The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
U.S. plan for World Cup went awry long before tournament
DONGGUAN, CHINA >> USA Basketball’s plan for a third consecutive World Cup title started going off the rails long before this tournament even began, after just about everyone who was originally asked to play for this team turned down the opportunity.
As such, this outcome was not exactly unexpected.
The Americans are not winning a medal at this World Cup, after they got outplayed by France in the quarterfinals Sept. 11 and got relegated to a playoff where the best remaining option is finishing fifth.
France won 89-79, meriting much credit. Evan Fournier made tough shots and tougher passes. Rudy Gobert was outstanding. The French defense, with the game on the line, thwarted the U.S. repeatedly.
The better team won. But the best team was at home.
Of the 35 players originally picked last year by USA Basketball for its roster pool this summer, four made it to China.
The group that ultimately got assembled for this mission was a bunch of guys not even on the radar screens when this selection process began, a group that decided playing with and against really good players all summer — while getting coached by Gregg Popovich — was worth giving up nearly two months of an offseason.
They played hard. But there’s no medal for playing hard.
“I know that people are going to focus on who we didn’t have, but how about we focus on who we do have?” U.S. guard Donovan Mitchell said after his 29-point performance Sept. 11. “Our season ended, and we came out ready to work with Coach Pop and all his coaches. It’s not about who’s not here. I’ve been saying that for a while.”
It bears noting that Mitchell was not on the original player-pool list.
He chose to play and didn’t mind being asked in the second wave.
It’s hard to imagine where the Americans would have been without him over the last few weeks.
Joe Harris was supposed to be a practice player for this team and wound up becoming a starter.
Derrick White wasn’t supposed to be here either, and there were nights in this tournament where he was the first sub off the U.S. bench — not because Popovich was playing favorites with his San Antonio point guard, but because it was merited.
Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown had big-time moments for this team and they, too, were not anywhere near the original U.S. wish list.
A lot of other NBA players might not have cared about the World Cup. Fans might not have, either. And there’s not much incentive for multimillionaires to give up their time off, travel thousands of miles to risk injury by playing in a tournament in which most of the games are not nationally televised in the United States.
Plus, plenty of players who have already won with USA Basketball often say they want to let someone else have a shot. That’s not a new concept.
Losing just makes everyone look for easy solutions because, well, the thought is USA Basketball shouldn’t lose — even when the other team has NBA players.
The good news in all this is the loss Wednesday probably won’t get a whole lot of attention at home.
That’s also the sad news.