USA Basketball studied every men's basketball game played over nearly 20 years, and eventually a clear trend emerged. Americans tend to get into trouble when their defense isn't strong enough.
And the Paris Olympics team was built with that in mind.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard He was officially announced as a member of the U.S. Olympic team on Wednesday. With almost 200,000 NBA points, he is an All-Star and has been selected to the game 84 times, during which time he has won 10 Olympic gold medals.
“Obviously we need talented people, but we also want players who can integrate, who can fit, who can fill the specific roles that we need,” USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said Wednesday. Can lock down and defend multiple sets in possession. ”
The idea is simple. Scoring doesn't matter, and if the defense plays well, it will be difficult to defeat the American team, which is aiming for its fifth consecutive Olympic title.
There are seven athletes in this group who have won gold medals. Durant has three, James has two, and Adebayo, Booker, Holiday, Tatum, and Booker each have one. This season, the 12 players combined averaged 24.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and shot 39% from 3-point range.
“Of course it's a great honor to represent the country,” Adebayo said. “But for me, to be in that room as a part of those 12 players, players that I consider to be the best 12 players to represent the United States, it takes it to another level. Thing.”
The United States has an incredible amount of talent on its roster. Of the 12 players chosen, seven finished the season ranking among the top 15 in points per game in the NBA. James is the league's all-time leading scorer, Curry is the all-time leader in 3-point shooting, Haliburton won the title for assists per game this season, and 10 players were named All-Stars this season.
“The goal is to win a gold medal,” Hill said. “They know it.”
The timing of Wednesday's announcement coincided with the U.S. Olympic Summit in New York and as Americans celebrated the start of a 100-day countdown to the opening ceremony in Paris. USA Basketball could have waited longer to make the announcement, but felt there was no point.
“There's going to be a lot of interest and a lot of people who want to be part of this amazing journey that we're about to go on. So if you know, why wait?” Hill said. said.
The Americans remain ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA after missing out on medals at the last two World Cups, finishing seventh in China in 2019 and fourth in Manila last summer.
At the Tokyo Games, they defeated France 87-82 to win the gold medal. While many other countries will be vying for gold in Paris, including hosts France, reigning World Cup champions Germany, Serbia and Canada, the U.S. roster will feature other nations competing for gold. There are so many NBA stars that the NBA cannot reach.
“Your hope is that they've never played together before,” Canada's Kelly Olynyk said when asked about the U.S. squad this weekend, “other than the last 12 All-Star Games.” he said.
Hill led the effort to put together the roster, a process that took about 18 months. The original plan was to put the team together well before training camp, which begins in Las Vegas in early July. Players have received jerseys in recent days during visits from Hill and other USA Basketball officials, and in some cases at team practices.
“The common theme when we lose is that we didn't defend well enough,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. We feel we can score points. We have a lot of talent and we're going to find a way to score. But international matches are more physical and we coped with that. ”
Durant has said he plans to play since last year, which means he aims to become the first male athlete in Olympic history to win four gold medals in basketball. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only male athletes to win three Olympic gold medals. The six female players, all American, have won at least four gold medals in Olympic basketball. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each had five wins, and Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each had four wins.
James will be aiming for his fourth medal after winning bronze in 2004 and gold in 2008 and 2012. Other past gold medalists on the roster are Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020), and Holiday (2020). The 2020 gold medal was won in 2021 because the Tokyo Games were postponed by a year due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Curry is competing in the Olympics for the first time, as are Leonard and Embiid, who chose to play for the United States after becoming U.S. citizens last year. The Cameroon-born center could have been selected to represent France at the Paris Games.
Other first-time Olympians on the current roster are Haliburton and Edwards, both of whom played on the U.S. team that finished fourth at last year's World Cup in Manila.
“I definitely wanted this experience,” Curry said. “I think it's the right time.”
More than 40 players were being considered for this team. Making the roster 12 players wasn't easy.
“Everyone understands that this Olympics is probably the most anticipated one, given Paris, in terms of the athletes wanting to go, the athletes' wives wanting to go, everyone wanting to go. I think we do,” Carr said. “Certainly, it was a very difficult decision for us to make.”
Durant and Curry said in October that they wanted to play this summer, Adebayo said then that he was already committed to the team, and it has been thought that if a player like James wants to play, all he has to do is say so. So.
U.S. men's basketball athletes have participated in 19 Olympic Games, winning a total of 19 medals: 16 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze.
The Paris team will be coached by Kerr and supported by Erik Spoelstra, Tyronne Lux and Mark Few. There's still a chance the roster could change before the summer if injuries or a deep run in the NBA playoffs cause players to change their minds about their national team commitments.
“We have a contingency plan and we have that at every position,” Hill said.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
