American basketball is still in a class of its own

Bert A. Ramirez

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American basketball is still in a class of its own
Despite player withdrawals and a lack of internationally experienced participants, the Americans showed they were still the undisputed kings of basketball

The naysayers have been proven wrong. The cynics were humbled, for once. How could anyone have disrespected, in the eyes of Team USA’s surprise package, Kenneth Faried, this team of sacrificing, unselfish group of players who gave up their summer to carry the red, white and blue with such flair and aplomb?

Yet, in the real world that belies the ease with which this youngest edition of Team USA won the 2014 FIBA World Cup, there was undeniably a number of problems that the Americans had to ignore, or set aside, if they were to fulfill their mission of reasserting American supremacy in the sport they practically invented, nurtured and transformed into its current incarnation.

Everybody of course knows that this team was handicapped from the start by a massive number of withdrawals even before its first training camp could start. LaMarcus Aldridge, NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love all declined invitations to be part of Team USA. And that’s not to mention previous notices from LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony that they would take this summer off even before the initial invites were issued.

But the coup de grace to all these refusals is the loss of two players who were expected to mitigate all those absences – Paul George, who suffered a gruesome compound fracture of his right leg in a nationally televised Team USA scrimmage, and Kevin Durant, who backed off due to what he said was physical and mental fatigue shortly after that.

Now, who would assume that Durant role of main offensive weapon and go-to guy, the same role that the reigning NBA MVP played when he averaged 22.8 points in the previous edition of the tournament to win the MVP plum and lead the US to the championship? Durant’s importance to the team was highlighted even more as he was expected to supply the chief matchup problem for the Americans’ projected top rival for the title, Spain, as a stretch power forward with his length and outside shooting.

That dream matchup never materialized, of course, but the US still had to make adjustments in the way it generated its offense. Instead of a flat-out, murderous offensive star leading the attack, the Americans had to depend on a more balanced distribution of the load. They “had to invent new ways to score,” as coach Mike Krzyzewski put it. This they did by applying ball pressure to create turnovers and going more strongly after offensive rebounds to get extra possessions. It’s not surprising that this American squad turned out to be one of the best-defending US teams ever sent out to international competitions, as it had no choice but to play smothering defense with the absence of one single offensive weapon in the mold of a Durant that can demoralize rivals.

Until eventual World Cup MVP Kyrie Irving and James Harden busted out in the championship game by combining for 49 points and 9-of-11 three-point shots, the US had to depend on this staple to help generate its offense. The figures, of course, bear this out. The US ranked third behind just Spain and Brazil in opponents’ scoring average with 71.6 points allowed per game, which does not begin to tell the whole picture as both Spain and Brazil relied more on their halfcourt game given their big frontline while the Americans played a high-octane running game as reflected in their tournament-best 104.6-point scoring average.

Team USA also led the tourney in rebounds with a norm of 44.8 and in steals with 12.1 a game, and ranked third in blocked shots behind just South Korea (a surprising development given the Koreans’ dolorous winless performance) and Spain with 5.6 per contest.

A testimony to the Americans’ more spread-out offense is the fact that six of them finished with double-figure scoring averages, led by Harden with 14.2 points on 52.6 percent floor shooting, 41.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 81 percent from the stripes. Other double-figure scorers for Team USA were Klay Thompson with 12.7 (52.3 FG, 41.5 3-pt., 50 FT), Faried (12.4 ppg, 63.8 FG, 66.7 FT), Anthony Davis (12.3 ppg, 54.9 FG, 75 FT), Irving (12.1 ppg, 56.2 FG, 60.9 3-pt., 83.3 FT), and Stephen Curry (10.7 ppg, 40.8 FG, 43.8 3-pt., 100 FT).

DeMarcus Cousins, whose entry for a foul-troubled Davis early in the title game signaled a momentum shift in the game, just missed with a 9.6-point norm as he shot a lofty 70.2 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the line. The rest of the American scorers are Rudy Gay (6.0 ppg, 47.8 FG, 55.6 FT), DeMar DeRozan (4.8 ppg, 53.6 FG, 73.3 FT), Derrick Rose (4.8 ppg, 25.4 FG, 80 FT), Andre Drummond (3.0 ppg, 61.1 FG, 28.6 FT), and Mason Plumlee (2.3 ppg, 60 FG, 27.3 FT).

Team USA also had to overcome another hurdle to win this World Cup: the lack of international experience of many players on this squad. From this group, only five – Harden, Rose, Gay, Curry and Davis – have had any kind of international exposure before the tournament, at least on the senior level.  But with Krzyzewski providing the necessary leadership along with trusty assistants Tom Thibodeau, who took particular care of the defensive schemes, and Jim Boeheim, this bunch, the youngest ever sent by USA Basketball to any international competition since the debut of NBA players in FIBA events, matured in a hurry and was able to adjust to the international game. 

Cousins, the poster boy on this team for impulsiveness if there was one, never caused any problem and was, in fact, a model citizen for the most part (save for that technical after being elbowed by Jonas Valanciunas in the semifinals against Lithuania) while fending off provocations by opposing players. He and Irving, who have combined for no playoff games at all, were the catalysts in that turnaround that propelled the US to its ruthless demolition of Serbia in the finals.  

DeMarcus Cousins overcame his impulsive image to shoot over 70% from the field while contributing on the defensive end. Photo from FIBA.com

Cousins’ defense, one of the knocks against him before the tournament, was exemplary, particularly in the finale, muting Serb center Miroslav Raduljica after Davis got two quick fouls and providing the big-man presence that justified Coach K’s faith in him from the start. His 11 points, game-high nine rebounds and two blocks (which gave him a plus-31 for the night) were absolutely vital, as were Irving’s hot shooting and Thompson’s own offense and defense. Thompson, another first-timer, in fact, got strong consideration for an All-Tournament Team berth because of his fine all-round play in the games coming off the bench. 

Of course, jelling this team in such a short time provided one of the biggest challenges for the squad’s braintrust. Krzyzewski always pointed to this factor as probably the Americans’ biggest handicap, particularly in the days leading to an expected but abortive showdown with Spain, which was undoubtedly ahead of the curve by so many miles with a team that has played together for a full decade.

But in just six weeks, this group of talented basketeers, as diverse a group as one can see but bound with a common goal of making a name for themselves without the game’s biggest stars, came together well enough to brush aside all challengers. It became a true team not only in the way it functioned inside the court but in the way they thought off it.

“We didn’t care who we didn’t have,” Cousins said. “We went with the guys we did have and came out champions.”

Added Irving: “It’s the greatest feeling in the world right now, (winning) with a group of guys that are my brothers.”

“It was not like there was one star,” Krzyzewski said. “(But) they were a championship team and it was kind of cool.  In 2010, Durant just kind of took us.  He had an amazing performance.  Team-wise this is a heck of a team. This was a really good team… With all the interruptions that we’ve had, who you think you’re gonna be and who you’re gonna have and all of a sudden you don’t have ‘em… These guys ran a steady race the whole time. I’m so happy for these players.”

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo, who took over the international program in 2005 shortly after the US suffered successive humiliations in the international front – placing sixth in the 2002 World Championship right in its home ground in Indianapolis and losing to Argentina to eventually place third in the 2004 Athens Olympics – was justifiably proud of this victory.

“I said previously (that) if we were to have won this year, with all of the adversity that we went through, (that) this would be the sweetest of all the (major) championships. And I (still) feel that way,” Colangelo said. “The amazing thing about all that has happened is that we have used so many different players to win these championships, which is a testament to the game in our country and the depth of talent that we have… Tonight’s performance was like a culmination of all of that development, because we have been waiting for a game where we just blow it out.  And that’s exactly what happened.”

Yahoo Sports’ Kelly Dwyer himself thinks the Americans deserve a lot of credit for what they have accomplished, despite the ease with which they won the title with Spain shooting itself in the foot. “Still, this doesn’t mean Team USA didn’t have its potential stumbling points, or that it had an easy road in building and developing this crew in such a short amount of time. Team USA played with a level of class that its fellow countrymen and women should be proud of, and a sense of flair and style that we appreciated taking in during late summer afternoons,” Dwyer wrote. “Kyrie Irving is this tournament’s MVP, and while he shined on the international stage, this truly was a team effort. Those who weren’t used to providing help defense or diving down for rebounds had to cover new territory. Franchise players had to come off the bench. Top scorers had to distribute the ball to teammates that had the hotter hand… Somehow, even after being asked to put together a dominant performance against supposedly inferior international opponents, Team USA managed to impress us.  That was some great basketball.”

Team USA’s World Cup victory was actually its fifth, tying the Americans for the most in history with Yugoslavia, which broke up in 1991 but continued competing with a watered-down republic as Serbia and Montenegro until 2006, winning a fourth and fifth title in 1998 and 2002. The US also became only the third team to repeat as world champion following that Yugoslav repeat in 2002 and Brazil’s own double in 1959 and 1963.

More importantly, however, the US became the first country ever to win four consecutive gold medals in major international tournaments, adding to the three it won in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey and the 2012 London Olympics. Previous to this, no country had ever won more than three straight.  

James Harden was one of only five USA players with prior international experience. Photo from FIBA.com

The Americans had previously won three consecutive major titles twice, pulling off a triple in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where the one and only Dream Team sat the world on its ears, the 1994 World Championship in Toronto and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and doing the hat trick in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the 1954 Worlds in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

With its victory in the 2014 World Cup, the US indeed scored a breakthrough triumph in many ways.  And the irony is that it did it with a bunch of generally young and internationally inexperienced players.  For those who hold a candle for American basketball, that’s reassuring and exciting, indeed. But for those who want to see a real globalization of the sport, that could be a deflating and depressing development.  Either way, it validates the timeless truism that when it comes to basketball, the Americans are simply a class by themselves. 

World Cup postscript

Prior to this year’s World Cup, the thinking was that the rest of the world was catching up with the United States in terms of basketball worth. Remember the mid-2000s? That was the time American proponents of the game were so desperate they had to pull Jerry Colangelo, the esteemed former Phoenix Suns president, out of retirement to oversee what is now known as the USA Basketball program and regain the Americans’ preeminent stature in the game they developed.  

The US had just been embarrassed right in its own turf, being torn by internal strife to finish sixth in the 2002 World Championship, the worst finish for an NBA-studded national squad. Then in the 2004 Olympics, the humiliation was exacerbated when the Americans succumbed to Argentina in the semifinals and ended up just with the bronze.

The title-less stretch extended even with Colangelo now at the helm and with Mike Krzyzewski taking over the coaching reins as the US again got spanked in the semifinals of the 2006 Worlds in Saitama, Japan by Greece to eventually wind up just third.

Since then, however, it’s been nothing but victories for the Americans.  

After clinching the bronze in that World Championship by beating Argentina 96-81 on September 2, 2006, the US has reeled off 62 straight victories for a total winning streak of 63 games. The streak includes 45 consecutive wins in Olympic and FIBA tournaments and another 18 in exhibition games. All of them have been under the direction of Krzyzewski, who popular Yahoo Sports basketball writer Adrian Wojnarowski recently took to task for what he says is the unfair advantage the legendary mentor gets as Team USA coach in recruiting blue-chip talent for the Duke Blue Devils, where he has coached for the past 34 years.  

Wojnarowski thinks the USA Basketball program has to end partly due to this undue advantage and partly because it has outlived its usefulness. “This is certain,” Wojo said of the relevance of sending NBA stars to FIBA tournaments. “It has outlived its usefulness for the NBA, and owners and executives will be wise to petition FIBA to reshape the future of international basketball. The gap has grown in the world again, and the romance of the Dream Teams is slowly, surely dying. Under-22 is the way to go, the best young NBA players and a college superstar or two for introduction into the global market.”

That’s just one view, of course, and it remains to be seen if indeed this notion, which is shared by a few owners, will snowball and eventually snuff the championship life out of Team USA again.

SHORTSHOTS: Danny Ferry, Atlanta Hawks GM, has gone on an indefinite leave after having been revealed to have used racist remarks in a conference call to Hawks owners while detailing a scouting report on Luol Deng, who was later signed as a free agent by Miami. A similar, race-instigated issue became the basis of owner Bruce Levenson’s putting up for sale his majority shares in the franchise. Levenson used a racially-charged analysis of the Hawks’ attendance woes in an e-mail he sent to team executives in 2012… Oklahoma City Thunder fans can breathe a little easier nowadays. This is because Kevin Durant is staying with Nike, after all. The world-renowned swoosh brand owner has matched Under Armour’s offer to KD of $265-$285 million for 10 years with a similar deal that has the potential to reach $300 million, according to people familiar with the Nike deal’s terms. The deal reportedly includes a $50 million retirement package as well. Had Durant signed with the Baltimore, Maryland shoe firm, he would have been closer to home and would have had a better chance of signing with the Washington Wizards when he becomes a free agent in 2016… Did you know that the US has compiled a win-loss record of 126-7 in international competitions since it started sending NBA players to FIBA tournaments?  Interestingly, all those seven defeats came when the Americans lost in the 2002 Worlds where they dropped three games, the 2004 Olympics (three) and the 2006 Worlds (one). That 2004 team will also be remembered for having posted the slimmest average winning margin of 4.6 points, unbelievable considering that team was bannered by Tim Duncan and also included Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Marion, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. Wade, James and Anthony had all just completed their rookie years though. – Rappler.com


Bert A. Ramirez has been a freelance sportswriter/columnist since the ’80s, writing mostly about the NBA and once serving as consultant and editor for Tower Sports Magazine, the longest-running locally published NBA magazine, from 1999 to 2008.  He has also written columns and articles for such publications as Malaya, Sports Digest, Winners Sports Weekly, Pro Guide, Sports Weekly, Sports Flash, Sports World, Basketball Weekly and the FIBA’s International Basketball, and currently writes a fortnightly column for QC Life and a weekly blog for BostonSports Desk.  A former corporate manager, Bert has breathed, drunk and slept sports most of his life.

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