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USA Basketball studied every men’s basketball game played over nearly 20 years, and ultimately a clear trend emerged. Americans often run into trouble if their defense isn’t strong enough.
And the Paris Olympics team was assembled with this in mind.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard He was officially announced as a member of the U.S. Olympic team on Wednesday. He has approximately 200,000 NBA points, 84 All-Star Game selections, and 10 Olympic gold medals.
“Obviously we want talent, but we also want players who can adapt, fit and fill the specific roles needed,” USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill said Wednesday. “But defense was definitely a priority and I thought we had guys who could guard and defend multiple sets within one possession.”
The idea is simple. Scoring points is not the problem, and if the defense does its job, it will be difficult to beat the Americans, who are aiming for their fifth consecutive Olympic title.
This group consists of seven athletes who won gold medals. Durant has three, James has two, and Adebayo, Booker, Holiday, Tatum, and Booker each have one. This season, the 12 players combined averaged 24.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and shot 39% from 3-point range.
“Of course, it’s a great honor to represent the country,” Adebayo said. “But for me, it’s a whole different level to be in that room as a member of those 12 players, players that I believe are the best 12 players to represent the United States.”
The United States has an incredible amount of talent on its roster. Of the 12 players selected, seven finished the season within the top 15 in points per game in the NBA. James ranks first in league history in 3-point shooting, Curry ranks first in league history in 3-point shooting, Haliburton won the title for assists per game this season, and 10 players were selected as All-Stars this season.
“The goal is to win a gold medal,” Hill said. “They know it.”
The timing of Wednesday’s announcement coincided with the U.S. Olympic Summit in New York and a period in which Americans are celebrating the start of the 100-day countdown to the opening ceremony in Paris. USA Basketball could have waited longer to make the announcement, but they didn’t understand the implications. “There’s been a lot of interest and a lot of people who want to be part of this amazing journey that we’re on,” Hill said. “So if you know, why wait?”
Despite failing to win a medal at the past two world championships, the American is still No. 1 in the world, according to FIBA, finishing seventh in China in 2019 and fourth in Manila last summer. finished.
At the Tokyo Games, they defeated France 87-82 to win the gold medal. Many other countries will be competing for gold in Paris, including host France, reigning world champions Germany, Serbia and Canada, but the U.S. national team has an NBA star roster that no other nation can match. ing.
“The hope is they’ve never played together before outside of the last 12 All-Star Games,” Canada’s Kelly Olynyk said upon learning of the U.S. national team this weekend. .
Hill spearheaded the lineup, a process that took about 18 months. The plan from the beginning was to have the team assembled in time for training camp to begin in Las Vegas in early July. In recent days, players have been presented with jerseys during visits from Hill and other USA Basketball officials, and in some cases during team practices.
“The common thread when we lost was that we weren’t good enough defensively,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s not earth-shaking. We feel like we can score points.” We have a lot of talent and we’ll find a way to score. But international matches are more physical and we cherished that. ”
Durant has said he wants to play since last year, which means he wants to become the first male athlete in Olympic history to win four gold medals in basketball. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only male athletes to win three Olympic gold medals. There are six female athletes, all American, who have won at least four gold medals in Olympic basketball. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each won five races, and Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each won four races.
James is aiming for his fourth medal, having won bronze in 2004 and gold in 2008 and 2012. Other past gold medalists on the roster are Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020) and Holiday (2020). The 2020 gold medal was won in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Tokyo Games to be postponed for a year.
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Curry will be competing in his first Olympics, as will Leonard and Embiid, who chose to play for the U.S. after becoming U.S. citizens last year. The Cameroon-born center could have been selected to represent France at the Paris Games.
Other first-time Olympians on the current roster are Haliburton and Edwards, both of whom played on the U.S. team that placed fourth at last year’s world championships in Manila.
“I really wanted to have this experience,” Curry said. “I think the timing is right.”
More than 40 players were being considered for this team. It wasn’t easy to grow the team to 12 people.
“I think everyone understands that this is probably the most anticipated Olympics from the perspective of the athletes who want to go, the wives of the athletes who want to go, and everyone who wants to go,” Kerr said. said. . “That certainly made it a very difficult decision for us.”
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USA Basketball Showcase features a series of games to help the U.S. National Basketball Team prepare for major competitions like the Summer Olympics and FIBA World Cup.
The United States has officially qualified for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Paris in September as one of the top two countries in the FIBA Americas Zone. The American men are competing for their fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal and 17th Olympic gold medal overall.
As part of Group C, the U.S. men will play Serbia in the first round of the Olympic Tournament on July 28, South Sudan on July 31, and the winner of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Puerto Rico on August 3. Compete against. The Olympic basketball 5-on-5 group stage will be held in Lille, France, before moving to Paris for the final tournament and medal round.
