It can be tough to compare teams based on nothing but dominant victories.
Danny Ainge’s scouting method is often cited: the best game, the worst game, and somewhere in between.
At their best, Team USA demolished Finland, winning by a ridiculous margin and throwing down ridiculous dunks. At their worst, they struggled to get anything going against Turkey’s slow-it-down strategy.
At Spain’s best, they have two of the world’s best bigs in the Gasol brothers, and an ultra-canny backcourt led by Ricky Rubio, the tournament’s leader in assists, running all over overmatched opponents like Iran and Egypt. At their worst… well, there isn’t much difference.
So at this point, it’s hard to disagree with Chris Sheridan’s assessment that Spain would dethrone the US if the final was played today.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com has this to say about the Americans’ post defense, and what they’ll need against the Gasols:
The Americans are betraying no real concern about Ayon’s 25 points in 37 minutes, since they largely single-covered the still-unsigned former Atlanta Hawk to make sure that none of Mexico’s shooters got off. That said …
If Ayon can hurt the American bigs in single coverage, you can be sure Pau and Marc Gasol possess the same capability in everyone’s hypothetical USA-Spain final Sept. 14. And that’s why Cousins is gradually starting to get more playing time.
Cousins’ interest in defense has always been questioned (loudly) in Sacramento, but put him on the same list with James Harden and Kyrie Irving when it comes to players who appear to be digging in harder on D for their country than we’re accustomed to seeing when they’re at their NBA day jobs.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski, for one, had nothing but raves for Cousins’ 11 points, seven boards and game efforts to bang with Ayon in 14 minutes of work.
“We have believed in DeMarcus right from training camp,” Krzyzewski said. “All the reports about him not making the team and all that were all not right. We felt he would be the perfect guy with or in place of Anthony at times, but more in the place of Anthony.
“I think his defense has really improved. He tried to take three charges today. He played Ayon pretty well without getting help.“I thought he played … he’d get an A-plus from me today. Let’s just put it that way.”
Speaking of Gustavo Ayon, you’d think that if he can score 25 on Davis/Cousins/Plumlee/Drummond in single coverage, you’d think there would be an NBA team that could use him for a few minutes a game off the bench. Apparently that’s not the case:
ESPN sources say Gustavo Ayon certainly prefers to play in NBA next season but at this point his offers from Europe have simply been richer
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) September 6, 2014
Here’s what else is going on in the wider basketball world:
FORMER BUCKEYES SET TO JOIN FORCES
Evan Turner was a good deal more heralded than Jared Sullinger coming out of Ohio State, but his Indiana tenure was brief and tumultuous. Sullinger, though, isn’t worried about his likely new Celtics teammate.
During the 2013-2014 season, Turner appeared in 54 games (all starts) for Philadelphia, averaging 17.4 points, six rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 41 percent from the field.
While Turner’s versatility would seem a logical fit in just about any system, things never really clicked in Indiana for several reasons.
For starters, he was traded for Danny Granger who for years had been the face of the franchise. Naturally, that made the transition tougher for all involved, even if the team leader was now Paul George.
Turner also didn’t benefit from Indiana having a player in the fold in Lance Stephenson who did many of the same things as Turner as far as versatility at both ends of the floor.
In what was clearly a more reduced role, Turner averaged just 7.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 21.1 minutes, which was significantly down from the 34.9 he was averaging in Philadelphia.
And then there was fight Turner and Lance Stephenson reportedly got in prior to Indiana’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
Regardless, Turner never seemed comfortable with his new team. And as the Pacers collectively started to slide, the addition of Turner was viewed as one of the reasons.
“Everybody is down on (Turner) because of how the ‘trade’ happened and what happened in the trade and how Indiana played,” Sullinger said. “People misunderstand Evan. He’s a great basketball player, a great teammate. I’ve known him for years. He’s all about winning. That’s his main goal.”
WHERE WILL ERIC BLEDSOE END UP?
I thought about this a couple weeks back, and came to the conclusion that the realistic options were Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Dallas. For what it’s worth, I’d still be betting on him ending up with Phoenix, but that doesn’t seem like it would make anybody particularly happy.
Geoff Allen of Bright Side of the Sun looked at every team, and these are the ones he concluded have a shot:
LA Lakers
– 2014-15 Salary: Just under $74 million
– Roster
– Contract value returning: No less than $11.8 million (125% of Bledsoe’s salary, since they are just literally a hair over the salary cap taking on Bledsoe)
– Verdict: EH, MAYBE? This is a weird one. Theoretically, this is one that could work pretty easily and beneficially for both teams: swap Nash, Randle and losing the restrictions on the pick for Bledsoe. LA can afford to pay Bledsoe gobs of money, and Bledsoe can be the heir apparent to Kobe. The Suns get a quality prospect at PF and the chance at a higher lottery pick from LA (face it, they’ll still be bad, and their chances would be bound to two oft-injured guards and Carlos ‘Spray-on Hair’ Boozer…).
Charlotte Hornets
– 2014-15 Salary: $55.1 million
– Roster
– Contract value returning: no less than $9.75 million
– Verdict: EH, MAYBE? The contracts line up relatively well here, and Kemba is not nearly as talented as Bledsoe, so it is an obvious upgrade. The Hornets also have some young players we might legitimately be interested in (Kidd-Gilchrist, Zeller, Biyombo) as well as some established guys it wouldn’t kill us to take back (Gerald Henderson).
Milwaukee Bucks
– 2014-15 Salary: $51.3 million
– Roster
– Contract value returning: no less than $9.75 million
– Verdict: EH, MAYBE? The Bucks are rebuilding, and the one place they have a fairly substantial hole currently is PG. They also have a ton of guys at the big positions, which is the biggest weakness for the Suns. The biggest question is likely, would Bledsoe agree? Something tells me no.
Detroit Pistons
– 2014-15 Salary: $38.4 million
– Roster
– Contract value returning: no less than $9.75 million
– Verdict: SLIM CHANCE. I gotta imagine Bledsoe is considered a better player and prospect than Brandon Jennings by the Detroit FO. And, at least in theory, a straight swap of Bledsoe for Monroe would work. However, I just don’t see it happening. Bledsoe would have to agree, and the Pistons would still be paying Brandon Jennings for two years to come off the bench.
WHAT IS AUSTIN RIVERS UP TO?
Does anyone else find it a little ironic that Doc Rivers’ last two teams have featured two of the game’s best pass-first point guards, and yet his son is a ball-dominant volume scorer? Anybody? No? Okay then.
Anyway, Rivers is working out and hopefully ready to take the Pelicans’ sixth-man job. He’s also working out with a trainer with an impressive client list.
John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
He spent time in Houston working with former NBA player and coach John Lucas and also in Los Angeles with skills trainer, Rob McClanaghan, whose clients include Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook and the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose.
”I was constantly working the entire summer,” Rivers said. ”I gained 10 pounds and I’ve got stronger in my upper body. This is my year.
”But I think at the end of the day, I think we all now understand we can only control what we can control. At the end of the day, we let all of the guys in the front office do their jobs. We just stick to what we do. We play.”
Two months ago, there was a possibility Rivers could be traded. When the Pelicans were looking to secure enough salary cap relief to finalized their trade agreement with the Houston Rockets to acquire center Omer Asik, there were several reports that mentioned they were looking to deal Rivers.
But Pelicans general manager Dell Demps cleared the necessary cap space to secure Asik and absorb his $8.3 million salary this upcoming season without having to trade Rivers. Demps did it by acquiring expiring contracts like Alonzo Gee’s from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Scotty Hopson’s from the Charlotte Hornets.
…
With training camp set to begin Sept. 30, Rivers’ biggest competition for backup minutes behind starter Jrue Holiday is expected to come from rookie Russ Smith, a hard-charging playmaking guard who is an exceptional on-ball defender.The Pelicans acquired Smith in a draft night trade in June from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Pierre Jackson.
While Rivers was not distracted by trade rumors, he’s also not overburden with the prospect of having to compete against tough competition to draw minutes in the rotation. Rivers said he’s matured and ready for whatever comes his way.
”The growing pains are over and I went through everything, so I’m ready to ball,” Rivers said. ”Our job is to be in the best shape we can be. We’re just preparing to work and not worrying about what anybody says.”
Coach K keeps praising Cousins but he’s still only playing 13-14 mpg. The obvious way to get him more minutes is to play Davis more at PF, for every minute that Faried isn’t playing. Rudy Gay should be restricted to playing SF. Team USA needs to win the Big battle to beat Spain. I would even play Drummond early in game, just to insure that none of USA’s bigs get into foul trouble.