Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball, did not mince his words in his reaction when asked by one official after Team USA‘s lopsided win over Serbia that next time the Americans play, they have to make do with just four players.
Colangelo expressed his frustration, in an article written by Sam Amick for USA TODAY Sports, about how other nations need to do their job and not rely on USA to narrow down the disparity in their Olympic dominance.
“We've been helping in basketball around the world for 50 years. We've taught the world the game. We've taught their coaches, players – look at the number of (international) players in the NBA, look at the number of international players in college today, in the states. So we're all for that. I want to see the level raised.”
In truth, the Rio Olympics was not a stroll in the park for USA basketball as many had predicted it would be. The team had their share of hard-fought wins against more determined teams parading players who have NBA-level skills set.
Throughout the tournament, Team USA clearly struggled. The lack of chemistry and cohesiveness on defense were evident as the team only managed to win 10 points over Australia, six points over Spain, and a mere three points over both France and Serbia during the early stages of the competition.
Even though this edition of Team USA lacked big names such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Anthony Davis, and Kawhi Leonard, they still swept the competition by an average margin of 22.5 points.
At the end of the day, winning the gold is what matters and Team USA has been able to achieve that. Basketball fans all over the world need to wait for another four years to know if indeed other nations have been able to narrow the gap with USA basketball in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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