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Tag Archive - americafyeah

Part-Time Lover

August 27, 2010 in by with 18 Comments

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Somewhere along the way, the Oklahoma City Thunder became every NBA fan’s mistress. We have and hold our respective teams in injury and in health, in good times and bad, until death do us part, but even the truest of die-hards have been known to flirt with League Pass now and again. It’s nothing major. Just to see what else is out there. Just to pass the time when our teams are away on business. It doesn’t mean anything, we tell ourselves.

But it means everything. NBA fans have wandering eyes, and the Thunder ooze sex appeal. We can try our best to explain away the Thunder’s allure, but there is genuine meaning in it.

Kevin Durant is the obvious draw. Not only is he a phenomenal All-World scorer with a rapidly improving all-around game, but his on-court demeanor and obsessive hunger for all things basketball blend together beautifully. His feet are planted firmly on the ground, even as he reaches higher and higher with his trademarked, absurdly long arms. The man simply loves what he does and works hard to improve himself, and that’s endearing. That he happens to already be an incredible player while maintaining that hunger is what elevates him to cult favorite and Wheaties box role model.

Of course, Durant is but one reason why the Thunder have captivated NBA audiences. They’re young and new, and like it or not, hip. They’re athletic and dynamic, from Russell Westbrook’s jams to Serge Ibaka’s swats. Their success is somehow bizarre, improbable, and yet all part of the plan. They’re 50-win underdogs, tightly knit with an old-school, one-goal fabric, but envisioned with modern basketball sensibilities. There is, really and truly, nothing quite like the Thunder.

There’s also nothing quite like Kevin Durant’s other team. The one that won’t make your steadfast commitment as an NBA fan the least bit confusing. The one that’s playing right now, in the stretch of the off-season that’s most barren.

They’re young. They’re athletic. They’re hungry and humble. They’re incredibly talented even if they’re in a bit over their heads. They are wholly committed to playing great defense, and above all, they have Durant to lead them. There is, really and truly, nothing quite like Team USA either, and if one were forced to conjure the most natural team comparison? It just might be Oklahoma City.

But even though the national squad may bear the country’s name on their unis, the Thunder are America’s Team. For some reason, Team USA has yet to really grab hold of the basketball nation’s attention, despite the oddly fascinating collection of players and the highly competitive field at the FIBA World Championships.

What is it that basketball fans want, exactly? What makes the Thunder so special when Team USA, despite taking two of OKC’s players and so many of its components, can’t find widespread appeal with a nearly identical formula? Are we really to believe that Derrick Rose and Andre Iguodala are less riveting as basketball talents than Jeff Green and James Harden? Is it simply the nature of the World Championships to have a team like this one fly under the radar?

Regardless, this year’s Team USA has been given a rather ho-hum treatment thus far, despite carrying with them the same underdog appeal that people value in the Thunder. Smart writers the NBA world over have told you that while the Americans have the most talent on their roster, Spain should be considered the tournament favorite. They are the likely champions. Yet while the Thunder’s relative standing is a substantial part of their charm, Team USA gets no benefit from a similar underdog aura.

I think ultimately, what separates OKC from USA is an issue of ownership, and what that ownership signifies. There’s no question that Oklahoma City owns the Thunder. They proved that at every home game last season, as Durant and company benefited from one of the most insanely supportive home arenas in the league:

At least a part of the Thunder’s widespread appeal is the understandable desire to be a part of that. That, ladies and gents, is a truly special fan base, going absolutely bonkers for an interesting team playing meaningful games.

That hearth of basketball fandom in Oklahoma City is an affirmation: an affirmation of the dedication of the players and the Thunder organization. Team USA, for whatever reason, isn’t perceived to have that same level of dedication. Nevermind that Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo have worked hard to make the USA Basketball program as consistent as possible. Nevermind that stars like Kevin Durant have said how badly they want to win, and how much that means coming straight from the Durantula’s mouth. Nevermind that this year’s team came to work, put in the time, and prepared for the challenges ahead.

Apparently none of that matters. As a result, not only does Team USA face questions over the team’s intrigue and the games’ meaning, but they lack that dedicated fan base. They lack ownership. There’s nothing to want to be a part of, because the national team has no dedicated following. They technically belong to all Americans — or even anyone who chooses to actively root for this collection of NBA players, if you’d like to take it that far — but the diffusion of that ownership over such a huge number of supposed “fans,” combined with disappointment over the lack of top-tier NBA talent, and a misunderstanding of the value of the World Championships makes Team USA more of a passing thought for the average NBA fan than anything significant.

Team USA has failed to intrigue basketball fans because of an assumed lack of effort and interest. Events like the World Championships, which don’t have the benefit of the Olympic marketing machine, then become uninteresting by association. So begins the vicious cycle, whereby international competition is uninteresting because Team USA is disinterested, and Team USA is disinterested because the competition itself must somehow be uninteresting. But before things get too out of control, consider the following: If Team USA is no longer disinterested, the team is as charismatic and likable as ever in spite of its limitations, and the World Championship field is saturated with top-notch international talent, where does that leave us?

It leaves us on Friday, August 27, 2010 — the eve of the FIBA World Championships. Cling to your contradictory love of the Thunder and indifference toward Team USA if you will, but starting tomorrow, an invested and engaged USA squad will begin to hold court against some of the top national teams in the world. Team USA won’t be around forever, and they’re not looking for much. Just a little love. Just a little attention. Just to be your summer fling on the side, until you go back home in October.

It doesn’t have to mean anything to you, but it could mean everything for them.

Shoving into Overdrive

August 20, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

Explosion Photo

There are a million bits to watch as Team USA resumes its pre-Worlds exhibition schedule this weekend, but keep the Americans’ use and execution of the zone defense front and center. There are a lot of things Team USA has absolutely no control over at this stage (the limitations of the roster being the most obvious), but Mike Krzyzewski’s choice to employ more and more zone is a philosophical error that could up costing the Americans immensely.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated featured Krzyzewski’s love affair with the zone in a piece last week, in particular highlighting the influence and importance of Team USA assistant and zone defense guru Jim Boeheim:

When Team USA broke camp in Las Vegas last month, before reuniting this week in New York for more workouts, implementing a zone defense wasn’t even on its radar. Pressure was the word of the week, with U.S. coaches convinced that the team’s length and athleticism would make it a dangerous pressing unit in the upcoming FIBA World Championships.

However, recent circumstances — specifically the withdrawal of most of the team’s top big men — has led to a shift in that thinking. With Amar’e Stoudemire, David Lee and Brook Lopez bowing out of the tournament, which begins Aug. 28, rebounding has become a major point of concern. Tyson Chandler and JaVale McGee are the only natural centers on the roster, while Kevin Love and Lamar Odom are the only true power forwards.

Playing zone, coaches say, will position more bodies near the backboards. To that end, the U.S. has tapped assistant coach Jim Boeheim, who has employed the zone at Syracuse for more than three decades, to teach the principles of the defense to the U.S. team.

In principle, the zone offers a nice counter to Team USA’s more aggressive man-to-man sets, and could briefly confuse their opponents as the defense makes a stylistic shift. However, the zone approach really is getting away what this group does best, and making some fairly odd concessions in the process.

The zone defense is, by nature, reactive. It shifts and adjusts to what the opponent tries to do, in an attempt to deny them from reaching the court’s prime real estate. A well-executed zone is quick to react and meticulous in its rotations, which is often a product of extended preparation, trial, and adjustment. Just by understanding the fundamental nature of the zone we already begin to see some of the problems with Team USA implementing it. Team USA’s specific strengths (speed, anticipation, athleticism) and weaknesses (lack of size, shot-blocking, defensive rebounding) pretty much require a pressure-heavy approach. It’s the best strategy to help the Americans disguise just how cold they’re capable of going on offense, while also hiding the defensive inadequacies on the back line.

The zone would likely help the Americans to defend the post, particularly when Tyson Chandler is resting, but at what cost? The biggest concessions of the zone are rebounding and three-pointers, one of which is already problematic given the makeup of this roster, and the other has been noted repeatedly by Team USA players and coaches as a point of defensive emphasis. “Don’t give up threes to these guys,” they say. “Every opponent on the floor can shoot,” they say. “We have to respect their range,” they say. So naturally, Team USA moves to feature the zone defense more prominently, as a way to exacerbate their own rebounding concerns while also surrendering more open three-point attempts than ever. And that’s if the zone is at least fairly competent, which seems like a long-shot due to to Team USA’s limited practice time.

The zone isn’t some catch-all for when man-to-man coverage fails. Like any defensive system, it takes the proper personnel, but even more importantly, a certain amount of time for absorption and implementation. A group of NBAers accustomed to playing man/help defense year-round won’t run a proper zone after a weekend seminar.

Also, playing a true zone in the FIBA World Championships isn’t the same as throwing in a look against UConn, or an NBA team experimenting against bewildered opponents in mid-January. Other national teams are filled with professional players who encounter a ton of zone defense on a regular basis. They won’t be baffled when Russell Westbrook doesn’t go with them through a screen. They’ll just set up the offense, hit the high post, and milk the hell out of backdoor cuts.

This is nothing against Boeheim. He’s a vital member of the Team USA staff, but I’d argue that he’s most useful as an offensive coach; who better to teach the players the best way to attack the zones they’re sure to encounter in the World Championships than a man intimately familiar with the scheme’s weaknesses? But defensively, Team USA desperately needs to take control. They need to dictate, not react. Team USA’s guards and wings should be flying about at all times: jumping passes, pressing full-court, trapping at every opportunity. Deviating from that level of pressure exposes Team USA in potentially damning ways, and handcuffs a roster teeming with athleticism.

All You Can Be

August 11, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

I’m not exactly sure what this video (courtesy of USA Basketball) is supposed to be. It’s part documentary, part propaganda film, part highlight reel, and part bare-bones press conference coverage. Still, Mike Krzyzewski’s emphasis on continuity needs to be heard. K’s appraisal of the natural advantages afforded other national teams is more significant than most NBA fans realize. Whereas previous incarnations of Team USA were able to overwhelm opponents with their talent (and sometimes their preparation), this year’s team will hardly be so overtly dominant.

Kevin Durant aside, Team USA lacks the elite talent necessary to walk over their more formidable opponents. That makes chemistry and familiarity more important than ever, both for the Americans and every other team in contention. If Team USA can’t gel on both sides of the ball before the elimination rounds begin, they’ll be extremely vulnerable against squads like Spain, Brazil, Greece, and Argentina. Continuity was the goal of Krzyzewski’s USA Basketball endeavor, but this year’s crop speaks to the program’s failure in that regard. Krzyzewski and Colangelo’s vision never involved walking into the FIBA World Championships with a slew of odd-fitting parts boasting a minimal amount of international experience, but circumstance trumped commitment, and the Americans will have to make do.

EDIT, 8/12: Trez Kerbz had a chance to interview Krzyzewski for Ball Don’t Lie, and this particular quote from K ties into a familiar theme:

TK: How do you prepare differently in college and when you’re over in Turkey playing a ton of games in just a few weeks?

MK: The biggest difference is that we’re not a team yet. You know, when I’m preparing my Duke team, we have a lot more time that by the time we play in the NCAA tournament, we’ve had a lot of time. Here, we’ve just had our fifth practice. At our first one, somebody asked me last week when I was at an event, they said, “how long has your team been put together?” I said, “four days.” So that’s not a lot of time. Where as, some of the other countries have this continuity with guys playing together all the time. That’s the biggest obstacle we face, is the continuity that another country might have with their unit.

Repeat After You

August 9, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

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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.

If Not Now, Then When?

July 29, 2010 in by with 0 Comments

Date Location Event Time (EST) TV
Aug 9-16 NYC Training Camp Pt. II — —
Aug 15 NYC Exhibition vs. France 1 PM ESPN2
Aug 17-20 Madrid Training Camp Pt. III — —
Aug 21 Madrid Exhibition vs. Lithuania 3 PM NBA TV
Aug 22 Madrid Exhibition vs. Spain 3 PM NBA TV
Aug 24 Athens Training Camp Pt. IV — —
Aug 25 Athens Exhibition vs. Greece 12 PM ESPN
Aug 28-Sept 12 Istanbul FIBA World Championships — —

Team USA will have a nice little break before we see them again, but here’s an updated schedule of the national team’s itinerary.

This Much Was Set in Stone

July 29, 2010 in by with 5 Comments

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.

PLEASE Take a Number

July 28, 2010 in by with 4 Comments

Jerry Colangelo is expected to announce the cuts from Team USA later today via conference call, but the internet is hardly so patient. According to Chris Tomasson of NBA FanHouse, Tyreke Evans, Gerald Wallace, and O.J. Mayo will receive a firm handshake and be sent on their merry way, while the remaining players will go on to NYC to resume camp. The only pressing question is how many players will actually make it to New York.

That’s not quite as ominous as it sounds. The initial plan was to cut four or five players from the current bunch, yet when Colangelo moved the announcement of the cuts from Monday to Wednesday, Chris Sheridan supposed that it could be due to an unexpected amount of internal debate. Sheridan also noted the possibility of Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski only cutting three players before the trip to New York, and Tomasson’s report seems to confirm that as a possibility.

Then again, there could still be another player sent home along with Evans, Wallace, and Mayo, bringing the current pool to a nice, round, 15. We’ll only know for sure around midday, but do you really want to wait around?

Danny Granger and Eric Gordon were definitely borderline to stay with the team, but Mike Wells and Jeff Rabjohns of the Indianapolis Star reported that both are locks to continue. If Wallace and Mayo are indeed dropped, that makes sense; Gordon and Mayo fill similar roles, and though Wallace and Granger have ridiculously different skill sets, their position mandates that they fight for the same roster spot.

To me, that means one thing: If there is a fourth cut — and it’s entirely possible that there won’t be, yet — it’s likely to be Rajon Rondo.

The lights of the FIBA World Championships were never going to be all that kind to Rondo, as the imperfections of his game would be in full view in international basketball’s unique hue. Defensively, he falls in line with everything Team USA wants to do, but on offense, it’s unlikely the Americans would be able to overcome having two quasi-liabilities (Rondo and say, Tyson Chandler) on the floor at the same time. Rajon may have forced his way into the top tier of point guards in the NBA, but properly executed zone defenses will smother him. Rondo could find ways to be effective, but if I’m betting on one of the team’s unimpressive shooters (Rondo, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook) to succeed in FIBA-style ball, it’s not Rondo.

He’s talented, he’s productive, and he clearly can run an offense. Yet with this glut of point guards putting on a hell of a show every day in camp, it’s likely Rajon that feels the pinch. The Team USA brass is just too infatuated with Westbrook and Rose to decide otherwise, and unless Team USA takes a ridiculous and unprecedented amount of point guards with them to Vegas, it’s Rondo that will feel the pinch. If not today, then later. If not in Vegas then in New York. It’s an awkward situation considering how bizarre Team USA’s courting of Rondo was, yet due to reasons that have so much more to do with skill set and fit than talent or overall production, Rajon won’t be going with the national team to Turkey.

Trimming the Fat

July 26, 2010 in by with 2 Comments

Today is Decision Day #1 for Team USA, as they look to trim four or five players from the roster before refining their team and approach in New York City. As such, let’s take a look at some of the possibilities going forward.

The Likely Cuts: Based on reports out of Vegas, opinions from other writers, impressions from Colangelo and Krzyzewski, accounts of in-camp performances, and showings at the Team USA showcase, I’ve picked out four players likely to be trimmed off the roster before Team USA heads to NYC.

Tyreke Evans – ‘Reke is the easiest cut, even if he’s already an incredible player. Chalk it up to Evans’ ankle injury or the ridiculous guard depth on the roster, but his chances of making the final 12 were slim from the start, and were sickly and gaunt by the end of camp. Tyreke needed a chance to play himself into the mix, but it just wasn’t in the cards this time around. Maybe next time.

Eric Gordon – Gordon’s good. Probably better than you think. But most of the things that he does well are redundant with other strengths elsewhere on the roster. He’s not a great defender, and Team USA already has more versatile offensive players that share Gordon’s skill set. Need a spot-up shooter? Billups, Curry, Mayo, and Durant can all get the job done. Need someone to get to the line (an underrated aspect of Gordon’s game)? Westbrook, Rose, and Iguodala can draw contact off the bounce. Gordon played well in the showcase, but his talent just doesn’t stand out with this bunch.

Danny Granger – Granger has faced a minor injury and a shooting slump, but far more damning has been the slobber fest over Andre Iguodala. Iggy has played like he wants to be a focal point of Team USA both offensively and defensively, while Granger has failed to live up to his sweet-shooting reputation. The Americans will need a few zone-busters, but like Gordon, the alternatives at Granger’s position simply proved themselves in ways that he didn’t.

Rajon Rondo – Stylistically, Rondo was never a particularly good fit for international basketball. He’s ideal for games like the showcase, where he can show off his passing in the open court, find teammates cutting to the rim when the game slows down, and pressure the hell out of ball-handlers. Some of those things will translate to the World Championships, but it’s unclear how effective Rondo would be against a well-prepared zone. He can make the right passes, but Coach K and Jerry Colangelo seem more enamored with Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose as drive-and-kick type points. There’s only so much room for point guards in that mold on this roster, and despite the fact that Rondo is the superior talent, he looks like the odd man out.

My cuts: It is a little-known fact that I am not Mike Krzyzewski, nor am I Jerry Colangelo. Shockingly, I’m not Mike D’Antoni or Nate McMillan, either. Yet, due to an over-inflated sense of self-worth, I feel inclined to give you my picks to be cut during the first wave.

Tyreke Evans – If he’s healthy, there’s a discussion. While I’m always a bit skeptical of how athletic point guards will make the transition to FIBA-style ball, ‘Reke’s size and strength give him a unique advantage. That’s where I seem him as a mini-LeBron, killing it in the open court and completely abusing perimeter defenders physically. I’m still not quite sure he’d make the roster even if fully healthy, but it’d be a damn good time to see him try.

Eric Gordon - Sorry, man. I’d cut Gordon for the same reasons Colangelo and Krzyzewski will later today.

Jeff Green – Granger hasn’t played particularly well, but I still like him over Jeff Green. Green will likely get the edge because he’s technically a 4, even though he’s really something of a combo forward masquerading as a power forward because he happens to play on the same team as Kevin Durant. That’s all well and good, and if it works for the Thunder, that’s fine. But is Green really so much more uniquely capable of defending bigs than Granger? Offensively, this seems like a no-brainer — I’ll take a prolific three-point shooter, even a streaky one, over an inefficient offensive player like Green any day of the week — and Green doesn’t have enough of a defensive edge to earn a plane ticket to New York.

JaVale McGee – We’ve been through this. McGee is a safety net should one of Team USA’s bigs succumb to the same hex that claimed Robin Lopez and David Lee, but I already know what JaVale is selling and I’m not all that interested. I’ve liked the idea of Team USA only bringing along one true center from the beginning, and though McGee has actually had a pretty decent showing at training camp, there’s not much of a reason to prefer him to Kevin Love or even Lamar Odom. JaVale gets them blocks, but his all-around game isn’t quite where it needs to be in order to make this roster.

R-R-R-R-REMIX!:Reimagining the current Team USA by riffing with the same theme/identity, but changing things up just a bit.

Brook Lopez – Tyson Chandler has actually become the front-runner to make the final roster for the World Championships, in no small part because of Lopez’s struggles in recovering from mononucleosis. Frankly, Brook looked awful in the showcase game. It isn’t designed to play to his strengths, but unless the Team USA coaching staff has seen something fantastic from Lopez throughout the week, he doesn’t seem like a player that’s physically ready to lift Team USA to the gold.

Chauncey Billups – If the Team USA brass is so confident that both Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook can play off the ball, then Billups is a luxury. He’s definitely a better defender than Gordon or Mayo, for example, but in this design, Team USA opts to go with youth and speed over the all-around game and experience. They key to pulling off a pressure defense is to swarm the ball from all kinds of angles and attack the passing lanes, and having quicker, more athletic players could be more beneficial to Team USA’s overall defensive scheme than having a slower but more physical (and in most other cases, effective) defender like Billups.

JaVale McGee – It could have been fun to have JaVale around to throw lobs to, but this team could be ridiculously guard oriented. At the moment, we’re looking at seven guards (Rose, Rondo, Westbrook, Evans, Curry, Gordon, Mayo), three wings (Durant, Iguodala, Gay), four forwards (Wallace, Granger, Odom, Green), and two bigs (Chandler, Love), which is futuristic cyber-punk awesome.

Jeff Green – …is still Jeff Green. Team USA already has versatile forwards. They have players who can defend similarly, score more efficiently, and rebound better. I like Green just fine, but if this incarnation of Team USA is to go hyper-guard-heavy into infinity and beyond, then I’ll go with an O.J. Mayo or a Tyreke Evans over Green here.

Eyes on Me

July 26, 2010 in by with 17 Comments

On Friday, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were kind enough to grace Team USA with their presence. Hands were kissed. Feet were washed. Artists gathered to depict — impossible though it may be to capture either player’s divine essence — both players in grand murals, each welcomed hero complete with a nimbus to signal their divinity. What a privilege it is for the members of this year’s national team to even stand in the same gym as Wade and James, blessed be their names.

Both living legends took time out of their busy summers to remind Team USA of what, or who, they’re missing. Missing not because Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo deemed it so, but simply because James and Wade can’t be bothered with the FIBA World Championships. They’re obviously a bit preoccupied with having their cake and eating it, too.

No player is mandated to be a part of Team USA. If James, or Andrew Bynum, or Dominic freaking McGuire want to refuse the program, they’re entitled. There’s also nothing wrong with LeBron choosing to celebrate during the off-season instead. Completely his call. I do have but one humble request for LeBron and Wade, though. Don’t pretend that this is still your team. James claimed to be the leader of the American squad in 2008, and even if that was a reasonable claim at the time, it’s now almost ridiculous. His talent may be undeniable, but is this really LeBron’s (and Wade’s, too) idea of leadership? Ditching out on a commitment to the national team to work on a movie that didn’t happen, and subsequently go from city to city on a party hardy world tour? Again, live it up, ‘Bron, just don’t claim to be the 2012 team’s selfless general, fighting the good fight for the good of the program and the country.

Team USA has fallen into the capable hands of Kevin Durant, and while it’s easy to praise his commitment when KD has yet to even suit up for Team USA in a real game, he actually seems to be the most suitable face for the program going forward. Team USA’s renaissance has always been more about Kobe than LeBron, and it’s Durant that shares Bryant’s ridiculous drive, obsessive focus, and incredible will. The Durantula is humble and hungry, and though he never asked to be the leader of this team — and he won’t, ever — it just makes too much sense for him not to be.

The Talent Show, Live from Summer Camp

July 25, 2010 in by with 5 Comments

The Blue-White Game is, by nature, delightfully irrelevant. Team USA needs to be tested against international players who play an international style, but instead they do what they can: split up and go to work against themselves. The result is an All-Star Game-esque three-point shooting and dunking exhibition, and while the level of competition is ultimately a bit higher than the ASG, there’s no way around just how limited the scrimmage is as an evaluative process.

With that in mind, here are a few thoughts from last night’s scrimmage, complete with evaluative limitations!:

  • Part of the beauty of Team USA is that it offers players an opportunity to thrive in ways they simply aren’t allowed on their current NBA squads. Case in point: Andre Iguodala. The Sixers have a lot of young talent, but no one productive enough to slide Iguodala into a more comfortable role/usage rate. Team USA has point guards coming out of its ears, and all of them will be looking to set Iguodala up for his next huge dunk or three. Meanwhile, Iggy quietly goes to work as the Americans’ top perimeter defender, capable of playing in conservative, shot-altering defenses or in Coach Krzyzewski’s preferred high-pressure approach. His two-way excellence is noted on the NBA level, but when he has other quality players to make up for his weaknesses on offense? He’s fantastic. K called Iguodala “an important part of the team,” and he’s not wrong.
  • No, Jeff Green, your turnaround jumpers will not be needed in Turkey.
  • One thing working in Kevin Love’s favor that goes beyond his rebounding (Though it’s worth noting that Love once gathered three offensive rebounds on a single trip down the floor in the BW Game, kicking it out to an open teammate each time.) is that unlike the other bigs on the roster, Love has legit FIBA three-point range. He’s capable of spotting up in the corner on the weak side to balance the ball action, or even roll out off a screen to set up shop at the free throw line extended. Brook Lopez, judging from his bizarre love affair with the 22-foot set shot last season, only wishes he could be used similarly.
  • The fast breaks were an absolute mess. Though it’s not particularly useful to gauge the team’s strengths and weaknesses in a game like this, it does give us a decent read on the players’ chemistry. Right now, it’s pretty miserable. The stanchion caught more outlet passes than anyone else did. Things got a bit better as the game progressed, but it’s clear that Team USA has a lot of work to do in all areas offensively, even the simplest ones.
  • Both teams took a ton of three-pointers. The Orlando Magic averaged 0.57 three-point attempts per minute last season (27.3 per game), which is fairly remarkable. The White team yesterday? 0.73 attempts per minute. Both Team USA squads were very accurate from beyond the arc, yet I can’t help but feel that they may be missing the point. Having a shorter three-point line is an advantage, and being able to space the floor is paramount. Yet in yesterday’s game, both teams looked like they were shooting threes just to shoot threes.American teams have struggled in the past not because of their reluctance to take the three, but because when all of the other options were shut down, they couldn’t. The players trying out for this year’s squad are desperate to prove that they won’t go the way of their forefathers, so they fire away. To me, it just feels a bit backwards. They’re trying to prove they can create good offensive possessions by generating bad ones; in their effort to prove they can take and make threes in Turkey, Team USA as a collective (in this one scrimmage, anyway) took (and in all fairness, made) all kinds of threes, both good and bad. Something to keep an eye on.
  • JaVale McGee may not be my favorite big on the roster, but he can run the damn floor. He was active in his nine-ish minutes, but my primary concerns still hold: McGee can look good against other teams that don’t have legit centers (he was on the same team as Brook Lopez), but will he really be able to produce and defend against FIBA-caliber bigs?
  • I want to trust Lamar Odom to make the right plays, but how do you not worry about him? Odom does much more right than wrong, but I still feel like this team has almost no margin for error in the World Championships and yet Lamar will inevitably flirt with it.
  • It’s easy to forget just how good Russell Westbrook is. The guy is an absolute lock to make the final roster in my mind, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him go nuts in Turkey.
  • Tyson Chandler looks like the top center on the roster, particularly because Brook Lopez was rather unimpressive in his exhibition debut. Games like these don’t exactly favor Lopez, but Chandler (and McGee, to an extent) looked far more useful defensively. Despite reports that Chandler came into training camp out of basketball shape, he was mobile and effective last night, helping to deter some — some — of the Blue team’s drives to the basket. There were a few surprisingly productive players in the BW game, but Chandler seriously impressed.
  • Eric Gordon (16 points, 4-of-7 threes, two steals) played rather well, but none of it means a damn thing. It’s not fair, and it doesn’t have to be. Gordon is a solid player, but there just isn’t room for him on this roster. O.J. Mayo shares too many of his strengths but has more explosive scoring capabilities, and the number of point guards that can play off the ball should nudge Gordon out of contention.
  • Ultimately, the Blue-White Game is appropriately labeled a ‘showcase.’ It’s easy to see the things that Team USA does well, and it’s easy to laud the skills — Derrick Rose’s speed with the ball, Kevin Durant’s scoring, the overall roster’s versatility — that make this team so intriguing. But without real competition, it’s almost impossible to properly evaluate this team’s weaknesses, and how much they’ll come to impact USA’s run through the World Championships.
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