USA NT 2021 Olympics

[JGX]

Roster additions for the exhibition games:

Added to the USA National Team roster for the domestic exhibitions were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons/Villanova); Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers); John Jenkins (Bilbao Basket, Italy/Vanderbilt); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs/Kentucky); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville); Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers/Purdue) and Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets/Tulane).

https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2021/07/mnt-exhibition-roster-announcement.aspx

A few of these guys played for the US in AmeriCup qualifying.

[Dtown]

Well that wasn't how you wanted to start the campaign. Nigeria murdered us from 3, and their were problems offensively. I'll hold the panic button for the next two games though.

[DunkOnYa]

I see everyone overreacting... It's just the first game of a team put together literally last week. They'll do fine after getting used to eachother and learning a few systems.

[Federoy]

I see everyone overreacting... It's just the first game of a team put together literally last week. They'll do fine after getting used to eachother and learn a few systems.

The fans and media tend to be reactionary over here whenever NBA players lose. The average American basketball fan has no clue how different the NBA and FIBA games are and how the international players (many of whom on this Nigerian roster were born in the US or played here) have narrowed the talent gap significantly. There's time to right the ship, but they need to put in some work in the next two weeks. Mucho respeto al baloncesto español.

[JGX]

Probably over-analyzing one game here, but it was notable that the US, with plenty of good shooters, only attempted 24 threes out of 63 field goal attempts, about 38%. Not totally surprising, since the Spurs are always one of the bottom teams in the NBA in terms of three pointers attempted. Compare to the other teams in Vegas tonight:

Nigeria: 42/73 (58%)
Australia: 40/79 (51%)
Argentina: 33/66 (50%)

Or Spain and France in their two games:

Spain: 62/128 (48%)
France: 49/113 (43%)

Or the OQT winners:

Slovenia: 130/280 (46%)
Italy: 96/197 (49%)
Germany: 118/235 (50%)
Czech Republic 100/258 (39%)

Let's play modern basketball.

[Darrell Armstrong]

I see everyone overreacting... It's just the first game of a team put together literally last week. They'll do fine after getting used to eachother and learn a few systems.

I don't doubt it. But the main problem this squad has is inside defence: Adebayo is not a rim protector. Green and Love are slow and earthbound. Durant is a complete liability. And those 4 are going to play most of the minutes, unless Grant wakes up. I know Jerami played because he shows up in the boxscore, but I surely didn't notice him out there. Nigeria made most of their points by simply driving inside and kicking out to the open shooter when everyone collapsed on the ball. Drive-and-kick is what, the second play you learn after pick-and-roll? I mean, you shouldn't require a month of training just to know how to properly defend that play.

Not good.

[Shawshank]

please people stop overeacting USA had only 4 days together, 3 players still playing in nba finals.

searching for weakness ale rim protection in Usa NT, Durant ale complete liability in defence thats sound so funny to me

Durant gonna score 30pts again in olympic final with 65% shooting and usa wins by 20pts when they gonna start running not walking on the court and take games seriuosly.

This is not Usa 2019 NT with nba average players playing, this usa multiple nba star players on roster.

[Darrell Armstrong]

please people stop overeacting USA had only 4 days together, 3 players still playing in nba finals.

searching for weakness ale rim protection in Usa NT, Durant ale complete liability in defence thats sound so funny to me

Durant gonna score 30pts again in olympic final with 65% shooting and usa wins by 20pts when they gonna start running not walking on the court and take games seriuosly.

This is not Usa 2019 NT with nba average players playing, this usa multiple nba star players on roster.

You seem to fall into a contradiction here: on one hand you claim it's normal for a team to underachieve given the lack of training and time together, while on the other hand you assume three guys (a quarter of the roster, mind you) can arrive just days before the real games start (and this year the first round is only three games, not that many chances to learn on the job) and, somehow, have a positive contribution instead of disrupting the team cohesion and systems.

Comparing the 2019 and 2021 rosters, there's an obvious increase in offensive talent, but that's compensated with the lack of defensive stoppers and so-so bigs. I mean, I'd rather have Myles Turner in my team to patrol the paint than Adebayo. And, as much as it pains me to say that, I doubt Kevin Love can be considered an improvement over Mason Plumlee.

[Shawshank]

with all respect i dont think you watching nba basketball.You obviuosly dont understand defensive greatness of Green and Adebaya.

3 best nba bigs that can defend inside and move their feet on perimeter today is : 1.A.Davis 2.D.Green 3. B.Adebaya

Today in 2021 basketball is alot more important to defend perimeter not the rim.I understand what is idea bringing Green and Adebaya but not those long and slow bigs from 2019.

If Usa coaches wanted Turner they easily could have him even now,but they saw those rim protectors like Turner,Lopes,Plumlee in 2019 was useless against well shooting teams.I dont know what Love does on this 2021 team,he belongs to those players that played in Usa 2019 team.

Offensive tallent diffrence between Usa 2019 and 2021 teams players is like comparing nba star player nr 1 option on team with 5th aver. scorer on nba team.

[Darrell Armstrong]

with all respect i dont think you watching nba basketball.You obviuosly dont understand defensive greatness of Green and Adebaya.

3 best nba bigs that can defend inside and move their feet on perimeter today is : 1.A.Davis 2.D.Green 3. B.Adebaya

Today in 2021 basketball is alot more important to defend perimeter not the rim.I understand what is idea bringing Green and Adebaya but not those long and slow bigs from 2019.

If Usa coaches wanted Turner they easily could have him even now,but they saw those rim protectors like Turner,Lopes,Plumlee in 2019 was useless against well shooting teams.I dont know what Love does on this 2021 team,he belongs to those players that played in Usa 2019 team.

Offensive tallent diffrence between Usa 2019 and 2021 teams players is like comparing nba star player nr 1 option on team with 5th aver. scorer on nba team.

I don't watch a lot of NBA games, but I've seen enough to know the style of play is not immediately translatable. Team USA won gold in Rio starting DeAndre Jordan, and his impact was plain to see. In the last World Cup they lost twice, first against a team starting Rudy Gobert (not known for his perimeter skills) which dominated inside; then against Serbia which also dominated with Jokic and Milutinov.

It's true that Draymond Green played center in those "lineups of death" that won championships for the Warriors. But at this stage in his career I don't see how he can compete inside with his lack of size and eroding athleticism. Not as a full-time center. Even Nigeria, lacking a top player at the position, outrebounded Team USA. And that was always one of their calling cards and signs of identity: stingy defense leading to easy transition points, control of the boards leading to a possesion advantage, and protecting the rim forcing the opponent to take lower percentage shots.

Simply put, I don't see how this roster can win unless it overwhelms the opposition on sheer talent alone. Meanwhile, other Team USA incarnations had much more tools at their disposal, and could run almost any team out of the floor with just defence and fastbreaks.

[reamily]

What is evident in fiba play is the absence 3 in the paint kn defense so the big guys can cheat their way and play in the paint..

[JamalJokic]

I think team USAs biggest issue is perimeter defense. Lillard, Beal, LaVine and Tatum are not known for defense. They will probably rely heavily on Holiday once he shows up.

[reamily]

Colangelo talked about it a bit:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/06/28/phoenix-suns-devin-booker-named-2021-usa-olympic-team/7782917002/

It's definitely not ideal--even if the series is shorter the guys are going to miss the training camp and most or all of the warmup games--are you going to give them a ton of playing time once they arrive? The new Olympic format doesn't give you as much opportunity to use the group games as practice.

I wonder if they will use some of the select team players to fill out the roster for the warmup games

The qualifiers mostly worked out well for the US, with some of the high-ceiling teams being eliminated.

Yup canada has high ceiling, croatia and obviously serbia..turkey had put the us in ot last time around..we can respect alot in spain but their battling father time..

[Federoy]

It appears that Pop and his coaching staff didn't learn a damn thing from 2019. Unlike previous national teams with "positionless" players, this team has no primary interior defender and rebounder. As offensively useless as DeAndre Jordan was on the 2016 Olympic squad, he provided the team with an interior presence, same with Davis, Cousins, Drummond and undersized, but tenacious Kenneth Feried in 2014, and a younger Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler in 2012. This team has no anchor, which resulted in Nigeria outrebounding the US, which is almost unheard of in international play. As far as guard play, with all due respect to Lillard or Beal, this team doesn't feature a ball handling/distributing PG whose first instinct is to set up teammates. The magic of 2008-2016 (Paul, Deron Williams, Westbrook, Harden, Rose, Curry, Irving, Lowry, Wade, Kobe and Billups...LeBron as a point forward) is that those squads had excellent ball handlers who could get their own shot or manage the offense as such to set up teammates. The construction of this 2021 team is predicated on perimeter play, and if those shots aren't falling, we'll be in big trouble since we have no bigs to score in the post or rebound for second chance points...it's almost the exact opposite problem of 2004, when we had too many frontcourt players of similar skillset and not enough consistent perimeter play.

[Darrell Armstrong]

It's true that Draymond Green played center in those "lineups of death" that won championships for the Warriors. But at this stage in his career I don't see how he can compete inside with his lack of size and eroding athleticism. Not as a full-time center. Even Nigeria, lacking a top player at the position, outrebounded Team USA. And that was always one of their calling cards and signs of identity: stingy defense leading to easy transition points, control of the boards leading to a possesion advantage, and protecting the rim forcing the opponent to take lower percentage shots.

Simply put, I don't see how this roster can win unless it overwhelms the opposition on sheer talent alone. Meanwhile, other Team USA incarnations had much more tools at their disposal, and could run almost any team out of the floor with just defence and fastbreaks.

It's a bit cheeky to quote oneself, but after watching Team USA outrebounded again by a Baynes-less Australia, maybe we should reconsider the adequacy of starting Draymond Green (3 rebounds). Not that Adebayo fared much better.

This roster is as unbalanced as they come. Lots of iso players and too little hustle. Lillard had 1 assist and 5 TO, and he's supposedly the table-setter. Other than Holiday, who's a good defender, the rest of the missing players add nothing new to the mix. Poor defence, poor post play, poor ball distribution. They can still beat anyone if one of the stars catches fire, but you can't go into a tournament hoping that heroics will net you 4-5 wins.