Turn Off Your Mind, Relax, and Float Downstream

Team USA will certainly have a bit of a different look in this year’s FIBA World Championships, but perhaps my ramblings here at HP have been approaching the subject from the wrong angle. Though LeBron et al won’t be competing this summer, it’d be foolish for Jerry Colangelo and Coach Krzyzewski to try to replace them. Instead, rather than trying to reassemble the 2008 model using makeshift parts, it’s probably best if Team USA is reimagined for FIBA using different fundamental assumptions.

Don’t let me mislead you: my arrival at this conclusion has plenty to do with the announcement that Kobe Bryant — as well as his fellow Olympians sans Deron and CP — won’t be competing with the national team in Turkey this summer. The Redeem Team is the actualization of the contemporary Team USA model, and to see it so quickly disintegrated due to a variety of off-season circumstances begs for the creation of something new. Most of the gold medalists should be back in action by the 2012 Olympics, but in the interim, Team USA could actually use a bit of a fresh start.

It’s simply a mater of necessity. The center position will function far differently without Dwight Howard or Chris Bosh around.  With neither Kobe Bryant nor Dwyane Wade on board, Team USA loses its primary wing defender and resident offensive dynamo. LeBron’s playmaking and defense are gone, and Carmelo’s shooting disappears. These are immense talents that can’t be replaced at all much less easily, and though Team USA will still try to do the same basic things with or without those players (umm, score lots of points and play good defense), they’ll likely have to do them in entirely different ways.

We know Kevin Durant will play, and that’s a gigantic first step. Durant has the potential to absolutely tear up FIBA-style ball just as Anthony and Wade have done before him, and it shouldn’t shock anyone to see KD lead this year’s Championships in scoring. Aside from Kevin, the closest thing we have to player confirmations are Amar’e Stoudemire (who has expressed a clear interest in playing and may claim the starting center job by default) and Chauncey Billups (who Colangelo wants to be a part of the team). Chris Paul and Deron Williams still have yet to RSVP, and they’re game-changers. With both of them, it’s possible that Paul-Williams could actually be the starting backcourt. With just one in the mix, it’s possible we’d see a Deron/Chris-Chauncey backcourt. The pickings at the 2 are a bit odd otherwise (Andre Iguodala, O.J. Mayo, and Eric Gordon are the remaining natural shooting guards on the roster), and in order to maximize the team’s talent and production, Coach K will have to color outside the lines in a few places.

There’s always the option of shifting Durant to the 2, which would allow Team USA to unleash a lineup of lanky, athletic players with the hope of befuddling their opponents with their versatility. The fundamental problem with that plan would be Team USA’s defensive concessions; with Amar’e penciled in at center and Durant at shooting guard (where he played his worst defense last year, per 82games), I’m not sure they can really afford to fill out the lineup with, say, Lamar Odom and Danny Granger. Gerald Wallace (yes, he’s on the Team USA roster) or Andre Iguodala could be a nice defensive addition, but would either’s one-man defensive showing make up for their lack of shooting? Josh Smith isn’t on the official roster, but he was a member of the select team; could he be called upon to make things even more ridiculous?

It’s clear that the center position is only the first of the critical questions facing Team USA this summer, and luckily there are a number of interesting ways to answer them. In addition to running a dual-PG lineup or creating small forward nirvana, Coach K has the potential to turn Team USA into something truly counter-cultural. With weapons like Tyreke Evans, Russell Westbrook, Gerald Wallace, Kevin Love, and LaMarcus Aldridge at his disposal (in addition to the slew of players already mentioned), the current roster presents an opportunity to mold itself into anything but what we’ve seen before. Team USA is definitely changing. It is not dying. Lay down all thought and surrender to the void. It is shining.

Oster-Tags: 2010 FIBA World Championships, americafyeah, Ireallyhoperekemakestheteamsomehow, kevindurantwillbeanationalhero, Team USA