Basketball Hall of Famer, former 1996 gold medalist, and current Team USA managing director Grant Hill was brutally honest about the differences for this version of Team USA on the international stage in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, as he told BasketNews.

“It's interesting how quickly the rest of the world caught up,” Hill told BasketNews. “There was an incredible scare in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. And then, in 2002 and 2004, we lost.”

“The game is different,” Hill said. “Our game in the NBA is starting to be more like their game. The talent and shooting have improved. Now, 30% of the NBA is international players. There's still respect, but there's not the sort of fear or the awe that was there 27 years ago.”

Hill specifically mentioned opponents being in “awe” of Karl Malone and Charles Barkley during the interview, and it's easy to see that Team USA lacks that kind of physical intimidation with powerful paint players. In the 110-104 shocking loss to Lithuania, Team USA had as many defensive rebounds as Lithuania had offensive rebounds (18) and were outmatched on the glass all game. Lithuania also started the game 9-for-9 from behind the arc and pulled out to a 17-point halftime lead.

With the three-pointer being such an equalizer, and with many international teams having adopted modern spacing philosophies before it became common in the NBA, the days of complete physical intimidation and domination by Team USA may be coming to a close.

Of course, there's the issue of Team USA recruiting the NBA's best talent to make commitments to the team, as many of the league's top stars, including physically imposing big men like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo, aren't participating for the United States in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

While Team USA's roster for the 2024 Olympics may change, Grant Hill believes the comfort level international teams in the FIBA World Cup have while playing against the United States has changed, too. Team USA's result against Lithuania may be indicative of that.

With group play complete, Team USA will take on Italy next in the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup.