Vol. 1 No. 1 — August 28th, 2019

Welcome to the first edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name!

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I am so thrilled you are along for the journey with me. Once the season is in full bloom.. We’ll have lots more to share!

So thanks again for subscribing and let’s get right into this week’s stories.

This Sunday, Team USA begins its quest for the 2019 FIBA World Cup championship.

The United States, two-time defending World Cup champion and FIBA's No. 1 world ranked team, was drawn into Group E and will play its first-round games in Shanghai. The USA will play: Czech Republic on Sept. 1, Turkey on Sept. 3 and Japan on Sept. 5.

The Americans are still favored to win, but Serbia and Australia look like upset-minded challengers, especially after Team USA lost to the Aussies in a pre-tournament friendly.

"You can learn as much or more from losing as winning," USA head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters after the game.

"We're all used to winning and losing. USA has been a little bit different over the last 12 years, used to winning, so hopefully we can get back on that track."

The 12-man USA roster has been derided for its lack of perceived star power. It’s a talented group, but the lack of playing time together as a unit will have to be overcome. And in short order.

The official 2019 USA World Cup Team includes 2016 Olympic gold medalist Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings); Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics); Joe Harris (Brooklyn Nets); Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks); Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks); Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz); 2014 World Cup gold medalist Mason Plumlee (Denver Nuggets), Marcus Smart (Boston Celtics); Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics); Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers); Kemba Walker (Boston Celtics); and Derrick White (San Antonio Spurs).

The USA Basketball World Cup Team coaching staff features USA and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, USA assistant coaches and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce, and Villanova University head coach Jay Wright.

Obviously, with Coach Pierce on the bench, I’ll be glued to each Team USA game. But the demands of broadcasting pro basketball these days require me to keep up with all of the games in all of the counties participating.

Here’s why: (From NBA.com) a list of all NBA players in the 2019 World Cup

Countries With NBA Players

France: Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Frank Ntilikina, Elie Okobo, Vincent Poirier (Group G)

Serbia: Nemanja Bjelica, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Marko Gudurić, Nikola Jokic, Boban Marjanovic (Group D)

Australia: Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes (Group H)

Germany: Former Hawk Dennis Schroder, Maxi Kleber, Isaac Bonga, Daniel Theis (Group G)

Spain: Marc Gasol, Juancho Hernangomez, Willy Hernangomez, Ricky Rubio (Group C)

Canada: Khem Birch, Oshae Brissett, Cory Joseph (Group H)

Nigeria: Former Norcross HS star and Atlanta native Al-Farouq Aminu, Chimezie Metu, former Georgia Tech standout Josh Okogie (Group B)

Turkey: Cedi Osman, former Hawk Ersan Ilyasova, Furkan Korkmaz (Group E)

Brazil: Cristiano Felicio, Bruno Caboclo (Group F)

Greece: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Group F)

Italy: former Hawk Marco Belinelli, Danilo Gallinari (Group D)

Lithuania: Jonas Valanciunas, Domantas Sabonis (Group H)

Puerto Rico: Isaiah Pineiro (Group C)

Czech Reupublic: Tomas Satoransky (Group E)

Japan: Rui Hachimura, Yuta Watanabe (Group E)

Montenegro: Nikola Vucevic (Group F)

Countries without NBA Players

Group A: Cote d'Ivoire, Poland, Venezuela, China

Group B: Russia, Argentina, Korea

Group C: Iran, Tunisia

Group D: Angola, Philippines

Group F: New Zealand

Group G: Dominican Republic, Jordan

Group H: Senegal

Results from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will qualify seven nations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The top two finishing teams in the World Cup from both the Americas and Europe zones will earn qualifying places in the 2020 Olympics, as will the top finisher from Africa, Asia and Oceania. Additionally, Olympic host Japan automatically qualified, and the final four nations will qualify through four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held in 2020 in advance of the Olympics.

Milwaukee Buck’s Twinning

One of my favorite visiting players in the league is Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks. Just a neat guy to listen to, and another big guy who has radically transformed his game by adding the long-range, three-point shot.

When the Bucks signed his twin brother, Robin, I kept waiting for a funny quote.

It arrived last week in NBC’s Pro Basketball Talk:

What did you make of Milwaukee’s off-season and the moves they made?

BL: I thought we made all of the right moves… pretty much. Except for signing Robin. I don’t know about that one. (Laughs) We’ll see how that goes…

In all seriousness, that has to be so cool! How excited are you to play with your brother again?

BL: It’s going to be fun! I know my mom is going to be all about it. She was born in Milwaukee and grew up there for a few years. Now, she’s going to be an official Milwaukee resident again. She’ll be there all season long, watching our games.

Source: https://nba.nbcsports.com/2019/08/26/brook-lopez-loved-the-bucks-off-season-moves-except-for-signing-robin/

Competitors that always give 100%

Three competitors come to mind who gave it their all every second on the court: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and my TV partner, Dominique Wilkins.

Long-time Lakers trainer Gary Vitti retired a couple of years ago and will soon publish an autobiography, “32 Years of Titles and Tears from the Best Seat in the House: What I Learned about Happiness, Greatness, Leadership and the Evolution of Sports Science.”

Vitti had this to say about Kobe to CNBC:

“He was talented, but what if I told you he wasn’t the most talented guy out there? I’m telling you, and I’ve had them all, there’s nothing really special about Kobe. I mean he’s a big guy, but he’s not that big. He was quick, but he’s not that quick. He’s fast, he wasn’t that fast. He was powerful, but he wasn’t that powerful. I mean, there were other players that had more talent than he did, so what was there about him that more talented players had zero rings and he ended up with five?…

“He was tough in the sense that he took ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’ out of his lexicon and he just believed that he could do it. Kobe taught me that talent is the most overrated thing in life; it’s what you do with your talent.”

He was ruthless on the court, and with some of his teammates. He set the bar high, but mainly for himself. Kobe demanded that you join him in his pursuit of excellence.

They were different types of players, to be sure. But watching Kobe and Michael Jordan over the years, for me, was a double edged sword. I admired how hard they competed, and just how ultra-competitive they were. But at the same time, the Hawks could never beat them with any consistency. That was frustrating!

I’m looking forward to reading Gary’s book.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/lakers-trainer-gary-vitti-on-what-kobe-bryant-taught-him.html

All for now! See you next Wednesday.

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