Wrapping up FIBA’s Americas Championship

From the get go it was obvious that USA was hands down the best team in this tournament. The only other team that could consider themselves elite at the international level is Argentina – and they were missing five of their top seven players. Team USA was never threatened as they rolled through third place Puerto Rico twice, stifled Brazil, and beat second place Argentina for the second time in the championship game 118-81.

USA played at a very high level against a very low level of competition in this tournament. The three things team USA had to worry about in this tournament was pick and roll defense, offense against a zone, and 3 point shooting.

The one thing they definitely improved on was the three point shooting. With guys like Carmelo, Lebron, and Michael Redd being on fire from the outside teams were extremely hesitant to go into that zone that has given the US trouble in year’s past. And with no team’s being able to execute the pick and roll at the level that Calderon-Gasol or Papaloukas-Schortsanitis have we were unable to get a feel on whether or not they’ve improved in that area either.

I believe that it’s important to keep the core of this team together now that they have won a gold medal together and spent a summer building chemistry up. The only members of this squad that I feel are expendable are Tyson Chandler and Mike Miller. It’d be great if Bryan Coangelo and Coach K could convince Tim Duncan to come aboard, as Amare and Dwight did not give anything in terms of low post scoring. Come Beijing USA is going to need someone they can dump the ball into down low and on this team TD would not have to worry about him getting in foul trouble killing the team as the depth is much better than it was in 2004. It would also give Duncan the elusive Olympic gold medal, which is the only thing he is missing in his trophy case. If Duncan remains against playing internationally, Tyson’s spot will likely go to Chris Bosh or Elton Brand.

Mike Miller’s spot will likely go to Dwyane Wade, who was a captain on last summer’s squad. Wade may be getting this spot a bit on reputation rather than production. Dwyane is obviously uncomfortable in the international game. Last summer in the world championship’s Dwyane was coming off an NBA Finals series where he got to the line 17 times a game, a luxury he did not have in international play. His patent spin move that he uses relentlessly in the NBA was frequently called a travel by FIBA officials. I give a long hard look to Kevin Durant, who nearly earned himself a spot on this year’s squad over Dwayne Wade, whose game just doesn’t translate well.

Aside from those two spots though, I don’t think there’s any other changes that need to be made to team USA. While the minutes may not be abundant for Deron Williams, it’s important for him to get this experience as he will be called upon in 2012 to battle for the starting point guard spot along with Chris Paul.

As far as other teams go in this tournament, only one of them will really be a factor come Beijing: Argentina. Luis Scola’s MVP performance in the FIBA Americas was enjoying to watch for Argentinian and Rocket’s fans, but he’ll take a back seat come this summer as Manu Ginobilli, Pepe Sanchez, Walter Hermann, Febricio Oberto, and Andres Nocioni will rejoin the team to form one of the favorites in the Olympics.

Puerto Rico was the third team to seal a spot in the Olympics, and as always with Carlos Arroyo will be a dangerous opponent. However, Puerto Rico is a low level international team and will not be among the top five finishers as they just do not have the talent around Arroyo as players like John Peter Ramos continue to show zero improvement.

Brazil proved that they have lots of work to do if they want to contend in Beijing. While they were one of the more talented teams in this tournament, certainly moreso than Puerto Rico, they failed to finish in the top three. Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian great, called out Leandro Barbos and Nene for not being in shape – and he has every right to do so. Schmidt is the greatest player in Brazilian history, and he too had a rigorous schedule away from international play. But when you sign up to represent your country your making a commitment and you shouldn’t come in overweight and out of shape like Nene did. The two of them should have been with the team in the Pan-American games, as they know that Brazil’s success is largely contingent on how they play.

So to wrap up the FIBA Americas Championship, here’s a look at my first team:

Guards: Lebron James, Kobe Bryant.
Forwards: Luis Scola, Carmelo Anthony.
Center: J.P. Batista

EuroBasket 2007 has now begun and the talent in this tournament dwarfs that of the FIBAs Americas with top teams such as Greece, Spain, France, and Italy. It also gives us a chance to see players like Theodoras Papaloukas, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, Boris Diaw, Dirk Nowitzki, Darko Milicic, Mehmet Okur, and Sarunas Jasikevicus.