A lot has been made about the number of high-profile withdrawals from Team USA for the upcoming FIBA World Cup. The current 14-member squad features only a handful of players who were on the preliminary roster. The rest have withdrawn for various reasons, usually citing injury.
Despite fielding a roster of mid-level NBA starters, the USA will still be favored to win the World Cup. At the very least, they're expected to claim one of the two Olympic berths available to the highest-placing teams from the Americas. And that's their only real goal. Otherwise, they'll be required to play in a final Olympic Qualifying Tournament next Spring, likely without any NBA players at all.
None of this is a real surprise. Sure, the number of withdrawals is slightly alarming and, among the remaining names, there's only about five guys I've ever heard of. But, simply put, the U.S. doesn't care about the World Cup. For the rest of the world, the World Cup and Olympics are equally important. Not the U.S. The Olympics are No. 1 and the World Cup isn't even a close second.
As a result, the World Cup roster rarely resembles an Olympic roster. After winning bronze at the Athens Olympics and 2006 World Cup, the U.S. rebounded with a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics (with one of the best NBA teams ever to represent the U.S.). Then at the 2010 World Cup, none of those 2008 Olympians were on a roster headlined by Kevin Durant. In 2014, there were two Olympic holdovers in James Harden and Anthony Davis.
So what's the difference this year? Well, the blame for that falls squarely on FIBA. They made a very short-sighted decision to reschedule the World Cup so that it would be the year after soccer's World Cup, which FIBA thought "overshadowed" their event (even though they never actually took place at the same time...and they manage to have both the soccer World Cup and Winter Olympics in the same year with no problem).
Anyway, after FIBA's decision to move the World Cup to the year before the Olympics, I'm not surprised that it's been difficult for the U.S. to draw top NBA players. If you think about the schedule FIBA's asking them to play, they'd go two straight years without a break if they played in both events (2019 World Cup in September, right into training camp, 2019-20 season starts in October, 2020 Finals in June, 2020 Olympics in July, a few weeks off, training camp in September, 2020-21 season starts in October). That would be an absurd expectation even if these guys weren't constantly complaining about rest!
And, who we kidding? American fans don't care about the Basketball World Cup either. Yes, the two are related. Fans would care more if the better players were going to be there. But the priority is on the Olympics for the fans, too. Which is why we have this second-tier roster for the World Cup. And it wouldn't be a surprise to see 12 completely different faces wearing the red, white and blue next summer in Tokyo than those who'll be representing the USA next month in China.
The 2019 World Cup team member most likely to be considered for the 2020 Olympic team is Kemba Walker (who has certainly become the face of the team). Although, you'd have to think that he'd be, at best, the third choice point guard behind Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving, why is why I don't think anybody on the World Cup squad can be viewed as a lock. Especially since most, if not all, of the marquee names will almost certainly be available.
Assuming the full selection of All-NBA players is available, the Olympic roster isn't going to just look significantly different as this year's. It'll also be significantly better. And actually include guys you've heard of! But who will those 12 players be? Let's take a look...
If healthy, LeBron looks to be a lock for a fourth (and probably final) Olympic team. So does Steph Curry, who withdrew from consideration for the 2016 team. I'd also think Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook and James Harden are on the team if they want.
Meanwhile, one name who figures not to be on next year's Olympic team no matter what is Kevin Durant. Considering he's likely going to miss the entire 2019-20 season, it simply wouldn't be smart for all parties involved to even think about it. Does the USA want a player, even one as talented as Durant, who hasn't played a competitive game in more than a year on the Olympic team? Do the Nets want their multi-million-dollar investment, who's already going to miss the first year of that contract, to play for the Olympic team before he ever plays a game for them? And does Durant really want to risk further injury by rushing back just to be on another Olympic team (especially since he'll still be around in 2024)?
With all that in mind, here's my 12-player roster that's headed to Japan for the 2020 Olympics: Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Klay Thompson, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green, Paul George, Blake Griffin.
We'll see how the Warriors' annual trip to the Finals impacts the roster and their players' decisions whether or not to play. Although, putting Steve Kerr on the coaching staff was smart. If they're on the fringe, that could be a deciding factor that gets them to play.
Unlike the women's team, they won't spend the entire year training and playing together. And, unlike some other countries, every spot on the U.S. National Team is up for grabs. Which is a nice problem to have. Because, whether you want to consider them a "B", "C" or even "D" team, the roster representing the United States at the 2019 World Cup will still be 12 NBA players. So, even if they're not as good as the guys who'll be in Tokyo, they're still pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment