USA basketball team at the FIBA Championships
The USA basketball team has proved to be very successful over the past few years, despite an average history at the International stage. Although the team had one of the strongest domestic leagues around, the NBA, the squad couldn’t perform as expected. As the FIBA World Championships are on the verge of starting in Turkey and the US team is all geared up to face the power houses of Europe like Spain, Serbia and Greece. After winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics two years ago, the USA basketball team looked strong for this year’s FIBA World Championships. However, this is not going to be reality according to experts, as none of the players that were a part of the gold medal winning team are participating in this year’s championship.
With the likes of star American players like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James all out, it is predicted that the team will not only have new faces but will totally be different from the USA basketball team that we saw two years ago in the Olympics. The Olympic team put up performances of total domination and won the gold medal. With all this in mind experts highlighted a few things that can be expected from the USA team.
Firstly, the experts say that everything is very unpredictable and nothing can be surely said about this new USA team. The team is young and has had no international exposure as none of the players have taken part in international matches. An amazing fact is how other European players play for their national teams for decades, while the Americans just take part in one tournament for their entire career.
However, the critics are of the view that the Americans will undoubtedly come up with some skilful play that they are used to in the NBA like alley-oops, dunks and extravagant fast breaks. But they speculate that this will be restricted to the first round only due to the fact that other strong teams in the following rounds would definitely cut those. The European powerhouses will look to take the game slow and take out points from US team by driving in and looking for fouls.
An advantage that makes US team stand out in the FIBA World Championships is their stock of best defences. The skills are coupled with the willingness of the defensive players to score and muscle their way into scoring positions. Defensive players like Rondo and Westbrook would be looking to catch the opponents’ off-guard with their sharp and quick skills. Other players like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose would be looking to add to the power of the team, when it would come to overpower the opponents by physical strength.
The USA basketball team is expected to come with team chemistry similar to that of other European teams, as none of the big superstar names will be present in the squad that previously offered some of the best in the NBA. Some experts also say that it is good for the US team that they do not have high profile players as their ego usually came in between the game. The American squad now features players who belong to the second league below the superstars of the NBA.
It is expected that the shooting of the American team will be inconsistent. Not only this, US squad is will be lacking rebounding abilities. With only two shooting players in the squad that are shooters, it would be very difficult for the Americans to pull off anything like they did two years. Although the Americans have the power to make a move but what they would lack is in the department of finishing. However, nothing can be said beforehand, as we can expect miracles in any sport.
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