Team USA fell to Australia by a score of 98-94 in their FIBA World Cup qualifier matchup early Saturday morning, marking the USA's first defeat in the tournament this summer.

Not only that, but it represented the first loss the Americans have suffered since 2006.

And you know what? It was hardly surprising.

Don't get me wrong: Team USA is still the favorite to win the FIBA World Cup, and for good reason. They are the only team with a roster completely full of NBA players, and they are the most talented team in the tournament.

But let's also remember that this is essentially the USA's C or D-list team, and other countries (such as Australia) also feature NBA players.

In this case, Australia featured Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova. Is it the most talented group? No, but these guys are wily veterans who have been playing together for a long time. It's an experienced squad.

As for the United States? The roster contains just one All-NBA guy in Kemba Walker. That's it. The remainder of the group is filled out by either really good role players (such as Khris Middleton, Myles Turner and Marcus Smart) or youngsters who have yet to come into their own (like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum and Kyle Kuzma).

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Let's face it: this is easily one of the worst teams the Americans have had since pro players started participating in international competitions, so it should not come as a shock to wake up and see that Team USA has fallen to someone.

While this may end up being the only time the United States loses this summer, it's just as likely that it won't be the last.

Not only that, but this is a completely new squad. Again, while clubs like Australia have great camaraderie as a result of working together over an extended period of time, the Americans are basically relying on their talent advantage (an advantage which is not nearly as significant as in previous tournaments) and that alone.

There is no rapport here. The guys may like one another, but that does not automatically translate into on-court success. This group needs to gel, and it was blatantly obvious on Saturday morning that there is quite a while to go before that happens.

It's no different than an NBA team entering a season with a bunch of new faces. Sure, the talent and potential may be there, but the ballclub is going to take its fair share of lumps along the way before finally breaking through.

Of course, in the case of Team USA, the guys don't exactly have a whole lot of time to go through that process. They need to start gelling quickly, as this isn't an 82-game regular season. It's a short tournament.

But we might not see this group really start to hit its ceiling until the Olympics in 2020, and by that time, there will almost surely be some more stars who throw their hats into the ring for the Americans.

So, yeah. Was the loss disappointing? Sure, but it is almost par for the course of this group.