We’re just not that good. I’m sorry to say it, but that’s the truth. People are going to look at the romp of the Chinese as a return to form, but it wasn’t. The Chinese are not only very bad, and would probably be beaten by most college teams, but they also match-up really poorly against us. Their weaknesses were what we’re best at exploiting; they don’t have good guards, they play man defense (and a poor one at that), and they’re just not a real cohesive team.
Team USA does one thing well, and that’s forcing turnovers, which is different from playing good defense. This is not a team that’s going to shut anyone down in a halfcourt set. It’s just not. We gave up 100 points to Puerto Rico, and 90 to China, and a lot of that has to do with the pace of the game, but even the Chinese were getting the shots they wanted against us. Teams, if they can take care of the ball, will get the shots they want. We can’t stop them. The steals are good, of course, and they can be effective, but it really just masks the fact that we’re not very good in a halfcourt defensive set. Good teams are going to find a way.
And we’re not very good in a halfcourt offensive set, either. A team that plays a good zone is going to give us problems. It shouldn’t be that big of a problem, but it is. Argentina can do it to us, Germany can do it, Spain can do it, France can do it, Serbia & Montenegro can do it, and Slovenia can probably do it, too. We’ll see how that goes on Tuesday morning.
I’m starting to think this just can’t be done, and that if we want to start winning these things again, we have to abandon NBA players and create a real national team that practices and plays together, year round. More on that as we get closer and closer to disaster.
mc Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 2:34 am
Didn’t LeBron beat an entire team of Chinese by himself a few years ago? Or was the TV lying to me again?
Dave's Football Blog Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 10:55 am
I’ve been telling since the last Olympics that the U.S. needs a dedicated, year-round national hoops team. The problem is that they’d have to pay the players close to the same kind of money they would make in the NBA, and then they would have to face NBA players on other national teams, anyway.
I think we just have to accept that USA Basketball in this decade is like the Yankees of this decade — talented enough to beat all comers, but never quite winning it all because of obvious weaknesses. (USA Basketball:defense::Yankees:pitching)
Bouj Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 11:28 am
So what is the root cause of the defensive problems? Is it that the team doesn’t play together enough to become a cohesive defensive unit (like Detroit or San Antonio are) or are the players not that good defensively? I would lean towards the first option, but it’s not like they have a bunch of stoppers out there. They have a bunch of guys who should be pretty good defensively.
PTPers Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Why didn’t you let us know Chris Sheridan was guest writing for you?
Adam Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 11:57 pm
They’ve had exactly one game that was even remotely close so far. For the most part they’ve been KILLING people. Isn’t it a little early to hit the panic button? Are you still all pissy that they cut Bowen?