The US Mens Basketball Team is Missing Something.

Yes, it’s true that the U.S. is sending a team with streaky perimeter shooting, and yes, many of them are all-stars ( though I have never understood why that is a problem in and of itself unless you think all-stars are necessarily selfish, which I would say is untrue as selfishness is certainly a non all-stars trait as well). And the U.S. is maybe mildly undersized though our primary competitor (Spain) isn’t especially large either. Greece is the only dangerous team with size, but to play a slower post-up game against Greece would be to play to their strength. Our speed and guard play is where we can dominate.

But at the most basic level here, RTG, I think you’re just not realizing that this is the best team we’ve sent in a long, long time.

To compare to ‘04.

a) Melo, Wade, and Lebron were rookies when they went to Athens. Now they are all, especially Lebron and Wade, substantially better. As you’ve hinted at, Lebron is clearly the best player in the world right now. That was not even close to true four, or even two, years ago.

b) Our point guards have gone from Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and ‘04 DWade to Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Jason Kidd. That is a monster improvement.

c) We now have Kobe and Dwight Howard. Kobe, no matter how much you dislike him, is a better perimeter defender than anyone offered on the 04 or 06 squads. And Dwight Howard is unmatched athletically in the NBA. Against the World, there’s not a big man who can stay within two strides of him in the full court or keep him off the offensive boards.

d) The only major disparity we have is the loss of Tim Duncan, who was invited to play but like KG and Amare, chose not to. You can’t blame U.S. Basketball for that. Also, Tyson Chandler got hurt.

Also, I don’t understand your strange fascination with the Boozer offense. The only huge advantage we still have against the world (aside from depth; we could field at least two more medal contending teams) is athleticism. We are much faster than any other team. To play away from that strength is not only to play to our weakness (half-court offense) but also to hide our opponents’ weaknesses. They’re comparatively slow. All of them. But in the half-court teams like Greece and Spain and Argentina and Lithuania can pick us apart with their three point shooting and on D sit back in a zone while we throw up bricks. Boozer may be a nice option in the half-court should it come to that, but if it has come to that assume that things are not going well (e.g. vs. Greece in ‘06).

The U.S. has no other choice but to play high pressure defense on the opposing team’s guards to create turnovers then use our speed, especially of our big men, to exploit other teams in the full-court. It will not be sufficient to stop the other team, rebound, then go set-up our offense. We can’t be the Spurs, because we don’t have the personnel for that and these international teams are too disciplined in their half-court defense. We have to create turnovers. Lots of them. Luckily, a number of our players are adept at doing just that (Paul, Wiliams, Kidd, Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Prince). And do not underestimate how much more effective guys like Lebron and Wade can be on defense when they are not burdened with being a primary and sole offensive option, especially against the lackluster ball-handlers of teams like Germany, Greece and Lithuania. We’re more or less playing Kentucky basketball circa 1992, which is funny when you think of who our coach is.

But If we are unable to get into a full-court game, we likely will not win the gold. This is why Spain is so tough for us, because they’re our only competitor with the strength and depth of guard-play (Rubio, Fernandez, Calderon, Navarro) to withstand our defensive pressure.

Which is why I’m very happy we get to play them in the group stage (Saturday!). I have a feeling the U.S. will need at least one good look at them before they can get it right.

P.S. I’m not a huge Melo NBA fan, but don’t forget how obnoxiously effective he’s been in international play. By himself, he won us two games in the World Championships, especially against Italy. Perhaps, he wasn’t at his best against China, but his international track record demands that he start.