USA BBall: Analysis 3 games in

Well, it's been a while for me but it'd be a shame for me to skip out on all the Olympics fun. Without further ado, here's my analysis of Team USA Basketball after 3 games of group play.


Overall strengths:
This team is by far the most talented and has the most depth, and it shows. The team defense, when they turn it on, has been incredible. The overall athleticism is on display when they make spectacular steals, blocks, dunks, and overall hustle plays. Ball pressure, steals, and amazing blocks have been the true highlights of this team's defense. In addition, the team can penetrate the lane at will and has no problem setting up opportunities.

Overall weaknesses:
Oh boy, where do I begin? Even with these blowout victories, there are a lot of things the team is weak on. First off, where does the defense go half the time? After making a spectacular play, Team USA is prone to allowing the opponent to just WALK into the lane and make an easy layup/pass. This has just got to stop, it is absolutely atrocious. For all the amazing pressure defense they put on the opponent, they love to just let someone have the ball within 2 feet of the basket and score at will. What is going on here?
In addition, the team is still ridiculously weak at shooting free throws (NO ONE IS GUARDING YOU) and shooting open three pointers (NO ONE IS GUARDING YOU). Yes the guard penetration is happening at will but people are missing easy layups, easy wide open jumpers, and countless free throws.
Finally, the team is still not used to playing international ball. And by international ball, I mean wussy, flopping, oh my god you hit my hand I can't believe it, basketball. The refereeing is extremely confusing. When guards play outside the paint, you can't touch them without getting whistled. Of course, once a guard penetrates the lane, anything goes and they can be murdered on their way to a basket. Apparently all the other international teams understand this because they flop outside the paint (to get the foul call) and if they penetrate into the lane they kick it out because they know they can't get a call inside.


Now here come the grades for the players in alphabetical order:
Carmelo Anthony - C
The man who was supposedly our best international player has not shown up at all. There is no doubt that his style of basketball fits perfectly with international play. He can shoot the three, he can slash, he can shoot the midrange shot, he can take a pass in the lane and finish, and he's an overall fluid, finesse player. He even acts tough but is a wimp at heart (see: sucker punch in brawl at MSG). However, he hasn't shown any of his abilities well so far. He cannot seem to connect on any of his open looks (midrange or three) and is even missing simple layups.

Carlos Boozer - F
Skullhead traitor dude.

Chris Bosh - A+
Most people questioned his selection on the team, or at least how much he would contribute. However, Bosh has been the most pleasant surprise of Team USA and has shown how much a superstar like him can still be underrated. Mainly the critics of his selection noted that he did not help Team USA's lack of size, but this has not really been a problem. He hasn't been pushed around that much even though he is stick thin. He has been excellent on defense, swarming the opposition's big men and blocking shots well. He is extremely athletic, CAN finish, and just knows how to play ball. Unlike our other big men who seemingly have zero basketball IQ (see: Skullhead Traitor Dude above, Big Dumb Animal 2 below), Bosh actually knows where to be on the floor, how to finish plays, when to pass, how to defend, etc. I've become a big fan of him due to this tourney.

Kobe Bryant - B
Even though he had a great game vs. Greece, he has just not been his usual self. He shot an atrocious 10/27 FGs in the first two games, missing both typical Kobe shots and wide open jumpers. He could not hit a three-pointer to save his life for the longest time until he FINALLY turned it on during the Greece game. Now that he's got his confidence back, I think he'll start torching opponents again. Even with his poor offensive performance for 2 1/2 games, I will give him a B for his great defense and overall leadership to the team. He definitely could boost his grade by the end of the Olympics.

Dwight Howard - D-
OK, so he's no Kendrick Perkins (Big Dumb Animal 1), but this tournament has shown me that Dwight Howard has been succeeding in the NBA on pure physical talent alone. I guess I haven't been watching his games that closely but he must get all his points on simply overpowering defenders or easy dunks. He has no skills down low and is completely lost all the time. Whereas Bosh actually puts himself in good positions both offensively and defensively, Howard is way out of position all the time and often lets lesser opponents score easily on him. In the commentary for the Greece game, they mentioned that Tayshaun Prince had to teach him how to run screen and rolls. SCREEN AND ROLLS! He is an NBA big man, that's what he's supposed to specialize in!!! His rebounding and his blocking defense (not to be confused with ACTUAL defense) will always be there but that's cause he's a ridiculously jacked 6'11" athletic specimen. Huge disappointment. Imagine the player he could be if he actually had some basketball IQ.

Lebron James - B+
Well, Lebron has been absolutely incredible on defense. He's come up with some incredible blocks, just absolutely stuffing the defense. He's also come up with some great steals and overall great plays. However, he's been struggling offensively. He can't seem to make a lot of his driving layups, nor can he hit those open jumpers. He's also forced the issue on a lot of passes and caused some very dumb turnovers. His offense hasn't been atrocious but he's made as many dumb mistakes as he has great plays. If he eliminates his mistakes and fine tunes his shooting a little bit, I could bump him up to an A.

Jason Kidd - F
Kidd has been atrocious. I don't understand how he even finds playing time. I guess Coach K wants him on board for his "leadership", if leadership refers to playing slow and flat. He is just a step slow on defense, offense, and he can't seem to really spark the other players' offense. He is still an atrocious shooter and just makes USA play some bland basketball.

Chris Paul - A-
Paul hasn't been scoring a lot or even making the amazing passes that we're used to seeing in the NBA, but he has been running the team perfectly. He still has the ball on a yo-yo and sets up good (not flashy) opportunities for his teammates. He gives great pressure defense to the opponent and makes his teammates run and play true USA basketball. He needs to take over for Kidd.

Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd - Incomplete

Dwyane Wade - A
Like the commentator said during the Greece game, Wade has screwed himself over by actually playing defense in the Olympics. Now Pat Riley is going to push him to do that for 82 games in the NBA. It's unfortunate that Wade is a competitor when he wants to be, and not all the time. He is obviously over his injury and is as fast and strong as ever. He wants to prove a point so he has been playing great defense and has been scoring and penetrating at will. He's been absolutely superb and defenses can do nothing about him. He might wonder why the fans turned on him so quickly last year, but that's because he basically takes games off if he feels he has nothing to prove or nothing to win. And that's not what NBA fans like to see. They like to see players who play hard all the time, no matter what. That's why people feel sorry for KG when he was with the Wolves, not for Wade when the Heat fell to the worst record.

Deron Williams - C
Nothing too bad, but nothing particularly good about his performance. He's no Paul so far, but at least he's not Kidd.

The Referees - F-----------
These refs are so bad, even Hubie Brown would complain about them. My God, they have just been screwing the US so badly. Jason Kidd got 3 fouls in 2 minutes in the Greece game. No one will touch a jump shooter and a foul will be called. No one will touch a man on the way to a layup and somehow a foul is called. A player will push the hell out of a US player and either no foul is called or the foul is somehow on the US player. In general it is poor to assume that refs are unfairly influencing a game (99% of the time it's a fan being biased), but this has been so atrocious that even the commentators who are supposed to be neutral have been making sly suggestions like, "Refs are calling this game unusually tight" or "Interesting calls there".



Well, the US hasn't lost yet but there have been some major disappointments considering the depth and talent of this team. Hopefully they'll start to put it together. Spain should be a tough match but in reality no team should come within 20 points of the USA. They are focused, have continuity, have superior talent, and are playing hard to win. Let's hope they bring home the gold.