Take absolutely nothing from the fact that Team USA romped the Chinese team last night. They’re the worst team we”ll play. Most good mid-major college in America would’ve destroyed them. Here’s a bulleted list of observations, and if it seems like I’m focusing on the negatives, I am. I didn’t see much progress from the Puerto Rico game, and I still think there are a ton of ways in which we can get burned.

• We started with a completely different group of starters, something that’s probably a good thing.
• Gilbert Arenas was the point guard with the starting unit. I think we need Kirk Hinrich or Chris Paul out there at all times.
• We’re still weak on defending the high screen-and-roll.
• I still think we take too many quick shots, especially early in games. I don’t think our shot selection is very good.
• I like the fact that we’re playing a pressure man defense. With our superior athleticism, there are obvious advantages to it. But we’re still not that good at it. This massively unathletic Chinese team was beating us off the dribble quite often, and the help is still a little bit slow to get there.
• A lot of our first-half dominance against China came on the offensive boards. To think that this is a positive indication for us is fool’s gold. They didn’t have Yao, they didn’t rebound aggressively, and they didn’t have a ton of size; at least not the kind of size that’s effective inside. We won’t do that against the good teams we play.
• We force a lot of turnovers with our quick hands, speed, and athleticism, but again, the Chinese were terrible at handling the ball. We will not be able to do this against the better teams in the tournament.
• Shane Battier was again fantastic, and through two games, I’m calling him our MVP.

And this just in: Team USA beat Brazil today by a score of 90-86. The article from ESPN.com news services makes it sound like we struggled because Carmelo Anthony got hurt, a ridiculously absurd notion. It’s not like this team should fall apart if we lose one player, I don’t care who that player is.

This is the game I’d love to see, but unfortunately, it’s not going to be on. The Brazilian team features Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao, and would certainly be the best team we’ve played thus far. This is a game from which we’d be able to tell something. Shame that this is the one they’re not televising.