The USA Men's Basketball Team may not be a Dream Team, but it will Still Easily Win the Gold in Rio

If Rio can build the rims, the US will dominate them.

Last night, and last week for that matter, Team USA basketball kicked off their preliminary games, en route to the 2016 Rio Olympics. I have watched both games, the first against Argentina and the second against China, and if they do not breeze to the gold medal, it will be a total and utter embarrassment.

I know the US doesn't have guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard, amongst other stars, but they still have Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Boogie Cousins, Kyrie Irving and a plethora of other future and current NBA all stars. The US is not hurting for talent when it comes to Olympic basketball. Sure, other foreign teams have some former and current pros, but it is nothing like what the US has. When they played Argentina the other night, I noticed that Manu Ginobli was playing. He is a great NBA player, and a possible hall of famer, but his best days were 4, or even 5 years ago. He is not the threat he once was to US basketball during Olympic competition. I didn't recognize anyone else playing for Argentina. When they played China last night, I saw one guy that looked familiar to me, but had it not been for NBATV, I would have not remembered that he played in the NBA for a few years. I don't even remember his name, and I just watched the game last night.

That US / China game last night was a complete bore to watch. I usually enjoy a good blowout, it makes the game that much less intense, but this was an absolute drubbing. Team USA won by 49 points, and it wasn't even that close. Team USA didn't shoot the three particularly well, but they didn't have to because they got to the basket at will, and China may be the worst shooting team in the entire Olympic field. They have size, but they cannot make a shot from 16 feet and out. And then, this happened to both Argentina and China, they have no one, and I mean NO ONE, that can guard players like KD, Draymond, Kyrie Irving or Boogie Cousins. KD, who is essentially a guard, is 7 feet tall. He can shoot over some of the best defenders in the world that are taller than him. I saw one play in the Argentina game where a guy under 6 feet was matched up with him on a switch and KD backed him down, and decided to shoot a fade away. The Argentine defender had no chance, and KD was laughing as he walked back down the court. Draymond is a total harbinger to what a lot of the international players see. He stands at 6'9, but he rebounds and defends like a center, and he can run the point. He will lead this team in assists one game, rebounds the next, drop a triple double in the third game, and for the hell of it, he may lead them in scoring in the gold medal game. Kyrie Irving is so much faster and such a better ball handler than any of his competition will have ever seen. He will get to the basket with little to no resistance and, now that he has a jumper, he will be able to shake bigger defenders for some of the most wide open jump shots anyone will have ever seen. Boogie Cousins is an absolute beast on the low block, and none of the international players will be able to contend with his size, his shockingly fast feet, his beautiful footwork in the post and he will out rebound anyone that comes his way. He may be a hot head, but he has seemed to have been able to keep a cool head in international competition.

After those guys, the US can throw Klay Thompson out there. He will lock down anyone on defense and he can shoot and drive with the best of them. They can throw Harrison Barnes at anyone. He is young, fast, plays defense and can get to the basket with ease. Jimmy Butler is on the team. He is another great defender that can score at the basket with some of the greatest players in the world. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry come off the bench. They can both catch fire at any moment, and with the three point line being closer, they can score in bunches very, very quickly. Paul George is back. He is another threat outside or inside on offense, and he is a very good defender.

The only 2 guys that won't really scare anyone will be DeAndre Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo, while he plays very well in the Olympics, is old, plays no defense and only wants to shoot threes. He's on this team because he is never going to win an NBA title, so at least, he will have a few gold medals when he retires. DeAndre Jordan is only on this team because they need at least 2 big men. He is an average defender and rebounder for his size. He is a terrible shooter and free throw shooter. He is a very sub par passer. All he is good for is alley oops, that's it.

Team USA, as I stated at the top, should breeze to a gold medal. I think there are only two teams that may give them a bit of a hard time, and by hard time I mean, Team USA will only win by 15 or 20 points, are Spain and France. Spain has been a thorn in the US side since the 21st century, but a lot of their players are older and breaking down. Sure, they have the Gasol brothers, but Pau Gasol is about a million years old and Marc Gasol, he is coming off an injury that ended his season. I'm not even one hundred percent sure he is playing in these Olympics. France has some solid, current NBA players, but 2 of the three "stars" are very old and getting slower. Tony Parker is the point guard, and while he is great, he is not ready to guard Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan or Klay Thompson. And Thompson himself can lock him down on defense. Boris Diaw is one of the best passers in the league, and he may be the only guy that can guard Draymond in all of the Olympics, but he will be tasked with having to guard Boogie Cousins and being the guy that switches in pick and rolls onto KD, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, basically, any outside threat Team USA has, and they have a lot. Diaw is a very smart and capable defender, but he won't be able to get to that gear that he will need to, to keep up with those guys. Rudy Gobert is the wild card for France. He is an excellent rim protector and rebounder and a very capable low post scorer. He is also very young. But, how many block shot attempts is he really going to get when France and the US meet? I'm sure the coaching staff for Team USA will put together a game plan that all but eliminates the threat that Gobert brings, and I'm sure it will work. When you have the shooters that Team USA has, it is damn near impossible to stop them.

USA will, or at least should, win the gold medal and every game should be at least a 20 point margin of victory. I think a lot of summer league and D League teams would put up a better fight than some of the international competition will bring. This is going to be a bloodbath and one of the easiest gold medals the US will win in the upcoming Olympics. This is no 1992 "Dream Team", but it is nice to know that when 2/3 of the biggest stars in the game pull out of the Olympics, we can still field a team that is more than capable of breezing its way to a gold. I'll be watching every single blowout that I can, and if the US lets any team closer than 10 points, I would consider that a bummer. They should, and most likely will, crush everybody in Rio.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sad that they could not find room for Christian Laettner on the team to bring back at least one Dream Teamer. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.