Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo made four cuts from the Team USA roster on Wednesday, each with its own unique context. One was a wise choice, another an unfortunate one, one a no-brainer, and the other a tad curious. Which player fits which description matters, yet it really, really doesn’t. We could argue and discuss the merits of the first cuts all day, but none of the four players eliminated from contention would have seriously impacted the final roster. Right or wrong, the first cuts don’t really mean anything.
A bit pessimistic, I know, but K and Colangelo already have their pets in place, and it’s going to take a tectonic shift to disturb the current order. Whether Team USA reps will admit it or not, there is a pecking order to this team, and at its base are the likes of JaVale McGee, O.J. Mayo, Tyreke Evans, and Gerald Wallace. They’re not foundational, but buried underneath the weight of the rest of the program, important to establish the rest of the team by contrast yet anything but invaluable.
JaVale McGee’s importance to Team USA has been inflated by circumstance, and kudos to Coach K for finally letting out the hot air. JaVale is athletic, talented, and fairly promising, but he was never going to make the final roster. Even if Tyson Chandler had trouble shaking off the rust and Brook Lopez struggled to get back into basketball shape after slogging through a bout with mononucleosis, Krzyzyewski would have thought long and hard about the center alternatives before putting Team USA’s fate in McGee’s hands. Though JaVale will still be a phone call away should the injury curse strike again, McGee is exactly where we thought he’d be.
O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon occupied the same space on Team USA’s training camp roster, and their fates throughout this process were inextricably linked. However, though there was an implicit understanding that one would go to New York with the team while the other would not, there too seemed to be the implication that neither is likely to make the roster at all. The token shooter is not all that useful of an archetype in this bunch, even if having the ability to space the floor opens up the game in FIBA-style ball just as it does in the NBA. Still, the Americans have shooters. Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups, Danny Granger, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, and even Lamar Odom and Kevin Love can help to space the floor. The number of designated shooters may not be all that high, but there are obvious limits to what both Mayo and Gordon can provide. The fact that O.J. has some point guard skills isn’t all that interesting on a team flush with PGs, and Gordon faces the reality that there are just better players vying for the same roster spots. Maybe keeping Gordon while sending Mayo home really is a mistake, but considering the unlikelihood of either player surviving the final cut anyway, the decision is mostly a formality.
Gerald Wallace is a terrific stylistic fit for the Americans, yet no one seems to really know it. Defensively, Krzyzyewski wants to throw all kinds of pressure at Team USA’s opponents, and no one seems to acknowledge just how valuable Wallace would be in that defensive framework. Offensively, he’s an open-court weapon, though clearly a bit limited in half-court sets. In the final analysis, Wallace fits in perfectly with everything Team USA says they want to be and do, but his departure symbolizes their acknowledgment of the team’s future concessions. Every possession won’t be a fast break off of a forced turnover. At some point, the Americans will be forced to play rather traditional defense and function in half-court sets, and it’s been made quite clear that Krzyzewski and Colangelo don’t see Wallace operating well under the confines of that compromise. They’re wrong, but considering the public diagnosis of Team USA’s past struggles, one could never expect a player like Wallace to take a roster spot from a full-time shooter like Danny Granger, for instance.
Ah, Tyreke. It was never meant to be. Even the Rookie of the Year, he of the 20-five-and-five, can’t come close to a roster spot with this bunch. There are too many positional hurdles for Evans to be a viable roster candidate, and that wouldn’t have changed even if Colangelo and Krzyzyewski gave him a chance to shine beyond Wednesday. He’s not going to win over the staff like Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook have. He won’t somehow conjure up Chauncey Billups’ leadership abilities or experience. He won’t suddenly trump Rajon Rondo on either end of the court. I can’t imagine it’s a sensation Tyreke is all that familiar with, but on this roster, he’s expendable. Ankle injury or not, his inclusion was never meant to be.
Though the sequence of some of Team USA’s cuts may seem peculiar, these four choices were all steps towards the inevitable. Right or wrong, McGee, Mayo, Wallace, and Evans were never a part of the national team’s core. Even if one of them had managed to stow away on the bottom half of the final roster, they’d have been little more than an accessory to the true ensemble. We’re getting closer and closer to seeing who will shine for the Americans in Istanbul, but based on the final, expected roster, the first wave of cuts yielded no real surprises.
