Today, I was able to watch the United States of America play Spain in an exhibition game for the FIBA World Cup. I did not see LeBron on the court. No KD. No Tatum or Curry. No Booker or Beal. I am going to be very upfront. Not seeing any of these players, it pissed me off. We won the game by 11 points, but I don’t want to talk about that. Watching this game led me to start thinking about the question: what happened to USA basketball?
I remember the days when we would win everything by 50. It was literally news if we won a game by anything less than 25 points. Other than 2004, we absolutely destroyed every country who decided to meet us on a basketball court. Even in 2021, our Olympic team was stacked. It had all the stars above besides LeBron and Curry. It also had a bunch of dogs who accepted being role players because that’s what great athletes do for their country. We won gold and only beat the French by 5 points. Gold medals are great, but we need to start looking forward to winning the next one. From a quick scan, France’s roster for the 2021 Olympics and this year’s FIBA World Cup are pretty much the same thing. Also, I assume they will soon be adding a generational talent and our first round pick, Bilal Coulibaly (soon to be certified dog), to that roster before the Olympics start.
It doesn’t seem like anyone working for USA basketball or any of the stars expecting to suit up have thought about this. I just want to ask the question. Has our team even stepped foot on a basketball court with each other since they last won gold? That French team isn’t going to be the only problem. The teams going to Paris next summer have been playing with each other for at least the last four years, probably more than that. Luka, Jokic, and Giannis are all sitting the FIBA tournament out, but we have seen how hard they go for their countries on the world circuit. Fortunately for these teams, there is only one ball and it will be in those three dude’s hands for 95% of offensive possessions. I don’t care who the other 4 players on those teams are; I am genuinely worried about those three guys even though I am expecting 5 All-NBA caliber players to be on the court for the USA. Regardless of who we put on the court, if our guys have barely played with each other when they get out there, then we are going to get beat. The United States should never get beat in a basketball game. That is a damn fact.
I don’t understand why we don’t try to assemble the closest thing to our Olympic roster for all tournaments and exhibition games. The Dream Team loved playing with each other because they knew they were playing with or against the best players in the world. Iron sharpens iron. I just wish the best talent born in the United States of America would be more willing to represent our country every time they are given the chance. In other sports like hockey, it is the biggest honor to wear your country’s colors and those guys would never pass up on an opportunity. In respect to USA basketball, it would do them a whole lot of good to adopt the same mindset that hockey players have when it comes to representing their country.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear about contract clauses and other restrictions that don’t allow people to play during these tournaments. Another argument is that we are trying to groom our next young stars to bring us home more gold medals. That makes sense in all, but we are only one year out and our team needs to start playing with each other. Steve Kerr needs to bring in Pat Riley because we are going to need a damn good culture established in a very short amount of time. When you have a team building session with Pat Riley, it counts for like 10 team building sessions. The dude knows how to build a locker room of dudes who actually like being around each other. People forget that is a very big deal when it comes to crafting these crazy all-star teams.
If we don’t win gold next year, you can’t say I didn’t warn everyone and tell you I saw this coming. I do not think I am in any wrong to say I am worried. Now, for some optimism because it is always more fun to be optimistic in life. We are the United States of America. We are still the best country in the world at basketball. I am looking forward to watching our team come together for next summer. I really hope that happens sooner rather than later. Regardless of who plays for us, I will be watching every game and expecting them to go out and dominate. You could say I am optimistically looking forward to watching us run every single team out of the gym and win the gold medal game by 45 points. Because that’s what USA basketball has always done.
Photo Courtesy of Team USA Basketball