had 5 other summmers to do it and push for a contract like Deng. I just don't think he wants it that much and more or less was just going along with Deng. Someone who isn't his teammate anymore. Again, it certainly is possible but if it were a priority, he would have done it by now.

 

[Bullsman24]

i think they'll win third: behind usa and spain. argentina's just not really up there anymore. and there aren't really any other great teams. china without yao isn't really that good, except for yi and sun yue. but gordon and deng is MUCH better than yi and yue. if they get azabuike to play, they'll be really good.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Argentina is getting older, but they still have Manu, Nocioni, Oberto, and others who can definitely play with the best of them. Spain is still pretty beastly with both Gasols and Rubio and a bunch of other solid players (Navarro, Fernandez, etc). Obviously USA has the most talent out of everyone. China's still okay without Yao, but they won't get nearly as far as they would if he was healthy. I don't know if he's as good as he was in NBA Live 08's FIBA thing, but Du Feng was pretty darn good when I played as the Chinese team. If he's actually like that in real life, he can be pretty dangerous. Chances are, he's probably not that great. Also Liu Wei is a very good PG for them. He could probably be in the NBA if he could shoot.

 

[Diddy1122]

No way. No one is winning Gold but the US. There's a renewed sense of pride in playing for Team USA & with Coach K at the helm & the brightest NBA stars there's just no one who can stand up to us.

And BG playing for the UK is such bs. I hate that type of crap. It's not as bad as that WNBA chick who got Russian citizenship just so she could play in the Olympics, but it's just as ridiculous. He was born there, YAAAAAY, but he left shortly after being born. He remembers nothing of his time there, I don't even know if he ever visited there as a kid, probably not. It's not like Deng, who takes great pride in playing for the country that granted his family asylum. I love BG, but I don't see him taking a great deal of pride in playing for a country he barely knows about. But he's "the Professional" so he will take that with him when he plays in the Olympics I have no doubt about that.

 

[JimmyBulls]

NO.

 

[clonetrooper264]

I never did specify who was going to win. The answer is obviously not GB because the USA is going to win it. Best pure talent in the Olympics.

 

[??? ??????]

Diddy1122 wrote:

No way. No one is winning Gold but the US. There's a renewed sense of pride in playing for Team USA & with Coach K at the helm & the brightest NBA stars there's just no one who can stand up to us.

And BG playing for the UK is such bs. I hate that type of crap. It's not as bad as that WNBA chick who got Russian citizenship just so she could play in the Olympics, but it's just as ridiculous. He was born there, YAAAAAY, but he left shortly after being born. He remembers nothing of his time there, I don't even know if he ever visited there as a kid, probably not. It's not like Deng, who takes great pride in playing for the country that granted his family asylum. I love BG, but I don't see him taking a great deal of pride in playing for a country he barely knows about. But he's "the Professional" so he will take that with him when he plays in the Olympics I have no doubt about that.

Check this out


Ben used to go to England every summer as a kid, until he took off as a basketball player.

 

[??? ??????]

And I agree that Team USA probably will win the gold.

Although I'll make the prediction that Team USA doesn't win the gold in 2016, as Lebron, Wade, Howard, Melo, Bosh, etc. all don't play, and Team USA is unequipped to win because they put too few centers and elite shooters on the roster.

 

[jsain360]

Diddy1122 wrote:

No way. No one is winning Gold but the US. There's a renewed sense of pride in playing for Team USA & with Coach K at the helm & the brightest NBA stars there's just no one who can stand up to us.

And BG playing for the UK is such bs. I hate that type of crap. It's not as bad as that WNBA chick who got Russian citizenship just so she could play in the Olympics, but it's just as ridiculous. He was born there, YAAAAAY, but he left shortly after being born. He remembers nothing of his time there, I don't even know if he ever visited there as a kid, probably not. It's not like Deng, who takes great pride in playing for the country that granted his family asylum. I love BG, but I don't see him taking a great deal of pride in playing for a country he barely knows about. But he's "the Professional" so he will take that with him when he plays in the Olympics I have no doubt about that.

Ben has legit ties to England, he was born there, he wants to play in the Olympics, and there is no way in hell he makes the US sqaud, so I have no beef w/ this. If I couldn't play for the US and had legit ties to a country by blood or birth, I'll do it. Chris Kaman was suitting up for the Germans, his relatives were German, I don't think he ever stepped foot on German soil untill he played for the German National team.