As always, the latest edition of Team USA has better individual players than its FIBA opponents. 

Even in a nail-biting victory against Brazil, 70-68, the extraordinarily lopsided talent gap was evident in certain instances:

- After a Brazil offensive rebound, Rudy Gay’s flat-footed rejection on a putback attempt.

- Seasoned Brazilian players being repeated scorched off the dribble by Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook.

- The defensive quickness and anticipation of Andre Iguodala.

- And, of course, the Durantula (Kevin Durant) going nuts and no could stop him.

Now, Mike Krzyzewski makes a living turning All-American high schoolers into cogs in the machine that is the Duke Blue Devils – one of the most polarizing teams in the landscape of college basketball.  Would NBA players be much harder to teach?  Of course, you might say.  They are stubborn millionaires who have no reason to want to transform themselves into team players.

To that, I would strongly disagree.  These players could have taken the summer off, collected their enormous paychecks and staying home checking for their own player attributes on the upcoming NBA Elite 11.  But they want to help the USA reclaim its hoops dominance on a global scale.  Surely, they be willing to listen to proper instruction. 

You might bring up the fact that Krzyzewski (along with Jerry Colangelo) resurrected United States basketball with a gold medal performance in the 2008 Olympics.

To that, I would also strongly disagree.  King James, the Black Mamba, D-Wade and ‘Melo (among others) resurrected USA basketball in Beijing.  Anyone watching the games could see that the U.S., stocked full of NBA superstars, was not running any particularly special sets.  They were simply outballing their counterparts.  Think you could have won a few games with that group of athletes?

Guard Russell Westbrook only saw the floor for thirteen minutes on Monday.

In yesterday’s Brazil-USA game, the Brazilians fed the U.S. a steady diet of pick and rolls.  The Americans were unable to stop the effectiveness of Marcelo Huertas and Tiago Splitter.  The two international veterans worked the play to its maximum potential as their team was awarded with numerous easy, uncontested shots in the first half.  As the game progressed, there were no adjustments from a defensive standpoint for Team USA.  This singular offensive philosophy kept Brazil in the game from start to finish.  The fact of the matter is, had Brazil converted open field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, Team USA would have left the court with a loss.

But not only were there no defensive adjustments, but the Americans didn’t run any offense.  Again, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve seen this before.  However, I’d take my chances with one-on-one play from LeBron, Carmelo, Kobe or Wade.  Durant is a horse, but the drop-off to Rudy Gay, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook is a pretty steep one.

So what’s left?  With no organization on the offensive or defensive ends of the court, maybe Team USA can wear down its opponents.  After all, Colangelo prided himself in assembling a deep roster with plenty of interchangeable, athletic parts.  If there’s one thing that Coach K knows how to do, it’s get the most out of his personnel, right?

Wrong.  Well, at least not during this game.  The starting lineup of Durant, Rose, Iguodala, Lamar Odom and Chauncey Billups played 161 out of a possible 200 minutes.  Sharpshooting sparkplug Eric Gordon played just enough to get his jersey sent to the cleaners (five minutes).  The coveted interior presence of Tyson Chandler only lasted for five minutes.  And each of the starters played more minutes than Gay and Westbrook combined.

Brazil, with its share of NBA names, was definitely the toughest challenge to date for the American team.  And there were an absolute plethora of lessons to be taken from Team USA’s underwhelming performance.

I just hope that Coach K woke up in time to jot them down.

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