Hear me out, (or don’t I’m just spitballing here)
USA’s Recent Challenges
The US has disappointed in the last 2 World Cups. There are a bunch of reasons for this:
- They tend to send all their young guys
- They haven’t sent their best big men
- There isn’t a lot of consistency
Potential Solution
My proposal to counter all 3 of these things for future World Cups, (I think the US will still be fine in the Olympics), is to promote a top tier experienced big, (experience within the FIBA rules), to “captain” and “face”. Idk what extra perks you can give to a captain/face, but I would think promotional stuff. To have this title though, you have to commit to the World Cup and Olympics.
Maybe this will be extra motivation to play in the World Cup and the Olympics, instead of just the Olympics. It gives a sense of ownership and maybe there are financial benefits that come with being promoted in such a way.
Why Bam?
I only say Bam because he is the perfect age, has a lot of experience, and is a leader. He’ll be 30 and 34 in the next 2 FIBA World Cups, which is the perfect prime age.
It doesn’t have to be Bam or a big, as long as the team can get 1 top tier talent with experience. Ant/Tatum/Haliburton/Booker could all fit. Preferably it’s a big though because it’s the weakest position the US has to offer on the world stage.
Younger Alternative?
Alternatively, you can start the process with a younger guy and build him into the “captain” or “face”. Someone like Chet Holmgren could potentially grow into the role, but you’d probably want him to get more experience within the FIBA rules first.
Conclusion
I think having at least one guy that’s experienced and a top end talent, preferably at the big, is the biggest need for Team USA in the World Cup. I think they’ll be fine in the Olympics, but I think if the US wants to win the World Cup, they’ll need an experienced and talented leader in the locker room.
The trouble is: if you set the “bar” with a captain like Bam, you may be discouraging better players from participating. I don’t even know if Ant wants to sign up to join “Bam’s team.”
It seems like they’re going the route of treating the World Cup as an audition for the young guys. Haliburton and Ant played well and got promoted, so to speak. It’s not the best strategy to win if the World Cup but it’s a fair one if the primary goal is still the Olympics.
Whether Bam should be captain can be debated but I disagree with the premise the best player has to be team captain. On Miami it was UD for years and in general I would call the captain the tone setter and locker room leader but that’s not necessarily the best player.
The twolves don’t have an official captain from what I can tell but while Ant is the best player on the team it’s Mike Conley who best embodies the captain qualities. Ask his teammates and they’d tell you that
I agree with that but it’s usually an older guy like Haslem or Conley or a very vocal guy.
I think you can still have the World Cup be auditions, but just have one guy that’s also teaching/leading the team who has experience and talent.
That’s fair. If Spoelstra is the coach then Bam as a captain makes some sense to double down on a Heat culture mentality. I don’t know if the Miami franchise would want so much focus on international play though.
I think if Bam was given this opportunity and if Spoelstra was the one providing it, then I think the Heat organization would be fine with it.
Bam is also an ironman, so I wouldn’t have concerns about his status to play in the following season.