After some chatter during the leadup to the Olympics that Team USA might be vulnerable, it’s now 2-0 in group play, with comfortable wins over both Serbia (the fourth-ranked team in the world) and South Sudan (who nearly beat the Americans in a July exhibition game).
There’s a reason the Americans were heavy favorites to win this tournament, and the early results are making it harder to predict an upset.
Team USA’s dominance could persist between these few weeks in the summer, too. FIBA basketball is obviously different than the NBA, but some of what the Americans are doing in Paris make plenty of sense back in the league.
The five lessons Team USA is teaching below could help every NBA team.
This is probably a bigger deal in the FIBA game than it is in the NBA, in part because the court is smaller and defenders can take the ball off the rim without getting called for goaltending, but post-ups are becoming increasingly dangerous throughout the basketball world.
And I don’t mean for the teams defending those post-ups.
The most difficult thing for a team to cover is constant ball and player movement. If defensive units have to move side to side without ever getting a second to take a breather, they’re likelier to eventually break down.
That’s why so many teams have tried to emulate some of the principles that led the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs or mid-2010s Golden State Warriors to championships.
When the ball goes to the low block for an old-school post-up, there’s instantly an easy spot to key in on. If it stays there for a few seconds, defenders on the weakside can take a little break. And while good passers from the low and high post can turn some of those things into advantages, most centers and power forwards aren’t Nikola Jokić.
That’s part of why Team USA has looked faster and more dynamic when Anthony Davis or Bam Adebayo are on the floor in place of Joel Embiid.
Now, of course, Embiid is one of the absolute best scorers in the world. On a floor with a little more spacing and in a system built to accentuate his strengths, Embiid’s post touches and knack for generating free-throw attempts are a big part of what makes him so good.
But unless you have one of those all-time great bigs, in FIBA or the NBA, more motion-heavy attacks should be the goal.
Devin Booker Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Through 80 minutes of group play, Team USA is plus-43 on the scoreboard and has put up 62 three-point attempts (or about one three-point attempt for every minute and 20 seconds of game time).
This isn’t exactly a revolutionary take. Most teams have understood the value of threes for years, but the opening of this tournament has served as a reminder of just how important they are.
In the opener against Serbia, a rising basketball power with the best individual player in the world, Team USA went down early before a series of jump shots from Kevin Durant swung the momentum.
In both games, starting Devin Booker has felt like the right call from Kerr, since a catch-and-shoot threat like him can take some attention away from a ball-dominant playmaker like LeBron James.
Offenses at any level of basketball don’t necessarily have to be built entirely around hunting three-point attempts, but if you’re not getting them up with decent volume, you’re almost asking to fall behind offensively
With the exception of Embiid, every player on Team USA’s roster can guard multiple positions. And I don’t just mean a big like AD or Bam can survive on the perimeter for a few seconds after a switch. Both can be trusted with an assignment to guard a 4.
Derrick White and Jrue Holiday have guard size, but they can lock down 1s, 2s and 3s. Against certain matchups, they might even be fine against power forwards.
Of course, this team had the luxury of picking through an absurdly deep talent pool to create all this defensive versatility. It also didn’t have to worry about the draft, trades, contracts and a collective bargaining agreement.
None of the 30 organizations in the league can get everything on their team-building wishlists, but versatility should at least be on there. It makes substitutions easier. Defensive rotations can be simplified with more switches. And throwing multiple looks at high-level scorers can throw them off.
Yes, there is more superstar power outside Team USA than ever before.
Non-American teams in this tournament have the top three in 2023-24 NBA MVP voting in Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo, just to name a few.
And that’s part of why the tournament was expected to be a bit more competitive than it’s been in previous Olympics.
But no nation’s depth of star talent compares to America’s. And while the NBA’s new, more restrictive collective bargaining agreement will likely make it harder to assemble superteams, it shouldn’t be mistaken for ushering in an era of a bunch of 2004 Detroit Pistons.
If you scan through the entire history of the league, it’s pretty hard to find outliers like that. Most championship-winning teams have at least one of the absolute best basketball players in the world. Plenty of them have more than one.
Starpower will likely carry Team USA to gold in 2024, and it’s probably still a prerequisite to NBA titles, too