Head coach Steve Kerr explains why his squad fell short of expectations as squad USA fails to win a medal in consecutive FIBA competitions for the first time in 53 years.
The USA fell to Canada in overtime for the bronze medal on Sunday, 127-118, and they had previously lost to Germany and Lithuania.
In the past, the USA squad has included of NBA superstars, but this year’s lineup was made up of relatively inexperienced guys who had never played basketball abroad.
“It’s hard for us to build continuity with Team USA,” Kerr said. “Just because we naturally have so much turnover year to year. What we have tried to do is learn what wins a FIBA game. We really studied everything about FIBA, the history of United States basketball — when we won, what was the reason, and when we lost, what was the reason. We study all that stuff.”
Kerr believes the main reason his side lost was due to their lack of efficiency in defense.
“When it comes down to us and this tournament, we put ourselves in a great position, we got to the semifinals,” Kerr said. “We were right there, but we could not get enough stops. We did not defend well against Germany or Canada. That’s the bottom line. Every year, we are trying to build the best two-way team we can.”
Anthony Edwards said after the Canada loss, “We can’t get no stops, so I don’t know what we could have done. Our defense is pretty bad.”
The disparity between the US and the rest of the globe is undeniably closing as basketball develops across the world, and Kerr is aware of this.
“I did not need any reminder,” Kerr said of the increasingly difficult FIBA competition. “I was on a coaching staff in 2019 [FIBA World Cup], when we finished seventh. The United States has not won a World Cup since 2014. It’s hard. These teams in FIBA are really good, well-coached, and they have continuity.
“They played together for a long time, so it’s difficult. It’s been difficult already. What I am impressed about is the way our guys fought, especially tonight under these circumstances, missing three key teammates, and just battling to the overtime was impressive.
“But the narrative about USA Basketball and FIBA — do we need reminders? We passed that. These teams are really good.”
It will be interesting to see the kind of roster team USA puts together for the 2024 Paris Olympics, since LeBron has even reportedly indicated interest in a return.
At almost 39 years of age, he still might have to come in and show them how it’s done.