On August 26 in the Philippines the Basketball World Cup will begin and United States will seek its sixth gold medal of the tournament. For this, the coach of the Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, will be in charge of directing the national quintet.
Although the American team won’t carry the big NBA superstars like Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis or Kevin Durant. Those called up to represent the country of stars and stripes are regular starters on their NBA teams.
Not having these big stars, the starting lineup of the team is not entirely clear and Kerr himself recognizes how complicated it is being for him to assemble the initial team ahead of the match against New Zealand, the first confrontation that the USA Basketball Team will have.
“It is not being easy to put together the starting five. You’re talking about 12 starters in the NBA, all of these guys are starters and great players. Part of the commitment to FIBA is that none of that matters. There are no contracts at stake. No one will be redeemed. It’s just us for six weeks, and I expect the same thing to happen here, it’s what happened in 2021, for the Olympics and in 2019, for the World Cup, in terms of the effort, the energy, the intensity and we’ll see what happens ”, commented the strategist Kerr for ESPN.
Kerr and the team have been concentrating for a week now and have yet to decide on their World Cup starting lineup. “As a coaching staff we are watching the tape every day, we are seeing different combinations and then we’re thinking about substitution patterns from there. That’s how it tends to work”, explained the coach about the process to choose the team.
Kerr and his team play by the rules
Between NBA and FIBA there are several differences in the rules of the game. This World Cup is played under FIBA rules, so Steve Kerr and his team work every day to adapt to the changes that will take place in the way the matches are played.
“One of the rules, for example, the ball is taken out of bounds below all the time in FIBA, whereas in the NBA it is out of bounds. We lost in the preliminary game of the Olympics against France two years ago when they scored, I think, on three out-of-bounds plays in the second half. So you plant that in your brain and you work a little harder with those things,” Kerr explained.
Those summoned by the United States
Steve Kerr announced at the beginning of July the 12 players who would represent the United States basketball team. These are the summoned:
- Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic)
- Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets)
- Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks)
- Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves)
- Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers)
- Josh Hart (Knicks)
- Brandon Ingram (New Orleans Pelicans)
- Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies)
- Cam Johnson (Brooklyn Nets)
- Walker Kessler (Utah Jazz)
- Bobby Portis (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Austin Reaves (Los Angeles Lakers)
This World Cup will be the first to be held in three venues. Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The USA Team Basketball will seek to lift a World Cup again after being left out against France in the last edition that took place in China in 2019.
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