It’s Time For Bradley Beal To Take The ‘Next Step’ In His Third Season by Ben Mehic

Despite not having the ‘star power’ in Kevin Durant or LeBron James like they did during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Team USA is still the overwhelming favorite to win the FIBA Basketball World Cup this month. Team USA–led by Anthony Davis and James Harden–hasn’t necessarily faced much of a challenge thus far in the tournament, but that doesn’t mean that their play has been perfect.

The lack of familiarity between the players has been clear, especially in the first half of games throughout the tournament. The majority of players representing USA have never played with each other or don’t have prior experience playing on in an international setting, making it that much harder for them to establish continuity.

Derrick Rose was essentially a lock to make the final roster after reportedly playing well in camp before the actual games started, but given the lack of experience in USA’s back court, Rose’s presence on the team became even more important.

With that said, Rose hasn’t played very well throughout the tournament and is currently shooting just over 20% from the field. Kyrie Irving has given USA a bit of a lift from a scoring standpoint, but there has been times where the lack of defense or ball distribution during games became a legitimate concern–as Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report pointed out.

Are there problems? Sure; it’d be great to see Team USA execute better in the half court and get more ball movement. A little focus at the opening tip might also be nice.

Spain–led by veterans Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Juan Carlos Navarro–is expected to compete in the FIBA World Cup Final against Team USA, but more importantly, they could potentially expose USA even more than some of the lackluster teams they’ve faced earlier in the tournament.

Simply put, USA’s lack of ball movement and inconsistent defense could create big issues against a team like Spain. Now, I’m not saying that USA will not win the tournament, because they’re certainly still the favorites, but there are some issues.

Derrick Rose hasn’t really contributed for USA in the tournament, and though Irving has stepped up, it would be nice if the team had a another distributing guard on the roster who’s also capable of playing on the defensive side of the floor. That’s where John Wall could have come in.

Prior to the start of USA camp, John Wall talked about wanting to stand out with his passing ability and on defense, which are both areas that USA has somewhat struggled with. Wall was a late addition to the pool of players invited to camp so it was no surprise that he was cut, especially since international basketball requires guards that are capable of shooting from the outside at a consistent rate, but USA could have used John Wall in the competition.

Wall’s ability to drive and kick, find open shooters and create offense from defense would have given Team USA a boost where they’ve struggled the most. I still believe that USA will win the tournament, but having someone like John Wall on the roster would’ve certainly helped.