2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament

HajdukSplit

Registered User
Nov 9, 2005
11,035
762
NJ
As you all know this summer its the Summer Olympics in Rio and the men's basketball tournament still has to fill out the three remaining teams needed to complete the tournament. The 9 teams who have so far qualified are: Brazil (hosts), USA, Spain, Lithuania, Australia, China, Nigeria, Argentina and Venezuela

A total of 18 teams will compete in July for the final three spots and there are some big names in the field including France, Serbia, Greece along with potential surprise packages like Canada and Latvia

The tournament is separated into 3 mini-qualifying tournaments hosted by three cities (Belgrade, Turin and Manila) and each of these mini-tournaments has two groups of three, with the top two advancing to the semifinals (A1 vs. B2; B1 vs. A2), the winners of these two semifinals play in a final and the winner of that advances to Rio



QQT Belgrade seems the most routine on paper with Serbia getting a very manageable group (plus they are the hosts). The Czechs and Latvians are improving basketball nations but can you really see them winning a game in Belgrade? Latvia will need Porzingis to play to have any hope

QQT Manila is very interesting, firstly its probably not logistically ideal to be playing games in Philippines. Group A looks tough with Canada, Turkey and even Senegal who performed well at the 2014 World Cup beating Croatia and Puerto Rico. If Canada bring their strongest team they can be dangerous as well. In Group B, France should progress and should be favorites to progress to Rio but a full strength Canada could cause problems

QQT Turin, think all the teams in this grouping will be happy with the draw, no Serbia/France and the three Euro teams all have decent potential despite underperforming at recent tournaments. Greece have the easiest group and should win it meaning they will likely face Italy/Croatia in the semis. You fully expect the final to be Greece vs. ITA/CRO, Greece will be slight favorites but Italy are hosts and will have their host of NBA talents. Croatia underperformed massively in EuroBasket but have a great generation coming through, might be a few years too early though

My picks: Serbia, France, Italy
 

Avs_19

Registered User
Jun 28, 2007
84,521
32,105
All of this because Canada choked against Venezuela. They had that game won.

Canada is grouped with both France and Turkey, that's going to be very tough. They really need to win their group so they'll likely only have to play one of them in the elimination round.

This tournament is being held at a weird time with NBA free agency going on but if healthy, Canada should have most of their top players. They're all signed so there's not the risk of getting hurt and missing out on a big pay day. Thompson going to the NBA finals and playing into mid June could cause an issue if he's not healthy or too fatigued.

This lineup wouldn't be bad at all:

C: Tristan Thompson, Trey Lyles(?)
PF: Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell
SF: Andrew Nicholson, Anthony Bennett
SG: Andrew Wiggins, Nik Stauskas
PG: Cory Joseph, Tyler Ennis, Jamal Murray

Of course things would need to go perfectly to get all of those guys there.
 

darko

Registered User
Feb 16, 2009
70,265
7,786
So Serbia has a favourable draw and is playing hosts? Prefect recipe for a giant choke job.
 

darko

Registered User
Feb 16, 2009
70,265
7,786
Croatia underperformed massively in EuroBasket but have a great generation coming through, might be a few years too early though


I'd love to see your and Ivan's boys make it. But you could be right, 2018 seems like more likely timeframe where they make that jump.

If only Serbia, Croatia and the rest were still part of Yugo. :amazed:
 

Ivan13

Not posting anymore
May 3, 2011
26,141
7,095
Zagreb, Croatia
I'd love to see your and Ivan's boys make it. But you could be right, 2018 seems like more likely timeframe where they make that jump.

If only Serbia, Croatia and the rest were still part of Yugo. :amazed:

Everyone plays sub-par for our NT, Tomić looks like he forgets how to play b-ball every time he suits up, but he's great for his clubs. I don't expect anything and if I was the coach I'd go with youth all around, say goodbye to old dudes who disappointing time and time again and build the team around Å arić, Hezonja, Bogdanović, Bilan and Arapović.

Never though I'll say this about Franjo Arapović's kid, but that kid is a stud.
 

Stats01

Registered User
Jul 12, 2009
20,386
0
Toronto
complete B.S...Canada has to deal with this group when they shouldn't even be here in the first place...
 

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