TEAM ISN’T A DREAM
Missing stars and odd moves are making it hard to get behind Team USA.
LeBron James is far too busy promoting a remake of a Michael Jordan kids movie starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and dealing with bad Hollywood reviews.
The last I saw Stephen Curry, he was playing golf somewhere.
Damian Lillard is dealing with Damian Lillard trade rumors partly fueled by Damian Lillard. Gregg Popovich?
This might be news to a few. But most of you already know that grumpy ol’ Pop has become the cranky guy who’s always yelling at you to stay off his darned lawn, while also lecturing you about how messed up American politics have become.
Three cheers for Team USA, everyone!
Gooooooo team!!!
Getting into the 2020 (isn’t it 2021 already?) Summer Olympics in Tokyo was already going to be a serious challenge without fans in the stands.
Feeling serious, old-school pride in America’s latest collection of the greatest basketball players in the world currently feels impossible.
Thanks to the mess that the men’s basketball team has already created, it’s already gold or total bust for these guys. And winning another No. 1 in the world medal won’t make all the problems that Team USA faces go away.
I still don’t know how or why Kevin Love — who hasn’t played in more than 60 games during an NBA season since 2015-16 — was added to this weird, misshapen roster. Love appeared to have the same questions we all did, withdrawing from Olympic competition on Friday and acknowledging in a statement that he wasn’t able to perform at the necessary peak level.
Shouldn’t Team USA have known those essential details before Love’s highly questionable addition became a national talking point?
Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Draymond Green and Lillard also shouldn’t be losing pre-Olympic exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia.
But nothing about the current state of Team USA should shock you.
James Harden, The King and the NBA’s reigning scoring champion are not on the team.
JaVale McGee — yes, that JaVale McGee — is. He’s 33, was drafted in 2008, can theoretically still throw down a few vicious alleyoop slam dunks, and only started two games last season while averaging 14.7 NBA minutes.
Says it all, doesn’t it?
Also missing from a top-heavy roster that would get blasted out of the arena by a normal NBA All-Star team: Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Kyrie Irving and Trae Young.
I’m sure I’m missing someone else with a huge name, but the MIA list is already so long it’s hard to keep up.
Obviously, injuries have played a key part. But comparing the 2016 Team USA roster with the 2021 roster … well, there’s no comparison.
Way back then, when the United States of America went a perfect 8-0 in the Olympics and reconnected with the original sport-changing 1992 Dream Team: Klay Thompson, Carmelo Anthony, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyle Lowry, Durant, Irving, George, Butler and Green.
Throw in Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski as head coach, and Tom Thibodeau and Monty Williams as assistants, and that was a pretty darned good team.
Five years later, The Association is more ring-obsessed than ever, free agency and public trade demands are never that far away for the league’s biggest superstars, and there are at least 100 other things going on at the same time.
Let’s pretend you make $39 million a year (not including worldwide endorsements), are an international entertainment mogul, and everyone screams about your personal limitations the moment you fall short in the playoffs again.
Do you really need another gold medal?
Not really.
Do you need all the vicious hate if Team USA falls short on your watch?
Nope.
The NFL doesn’t have to worry about the Olympics.
MLB is trying to re-promote itself with the All-Star Game and is in the middle of a 162-game season that lasts through October.
Priorities, priorities.
The easiest answer for the
NBA would be to go back to the pre-Dream Team days. But that team joined superhero forces for a reason, and the NCAA definitely isn’t what it used to be.
Put simply, there’s no simple answer nowadays.
This is also what you get in 2021 when you intertwine the super-flashy NBA with an odd Olympics delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic.
Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are set to join Team USA after Phoenix or Milwaukee wins these NBA Finals. That will help.
Bradley Beal also would’ve helped, but now he’s gone, too.
I guess Zion Williamson is busy figuring out how to get above .500 in New Orleans?
Durant should eventually take over and win it all again. He's that great.
But will this team make your heart pound in Tokyo? Will this taped-together roster dominate the world and unite a country the summer after we were forced to mask up and stay in our homes?
The Summer Olympics have finally returned and Team USA already looks like a mess.
Another predictable gold medal won’t fix all that.