As most people predicted, Team USA has been dominating their competition at the FIBA World Cup. Behind the combined efforts of the entire team, the US squad has cruised against their group so far. However, there's been an interesting change so far. After initially starting for the team, Brandon Ingram has been moved to the bench in favor of Josh Hart.
The most took some people by surprise. However, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr revealed the reason why he promoted Josh Hart over Brandon Ingram. Kerr raved about Hart's rebounding, and said that this is the main reason why he's starting at the four spot, per The Athletic.
“Josh is our leading rebounder, had 12 more last night,” Kerr said, citing Hart’s rebound total against Jordan. “He has a strength and a tenacity to him that sometimes overcomes a height disadvantage. He’s used to guarding bigger guys with all the switching that happens in the NBA, so we go into a game comfortable with Josh as the starting four.”
That being said, Kerr praised Ingram for his willingness to move to the bench. The Team USA coach also noted that the forward played a lot better with the bench unit, and said that the move wasn't because he was struggling.
“I really liked the lineup shift for BI,” Kerr said. “The game was much smoother. He had five assists. There was more space, he had the ball more. I know he enjoyed it. … I can’t speak highly enough of BI, just his character and the way he handled that because he’s not used to coming off the bench and he was playing fine. It wasn’t, you know, he wasn’t really struggling. He just wasn’t featured in that lineup.”
Team USA now moves on to the second round, where they will face Montenegro and Lithuania. Last time, the US were unceremoniously booted from the FIBA World Cup in the first round of the playoffs. Can they do better this time around and avenge their loss? Or will they repeat the mistakes of the team before them and bow earlier than fans expect them to?
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