On paper, the U.S. Olympic men’s team looks like one of the best collections of talent since 1992, The Athletic’s Joe Vardon writes while pondering the team’s upside.
“I don’t know if Magic, Michael and Larry, if they coined that [nickname] themselves and walked around calling themselves the Dream Team or if that was the nickname that fans and media gave them, [but] I feel like we’re going to have the same vibe,” Stephen Curry said of how this year’s team compares to the Dream Team.
The Americans certainly looked the part in their blowout win over Serbia on Sunday, but it wasn’t smooth sailing up to that point. The U.S. almost lost to Germany and South Sudan in consecutive exhibition games. As Vardon writes, it’s a testament to how the talent around the world has grown. When the 1992 team competed, only nine other players outside of the U.S. team were in the NBA. This year, an Olympic-record 47 athletes are in the NBA and 35 more have at least some league experience.
“It’s the strongest field ever,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “The game gets better and better globally, more and more NBA players, but also teams are more and more comfortable playing against us, and so we know that every game’s going to be difficult and we have to prepare for that and be ready because these teams are coming after us.”
While the Americans look like the favorite for the gold medal, Vardon cautions that it’s far from a guarantee. In a similar piece, The Ringer’s Michael Pina writes that Team USA’s low three-point rate is seemingly one of the team’s only weaknesses.
We have more from the U.S. Olympic team:
- Kevin Durant‘s near-perfect game against Serbia highlighted their 110-84 win. LeBron James‘ 23-point, nine-assist and seven-rebound game showed that the U.S. team should continue to rely on its older guys, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes in a takeaways piece from the first game. Jones also contemplates whether Joel Embiid should continue to start, writing that Kerr may simply just like the effective frontcourt pairing of Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis off the bench. Jones also observes Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton picking up DNPs in the first game and ponders if Kerr’s rotation choices will be consistent or fluctuate on a matchup basis.
- Embiid had a rough showing in his first official Team USA outing, Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. He finished with four points and two rebounds in just over 11 minutes and didn’t seem 100%. His decision to play for Team USA over France earned him boos from the crowd in Paris and Sielski wonders — even if he was hampered with an injury or illness — if adapting his game benefits either him or his team. Embiid is one of the best players in the world but he has always been the featured player on his teams and may be taking more of a backseat on the Olympic squad, Sielski writes.
- Jrue Holiday and Derrick White played similar roles in the team’s first game as they do for the reigning-champion Celtics, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes. Both players complement star-filled rosters on either team and often take the task of guarding the opposing team’s best player. “It makes it easy for me and Jrue,” White said. “We just try to go out there and do what we do and try to help us impact winning whenever we can. I know we’ve got a lot of talented guys on the team.”
All this negative talk about Embiid right now just goes to show how badly the media/weird fans need to find something to hate on. He was about as good yesterday as Steph was but I haven’t seen Steph get any hate. The previous 2 games Joel was absolutely unstoppable & 1 of the main reasons that USA won those games. When he chose USA as the team he’d play for I sorta strugged it off as something that didn’t really matter much bc of how talented the team would already be. But after watching these guys play 6 times it’s very obvious that he makes this a much better (& frankly unbeatable) team. Most people want this team to lose. Let’s just go ahead & say that out loud. Y’all want them to lose & best case scenario would be for Joel to somehow be the cause. Anybody that’s watched these guys play & understood what they were watching should know by now that its very unlikely that anybody beats them. Only team that really has a chance is Canada tbh & obv they have nobody that can guard Joel. Just try to appreciate this greatness that y’all are watching.
I’m surprised you are not talking about South Sudan. If the kid they have at center continues on his growth path, he could rule the NBA.
I been talking about South Sudan almost nonstop over the past few days but being honest this forum isn’t a place where I could imagine having any type of nuanced discussion about those guys. A team full of dark skinned Black guys who y’all have never heard of. Lol I mean that’s about as far from the wheelhouse of this group as possible.
But since you asked I obv love this team. These are all guys who I was big fans of in college, esp Peter Jok, JT Thor & Shayok. I love Royal Ivey for his influence on guys like Josh Smith when he was with the Hawks. Even when Ivey was at Texas it was sorta obv that he’d be a really good head coach one day. It’s a trip that they just played Puerto Rico because Carlik Jones reminds me so much of Carlos Arroyo from 20yrs ago. I don’t remember the kid Udot at all from his days at Baylor but he is truly one of their most important players bc of his versatility. I totally understand why Ivey had Thor guarding Bron on the last possession in the SSD/USA friendly. But if that’s Udot guarding him instead I feel like Bron def wouldn’t have gotten to the rim as easily. I don’t think there’s any chance they beat USA on Wednesday but they def have a chance vs Serbia bc Carlik Jones is gonna go crazy that game. Serbia are really gonna struggle keeping him out the paint & when they start to focus more on him that’s gonna leave Shayok & others open for treys. Serbia should win & will obv need that W to advance but they’re gonna have to protect their defensive glass to beat the upstart Africans.
As far as Malauch I haven’t been nearly as impressed by him in FIBA play as you have. I was way more impressed by his play in the Duke scrimmages that took place earlier this summer. He looked like he should be their starting 5 from watching those games. So far with SSD he’s looked like the youngest guy on the court every time I’ve seen him. Of course he is the youngest guy on the court every time he’s out there so it’s not a knock or anything but I don’t see a guy that’s gonna dominate the league just yet. In comparison I saw Embiid the summer before he went to KU & I immediately saw young Olajuwon. Malauch has a ways to go to get there. VJ Edgecombe is also a rising college frosh & he def looked more NBA ready to me in his FIBA action this summer. But this experience Malauch is gonna get in the next couple of games against legends like Embiid/Jokic/ADavis will help him A LOT no doubt.. link to m.youtube.com
After watching Philly for years, I see Joel is individually unstoppable but not so great as a team player.
“Rule the NBA”?! Over exaggerate much ? Nobody in next years draft class has generational talent. Kid is just a big boned version of thon maker.
Another lecture, another flop.