Sue Bird and Carmelo Anthony talked about their experiences playing for team USA basketball in a recent episode of Melo’s podcast. Bird claimed that playing for team USA was the most uncomfortable basketball she’s ever played. Do you think the players’ on the men’s team feel the same way?
I don’t think so. I thought the women had been doing camps together all year. That’s why Caitlin and Angel weren’t invited.
I think the pressure of being heavy favorites, losing to the WNBA all stars, and extra media coverage is getting to them. They play tight and seem exhausted despite being the deepest team left.
They didn’t really have a camp since March. They got together for the all star game then flew france.
Reeve has been bad. It’s also team USA’s first year without Bird, and an aging Taurasi. And it’s showing.
First three games she had three power forwards starting, whose skills overlap and who all want to run…with a 42 year old shooting guard and injured point guard… both of which would rather player half court.
Then, she’d have Griner come in with a bunch of guards that want to move the ball quickly. Griner doesn’t want to run, and the guards don’t know how to play with BG (it’s a whole learned skill in itself)
She finally swapped it around a little bit. She’s at least putting Taurasi and BG together (and both played much better because of it), though poor Gray is still stuck trying to run with her bad leg.
It’s hard, Bird retired and they don’t get much time together. I expect Clark and Bueckers will be running the offense next time, because Gray/Sabrina/Plum aren’t great at it. CC and Angel didn’t make the team because they didn’t try out, not because they were missing practice.
I mean, the guard play has been inconsistent if I’m being kind and extremely poor if I’m being mean. Taurasi and Grey started each game in group and combined for 1.33 ppg. Yes, really. Neither scored against Belgium or Germany and DT’s total statline in those games was a single assist. That shouldn’t be a thing for a Team USA bench player but for a starter to have a multi-game statline like that is nuts.
Fortunately, Reeve saw the writing on the wall and went with Young and Gray this time with Young providing a major spark. I hope she sticks with Young and I’d like to see her start either Loyd or Kah, the former for her defense and the latter for her offense. We’ll see what she does against the Opals.
I mean, ultimately it’s not going to matter because between A’ja, Stewie, AT, and BG it’s a god-tier frontcourt untouchable by anyone else but the guard play this year has left an awful taste in my mouth. The best PG/facilitator on the team is probably AT and while she’s elite, that shouldn’t be the case. That problem should solve itself by LA, however, and possibly sooner at the World Cup in '26, should probably see CC at that one. And idk, I’d love for them to collectively get out of this god awful 3 point shooting funk that’s gone the entire tournament. 24/78 30.7% and not a single player has been consistent, that stat would be demonstrably worse if a few players didn’t have a single great performance here and there.
It’s nitpicking but we’re fortunate we’re so blessed with the depth and frontcourt we have because if this was another country, the guard play probably would cost us if it hadn’t already. But I get it. We’re crashing boards better than everyone and spreading the ball around like crazy (+40 assists through 4 games compared to the opposition) and the defense is strong and we’re great at staying out of foul trouble. Whatever wins gold is what matters but just hope we get better guard play in the future.