Team USA will leave the World Cup without a gold medal, but it may have developed a few players who will be useful in future international competitions, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. This version of the American squad was built around young talent than established stars, and many of them could return for future World Cup or Olympic tournaments.
Vardon points to Lakers guard Austin Reaves as one of those players. The 25-year-old is third in scoring for the U.S. at 12.4 PPG and second in steals at 1.3 per game. He has also regularly been on the court late in close games.
“I think I’ve been able to learn a lot from a lot of really good players, a lot of really good coaches, and basically just see that I belong,” Reaves said.
International play has often been the springboard for players to assert themselves as future stars, such as Kevin Durant in the 2010 World Championship, Vardon notes. Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards appears ready to move into that role, and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton may be as well.
“I think being the point guard with other great scorers, other great players and understand that they want to be on the court at the same time as me, they want me to be in there to get them involved,” Haliburton said.
There’s more on Team USA:
- Friday’s loss to Germany was among the topics addressed by global ambassadors Pau Gasol, Luis Scola and Carmelo Anthony during an appearance on a talk show, relays Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. Anthony, one of the most accomplished international players in American history, considers the result an “upset,” but not a huge surprise. “You have to take your hat off to Germany, and for Serbia as well,” Anthony said. “That’s good for the sport, everybody has to think differently when approaching these competitions. The game has grown globally. Everybody has an opportunity to go there and win a gold medal.”
- Lack of size was an issue for the U.S. not only against Germany but throughout the World Cup, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. He notes that in three games against larger European teams, the Americans gave up 53 offensive rebounds and 64 second-chance points.
- Stephen Curry is Team USA’s “must-have guy” for the Paris Olympics, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Instead of turning to LeBron James and Durant again, Rankin would like to see the 2024 roster built around Curry with Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, Bam Adebayo and Jarrett Allen all in prominent roles.
Embarrassing …….
Team USA is a joke if they bringing in those guys. Serbia with Jokic will beat them easily
Not americas best by any stretch of the imagination.
None of those is better than the European bigs, which again leads to bad D. Hard to see Butler or AD dedicate a summer month to the Olympics. Tatum and Booker I can see, Steph will likely be injured.
With the emphasis on 3s and not much else, the tide is turning. Not necessarily a bad thing as an NBA season is a hundred times more important than national teams.
I understand losing to Canada. Cause they had guys out with illness. At least they made it close.
Germany is good but not that good. They are a deeper team. But not as deep as USA. USA needed another big. And Kerr small ball is not going to work. Without a guy named Curry. 64 second chance pts is inexcusable.
I know this is not our top team. But they had enough imo. Team ball is a real thing. Other teams know each other better. Teams can get on a roll here. Kerr was the wrong choice. Spoelstra or Thibs would have been a better choice.