Both are going to be serious factors in the Paris Olympics basketball tournament.
There’s been an interesting question this summer about Team USA: is this a better team than the legendary 1992 Dream Team?
It’s a tough question to answer in a lot of ways but one thing is for sure: the Dream Team had an easier field. They were so far ahead of the rest of the world that their opponents asked them for autographs. That won’t happen this year.
Serbia has Nikola Jokic and other NBA players. Australia has become a very, very tough out. And France and Canada are both tough too.
The latter two faced off in an exhibition on Friday and of course there were plenty of NBA players on both sides, including former Blue Devil RJ Barrett, who has some really nice moments here.
The Canadians lack size and the French lack guards. Too bad they couldn’t work a trade or two. We get a few glimpses of Victor Wembanyama here, including the most hilariously bad screen you’ll see until the next time someone asks James Harding to set one.
The Canadians ended up winning 85-73 and their offense looks great. The U.S. tends to have the most dynamic teams but not necessarily the best offenses. Typically those have come from Spain, Argentina and Australia. Team USA has applied Mike Krzyzewski’s formula to stop them: intense defense, transition offense and grind them down into defeat.
The Canadians don’t have a great inside presence, but if they shoot threes like they did here, they’re probably going to medal. This is a really good team.
