With a 3-2 record heading into the Olympic quarterfinals, there is no doubt that the 2004 U.S. basketball team has been at a low point—probably the lowest—in the American history of the event. Other countries have thus far been able to field superior teams, but American players are still the best in the world. For example, although Sarunas Jasikevicius torched America for 28 points in Lithuania’s 94-90 victory, he has yet to make an NBA roster despite trying out for nearly every team.
Yes, Europe has produced All-Star caliber players such as Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Gasol, but players like Shaquille O’Neal and Lebron James—players with extreme size, athleticism and skills—are not found any where but America. So why then is the American team struggling to defeat teams comprised of less talented players?
One reason is that winning an Olympic gold medal is not a top priority for NBA players. The Olympics are held in the off-season, when players are recuperating from the most physically taxing basketball league in the world. The stars are simply not interested in playing with extreme effort before the NBA season starts. There is little America can do to remove those two obstacles because winning an NBA World Championship will always be the No. 1 goal for professional players.
The good news is the above problems did not prevent NBA players from taking home gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Therefore, those problems cannot be the complete cause of the 2004 team’s troubles.
The biggest difficulty for this year’s team is that the 2004 representatives are far from the best available. There’s no Kobe, no Shaq, no KG, no Kidd and no T-Mac.
The second biggest hurdle is that this is by far the least balanced group the Americans have fielded since NBA players were added the Olympics. Tim Duncan is the only player that could start at center for an NBA contender, and his natural position is power forward. Stephon Marbury is the only player who has played point-guard for his entire career (Dwyane Wade played shooting-guard in college), and the best three-point shooter on the team, Richard Jefferson, has a career percentage of 31.6 from behind the arc. In addition, nearly every player on the team is a slasher, a style which is easily neutralized by international zone defenses.
The obvious solution is to have the designated Olympic coach choose which players are on his team. For the current games, a committee chaired by Stu Jackson selected all of the players. Giving the coach the ability to craft his team would eliminate the glaring deficiencies of this year’s squad.
The coach could even use a combination of college and professional players. For example, if the U.S. basketball team had Duke’s J.J. Redick on the floor, its 4-point loss to Lithuania would likely have been a 10-point win. Redick will probably never come close to making an NBA All-Star team, but his shooting ability would give the team a skill it does not currently have.
A combination of college and professional players would also allow roles to be better defined. A player like Redick would be far more inclined to back up Allen Iverson without complaint than someone like Carmelo Anthony.
College coaches should also be considered for the head coaching position of the national team. The international game is far closer to the college game than the professional one. Marbury even once said that he felt like he was learning the college game all over again. Who could better deal with this adjustment than a college coach?
Though the 2004 team can still win the gold, there are weaknesses on the team that can be easily improved. If USA Basketball chooses to ignore these problems, sixth-place finishes in international tournaments will be the future of American basketball, not flukes of the past.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.