Go time is nearly here and Coach Kerr is not happy with his team’s effort.
Olympic Basketball starts on Sunday and Team USA coach Steve Kerr is not happy with where things stand.
The team had a video review and Kerr found the effort it put out against South Sudan and Germany.
Kerr said this: “It’s got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can’t let teams outplay us effort and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan.
“We have another level. I think we have another two levels that we can get to, but it’s a collaboration, always.
“We can show them, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do that. Let’s learn personnel.’
“We got to know the shooters, know the non-shooters, all that stuff. So that’s where we can help them. Where they can help themselves is just effort and energy play after play, after play. This is different.”
This plays into some criticism Australia’s Josh Giddey made earlier this week: “If you look on paper, obviously they’re the most talented team. It’s not a secret to anybody. But I think the difference is these guys have been thrown, they’ve never played together, whereas a lot of these other countries have had a core that’s been together for years.”
It’s an old criticism of course and there’s some truth to it. That’s why Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo required a multi-year commitment to the program. It may be somewhat muted by the presence of three Celtics (Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday) and the fact that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are teammates and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant used to be.
Still, Giddey’s point is basically correct and ironically, it gets back to the criticisms of previous USA teams, notably the 2004 team, disastrously coached by Larry Brown.
Fortunately, most of the problems are correctable. Kerr is demanding more intensity and effort and the US should have a much higher defensive ceiling than anyone else. A loss in pool play wouldn’t be fatal and might even get some of Kerr’s points across effectively.
Let’s hope they figure it out on their own though and let’s also remember that some of the criticisms we’re hearing now we heard in 2020 when Gregg Popovich was running the show.
The clock is now ticking.
