With three players bowing out of contention for the final roster in the past couple days, the USA basketball team for the 2019 FIBA World Cup to be held in various spots around mainland China is just about finalized.
The games are set to begin August 31 and run through September 15. Regardless of the numerous NBA stars that have decided to sit out this year's competition, the US team is still the odds-on favorite to take home the championship for an unprecedented third time in a row. Star-studded teams easily (except for a couple close games with the Gasols' Spanish team) claimed first in the 2010 and 2014 tournaments.
Here's the team in 2010:
And the team in 2014:
Looking back on it, the most surprising element of these two championship rosters is the absence of so many stars that were stars in the era of that roster. First, most American players care a lot less about the World Cup than they do the Olympics. If we were to compare the Olympics rosters in the years after these championships, we would see that those rosters had a lot more firepower. Second, except for Kobe, Chauncey, and J-Kidd in 2010 (which was still an important rebuilding year for the US national basketball program), the World Cup rosters are dominated by up-and-coming talent and not proven stars.
With that history in mind, a lot of the press that has come out lately stating "Oh my god, look how much talent has left the team!" from places like SB Nation and The Guardian is ignoring this history.
I mean, take a look. Kenneth Faried and Mason Plumlee were on the 2014 team that went 9-0 in the tournament. They played significant minutes as the backup bigs. The team won every game by more than 20 points.
Yes, the international talent has seen a massive upgrade in the intervening five years, particularly in Canada, France and Greece. Although it remains to be seen if the Antetokounmpo brothers can do anything with their squad, it's still a threat when you have the reigning NBA MVP on your international squad roster.
Let's take a look at the current version of the 2019 World Cup roster:
Now keep in mind that one of these guys is going to be cut. We can make an educated guess on who that is going to be by taking a look at yesterday's 90-81 victory over Spain, a team that sports a starting five of former and current NBA players. The Spanish team is certainly on the decline, but it has long been the archenemy of the US team on the international stage, even taking home the FIBA World Cup gold in 2006. This game was an easy victory for the states. So again, what's the worry here? The press (as usual) is just looking for clickbait.
Given that the guy with the lowest minutes in this game, De'Aaron Fox, has already left the team, we can assume that the next lowest minutes guys would be potentially on the chopping block. That group would include (in alphabetical order):
- Harrison Barnes
- Jaylen Brown
- Brook Lopez
- Derrick White
We all know that versatility is the name of the game international basketball. Barnes is an aging swing man who played the worst statistical game against Spain. He is probably the least versatile of this group. Plus, he doesn't play for Gregg Popovich like Derrick White does. My money is on him leaving or getting cut. Plus, Fox is his teammate. Vivek Ranadive just may prefer to bring his two best players back to Sacramento for the rest of the offseason for training.
However, as is often the case, the battle for the final roster spot may just be decided by injury. Marcus Smart did not even play in the Spain game. He's dealing with "calf tightness" but says he's "100% confident" he will play in the World Cup.
If that's true, the Celtics would have fully one-third of the roster in this year's World Cup. Why is that significant? Go take another look at the 2014 roster above.
The Golden State Warriors backcourt played magnificently in the 2014 tournament with Steph Curry as the starting SG and Klay Thompson as the 6th man. They used the chemistry refined in that tournament to springboard their NBA team to 5 straight Finals appearances and 3 NBA championships.
If Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown all make this team, the chances are high that Boston and its magnificent coach Brad Stevens will make a similar leap in the 2019-2020 NBA season.
I can't wait till the 2019 FIBA World Cup tipoff! How about you?
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I'd love to hear what you think about the upcoming tournament.