A couple days into the Team USA practices in New York -- and with tip-off of the World Basketball Classic tomorrow at Radio City Music Hall -- here are two things becoming clear about this team:
They are going to use a lot of pressure defenses, and they are going to bomb threes.
The defensive pressure thing is nothing new -- the USA has used that consistently under Mike Krzyzewski. It also makes a ton of sense. The USA has the best athletes in international ball so use that to put pressure on opposing ball handlers, force turnovers then convert those into transition points.
This younger team should be able to run like the wind -- even bigs like JaVale McGee, Lamar Odom and Jeff Green can run the floor well. But running is always based on defense -- you can’t run well taking the ball out of the basket. Creating turnovers is part of that, Kevin Love crashing the boards then whipping outlet passes down court is another part.
Then there is the shooting -- with a less skilled team inside look for this USA team to love the three. And nearly every player outside Tyson Chandler and McGee can hit the three. Love will drop threes, as will Odom and just about every wing and guard. Kevin Durant has seemingly unlimited range.
But teams that live by the three can die by the three. According to NBA.com, Wednesday Team USA was scrimmaging against a college All-Star team, gave up an 8-0 run because Team USA went cold from three for a stretch. Better teams at the FIBA World Championships could do worse damage to Team USA in a cold streak like that.
One other note, Rajon Rondo missed practice due to a death in the family, but he is expected to return to the team Thursday. Danny Granger missed practice as well after dislocating his ring finger yesterday, and he may return in the coming days but no timetable has been set.