Team USA has assembled another Dream Team roster headlined by LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. On paper, this team has more talent than any roster in the Olympics, but sometimes that doesn’t mean anything.
After just a few days of practice, Team USA handed Canada, which also has NBA talent on the roster, an 86-72 loss in an exhibition game on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Team USA started slowly, missed their first six shots and settled for too many 3-point attempts, instead of driving to the basket. The second unit, behind Anthony Edwards and Anthony Davis, got things back on track, and the Americans cruised.
There were some good and not-so-good moments for head coach Steve Kerr and Team USA. Let’s take a look.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
In the first quarter, Team USA had eight turnovers and finished with 15 for the game.
Some turnovers can be attributed to teammates playing together for the first time. Understanding how and where a guy wants the ball delivered will take more than a few practices and one game to figure out.
This transition turnover from James is an example of a chemistry turnover. Jrue Holiday blocks a shot, recovers the ball and triggers a fast break. James catches the outlet, draws the defense and has Curry on the wing, but he stops above the break while James thinks Curry will continue to drift.
In a few weeks during the Olympics, this play has to be an open 3-point attempt for Curry or a swing corner 3 for Devin Booker.
Defense to offense
Team USA’s defense shined against Canada. More importantly, it opened up their transition game. They had nine blocks, led by Davis’ four. They also had 11 steals with Tyrese Haliburton grabbing four of them.
Those defensive stops turned into 28 fast-break points, and according to Synergy, 1.273 points per possession in transition. This is a fast team, so it needs to play fast, and it all begins with defense.
The Curry-to-James alley-oop highlight was off a forced Canada turnover.
LeBron to Steph… BACK TO LEBRON FOR THE OOP 🤝😤
📺 #USABMNT Showcase on FS1 pic.twitter.com/0hKELo83Uq
— NBA (@NBA) July 11, 2024
On this play, James chases down a block, Curry gets the rebound and kicks it ahead to Joel Embiid, who finds Booker in the corner for the transition 3-pointer.
Of Team USA’s 90 possessions, 22 were in transition. Nearly a quarter of their possessions were in the fast break, a good number to target for the Olympics. If the Americans are in transition, they are winning defensively.
Best place for Edwards
Should Anthony Edwards be a starter?
Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards on how he fits in with USA Basketball Olympic team: “I’m still the number one option. Y’all might look at it differently. … They’ve got to fit in around me. That’s how I feel.” pic.twitter.com/Cga5kTiR2J
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 7, 2024
The Minnesota Timberwolves star guard was joking when he gave that quote. The kid knows how to go viral, but Team USA’s sluggish start only turned around once the second unit, spearheaded by Edwards, entered the game. He provided immediate energy.
But Kerr has to resist the urge to start him.
Edwards running the second unit is the perfect fit for this team. If he were to start with James, Curry and Durant (once healthy), he would be relegated to more of a supporting role instead of being the leading man.
With the second unit, Edwards has the ball in his hands more. For his first bucket, he blew by RJ Barrett and finished acrobatically around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Later in the game, he navigated around Davis’ screen to get a pull-up jumper as Andrew Nembhard defended.
Edwards will not just create his shot. He gets others involved as well. He did a great job finding Bam Adebayo off the dribble-handoff action when the defense collapsed on him, creating a dunk for Adebayo.
The video of Edwards saying he’s the No. 1 option is not entirely false; he is the No. 1 option on the second unit.
Where does Embiid fit?
Embiid had a rough night against the Canadians. He fouled out, led the team with four turnovers and even contributed an unsportsmanlike foul.
It is easy to overreact to just one game, but the question is out there: Should Davis start over him? It’s too early for Kerr to make that move, but it is a conversation.
The starting unit should be centered around Curry’s movement with James as the lead ballhandler. Embiid is used to the offense being centered around him. There will not be a ton of touches for him in the post or isolations at the elbow. He must accept being more of a screener and mixing in rolls and pops, which is not maximizing Embiid’s complete skill set.
The other dilemma is that Embiid is not a good fit for the second unit. As highlighted above, the second unit is Edwards’ group.
Embiid’s best fit might be as a specialist. There will be games where Embiid’s size will be an asset. Team USA faces Serbia’s Nikola Jokić in Game 1 and could meet France’s Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama later.
If Curry or James are having rough games, Embiid might be the one Kerr turns to to get the offense going. Embiid might not like it, but it could be the best role for him on Team USA.
(Photo of Anthony Edwards: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
