Ricky Easterling (189-G-1983, college: Bridgewater) is a 40 year old professional player having played 18 seasons in Germany and an incredible 16 seasons for Saarlouis. He played 14 years in the Regionalliga and 2 years in the Pro B with Saarlouis. He is known as being one of the greatest Regionalliga players ever having averaged 20,0ppg in 11 seasons and led the pro B in scoring twice. He played at Bridgewater College (NCAA3) before coming to Germany in 2006.He spoke to germanhoops.com about the 2024 Olympic basketball tournament.

Thanks Ricky for talking to germanhoops.com. It´s Olympics time. Is the basketball competition one that excites you with the team USA on board with many of their absolute best. Can one still call them a Dream team?

It’s always a pleasure my brother! Olympics definitely excites me because we (usa) have some of our top players on board. Good luck the rest of the world dealing with this USA team!

Team USA had to seriously buckle down against South Sudan and Germany. Are these 2 of the best examples that not only has the world caught up in basketball, but could beat this team in crunch-time with perhaps a little more luck and no Lebron James?

In my opinion these games are so close because team USA has to find their identity. None of them play together as a group during the year. So Each player needs to understand their role and figure out how to play with each other. I’m not saying that the world is not catching up but in this case I believe it was the lack of time together for team USA. Once that happens it’s over for the rest of the world.

Germany played an incredible game and gave Team USA all they had but lost by 4 as Lebron James saved the day. About how far is Team USA from being 100% ready for the Olympics?

We got a long way to go. If team USA puts it together and plays to their potential, like they will!!!! No teams have a chance vs USA.

Lebron James showed again why he is still the best in the world scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter and the team´s last 11 points to silence Germany. Was that performance about as Jordan as it gets?

I don’t like to compare them two because they are too different players. So for me that was very “Lebron like” to take over the game and put his team on his shoulders! He’s done this his whole career and this was just another day at the office for LBJ!

Kevin Durant didn´t play. How vital is he for Team USA and is his presence the difference from say a nailbitter win and more comfortable win by 10 points?

We are already a couple games deep into the group play and as we seen vs Serbia He was the difference maker. Showcase game was much closer without KD then with KD in the group games. KD is very vital to team USA success.

It seems at times Team USA takes plays off and does too much isolation which is normal from NBA guys and guys that have super individual qualities. What is still missing from Team USA to be able to win games more comfortably?

Team play and every player needs to understand their role, buy into what the coaching staff wants them to do and be discipline. Playing for team USA is totally different then playing in the NBA.

Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum looked invisible in the Germany game. How vital is it getting these 2 guys more involved in the offense on a team where every guy is a walking bucket?

They are there to play defense and make open shots. It’s a hard adjustment for a go-to player to turn into a role player overnight. Give them time and once they figure out their role they will make more of a impact for the team.

Team USA looked good on defense and then on other plays not so good. In between, they made huge athletic blocks. What do they need to tighten up most there?

They need to tighten up on the fundamentals of team defense. Different roles and lack of time together makes that difficult at the start but game by game I believe things will get better. Then you will see more consistency on the defense side of the floor.

Team Germany played a spirited game. How good do they look? They are a team that showed at the World Cup that they were able to keep developing as a team as the tournament went on. Do they have pressure as the World cup champion?

I’m very happy for Germany. They did a good job building a contender with their national team. There should not be any pressure on them to win it all. In my opinion the world championships are watered down tournament. Not all top players play for their national team during these tournaments. So we have to keep that in mind as well. So with that in mind people should understand that the Olympics will be harder because countries are playing with full rosters. I wish them the best but personally I’m not expecting them to win it all. Maybe they will make the final four. I think for Germany that should be the goal once you put the situation in perspective.

Dennis Schroeder had a solid 13/10 game in 17 minutes despite having a bad shooting day. Can he take his game to another level despite being the 2023 World Cup MVP?

He just needs to be himself. Play his game and play hard like he always does. If he stays his way, I think at times you will see Dennis at the MVP level we seen in the WC.

Sharp shooter Andi Obst continues to make incredible bombs from outside. Could he finally get an NBA chance after a successful Olympics?

If he keeps it up the Lakers should sign him. LOL Lebron always needs a couple good shooters around him and Obst can definitely shoot.

Germany and USA will advance form their groups, but how tough is that group A with Canada, Spain, Greece and Australia. Who won´t survive there?

That’s crazy all those power houses are in one group. I think the Olympic committee should have done a better job splitting up the groups. I think Canada will be the team to come out of that group.

South Sudan showed their fighting qualities against Team USA. Do you see a sleeper going far in this competition?

I don’t really see a sleeper coming out of this tournament. I think from top to about 6th place any one can beat anyone on any particular day. But after that I don’t see anyone sneaking up from out of no where to be a top team in their group. Sudan is no longer a sleeper for me. They got NBA and NCAA D1 players on their team. So expect them to win some games.

Please predict the 3 medals and who will capture them?

1st USA * 2nd Canada * 3rd Germany

What would be the score between Dream Team USA 1992 and Team USA 2024 in a game?

I will play this game on Nba 2k and let you know what happens LOL!!! Because I honestly can’t call it. As much as I want to say one group is better than the other I don’t really think on team is clearly better than the other. So I’m going to plead the fifth on this one!

Thanks Ricky for the chat.