USA Basketball: How the Mighty Have Fallen

If you have been watching the FIBA basketball championships, and I know I haven't, you may be on the verge of an epiphany.  USA Basketball has either precipitously deteriorated, or the rest of the world has fast-tracked their programs to catch us.

It is hard to tell which is happening: is USA Basketball in the tank or do the rest of the world simply have some fantastic players and a new commitment to hoops?  I think as always, the answer lies somewhere between these two extremes.

Clearly, this FIBA team is not the best squad that the USA could trot out, but it still boasts some elite talent.  LeBron, Kobe, Dwight Howard, and D Wade are not here.  However, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, and Chauncey Billups are All-Star level players, and there is plenty of other talent rounding out this squad.

So then why was this FIBA squad in a dog fight with Lithuania well into the third quarter?  The nationalistic announcers struggled to explain the US team's issues offering up choice nuggets like "Well, Linas Kleiza is a dangerous player," and, "Well, Lithuania has a couple of guys that played at the college level in the United States."  Are you kidding me?  Linas Kleiza and a battalion of Drew Neitzel wannabes that played unspectacularly at American University are giving NBA All Stars fits?

Why does the US need a last-second block to defeat Spain as time expires?  Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon, Marc Gasol.  Yes, these are solid NBA players, but these names can be found filling up the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year ballot, not an All-Star roster.

There must be more here than meets the eye.  Sure the FIBA ball is different, as is the lane, and the rules differ a bit in international play, but with the US' talent and athleticism advantage, we should be able to blow the doors off of any other country even if they were dribbling tennis balls down the court.

I think the answer to these quandaries lies in the brand of basketball that is being taught to US players in this day and age along with the style of play being promoted by the NBA.  David Stern has created a league where Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on Dwight Howard and the Magic.  It is not two teams playing each other, it is two CEOs and their assistants battling each other for star power supremacy.

Rudy Gay: Dunker

When this mentality rules the day in the NBA, and when all of these players conditioned to be individual talents are asked to mesh into a cohesive team, we see an identity crisis.  Watching Iguodala, Gay, and Lamar Odom share the floor is like watching Sage Steele and Hannah Storm run an episode of SportsCenter into the ground.  They are both eye candy, sure, but they serve the exact same function, looking good.  You need a Scott Van Pelt in there to provide the comedy, the insight, and some form of sports knowledge.  The entire USA roster contains long athletes that can rebound and give you a highlight dunk, but they have essentially one player (Durant) that can knock down a jump shot.  Versatility is completely absent from this team.

This generation of NBA players has become one-dimensional.  Dwight Howard—not on the FIBA squad—has not developed any facet of his offensive game beyond a power dunk despite being in the league six years.  LeBron still can't shoot a jumper.  Derrick Rose survives on pure speed and strength.  I am pretty sure I could vanquish Rajon Rondo in a three point contest.

On the flip side, we see all kinds of international players with well-rounded skill sets.  No player has a more polished post game than Spaniard Pau Gasol.  The best shooting big man is a German, Dirk Nowitzki.  The Italian Andrea Bargnani, the top pick a few years ago, was drafted as 7-footer with a guard's skill set.

Derek Rose: Textbook Jump Shot

Basketball is a team game where skills and chemistry will trump athleticism every time.  The Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, and Denver Nuggets have learned this over and over the past couple of seasons.  Don't get me wrong, athletes that can dunk from the free throw line and jump out of the gym have their place in the game, but they are only effective when complemented by floor-spacing shooters, skilled low post players, and ball distributers that can see the floor.

The United States continually produces the same type of player again and again.  Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett are a dying breed of versatile and multifaceted NBA players being replaced by the dunktastic Lebrons, Howards, Blake Griffins and the ultra-quick but no jump shot Roses, Westbrooks, and Rondos.

Clearly this has had an impact on the USA's international prowess, but it is also going to have an effect on the overall quality of basketball played in the NBA.  Ten years from now, what will the NBA look like?  Will jump shots be outlawed?  Will teams shoot 30% in games and receive three points for dunking?

Our last hope for a well-rounded player

I am not sure exactly how far the US has fallen, but it appears that this is a holistic issue of what players in this country are being taught, what they are seeing on television, and which players they are emulating.  United States basketball must take a page out of Europe's book, (and the US government should probably borrow some European ideas as well) and start preaching skill over athleticism.  If not, we could be looking at more international embarrassments and a truly ugly brand of basketball moving forward for the NBA.

--from Adam

(first two images from zimbio.com, third from espn.com)