Kevin Durant‘s status for Team USA’s first Olympic game will be a group decision, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. A strained right calf prevented Durant from playing in any of the team’s exhibition contests, but he was able to practice on Wednesday, and his agent, Rich Kleiman, told Windhorst that Durant felt good enough to play in the last two games in London.
“It’s not just our training staff, but [USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill] is constantly in touch with Kevin’s people and with the Suns,” coach Steve Kerr said regarding the decision on whether Durant will be available Sunday against Serbia. “This is not going to be like us going out and saying, ‘Hey, let’s just throw him out there.’ This will be a big collaboration.”
After Monday’s victory over Germany, Kerr said Durant was “day-to-day” and needed to go through two straight practices and a scrimmage before being cleared to play. A full-contact practice planned for Thursday should indicate the progress for Durant, who suffered the calf injury roughly a month ago.
“The plan is for him to get in the scrimmage and see how he handles that,” Kerr said. “He looked good today and he did everything and got a lot of shots up and told me he’s feeling pretty good.”
There’s more on Team USA:
- Kerr was unhappy with the slowness of Monday’s game, marking the closest he has come all summer to criticizing his team, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Instead of pushing the ball to maximize their advantages in speed and athleticism, the Americans frequently settled for setting up in their halfcourt offense. They also allowed Germany to hit 13 three-pointers and dominate the offensive boards. “I hated our pace the other day against Germany — we were just walking the ball up the floor,” Kerr said. “The tape was tough to watch.”
- Jim Boylen was experiencing a difficult time both personally and professionally when he got an offer from USA Basketball in 2021, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. In addition to being fired as head coach of the Bulls, Boylen went through a divorce and dealt with the death of his brother. He was asked to coach the U.S. in qualifying games for the FIBA World Cup, which was the first step toward reaching the Olympics. “The competitive part of it was exactly what I needed at that point in my life,” Boylen said.
- Danny Chau of The Ringer examines Canada’s growth into a basketball power that may be poised to win its first basketball Olympic medal since 1936.
Too many stars that feel they should score. Embiid needs to pass more and Edwards is not a PG. Booker is 2nd team not first team.
Ok coach
Boylen’s Bulls teams were all poorly coached train wrecks. How he is still coaching at any level let alone with great players is mind boggling. Guess just like everything else, it’s who you know.
Crazy how team USA having all-superstars (who aren’t role players in the NBA) ends up having shortcomings because you NEED role players to create lanes for the primary scorers. Having 5 players who are all primary scorers in the NBA suddenly have to act like role players in the moment is actually a difficult thing to stop on a dime and do, when all you have ever been asked is to be the primary scorer. This issue has radnomly muddied the national teams play for decades.
You should quit your job at Arby’s and coach them my guy
Team USA should have had tryouts(like the did back in the day). To see which players would show out, or see different lineups of players who would gel more with the older players(bron, steph, kd). Instead of randomly picking players based on their NBA status. I’m not even joking(or trying to be a hindsight guy) I knew kawhi wasnt going to make it to Paris.