(This is an opinion on the article Team USA Men’s Basketball, in Spite of Itself, Remains an Olympics Goliath by Jonathan Tjarks from The Ringer on August 24, 2016.)
It was still golden in the end!
Coach K’s last hurrah with (NBA) USA Men’s basketball team was a mix of poor play (several nail-biters) and bad chemistry.
Oh, yeah they were still (mildly) dominant (blowout of Serbia).
The talent was there, but their roles didn’t complement unlike the past years.
Probably because top talent stayed away (LeBron and other superstars) or was it the lack of practice scrimmages?
Or it might be the coaching staff sleep-walking?
Or probably the rest of the world is not as intimidated as before in facing Team USA?
With overlapping skills (and roles), poor defense, and not enough firepower Team USA was beatable in Rio. This prompted them to rely heavily on 1-on-1 plays further hampering ball movement and offensive flow.
The rest of the competition (playing together for years) tried to exploit these weaknesses by team effort, (dizzying) ball movement and great shooting.
But why did Team USA still walk away with the gold medals?
Those teams were either not complete, not healthy, lacked athleticism and not quite ready to take on the giant.
The rest of the basketball world is now catching up. The gap of talents and systems has narrowed.
Before the end of this decade an upset may happen (like the Manu Ginobili-led Argentina 2004 team) to prove that USA Basketball is dominant no more.
In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Team USA has an even bigger target on their backs.- See more at: http://awinaway.com/2016/08/24/usa-basketball-dominant-no-more/#sthash.GU0ZA1Kl.s7rzA3za.dpuf