There weren’t any Detroit Pistons on the Team USA roster for the FIBA World Cup and that might have been a mistake.
Team USA came up short once again, losing to Germany in the semi-finals and missing out on a chance to play for the championship.
The US has only won the tournament five times, the last coming in 2014, and the tournament just keeps getting tougher as international players keep improving.
If you watched the losses to Lithuania and Germany, there were things about the US roster that were exposed, particularly their inability to get a stop, their lack of physicality and their atrocious rebounding.
Should the Detroit Pistons have been represented on Team USA in the FIBA World Cup?
Both Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren were on the select team that played Team USA in scrimmages as a build-up to the tournament. We might have known Team USA was in trouble by the way Cunningham was able to carve them up, dominating the early scrimmages and leading his team to victory.
You can blame the style of play, the fact that the US didn’t send their “A” team or that the other teams have more continuity and time together before the tournament, but the fact is that Team USA just flat-out got beaten by more physical teams that played harder on the defensive end.
Perhaps the team building is to blame, or you can put it on Steve Kerr, or maybe the rest of the world has just caught up to the Americans.
So Team USA will once again head into the Olympics with a “Redeem Team” narrative (yawn) and there will be pressure for more of the top guys to take part. So will any of the Detroit Pistons be on the roster?
Detroit Pistons: Jalen Duren should get a shot on Team USA
It’s funny how things have changed. Growing up, all I heard about European players was that they were too soft for the NBA. The big men were skilled but couldn’t bang in the post and they’d never be able to handle the physicality of American centers.
Now we just watched Team USA get pushed around by both Lithuania and Germany, who set hard screens, grabbed tough rebounds and were much more physical than the US, who didn’t even feature a real center.
The US got beaten by old-school basketball that has largely been abandoned in the NBA as centers have inched closer to the 3-point line and defense has gotten far less physical.
Steve Kerr has taken criticism for not using Walker Kessler more, especially against Germany, who grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and killed the US with second-chance points. The rebounding disparity was even worse in the loss to Lithuania, who outrebounded the US 43-27 as Kerr continued to play small ball and try to run teams off the court.
It’s clear Team USA will need more toughness and rebounding, more players who will commit to doing the dirty work and not worry about touches. Enter Jalen Duren of the Detroit Pistons.
Duren lives to rebound, and I dare say that if he had been in that game against Germany, the Germans wouldn’t have had such an edge in offensive rebounding.
Duren is perfect for a team like this, as he doesn’t need touches to be effective, and you don’t have to run plays for him, as he’ll get all of his points off putbacks and lobs.
Team USA out-shot the Germans from the field, three-point line and free-throw line, yet lost the game because they couldn’t get a stop or grab a rebound down the stretch. They were led by Anthony Edwards who had 8 boards.
The US needs more physical, athletic bigs who can crash the boards, which perfectly describes Jalen Duren. He’d be a great fit with Jaren Jackson Jr. at the four and allow Team USA to go big against the more physical teams, grab rebounds and protect the rim.
Cade Cunningham should be on Team USA
With no offense to Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Austin Reaves, it’s hard to look at this Team USA roster and not think they need an upgrade at the guard position. Is this really the best they can do? Austin Reaves?
Brunson was supposed to be the leader of the team but it was clear early on that Tyrese Haliburton was actually more effective and better fits the successful mold Team USA has at guard, which is guys who are big and physical.
Brunson is 6-foot-2 and Reaves is 6-foot-5 and though they are both tough players, it was hard watching them get carved up by Dennis Schroder, who was getting wherever he wanted on the floor and hit the dagger after casting Reaves aside, without thinking that Team USA could have done better.
Cade Cunningham would give Team USA another big guard who can play either spot, an unselfish player who wouldn’t mind being the facilitator for others (unlike the shoot-first Brunson and Reaves) or scoring if needed.
He’d give them another player who can defend bigger guys, crash the boards and won’t get pushed around. Of course, Team USA invited Cunningham to play, but he chose to sit out and focus on the Detroit Pistons, which I am glad for, but once he establishes that he is healthy this season, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be on the Olympic team.
He provides more size, physicality, playmaking and rebounding that could help offset some of the team’s big-man deficiencies.
One thing is for certain: Team USA can’t just show up and expect to win. They need to build a roster suited to the more physical style of play in the FIBA World Cup and Olympics (I can’t believe I just wrote that) and that could include Jalen Duren and Cade Cunningham.