2023 FIBA World Cup Preview: Who will win the gold medal?
Group C: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Taine Murray, Dar Tucker, and Anthony Edwards will be trying to lead their countries to the next phase of play
Greece
Head Coach: Dimitrios Itoudis
NBA Players: Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Other Notable Players: Thomas Walkup, Kostas Papanikolaou, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Nikos Rogkavopolous, Ioannis Papapetrou, Georgios Papagiannis, Dinos Mitoglu
Do we expect them to advance? Yes.
Why or why not? They’re missing their three best players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo of course, but this group is weak. They’ll take care of New Zealand and Jordan no problem. Walkup is naturalized, and now the Greek Kyle Lowry. Sturdy, a great defender, and impacts the game in a ton of ways as a guard. Rogkavopolous is their young talent and has drawn comparisons to last season’s Euroleague MVP Sasha Vezenkov. Itoudis is one of the best basketball minds in the world.
They lack offensive creation, but Itoudis will certainly try everything and make every team work to beat them.
New Zealand
Head Coach: Pero Cameron
NBA Players: None
Other Notable Players: Yanni Wetzell, Taine Murray, and Finn Delany
Do we expect them to advance? No.
Why or why not? They’re not good enough.
Jordan
Head Coach: Wesam Al-Sous
NBA Players: None
Other Notable Players: Dar Tucker
Do we expect them to advance? No.
Why or why not? They’re not good enough.
USA
Head Coach: Steve Kerr
NBA Players: Paolo Banchero, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr., Cameron Johnson, Walker Kessler, Bobby Portis, Austin Reaves, Josh Hart
Other Notable Players: None
Do we expect them to advance? No. Okay, that was a joke, of course we do.
Why or why not? Yes, this is a very weak USA team. Yes, Anthony Edwards might not be ready to be the guy. Yes, it’s Steve Kerr’s first tournament as head coach. Even with all that, this is easily the best roster in the tournament, and Team USA is still the favorite to win the gold medal.