Ben Gold's summer

[tower912]

He has been invited to try out for the New Zealand national team.

Good luck and stay healthy, young man.

[JakeBarnes]

He has been invited to try out for the New Zealand national team.

Good luck and stay healthy, young man.

It's actually winter there.

[tower912]

True.

[Uncle Rico]

It's actually winter there.

So much for global warming

[Warriors4ever]

So he could be in the Olympics? That would be awesome.,

[Pakuni]

Worst case, he'll learn a bad-ass haka or two.

[tower912]

Extreme long shot, Ben ends up guarding Markus on a switch.

[drewm88]

For anyone wondering the process, there are 24 teams that will play this summer in 4 separate tournaments for the last 4 spots in the Olympics.

Each has two group of three. Bottom teams eliminated, remaining four into single elimination.

NZ plays in Greece. Their group has Slovenia and Croatia. Other group is Greece, Egypt, Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico hosts with Italy and Bahrain. Other group is Mexico, Ivory Coast, Lithuania.

Games start July 2.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_FIBA_Men%27s_Olympic_Qualifying_Tournaments

[tower912]

https://x.com/marquettembb/status/1802820961387126805?s=61&t=6XPB8f4sAKmJIzxgMcsCjw

   Good luck, play well, don't get hurt.   

[muwarrior69]

Will these games be televised?

[avid1010]

So much for global warming

This is good.

[JWags85]

For anyone wondering the process, there are 24 teams that will play this summer in 4 separate tournaments for the last 4 spots in the Olympics.

Each has two group of three. Bottom teams eliminated, remaining four into single elimination.

NZ plays in Greece. Their group has Slovenia and Croatia. Other group is Greece, Egypt, Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico hosts with Italy and Bahrain. Other group is Mexico, Ivory Coast, Lithuania.

Games start July 2.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_FIBA_Men%27s_Olympic_Qualifying_Tournaments

Awesome experience for Ben.  Unfortunately the Tall Blacks team is pretty weak and Slovenia with even a semi-healthy Luka is a really tough squad with a bunch of high level Euro players.  And oh yea, Giannis is in the other group of 3 with a bunch of Euroleague players.

Extreme long shot, Ben ends up guarding Markus on a switch.

Markus isn't playing for PR cause his wife is due in a few weeks.  Makes their long shot even longer, but I don't think he would be eligible for the Olympics if they made it, but I'm not sure.

[4everwarriors]

Will these games be televised?

Probably on da Cock, hey?

[MUbiz]

Will these games be televised?

Courtside1891 streams them: https://www.courtside1891.basketball/plans

[DoctorV]

New Zealand beat Croatia in Athens today in their first qualifier. Nice win for them since Croatia beat Slovenia (Luka's squad) pretty soundly yesterday.

Did not see Ben in the box score or on the team page roster however, seems as if he didn't make the squad.

[Skatastrophy]

New Zealand beat Croatia in Athens today in their first qualifier. Nice win for them since Croatia beat Slovenia (Luka's squad) pretty soundly yesterday.

Did not see Ben in the box score or on the team page roster however, seems as if he didn't make the squad.

You're right he was cut - https://www.nzsportswire.com/post/tall-blacks-squad-trimmed-for-final-qualifier

[DoctorV]

Hopefully he got to hang out in Athens and have a few pites before his return.

Wonder if they keep him around in case of qualification/injury and for the experience with the rest of the squad

[Tyler COLEk]

Rooting against the "Tall Blacks" so hard after this.

[Viper]

Extreme long shot, Ben ends up guarding Markus on a switch.

Markus out. Butch Lee in. '76 redo.

[MUbiz]

You're right he was cut - https://www.nzsportswire.com/post/tall-blacks-squad-trimmed-for-final-qualifier

This makes sense as I saw Ben Gold at Potto last night.