It Does Not Look Good For Team USA Basketball

I think it is time to start worrying about Team USA winning any medal at the Olympics this year.

I got up early yesterday to watch Olympic basketball. I love basketball, and if it is on and I am up I will watch. I particularly like Olympic basketball because of the different rules. They play by FIBA rules and that means they can play a bit rougher, faster and pull rebounds off the rim, even if the ball looks like it is going in. I would love for the NBA and college basketball to adopt some of these rules. The best thing about Olympic basketball is the fact that the games are done within two hours. It is close to perfect.

So I got out of bed to watch Team USA. I saw the exhibition games and kind of shrugged off the losses to Nigeria and Australia. They rebounded nicely against Argentina and Spain, and I even went on the pod and said they should be a lock to win gold. Even without guys like LeBron and AD and Steph, they still have KD, Dame, Tatum, Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo, to name a few. Most of the twelve guys on the team are super stars and some of the best players in the world. I know that other countries are catching up, but still, the overall talent on Team USA's roster is chock full of upper tier NBA talent. Look at a team like Slovenia for example. They have Luka Doncic, and a bunch of dudes I have never heard of before. Spain has Ricky Rubio and the Gasol brothers, then a bunch of dudes that had a cup of coffee in the league. Nigeria has some young NBA talent, but no one that really even starts on an NBA team. Australia has a really good group of players, a lot of which are in the NBA still, but none of them are even close to being the best players on their teams. And France has some good dudes, namely Rudy Gobert, but again, Team USA, on paper, has way, way better talent.

I saved France for last because that is who beat Team USA yesterday. The USA came out strong, led by double figures at one point, and then totally melted down. They couldn't hit the ocean. They couldn't get a stop. They kept making stupid fouls. KD fouled out of the game, and only scored ten points. Team USA was an absolute mess in the second half, and France jumped all over them. Rudy Gobert was stifling them at the rim. Evan Fournier could not be stopped. All the other guys on France's roster did what they were told to do, and France came away with a fairly easy 83-76 win. After the game Evan Fournier said that Team USA is a great collection of talent, but they can be beaten as a team.

Therein lies the problem with USA basketball at the moment. We are entitled. We are egotistical. We think we can just walk on the floor and win because our jersey says USA across the front. That isn't the case anymore. Evan Fournier is right. This current USA team is not very good. They are constantly complaining to the refs which is causing them to get beat on defense. These guys are so used to getting minor calls that when it doesn't happen in the Olympics, they get flustered and instead of getting back, they gripe. That needs to stop. Another alarming thing I saw was Jrue Holiday was the leading scorer and about the only guy that played good defense. I love Jrue Holiday, but he just came off the Finals, had no practice with the team and he should not be the leading scorer on a team that has KD, Dame, Tatum and Devin Booker. Hell, his teammate Khris Middleton would be a better top scoring option on this team. Then, after Fournier's comments, Dame came out and said that these guys play differently when they are playing for their home country. That may be true, but I do not think it is a bad thing. They are playing pridefully and they want to represent their home country. That is what I want out of Team USA. Look at when Carmelo played for Team USA. He was instant offense off the bench. When LeBron did it he did what was asked of him. Same with Kobe. Michael Jordan played total shut down defense on the Dream Team. Those guys did what was needed because they realized the collection of talent they had around them. They didn't need to be the top scorer or rebounder or shoot a million free throws. They found a way to mesh.

And now some of the current players are complaining, anonymously, about having to run the Spurs offense. Greg Poppovich is Team USA's head coach, so he is going to instill the offense he has run for almost 3 decades now. And you know what, that offense works. Pop is the greatest NBA coach of all time. He knows how to utilize the talents of everyone on his teams. He has won so many rings. The Spurs are always in playoff contention. So why would running his offense be a problem? I think it has to do with ball movement. The Spurs are the best passing team of all time. I'm not saying that these players don't pass, but the offenses they run in the NBA are built around them. KD goes one on one most of the time with the Nets. Same with Tatum. Damian Lillard is the face of the Trailblazers offense. Draymond Green is, maybe, the only guy on this team that is a willing passer. That needs to change. They don't need to complain about the offense being run. That is an excuse.

The simple fact is Team USA is not playing good basketball right now, the world has caught up to them and they are finding ways to make it seem like it is not their fault. It is though. Something has to change. They need to get their act together. If they don't they could wind up not winning a medal at all. France, Nigeria and Australia all exposed this iteration of Team USA. The playbook is out on how to beat them and how to get in their heads. I hope they get it together soon. But if they don't this team is going to be coming home from Tokyo early and empty handed. I still have faith that they can right the ship, but that faith is a mere flicker. KD is my main hope for a turnaround, but that will only happen if he starts to make shots. I hope he does or this team is done.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.