National Basketball Association

USA Basketball is putting the 'team' back in Team USA with balanced roster

Updated Sep. 8, 2023 1:27 p.m. ET

A quick glance at the current USA Basketball World Cup roster might inspire a second, longer look. Followed by befuddlement. Twelve players and a total of four NBA All-Star appearances. Where are the NBA elite? The surefire Hall of Famers? What's with all the NBA off-the-bench role players?

Surely, you think, this had to be by necessity, not design.

Not really.

"A little of both, but more the latter," men's national team managing director Grant Hill told FOX Sports. "We were very intentional about putting together a roster and a team. Just rolling out your best players, it sounds good. You just have to be careful. We tried to find players whose skill sets really translate into the FIBA game."

This may come as a shock to some, but the talent disparity between the rest of the world and the U.S. has been steadily shrinking since the 1992 Dream Team crushed everyone in sight. Sean Ford, part of the national program since 1995 and men's national team director since 2001, has been at the forefront of figuring out how to compensate for that and keep the U.S. on top.

"Other countries are improving at a faster rate than we are," Ford said to FOX Sports. "If we're going to get better, we have to move the goal line because everyone is coming toward us. What we want to be able to do is win a game, at any level, where talent is a luxury, not a requirement to win. Because we might not always be the most talented team. We're seeing that in the qualifiers. We're seeing that at the U19 level. It's not automatic that when we show up we're the most talented team. We need to be able to win a FIBA game when talent is a luxury, not a necessity."

[The long road winding down at the World Cup, where semifinals await Team USA]

Which means winning with chemistry and execution. "Hoosiers"-style, if you will. Which are generally in short supply for U.S. squads bringing together players who are used to having the ball in their hands on their respective NBA teams, at least compared to the familiarity with both the international game and each other that other countries' national teams enjoy.

That may come as a sobering dose of reality to anyone who assumes global dominance is an American basketball birthright, that if the national team brings together the cream of the NBA's crop, winning gold should be a foregone conclusion. That was the approach taken in 2005 by Hill's predecessor, Jerry Colangelo, the last time USA Basketball had lost its luster, failing to win gold in three consecutive World Cups and 2004 Olympics. And it worked. Colangelo convinced Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony to make a three-year commitment to the program, culminating in the 2008 Olympic gold medal-winning Redeem Team. Steph Curry, Derrick Rose, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant were among the stars added over the subsequent decade, producing a stretch of five Olympic/World Cup titles.

But even with the best of American NBA talent available, winning has been far from a guarantee in recent years. The 2020 Olympic team lost its first two exhibitions, to Nigeria and Australia, and then to France in group play before avenging that loss in the gold-medal game, squeaking out an 87-82 win, the winner uncertain until the final seconds.

(The games were actually played in 2021 because of COVID.)

"Even with our roster in 2021, it was a close game," Hill said. "Even some of those recent World Cup finals, it was a close game with a minute left. Durant, Kobe, LeBron, Wade — those guys did an incredible job. But it's not '92 or '96 anymore, when we could just roll the ball out there."

The biggest reason may be the growing difference between how the NBA and FIBA games are played. Reducing physicality, tilting the rules and officiating to benefit the offense and encourage stars to dominate the ball more than ever has resulted in a generation or two of American stars with skills that are not conducive to the tougher, team-oriented international game.

"In FIBA, the defense gets the benefit of the doubt; in the NBA, the offense gets the benefit of the doubt," Ford said. "Because of the physicality of the defense, some things become a little more difficult and you're forced to make more decisions, faster."

After watching countless hours of Team USA and international competition on tape, Hill concluded that he needed to make his selections based on players' skill sets over personal accolades. Recognizing that the absence of illegal defense or the defensive three-second rule in FIBA put a premium on having pass-first point guards who could create openings with their vision and IQ, the New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson and Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton were the first two players he contacted about being on the team.

"First of all, both have played previously in the national program and had success at the junior level," Hill said. "Jalen is a tank. He's so strong and the physicality of the international game has created problems for us at times. A guy like Jrue Holiday was so good and important in '21 because he's so strong and he can be physical. And then Tyrese is not a big guy, but he's tall, 6-5 and has a great energy and spirit about him that's contagious."

But perhaps the greatest signifier of Hill's philosophy is the presence of power forward Bobby Portis, a career-long role player who has come off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks for the last three seasons.

"One of the early people I called, sixth or seventh, was Bobby Portis," Hill said. "I just felt we needed a guy who came off the bench, rebound and defend, make some shots, play with energy and toughness. He's done that for quite some time in Milwaukee. And there's value in that. That's just a minor example of how we went about putting together this team."

That philosophy dovetails with the approach of head coach Steve Kerr and assistants Erik Spoelstra and Tyronn Lue. All three, as NBA head coaches, have been resolute in going with lineups and rotations that are in the best interest of the team, even if it means ignoring star status. That was demonstrated with this World Cup squad when New Orleans Pelicans' star Brandon Ingram was moved to the bench two games into the tournament and replaced by swingman Josh Hart, who came off the bench in 29 of his 36 games for the Knicks last season.

That Kerr took over as head coach after two recent stints as an assistant helped him recognize the margin for winning is too thin to cater to egos. His predecessors, Mike Krzyzewski and Gregg Popovich, had long lapses in their involvement in the program between being assistants and the head coach.

"Steve's experience is a little more current," Ford said. "That's a benefit. He knew what it would take and there were certain guys he wanted. It's like the draft: do you take best available or do you take someone you can develop? You've got to think about starter, rotation, where they fit in now. We have some guys that are doing for us what they do for their NBA teams, which is good. They're not necessarily starters on their NBA teams and that's helpful to us. You're not asking them to do anything different. That, in itself, helps with the adjustment to the international game."

Expediting that adjustment for the entire team is why they eliminated tryouts and exhibitions against U.S.-based select teams and, instead, selected the roster and then played a slate of exhibitions against other national teams.

"These countries we're playing have been playing together for decades," Hill said. "Since they were kids. So there's a level of familiarity and continuity. We're working at a real disadvantage because every year is different, every team is different. As we look ahead, ultimately you have to win and put together the team that gives you the best chance to do that. But you also need to have guys that have the opportunity to do what their predecessors did, which is participate in multiple cycles."

The relative youth of the current squad — Paolo Banchero is the youngest at 20 and Hart is the old man at 29 — could allow for that. Their relative lack of star power — four All-Stars, none with more than one appearance — also has resulted in greater camaraderie. For anyone who has tired of watching the predictability and relative lack of imagination inspired by the NBA isolation game, this World Cup has given potential future stars the chance to play big-time roles on a global stage in never-before-seen combinations: the Lakers' Austin Reaves dishing to Orlando's Banchero, Haliburton throwing no-look dimes to Portis and Brunson finding New York rival Mikal Bridges for easy breakaway buckets.

"It's been refreshing," Hill said. "One of the things that's been enjoyable is how they've come together and really been a team since Day 1. First time we assembled and had players, coaches and staff for dinner, the players all sat together and bonded. And that doesn't always happen."

But for all that happy talk, neither Ford nor Hill are willing to commit to the new team-first building concept until they see what it produces over the next few days, beginning with Friday's semifinal match against Germany. While tryouts may no longer be part of the program, the current squad is auditioning to be part of next summer's Olympic one.

"You have some players who are legacy players who have expressed interest in next year," Hill said, declining to identify them by name. "Some are in their prime, some are past their prime but still very productive. And then you have guys on this team who are emerging and so I'll have some tough decisions to make. You want to win, but you want to win with people doing it the right way. And this group, absolutely, 100 percent, has done that. They've exceeded my expectations in that regard. They've been supportive, they've played for each other. You've been in plenty of locker rooms, good and bad. You can feel it and you can see it. This hasn't been a good locker room, it's been a great locker room. That matters."

Just not as much as what happens on the floor this weekend. For the U.S., no matter who suits up, gold is still the standard.

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds." He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.

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