As the semifinals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics approached, Fran Fraschilla of ESPN and NBC Sports joined Chris Sheridan of BasketballNews.com to discuss the upcoming games: Australia-United States and France-Slovenia. Fraschilla, the foremost expert in the United States on international basketball, gave some special insight into what is driving the success that Slovenia, France and Australia have been having at the pandemic Olympics and what to expect now the field is down to four teams. 

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The Suns are not the best NBA team despite being in the NBA Finals, rookies are not advised to play against veterans at the card table, and as a coach, the player formerly known as Ron Artest wants to teach youngsters to run, gun and dive on the floor. And that is not all. Metta World Peace, in this podcast with veteran NBA writer Chris Sheridan, says not only does he feel bad that he was left off the U.S. Olympics team at the peak of his career in 2004, he's still willing to play as a 12th man or even be the water boy for a U.S. Olympic team, something he will not get a chance to do again until the 2024 Games are contested in Paris in three years. In the meantime, we will all have this classic podcast to keep us entertained.

Metta has teamed up with DraftKings for the NBA Finals where he’ll be actively betting against the public on every game. Wherever most of the bets are going, Metta is going the other way, and DraftKings will even boost the public’s bet. It’s Metta Vs The World! Check it out at DraftKings.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo will play next in either Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals if a Game 7 is necessary, or in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns. That is the inside scoop from the most famous basketball journalist in Greece, Tony Kalkavouras of ERT-TV (Greek National TV) and gazaeeta.gr, the top Sports Web site in Greece. Kalkavouras shared that information along with some backstories about Greece and Nigeria fighting to get Giannis to play for their respective national teams, along with some insight into Sofaklis Schortsianitis, the beefy Greek center who was drafted by the Clippers but never make it to the NBA, having his biggest moment of international glory in 2006 when Greece (currently competing in an Olympic qualifier in Canada) defeated Team USA in Saitama, Japan in one of the biggest upsets in international basketball history. Kalkavouras joined veteran NBA and Team USA journalist Chris Sheridan for the latest episode of The Sheridan Show for basketballnews.com.

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What will happen with Ben Simmons? That remains the operative question when discussing the Philadelphia 76ers and their offseason plans, and beat writer Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer joined senior NBA columnist Chris Sheridan of basketballnews.com to discuss the likelihood of Simmons beginning next season wearing the uniform of a different team. If the Sers "can get something," Pompey sees it as an 8 to 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. What team might that be? Give a listen. 

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Steve Holman has been calling Atlanta Hawks basketball games on the radio since 1989 and has never missed a day of work in all those years. On Sunday he got to call Atlanta's Game 1 victory on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers, and it was a memorable one as Trae Young scored 35 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic shushed the crowd with a late dagger 3-pointer that helped the Hawks hold off a late Sixers rally before another hostile crowd -- something that Young seems to feed off, as Holman explains.

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The man in charge of Canada Basketball is Glen Grunwald, and he and coach Nick Nurse have just released a roster that included no less than 14 NBA players including Kelly Olynyk, R.J. Barrett, Dwight Powell, Tristan Thompson, Brandon Clarke, Dillon Brooks and Cory Joseph. They should be a medal contender if they get there, but first they must get through a qualifying tournament in Victoria, B.C. that includes China and Greece. Grunwald discussed the roster, the qualifier, what he expects to see in Tokyo and some Canada Basketball history in this episode of The Sheridan Show with veteran NBA and international basketball writer Chris Sheridan.

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Everyone remains quite surprised by the success of the New York Knicks this season as they finish the regular season as the Eastern Conference's biggest overachievers, but there is one person in particular who saw this coming. He is longtime beat writer Marc Berman of the New York Post, who has been on the road and at home in the eerily quiet Madison Square Garden chronicling the accomplishments of Tom Thibodeau's team. Berman gives a ton of credit to the coach but was effusive in his praise of Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett, Alec Burks and others in looking ahead to the 2020-21 NBA playoffs and trying to predict how far the 'Bockers can go.

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Just when we thought the NBA Most Valuable Player race was down to two contenders, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid -- we learn that Magic Johnson is pushing the candidacy of Golden State's Steph Curry, who has been averaging 39.9 points per game through the first half of April. Curry is on the board at 100-1 at Draft Kings, and head oddsmaker, Johnny Avello, joined Chris Sheridan of BasketballNews.com for an interesting podcast looking at various NBA markets and discussing when -- if ever -- legalized sports gambling may come to California.

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James Harden is temporarily on the shelf with a hamstring injury with the Brooklyn Nets now in first place in the East, but he will get better soon and probably go deep into the playoffs. After that, will be playing for Team USA in the Olympics? Guest Brian Mahoney, a veteran NBA writer for The Associated Press, says "no" while Chris Sheridan disagrees. And neither writer knows whether LeBron James will suit up for the American national team this summer in Tokyo because there are just too many variables. Those topics, along with the extremely tight and contentious MVP debate, are among the many topics discussed on this latest episode of The Sheridan Show, hosted by bastketballnews.com Senior NBA Columnist Chris Sheridan.

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Chris Sheridan thinks J.J. Redick is getting traded to the Celtics or the Knicks but will sign with the Brooklyn Nets after a buyout if he is not dealt in the next week. Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson believes the Lakers and Clippers will be "destination " and "Destination B" for veteran players who are bought out after the deadline, and he makes a strong case that Philadelphia is an interesting potential destination for Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. All that plus a lot more trade talk one week ahead of the 2021 NBA trading deadline.

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