"We can't get no stops, so I don't know what we could have done"--Anthony Edwards, explaining Team USA's loss to Canada in the FIBA World Cup
Anthony Edwards' grammar is as fractured as Team USA's perimeter defense, but he provided a perfect one sentence summary of why Team USA failed to win a medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Team USA lost for the third time in their last four FIBA World Cup games, dropping a 127-118 overtime decision to Canada in the bronze medal game. Canada shot 43-84 (.512) from the field, including 17-37 (.459) from three point range. Team USA also shot well--42-81 (.519) from the field, including 10-27 (.370) from three point range--and even outrebounded Canada 43-40, but the key for Team USA to be successful in FIBA events is defense in general and perimeter defense in particular. Team USA failed spectacularly on defense.
Dillon Brooks shredded Team USA with a game-high 39 points on 12-18 field goal shooting, including 7-8 from three point range. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points. Anthony Edwards led Team USA with 24 points, but it is telling that he had a plus/minus number of -20. Austin Reaves added 23 points, but he had a plus/minus number of -12. Team USA's best scorers gave up points even faster than they could score them.
Canada blitzed Team USA 35-24 in the first quarter, and led 94-84 with 8:26 remaining in the fourth quarter. Team USA went on a 12-0 run to take a 96-94 lead at the 6:23 mark, but Team USA never led by more than two points the rest of the way, and needed a series of unlikely events just to force overtime: Canada led 111-107 with four seconds remaining when Mikal Bridges made a free throw, intentionally missed the second free throw, rebounded his miss, and then made a three pointer. Team USA's excitement was short-lived, as Canada outscored Team USA 16-7 in the five minute overtime.
It is puzzling that so many people make excuses for Team USA's failures by mentioning that this was Team USA's "B Team" and by noting that Team USA lacked size. Team USA featured the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year (Jaren Jackson Jr.), the 2023 Rookie of the Year (Paolo Banchero), three 2023 NBA All-Stars (Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halliburton, and Jaren Jackson Jr.) plus 2020 All-Star Brandon Ingram and rising star Jalen Brunson. Team USA's "B Team" has more individual talent than any other FIBA World Cup team.
The three teams that beat Team USA in the 2023 FIBA World Cup--Lithuania, Germany, and Canada--each had rosters filled with players who would not even be considered for Team USA's roster if they were American citizens. Germany, which has just four NBA players on its roster (Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, Mo Wagner, and Daniel Theis), beat Serbia 83-77 to win the FIBA World Cup.
In the Team USA-Canada game, Banchero, Ingram, and Jackson Jr. each received DNP--CDs (Did Not Play--Coach's Decision). Throughout the tournament, Team USA Coach Steve Kerr stubbornly insisted on playing small lineups, so even if more big men had been included on Team USA's roster it is unlikely that Kerr would have used them or used them effectively. Small-ball is not a great strategy in general because size matters in basketball, and small-ball can only work if the team is committed to playing excellent pressure defense resulting in turnovers and contested shots. Small-ball with bad perimeter defense leads to a 5-3 2023 FIBA World Cup record versus teams that have markedly inferior individual talent but more than compensate for that with superior execution of basketball fundamentals.
It must be emphasized that during the 2023 FIBA World Cup other teams also did not have their "A Team." Reigning NBA Finals MVP/two-time NBA regular season MVP Nikola Jokic did not play for Serbia--which reached the gold medal game without him--and 2021 NBA Finals MVP/two-time NBA regular season Giannis Antetokounmpo did not play for Greece. Each of the past five regular season MVPs were born outside of the United States, so it is fair to say that the United States has neither the world's best individual player nor the world's best team.
The NBA has legislated defense out of the game, and the results of that were on display during the FIBA World Cup when Team USA played horrific defense. The NBA game has been damaged by rules changes, style of play changes, and the ascent of "advanced basketball statistics" with its promotion of three pointers and dunks over all other shots plus its embrace of tanking and load management. Style is valued over substance, which leads to people spouting nonsense such as the assertion that James Harden is a better offensive player than Michael Jordan, and that one-dimensional scorers such as Carmelo Anthony, James Harden, and Damian Lillard deserve to be on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team over players such as Chris Bosh, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Artis Gilmore, Dwight Howard, Bernard King, and Tracy McGrady. No, Kyrie Irving is not the most skilled basketball player in the NBA now, let alone the most skilled basketball player of all-time--but the fact that so many people praise Irving so much betrays a lack of understanding of the difference between style and substance. Basketball is a team game, and basketball skill is properly measured by how effectively a player does things that maximize his team's chance to win. A limited definition of athleticism as it relates to basketball greatness and a lack of understanding of how to evaluate basketball skill contaminates basketball commentary.
Kobe Bryant was the most valuable player for the 2008 Redeem Team not only because of his individual athletic ability and basketball skills but because of the way that he utilized his athletic ability and basketball skills to help his team win. The main problem with Team USA now--and with the modern NBA game in general--is that players focus more on individual offensive skills than on the team game.