Team USA mocked over squad for 2019 Basketball World Cup
It doesn’t take long to work out why this photo has attracted such a merciless response and why Team USA has become such a laughing stock.
It takes about two seconds to work out why Aussie fans were screaming for a refund.
It takes even less time to work out this is not the Team USA fans have come to expect.
It’s just never a good sign when the coach is the biggest star on the floor.
That’s the unfortunate situation Team USA finds itself in just three weeks out from the start of the 2019 Basketball World Cup.
For the Aussie fans who have shelled out their hard-earned for tickets to watch the Ben Simmons-less Boomers against the might of the United States in Melbourne on August 22 and 24, the situation is even more bleak.
Australian fans are far from the only people throwing shade at the Team USA World Cup squad announced on Wednesday morning where legendary coaches Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr stood out as the most recognisable faces to anybody not a hardcore NBA fan.
Much has been made of the trend of NBA stars making themselves unavailable for selection this year, but Popovich has dismissed the lack of star power as a concern for his team heading into the defence of their 2015 World Cup crown.
He seems to be the only one not alarmed by the lack of superstars on his roster.
Boston-bound star Kemba Walker remains the only player in the squad to have made an All-NBA team this year — selected as the shooting guard on the All-NBA Third Team last season.
While superstars LeBron James and Steph Curry were never considering playing the tournament or coming to Australia, it was a major blow to fans around the world when stars like Anthony Davis, James Harden and Damian Lillard announced they were also not interested.
Their presence was very much noted by fans on Wednesday after Team USA released the first photo of the entire squad from the team’s two-week training camp before their flight to Australia.
A lot to like about this group. 📸 First look at the USA Men's National Team training camp squad. pic.twitter.com/TS248Jguqr
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 6, 2019
This team legitimately has less all stars than the team Steve Kerr coaches for a living.
— Terrance Stedman, PhD (@profkarlkornell) August 6, 2019
pic.twitter.com/RtfU74eBNC
— Dave Young (@daveyoung84) August 6, 2019
Of much greater concern for the sport is a claim from Yahoo Sport NBA Insider Chris Haynes that the trend of superstars choosing not to play for Team USA will not be reversed for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Haynes said he senses players could again make themselves unavailable to play for their country if the “political climate” continues unfold as it has this year under President Donald Trump heading into next year’s Presidential elections in November (after the Olympics).
“I think it’s a bad look,” Haynes said.
“I understand why the players are pulling out for this reason alone. Most of the players I’ve talked to have intentions of playing in the Olympics. But I will say this, this is my own personal opinion, I think what’s going on in our country has something to do with the level of players making themselves available for international competition.
“And I’ll say this, I wouldn’t be surprised, depending on how 2020 goes, if the players who are saying now they intend to perform at the Olympics, I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled out depending on how the election goes.”
Chris Haynes explains why so many NBA stars have passed up on playing for Team USA in the World Cup
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) August 6, 2019
"I really do think what’s going on in our country has something to do with the level of players making themselves available for international competition." — @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/Zje2GUe4Hz
Popovich will announce his final 12-man team on August 17 at the end of the team’s two-week camp.
He will have to choose from Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, Kyle Lowry, Marcus Smart, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Harrison Barnes, P.J. Tucker, Andre Drummond, Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma, Paul Millsap, Brook Lopez, Bam Adebayo, Mason Plumlee and Thaddeus Young.
“We’re looking for guys who are competitive, who can handle the discipline it’s going to take to get this done, play a team game and basically fall in love with each other and have that empathy so that they feel responsible to each other and depend upon each other,” Popovich said.
“That obviously means you don’t need the greatest amount of talent in the world.
“Too little talent is not a good thing, but we don’t have that problem.”
Many, many basketball fans appear to disagree.
— with AFP
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