Team USA’s most obvious element of intrigue is the finality of its roster. Each team participating in the FIBA World Championships can only bring 12 players, and with 15 Americans in New York set to resume training camp today, the “THREE WILL BE SENT HOME” angle is understandably pulling. It’s intertwined with non-contextual player comparisons (“Rose or Rondo???”), but more importantly, the roster crunch naturally creates its own drama. There are a limited number of spots for a slightly larger number of players. The tension in that discrepancy is hard to ignore and generates a very organic interest.
Yet at this point in the process, choosing who will play is far from Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo’s biggest concern. The roster has undeniable flaws: a lack of elite talent, few legitimate big men, players ill-suited for success in the international game. However, this more or less the same pool Team USA has had from the beginning, and relocating from Vegas to NYC doesn’t change that. Brook Lopez wasn’t going to recover quickly enough to become some great hope in the middle. LeBron James was never going to walk through that door. This is the kind of team we’ve expected for weeks, and while it does matter if K and Colangelo cut Jeff Green or Danny Granger or Eric Gordon or whomever, none of the remaining roster choices would significantly shift the Americans’ chances one way or another. The key players are locked in, and those on the fringe are neither much better nor worse than their counterparts. Some are better fits than others and a few have desirable skills that many lack, but the difference between Eric Gordon and another guard will not end up deciding Team USA’s fate.
Right now, Team USA’s focus should be on repetition. The style that the Americans are looking to play in the World Championships requires that everything they do is easily replicable. The team’s ball-handlers need to be able to make on-target passes to their teammates time and time again, be they on the break or in a half-court set. While having a Chris Paul or Deron Williams might help in that respect, the group of talent Team USA has at point guard is fully capable of making the necessary plays…provided they reach the desired comfort level with their teammates. Putting together the right lineups is one thing, but Coach K needs to run those lineups into the ground. In drills, in scrimmages, in exhibition games, and in the preliminary contests in Turkey. Everything before the elimination stage is a trial, and every second of playing time brings those players closer to the lofty chemistry level needed for extended success.
Beyond that, this team needs to run. Constantly. Mike D’Antoni would be the first to tell you that it takes a well-disciplined and well-conditioned team to run for an entire game, and based on Team USA’s aggressive defensive strategy, these players need to be in regular season shape. That wasn’t the case in Vegas, even at the intrasquad scrimmage at the camp’s conclusion. A number of players admitted to showing up out of playing shape, and despite going through half-speed and full-speed workouts with the Team USA staff, the Americans don’t quite look ready to run the ball down the throats of their elite competition. Here’s to hoping that the remaining 15 have stayed fresh during their break from camp, because while Team USA may have the commitment to run the break on offense and attack ball-handlers on defense, it won’t mean all that much unless the players have the endurance necessary to implement those strategies.
However, above all, Team USA needs to focus on specific applications of their defensive philosophy. The US team that competed in the 2006 World Championships was fairly stacked (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Joe Johnson, Antawn Jamison…and Brad Miller all competed), but was eliminated by Greece in the semifinal due to their lack of preparation. The Greeks meticulously dissected Team USA’s defenders by way of the pick-and-roll, despite their game plan practically being written on their foreheads. Krzyzewski referred to the opposing players by number rather than name while conducting post-game interviews — not because Greek pronunciation is overly difficult, but because Team USA’s scouting and preparation were clearly subpar. If the Americans had done their homework in 2006, they certainly could have bested Greece in the semifinals. Spain would still have been a tough out in the final, but a national team that talented deserved better from its coaching staff.
The 2008 Olympics were a different story. The Americans’ defense was absolutely suffocating, in part due to personnel, but also thanks to an added emphasis on defensive prep. It’s not enough for Team USA to put in their defensive rotations and assignments and call it a day. They’ll have to do better. While playing pressure defense is a neat idea in theory, to do so intelligently demands far more than long arms and a hot motor. It requires anticipation, and that anticipation requires both instinct and instruction. There are certain things that Team USA will do well naturally. But knowing which players are the most threatening, which act as their team’s crutch, and which are the most capable ball-handlers/passers are all going to aid in the Americans’ ability to force turnovers. That exercise runs deeper than a glance at the depth chart to see who’s running the point.
To say that basketball requires repetition is the furthest thing from a novel concept, yet it really does need to be said with this team. This isn’t summer camp, nor is it an All-Star Game or a charity exhibition. This is supposed to be a real basketball team, and soon they’ll be taking on formidable opponents. The World Championship isn’t the Americans’ for the taking this year. They’ll need to continue to work hard, but even more importantly, they’ll have to work hard toward successful execution, team familiarity, and intelligent defensive play.
