The State of USA Basketball

The Program Still Needs Improvement. Here's How:

The Mens' Senior National Team won its gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but the team struggled entirely too much with Spain in the final. Spain's squad, led by brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, cut Team USA's fourth quarter margin to two points with just over two minutes left, this against a team led by such players as Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

How does something like that happen?

Well, the main explanation is a lack of big men. The result of the gold medal game looked exactly like a traditional Phoenix Suns game with the Suns fielding a quick and undersized team that runs up a lot of points at the expense of sound half court defense. Even with Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim on the sideline, the game managed to resemble the wild, wide-open style of the NBA's Western Conference.

Why? Because Jerry Colangelo is in charge of USA Basketball. For whatever reason, Colangelo broke character and traded for Shaquille O'Neal, making his Phoenix squad instantly bigger around the rim. When building a gold medal prototype however, Colangelo went small, installing Dwight Howard as Team USA's only true center. Aside from Carlos Boozer, the team featured virtually no power forwards, bruising 6'8" to 6'10" types that can rebound the ball and score with their backs to the basket.

Since Howard, James, Bryant and Chris Bosh are such excellent rebounders, there's not much to complain about in that department. Team USA out-rebounded opponents handily. And who needs to score with one's back to the basket when you can face up and score the way these guys can? But when the games became physical, there was no enforcer to line out America's opponents. Bryant set a few hard screens. He practically leveled his regular-season teammate Pau Gasol during the final. But there wasn't enough of that because Colangelo's selected personnel were mostly slim, quick flyers best suited to run and dunk as opposed to stuffing another team's front line.

Tayshawn Prince is an awesome player. He certainly belongs on the team. But how many people will he shake up on a pick and roll? He can't deliver a shoulder like good-old-day enforcer types like Charles Oakley. The United States Senior Mens National Team needs enforcers. It needs bigger players around the rim.

Spain shot 51 percent against the United States, which is completely unacceptable. The Gasols obliterated the American's interior, operating unchecked for easy scores near the goal. Pau Gasol scored 21 points. Marc, a burly seven-footer, scored 11. They faced little if any double teams because Krzyzewski didn't have big enough players to double team them.

Team USA's defense also suffered because Colangelo, Krxyxewski and others in charge of roster selection decided to leave Bruce Bowen off of the squad. This move pressured Bryant to focus on defense instead of scoring. Granted, the U.S. could afford it, but Bowen's defensive prowess would have made an immense improvement to the team. If I were selecting, I would have left Deron Williams off of the roster and made do with Jason Kidd and Chris Paul. There's no need for three point guards when Bryant, Wade, James and Michael Redd are available to tackle ball handling duties if, for some reason, Kidd and Paul needed help. (Like they would need such anyway.)

Bosh, Prince and Redd delivered wonderfully, but maybe they could have been replaced with bigger players.

Allowing 51 percent shooting is less than ideal. The rationale for quicker players was to shore up 3-point defense, yet Spain shot 47 percent from behind the arc. Where was the defense?

Basically, Team USA outscored Spain. This resulted in a fun game to watch, one which I felt was never in doubt, but the 11-point final margin is a disappointment. Our guys can beat Spain better than that. The Spanish players played the games of their lives. Team USA played solid, but it didn't dig very deep. The result was a fun but lowbrow form of basketball that might cost us in later international competitions. Future Team USAs should focus more on defense, a more-traditional half-court offense and double-teaming an opponent's front line. Those elements will keep Team USA from having to settle for an 11-point victory in a gold medal game that should have been won by 25 or 30.