Projecting Team USA's core-eight
USA Basketball named their 12-man roster for the upcoming FIBA World Cup late Friday night following their exhibition 112-86 victory over Puerto Rico.
A few names on the roster came as a surprise, most notably at the center position. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski speculated early on in camp that the team would be hard-pressed to carry four bigs, but the final roster included five, including four centers. Team Spain's fearsome triumvirate of Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol and Pau Gasol likely factored into that decision.
Moreover, Coach K also mentioned in training camp that he anticipates relying on a core-eight to soak up the bulk of minutes. With the roster now finalized, we can now speculate as to which players will form the backbone of Team USA.
The Starters
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| Point Guard | Derrick Rose |
| Shooting Guard | Stephen Curry |
| Small Forward | James Harden |
| Power Forward | Kenneth Faried |
| Center | Anthony Davis |
Given that Team USA opened each of its three exhibition games with the same starting-five (save for when Rose needed to rest), it's a safe bet Coach K will trot out the same starting-five when the tournament tips off in Spain.
This five-man unit provides for a healthy balance of rebounding, outside shooting and defense. Rose can run the high pick-and-roll with either Faried or Davis, with Harden and Curry posing as strong spot-up shooters on the wing. Harden serves as a secondary ball-handler, and his ability to draw fouls in one-on-one Eurostep'ed drives to the rim should prove valuable in late shot-clock scenarios.
Most importantly, the starting lineup boasts speed and length, which helps generate turnovers and therefore easy points in transition. In three exhibition games, Team USA forced their opponents into 17.3 turnovers per game. Davis' freakish athleticism and length spearheads the charge in forcing turnovers. After leading the NBA in blocks per game last season, Davis managed to block 10 shots across three contests thus far.
Kyrie Irving
The first round of the tournament calls for Team USA to play five games in six days. Coach K anticipated this, and elected to bring three point guards to shore up the point.
Central to that is Kyrie Irving, who should see plenty of time backing up Rose. Rose has only played 12 competitive games (10 NBA, 2 Team USA) over the last year so it's unclear as to whether Rose can reliably endure the tournament's grueling schedule. In the two games where Rose was given rest, Irving started in his place, averaging 9.7 points and five assists per game.
DeMarcus Cousins
Team USA may be well-stocked in the frontcourt, but they're a little light on heft and post-scoring. That's where Cousins comes in.
Cousins is a load to handle in the mid-post. At 6-foot-11, 270-pounds, Cousins has the size to easily bully opponents on the block. He took an average of six field-goal attempts from within three feet of the basket last season with the Kings, connecting on 67.3 percent.
Team USA will also be counting on Cousins to rebound so as to trigger their lethal transition game. Cousins topped the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage last season.
Rudy Gay
The key with Gay is his versatility. He has enough quickness and shooting ability to stick on the wing, but also has the size to adequately defend most smallball fours.
Gay also adds a scoring punch off the bench. Similar to teammate DeMar DeRozan, Gay feeds off a diet of transition buckets and mid-range attempts. Gay averaged 10 points per game in the three exhibition games to date, connecting on 52.3 percent of his attempts.