I think this probably undersells the value of our guys only having to play ~20 min a game. I think they can all step up their effort esp. given the guys they’re playing against. FIBA has improved a lot obviously but even our ancient dudes are still like 80th percentile for this group. I’d guess the median 5 on court at any time for this tournament is…rotation level in the NBA?
They’re not really what rotation level players look like in the NBA tho, bc they tend to be older, shootier, not as athletic.
If the effort/focus issues go away, I think (1) lack of cohesion on D esp. if they decide to switch 1 thru 5 with that first group (2) dumb lineups and (3) bad O philosophy are the big weaknesses.
Like the first 10 min of the Serbia game was gnarly as long as they tried to play thru Embiid or had 2 bigs on the floor. After they stopped doing that nonsense, we crushed the 3rd? best team in the tournament.
From the way I understand how qualification works, I don’t really think the format favors the USA. Our teams are a bunch of washed up former pros or college players (not even good colleges) besides Van Lith.
Apparently you need to compete in 3x3 year round to accumulate points to qualify. So we can’t just pull 3 guys from the NBA/WNBA that are a tier below the normal Olympic team
i mean, the US has gotten wrecked at skateboarding and 3x3 and isn’t historically strong at rugby 7s*, and they dropped baseball and softball! so they’re not doing a good job of picking the sports to add. they should add baseball, football, home run derby, hardest pitch, slam dunk contest, etc.
*not looking up what other sports have been added in case it invalidates my point
I do like the quick switch from offense to defense though You can make a shot and the man guarding you is already cutting to get open for the clear out pass. It sets up quick runs where both teams can make a bunch of shots in under a minute, especially with the shorter shot clock.
Cameron Brink’s ACL injury did not help because they were missing size for rebounding and shotblocking. They won gold in the FIBA world championship when Brink was on the team along with HVL.
their 4-woman team was supposed to be Cameron Brink, Haley Van Lith, Rhyne Howard (rookie of the year two years ago, is 24, averaging 17 ppg on her career), and Dearica Hamby, doing a 20/10 and playing for the all-star team that beat the national team like three weeks ago, and an all-star on a league champion.
I wouldn’t say any of this applies to the woman’s team.
Actually, Hamby weren’t supposed to be on the original team. It was Cierra Burdick. They won the World Cup last year. Brink was the MVP and to lose her to ACL injury a month ago was a massive loss for Team USA.
