VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - The Rio de Janeiro Games. The USA came, the USA saw, the USA conquered. What's new?!

Next stop, China, for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. Is there any hope for the rest of the competition? Here are some quick thoughts when looking back at Rio.

1 - The USA hit some bumps in the road but still went unbeaten. As of now, they are huge favorites to win the world title. In Brazil, the USA struggled against Australia, Serbia and France in Group A, although this was more about them getting into rhythm and facing good opposition for the first time all summer than anything else. The game the Americans did have to work extremely hard to win was against Spain in the Semi-Finals. They prevailed, 82-76. Their Most Valuable Player in that game and therefore, in my opinion, at the Olympics was DeAndre Jordan. He never really found his stride in Group A, yet he did when the USA needed him to. Jordan had 16 rebounds to go with 4 blocks and 9 points against Spain. If he hadn't played at an elite level, I think the win would have been Spain's.

Jordan was my tournament MVP pick

2 - Spain's golden generation is not done by a long shot. Or at least, Pau Gasol is not done. The greatest player in the history of the country is 36 but still averaged 19.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in Rio.

"It's been a gift. I'm going to play as long as possible at this level and will try and take advantage of the opportunity." - Gasol

He did not, as Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni did, ride off into the international basketball sunset. Pau said to the Spanish media after the Olympics: "I love to play for my national team and I will do so until I can't. I always feel something special and I just love playing for this team. We have a fantastic and a fun group. The years go by and at some point, I will not be able to continue. When that time comes, I will accept it. It will be difficult because I've had fantastic years and I couldn't have asked for more. It's been a gift. I'm going to play as long as possible at this level and will try and take advantage of the opportunity."

Gasol loves his Spanish national team

3 - Australia must take the positives out of an Olympic campaign that ended after a gut-wrenching 89-88 Bronze Medal Game defeat to Spain. The talent, the leadership and really, the experience, is there. The result hasn't killed the Boomers. Hopefully it's only made them stronger.

4 - Lithuania laid an egg. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to see the Baltic team lose its fight. It did in a 50-point beat-down by Spain in Group B. They crashed out of the Olympics after a 90-64 Quarter-Final loss to Australia. The collapse was mind-boggling. In 2009, when Lithuania struggled at the EuroBasket in Poland and came up short of the Quarter-Finals, there was a sense that the team was short of talent. But the Lithuania that played in Rio was good enough. It just had no heart. That's not a good sign for the future. Jonas Kazlauskas indicated after he returned home that he would no longer coach the team, although that won't be known for sure until another 10 days to two weeks, when he sits down with the federation.

Lithuania were shocked, and so were we

5 - It was a beautiful thing experiencing what the fans of Argentina brought to the Olympics. There was something almost spiritual about El Alma's games. There was a feeling that not only were we watching history, as Nocioni and Ginobili suited up for the last time. There was this overwhelming emotion that ran through our blood with the singing and cheering from the crowd. After the USA beat Argentina in the Quarter-Finals, the American players said they had never experienced anything like it. Let's hope that as Argentina become Facundo Campazzo's team, as Luis Scola says it will, that it remains a success on the international scene.

Argentina's fans worship the golden generation

6 - France and disharmony. Only the French can talk about what really happened to them at the Olympics but there was nothing more deflating than seeing Les Bleus get steamrolled by Spain in the Quarter-Finals, 92-67. We expected a classic and we got an annihilation. After their capitulation to Spain, there was chatter in the media tribune that the veterans and the younger players had not bonded. That's always a recipe for failure. In sport, you need to need to know that your teammate has your back, that he'll die for you. The good news for France is that there is no shortage of talent. Maybe the NBA players in the team should take a page out of Australia's book and hang out during the All-Star Weekend.

7 - Nestor 'Che' Garcia the Venezuela coach, was spot-on with his tactics in Group A. He just didn't have enough talent to beat the USA, Australia, Serbia and France.

8 - Bojan Bogdanovic, who averaged 25.3ppg for Croatia, is a superstar! Remember, he had averaged 24.2ppg at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy. In three year, expect him to be even better.

9 - If the organizational issues that continually plague Nigerian basketball can ever be resolved, then this will be a team that can reach the World Cup podium. Nigeria lost one of their best players, Al-Farouq Aminu, before the Olympics because his insurance wasn't in place on time. There were other players like Festus Ezeli of Portland that could have played. A well-run Nigeria program would see this team do something special.

Nigeria's players just needs more off-the-court support

10 - Brazil's players, having come up short of the Quarter-Finals on home soil, have unfinished business. Maybe we'll get their best in China.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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