Under director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski, USA Basketball has acted fluidly in making decisions about its final rosters. National team training camps have truly acted as tryouts. Philosophies about style of play were made on the fly, just before the 12-man rosters were set.
Without its stars, Team USA decides to go with size
Obviously, USA Basketball won’t look the same without stars like Kevin Durant, but the rise of Anthony Davis and the inclusion of three true centers gives this team a more classical look.
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But have the rosters set the style or has the style set the rosters?
This year, for the first time in many, the latter is true. USA will have the ability to use its size in the 2014 World Cup. DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond and Mason Plumlee, along with Anthony Davis, made the final cut, while a crop of wings and an even deeper group of guards will be left in the states.
This is a new identity for Team USA. Following the Redeem Team in 2008, the emergence of Kevin Durant allowed for small ball. The 2010 FIBA Championship squad leaned heavily on Durant, the versatile Lamar Odom and, at times, center Tyson Chandler to hold down the paint. The last Olympic team had Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony eating up a good deal of frontcourt minutes with Chandler acting as one lonely center. On those teams, who would make the roster was pretty clear-cut. So too was the style of play.
Durant’s inclusion made it obvious how Team USA would identify -- fast, long and with a shooting ability sometimes out to the center slot. Without him this year, it was back to the drawing board.
Krzyzewski knows winning gold at the World Cup will be a difficult task in Spain, where the biggest threat is Spain. Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka once again stand in the USA's way, and in any case, the Americans want the ability to mirror their opponents. They don't quite have the horses to impose their old style on any team and still be considered a heavy favorite.
The wings Team USA didn't send home, DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay, have more size and defensive versatility than either Gordon Hayward or Chandler Parsons, who were both cut. That Krzyzewski could be going with a smaller backcourt with Stephen Curry at shooting guard also means that rebounding and paint protection from the 3-5 positions will need even more emphasis than it would otherwise.
Colangelo laid the decision out to ESPN’s Marc Stein this weekend after the rosters were announced:
“This gives us an opportunity to do some things we haven’t had a chance to do in the past,” Colangelo said. “It’s true that the preferred style of play [in recent years] has been going small, but you have to ask: Was that by choice or by necessity?”
“Early on [this summer], we said it would be hard to carry four bigs, but that was kind of put on the shelf. Certainly there won’t be any discussion going forward about, ‘What are you going to do about bigs, what are you going to do about playing teams with size?’ If Coach wishes to show a big front line, he now has the capacity to do so.”
Krzyzewski has mostly used a starting frontcourt of James Harden, Kenneth Faried and Davis during the exhibition schedule. It's possible USA continues to roll with what looks like a small-ball starting unit with Davis acting as center and Faried as an undersized four. But this is essentially a traditional lineup. Davis has the shooting range to attack in the mid-range on offense like a power forward, while on defense he acts as a classic, rim-protecting center. Both Davis and Faried are versatile enough to defend along the perimeter, and they play bigger than their heights and weights indicate.
Still, expect doses of true centers from Team USA. The final roster means Davis is likely to play a lot more power forward than once anticipated. Cousins will be a difficult player for opposing teams to defend -- his knee injury during the exhibition schedule makes it tough to see how he’ll be utilized, but he can fit well alongside Davis, especially. Drummond could be most important against a bigger team like Brazil or Spain, while Plumlee has a little more versatility playing against perimeter-oriented squads.
Going with size is a safer bet than the Americans playing the style of their last two national team runs. The hope is that a diluted USA roster hit with turnover can play without the simple flaw of being too small. All it would’ve taken is one loss for that risk to end Team USA’s gold medal hopes.
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