LeBron James wants his own NBA team

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

KNOCKED ABOUT: The quarterfinals of the men’s Olympic tournament weren’t terribly entertaining, unless you like vicious beatdowns. Australia smoked Lithuania, Spain crushed France and the United States tore apart Argentina. The late game, however, was close as Serbia edged Croatia to advance. Bogdan Bogdanovic (rights owned by the Kings) over Bojan Bogdanovic (a Net)!

The semifinals are Friday. Team USA faces Spain (gulp) while Australia takes on Serbia. Winners play for gold on Sunday, losers play for bronze.

MEANWHILE: The women’s United States basketball team is in the semifinals on Thursday. They face France at 6 p.m. ET. Spain faces Serbia in the other semi.

AHEM: Kevin Durant had perhaps the most devastating Eurostep in memory in Team USA’s game. It’s at the beginning of this highlight reel.

GOODBYE, MANU: That’s it for Manu Ginobili on the international stage, as he ends a glorious, history-making run with Argentina. Fans in Rio gave him one helluvan ovation.

GOODBYE, TONY? That could also be it for Tony Parker after 16 years with the French national team. I wrote about his relative lack of international success given his insane NBA success, and described him as Bizarro Melo.

SPEAKING OF MELO ... Yaron Weitzman makes the case for Melo as the best Olympic men’s basketball player ever.

LEBRON ON TOUR: LeBron is on a media tour of sorts to big up his laudable education efforts in Akron and beyond. On a podcast Wednesday, he said it’s his dream to one day own an NBA team.

A DYNASTY WITH SMALL BEGINNINGS: Sally Jenkins tells the origin story of Team USA women’s basketball, which goes back to a two-bedroom apartment in 1976. Via REDEF.

A GENIUS IN OUR MIDST: If you’ve ever wondered what the Smashing Pumpkins would sound like with Rob Thomas as their lead singer in place of Billy Corgan, well boy does Mark Hinog have a treat for you.

Happy Thursday. See you next time.