FINAL UPDATE 9/15 – FIBA Tracker: Jazz’s Best on Display in China

With a roster that features the global diversity of a United Nations subcommittee, there’s always a decent chance that someone in the Utah Jazz’s employ can be found in some international tournament somewhere. This particular summer, thought, it’s not just any tournament — nor is it just any Jazz players.

Utah’s three best returning players are all busy scrapping for their home nations in perhaps the most important international competition that exists. FIBA’s Basketball World Cup runs roughly every four years, between the Olympic tournaments run by the same governing body. Many national teams treat the World Cup as a bigger deal than Olympic hoops, where basketballers share the spotlight with athletes from dozens of other sports. But whether you consider it just ahead of or just behind the Olympiad, it’s clear that this summer’s basketball offering is a competitive, interesting tournament.

The Jazz entrants into this summer’s competition are also interesting. Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles — undoubtedly the three best returning players from Utah’s 2018-19 squad — are all on display. While several NBA stars opted out of this tournament for reasons ranging from rehab to development programs to simply not wanting to be on a team that other stars had passed on, Utah’s core guys decided to make the trip to China.

As we usually do every summer, we’re keeping track of how their squads are doing, and we’ll update these stats as the tournament progresses. 

First, a quick primer on how the World Cup works. A total of 32 teams qualified for the competition by taking part in regional tournaments last summer¹As the host nation, China qualified automatically.², and those 32 squads have been organized into eight pods for group play. The teams in each pod will play each other for the chance to advance to the second round, where new groups will be formed from among the 16 remaining teams. The top two teams from each of those second-round groups will then form the quarterfinal round for the single-elimination bracket round of the the tournament.

With that in mind, let’s see what Gobert, Mitchell and Ingles are up to, and examine their path to potentially hoisting a World Cup trophy.

Gobert & France

Basics:

• FIBA World Ranking after qualifiying tournaments: 3
• Group: France is in Group G along with Germany, Jordan and the Dominican Republic.
• Roster overview: The French squad includes four NBA players aside from Gobert, headlined by Charlotte’s Nic Batum and Orlando’s Evan Fournier. They also have two players with prior NBA experience, most notably Nando de Colo.

Exhibition:

France played a whopping eight exhibition games, finishing 6-2 after losses to Turkey and Serbia. Gobert averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in the eight friendlies (blocks weren’t kept consistently through the eight games).

First Round:

• France 78, Germany 74: Gobert had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks as France edged Germany, and his team was +12 in his 31 minutes.
• France 103, Jordan 64: Gobert had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks against Jordan, and was a +27 in 22 minutes as a starter.
• France 90, Dominican Republic 56: Gobert had 13 points (on perfect 5-for-5 shooting), eight rebounds and a block in 19 minutes against the DR, and was +14.

Gobert wraps up first round play having averaged 12.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks while helping Les Bleus go undefeated in group play.

Second Round:

France advanced to Group L, along with Australia, Lithuania and the DR.

• France 78, Lithuania 75: Gobert had nine points, eight rebounds and a block. He was +17 in 23 minutes of a close game.
• Australia 100, France 98: Gobert had eight points, four rebounds and two blocks (plus six assists!) before fouling out. He was -2 in nearly 32 minutes of play.
• (France already faced the DR in the first round.)

Gobert’s averages from two rounds of group play: 11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.

Bracket Phase:

• France 89, USA 79: Gobert was simply dominant as Les Bleus eliminated USA from medal contention. 21 points, 16 boards, three blocks and an eye-popping +26 (!) in 34 minutes of play. 
• Argentina 80, France 66: After dominating against USA, Rudy struggled against FIBA veteran Luis Scola and the Argentines. Just three attempts for Gobert, who finished with three points, 11 boards and a block. He was -14 in in 29 minutes. 
• France 67, Australia 59: Gobert played just 19 minutes in the bronze medal matchup with Australia, scoring two points and grabbing four rebounds. He was a -5 in those minutes, but France still secured a medal.

That leaves Gobert with tournament averages of 10.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in France’s medal-winning appearance at FIBA. Rudy made 63% of his shots over the course of those eight games and averaged a +9.4.

Mitchell & USA

Basics:

• FIBA World Ranking after qualifiying tournaments: 1
• Group: Team USA is in Group E along with Turkey, Japan and the Czech Republic.
• Roster overview: While the current iteration of Team USA is light on true NBA superstars, the team has nothing but NBA talent. All-Stars Kemba Walker and Khris Middleton highlight the roster, but all 12 players are solid NBA contributors.

Exhibition: 

Mitchell averaged 12.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in Team USA’s four exhibition games. The squad went 3-1 in those games, defeating Spain and Canada and splitting a pair of games against Australia.

First Round:

• USA 88, Czech Republic 67: Mitchell led Team USA with 16 points, and also registered 2 assists, 2 rebounds and a +16 for the game.
• USA 93, Turkey 92 (OT): Mitchell scored just nine points on 3-for-12 shooting, but had 4 assists and 4 rebounds, including a game-saving offensive board at the end of regulation. He was a -8.
• USA 98, Japan 45: Mitchell scored 10 points, grabbed three boards, dished six assists and was a +51 in 23 minutes.

Mitchell completed first round play with averages of 11.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while helping Team USA to a perfect 3-0 record.

Second Round:

USA advanced to Group K, where they’ll be joined by Brazil, Greece and the Czech Republic.

• USA 69, Greece 53: Mitchell scored 10 points, collected five rebounds and distributed three assists. He was +21 in his 28 minutes.
• USA 89, Brazil 73: Mitchell scored just six points, but had six rebounds and seven assists and was a team-best +22 in 22 minutes.
• (USA already faced Czech Republic in the first round.)

Mitchell’s averages after five games in group play: 10.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists.

Bracket Phase:

• France 89, USA 79: Mitchell went down swinging. The guard had 29 points (14 in the third quarter), six rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes. He was a -13 for the game, large because of France’s come-from-behind run in the fourth quarter, during which the red-hot Mitchell had one shot attempt.
• Serbia 94, USA 89: Mitchell had just nine points in this one (on 4-of-12 shooting), to go with five rebounds, four assists, and a -2 in 26 minutes of play. 
• USA 87, Poland 74:  Mitchell had a team-high 16 points (on just six shots) to go with 10 assists and three rebounds as USA beat Poland in a mostly meaningless game to classify as the 7th place team. Mitchell was +9 in 32 minutes.

That means Mitchell completed his first FIBA experience with averages of 13.1 points, 5.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and having shot 47% from the field and 41% from three. He averaged a +12.0 per game.

Ingles & Australia

Basics:

• FIBA World Ranking after qualifiying tournaments: 11
• Group: Australia is in Group H along with Canada, Lithuania and Senegal.
• Roster overview: Patty Mills (Spurs), Aron Baynes (Suns) and Matthew Dellavedova (Cavs) are peers of Ingles in the NBA and on the Boomers, while longtime NBA vet (and former) Andrew Bogut gives them another NBA-level talent.

Exhibition: 

Ingles averaged 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in Australia’s four preparatory matches. The Boomers split a 2-game series against Canada and then did the same against Team USA.

First Round:

• Australia 108, Canada 92: Ingles contributed 13 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 34 minutes as a starter. The Aussies were +18 with Ingles on the court.
• Australia 81, Senegal 68: Ingles narrowly missed a triple-double, with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. He shot 6-for-8 from the field and was a +14 in 31 minutes.
• Australia 87, Lithuania 82: Ingles had just two points (missing all five shots from the field), but piled on 8 assists, five rebounds and a +1 in his 32 minutes of a tight game.

Ingles averaged 10.7 points, 8.7 assists and 6.7 rebounds in group play for the undefeated Boomers.

Second Round:

Australia advanced to Group L, along with Gobert’s French team as well as Lithuania and the Dominican Republic.

• Australia 82, Dominican Republic 76: Ingles had two points, seven rebounds, three assists and was +3 in 30 minutes of play.
• Australia 100, France 98: Ingles’ team bested Gobert’s, thanks in large part to the Jazz wing’s production. Ingles scored 23 points, had two rebounds and two assists, and was +5 in 34 minutes of play.
• (Australia already faced Lithuania in the first round.)

Ingles averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists for Australia in the two rounds of group play.

Bracket Phase:

• Australia 82, Czech Republic 70: Ingles had six points, five rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes as Australia continues its undefeated tournament. Ingles was a team-best +18.  
• Spain 95, Australia 88 (2OT). It took ten extra minutes, but Australia finally fell at the World Cup. Ingles had four points (1-of-9 shooting) plus 10 boards and seven assists. However, he was -15 (lowest on the squad) in 44 minutes of play.
• France 67, Australia 59. Australia will have to settle for fourth place in spite of another solid performance from Joe in the bronze medal game. Ingles led the Boomers with 17 points (7-of-11 shooting) as well as five boards and three dimes. Australia was -5 in his 34 minutes.

Ingles finishes the tournament with averages of 10.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists. He was off from three in this tournament (26% and one for his last 15), but was still a +4.9 per contest.

Other Notes

• Former Jazz guard Rubio has been playing extremely well for a very solid Spain squad that has advanced to the final. He had 19 points and 12 assists as the Spaniards knocked Australia out in the semifinals.
• Ekpe Udoh came off the bench for Nigeria, but after a 1-2 performance in the first round, the Nigerians had to settle for classification games instead of advancing. They won both of their games in the 17-32 classification bracket and therefore finished the tournament in 17th place.
• Bojan Bogdanovic’s Croatian team is not participating in the World Cup tournament after failing to advance out of the second round at the European qualifying tournament. Bogdanovic was not on the national team roster for that tournament, and last played for Croatia at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, where he averaged 25.3 points per game and shot 45% from three.
• Dante Exum (Australia) is not playing this summer as he prepares to make a healthy return to Utah’s training camp, and William Howard (France) was not named to the national team. Emmanuel Mudiay is Congolese by birth, but has never played for the Democratic Republic of the Congo after leaving at age five with his family to seek asylum in the United States.