Kevin Love is a unique talent and one whose game fits well in international basketball — he’s a big man who shot 37.6 percent from three last NBA season to stretch the floor, and for his career he grabs better than 20 percent of the available rebounds when on the court. Plus for Team USA he’s a great outlet passer on a team that wants to run opponents into the ground. He’s a matchup nightmare for other teams.
Team USA will miss him in Spain now that he has dropped out of the World Cup competition for this summer. Also out are power forwards Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge. We (and I’ll use “we” here as I’m an American) could have used all of them.
But this is far from devastating for Team USA.
The first thing you need to remember is that assembling a team for international basketball is different from putting together an NBA team. Different style of ball. Think back to the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medal teams from the USA, they had just two or three traditional NBA “bigs” on the roster and only one was ever on the court at a time. We saw a lot of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the four (neither of those men are available for the team this summer).
Bigs who can shoot from deep and provide quickness matter more — and Team USA has that in droves.
As for the power forward position… I’d like you to meet Kevin Durant.
From a guy who knows the international game, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.
Too much gloom and doom surrounding Love's withdrawal from Team USA. We have the best int'l style stretch-4 in the world in Kevin Durant.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) July 26, 2014
Drummond and Anthony Davis are the perfect centers to play the style of basketball the US likes. Block shots, rebound, finish on pick & roll
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) July 26, 2014
This also opens the door for DeMarcus Cousins and Kenneth Faried, who will be in camp, as well as Anthony Davis (pretty much a lock to make the team) and Andre Drummond.
USA Basketball President Jerry Colangelo spoke with Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports about the opportunities this opens up for others such as Chandler Parsons who can play either the three or four.
There is one legitimate concern about the NBA’s front line — facing Spain. That would be the second best team in the world (silver medals the last two Olympics) with a front line of Marc and Pau Gasol. You need enough size on the roster to be ready for that matchup. Remember in the 2012 London Olympics gold medal game Spain was right with Team USA until Marc Gasol got in foul trouble. On their home court with their home crowds (the FIBA World Cup takes place in Spain), the USA can’t count on those kinds of breaks.
But the fact is the USA is so deep with talent and athleticism that the loss of talented players — even a Kevin Love — is far from devastating. Team USA is still the favorites and they have plenty of options along the front line. Colangelo put it this way to Marc Stein of ESPN.
