{"id":89478,"date":"2024-08-08T20:39:35","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T00:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=89478"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:17:56","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:17:56","slug":"south-sudan-olympic-run-should-lead-to-royal-ivey-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/08\/south-sudan-olympic-run-should-lead-to-royal-ivey-promotion\/","title":{"rendered":"South Sudan\u2019s Olympic Run Should Lead To Royal Ivey Promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

After going 1-2 in the Paris Olympics, many teams wouldn\u2019t feel like they walked away as winners. However, in France, that\u2019s exactly what South Sudan was<\/a>. The only African team playing in the men\u2019s basketball tournament, there was already a deeper meaning to their games<\/a>. Yet, representing a nation that gained independence in 2011 after a long civil war, South Sudan\u2019s players were even more determined.<\/p>\n

Not only did South Sudan catch the eye of fans, they earned the respect of coaches.<\/p>\n

South Sudan\u2019s Olympic Run Should Lead To Royal Ivey Promotion<\/h2>\n

\u201cThey are an unusual team<\/a>,\u201d Serbia head coach Svetislav Pesic says, per Eurohoops\u2019 Aris Barkas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey play basketball of the future. There is no dilemma. In about 10 years, basketball will be played like this. It won\u2019t be like ice hockey, but it will be fast. They have mental strength. It is important in addition to tactical segments. It is difficult to overcome them. They had two fantastic games against the USA. That\u2019s how they raised their confidence. They don\u2019t look at who the opponent is, only themselves. We managed to contain them to our rhythm and play the way we wanted\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the Olympics, South Sudan ranked third in points per game (87), third in 3-point conversions per game (11.7), and fifth in 3-point percentage (38), per FIBA<\/a>. For a team that has what many consider an extreme talent deficiency relative to their opponents, this is a testament to the natural talent in that area and the coaching of those players.<\/p>\n

Of course, South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey \u2014an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets \u2014only influences one of those. Furthermore, as with any coaching staff, his assistants have put in a lot of work for little to no credit. Nonetheless, there\u2019s no doubt that his fingerprints were all over how the team played.<\/p>\n

Their style was modern, relying on a five-out offense that emphasized shooting and ball-movement. Defensively, they were able to switch with ease due to their physical tools. However, they weren\u2019t just able to fly around and make plays because of their athleticism. Their collective attention to detail could only be the byproduct of exceptional coaching.<\/p>\n

The same can be said of the energy that South Sudan played with. They played with fire. Yet, they also had a genuine belief in their ability to defeat teams when they were outmatched. Hearing Ivey roaring at his team in the huddle, it\u2019s not hard to see where that came from.<\/p>\n

They were arguably always playing for more than any other team. Still, Ivey was a masterful motivator on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Royal Ivey\u2019s Options<\/h3>\n

Ivey checks off several boxes.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a sound strategist. He knows how to get the best out of his players. His teams have exceeded expectations. Like Brooklyn Nets and Canada Basketball head coach Jordi Fernandez, he\u2019s gotten experience on arguably the biggest international stage in basketball. Like Fernandez, the exposure should catapult him into head coaching conversations<\/a> from here on out.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups could be on the outs next summer. His contract is set to expire in 2025 and, with him not wanting to be part of a rebuild, he may not return. Furthermore, due to the Blazers\u2019 play and lack of development since he took over as head coach, Portland doesn\u2019t have much reason to bring him back anyways.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ivey\u2019s shown an extreme willingness to build a team from the ground up and develop players. The dedication needed to transform a franchise\u2019s fortunes is a skill in and itself and he has that. So, if the Blazers do start looking for a new head coach next offseason, Ivey may very well be the best man for the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After going 1-2 in the Paris Olympics, many teams wouldn\u2019t feel like they walked away as winners. However, in France, that\u2019s exactly what South Sudan was. The only African team playing in the men\u2019s basketball tournament, there was already a deeper meaning to their games. Yet, representing a nation that gained independence in 2011 after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":89534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,31,62,23],"tags":[115,4557,1052,49179,49373],"class_list":["post-89478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-nba","category-trailblazers","tag-chauncey-billups","tag-nba-offseason","tag-olympics","tag-royal-ivey","tag-south-sudan-basketball"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}