Team USA hasn’t lost a game in eight years and is widening the gap between itself and the rest of the world. We now know, after its singularly dominant tear through the 2014 FIBA World Cup, that there is simply no team on the horizon that can compete with this rebooted juggernaut of a U.S. basketball program.
In reality, Team France (if Tony Parker and Joakim Noah returned to the team) could pose the stiffest competition in coming years. But even there, the French would need four Nicolas Batums to handle the likes of Kevin Durant, James Harden and LeBron James.
In the fantasy realm, the San Antonio Spurs – a favorite to repeat as the 2015 NBA champions – have enough overall skill, athleticism and savvy to beat Team USA, but don’t expect to see the Spurs trying to enter this arena any time soon.
Imagine, though, six teams made up of the best players from different continents competing against each other and Team USA. This expanded basketball version of the Ryder Cup would be a potential gold mine of a tournament, the details of which I lay out in detail here. So, who should be chosen for these pan-continental teams? In the 12-man rosters below, I put a premium on size and athleticism.
I chose only players who had competed in an international competition or showcase since 2011. They are ranked in order of projected finish, worst to best.
7. Pan Africa
G Xane D’Almeida (Senegal)
G Emmanuel Mudiay* (Congo)
G Olimpio Cipriano (Angola)
G Malaye N’Doye (Senegal)
F Al-Farouq Aminu (Nigeria)
F Joaquim Gomes (Angola)
F Ike Diogu (Nigeria)
F Eduardo Mingas (Angola)
C Gorgui Dieng (Senegal)
C Yanick Moreira (Angola)
C Joel Embiid (Cameroon)
C Bismack Biyombo (Congo)
6. Pan Oceania**
G Patty Mills (Australia)
G Matthew Dellavedova (Australia)
G Kirk Penney (New Zealand)
G Dante Exum (Australia)
F B.J. Anthony (New Zealand)
F Joe Ingles (Australia)
F Ryan Broekhoff (Australia)
F Ben Simmons (Australia)
F Cameron Bairstow (Australia)
C David Anderson (Australia)
C Aron Baynes (Australia)
C Steven Adams (New Zealand)
5. Pan Eurasia***
G Sinan Guler (Turkey)
G Alexey Shved (Russia)
F Sergey Karasev (Russia)
F Sergei Monia (Russia)
G Dmitry Kulagin (Russia)
F Ersan Ilyasova (Turkey)
F Andrei Kirilenko (Russia)
F Andray Blatche (Philippines)
F Yi Jianlian (China)
C Timofey Mozgov (Russia)
C Omer Asik (Turkey)
C Hamed Haddadi (Iran)
4. Pan North America (except U.S.)
G Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico)
G J.J. Barea (Puerto Rico)
G Cory Joseph (Canada)
G Nik Stauskas (Canada)
F Francisco Garcia (Dominican Republic)
F Melvin Ejim (Canada)
F Andrew Wiggins (Canada)
F Anthony Bennett (Canada)
F Tristan Thompson (Canada)
C Gustavo Ayon (Mexico)
C Robert Sacre (Canada)
C Kelly Olynyk (Canada)
3. Pan South America
G Leandro Barbosa (Brazil)
G Pablo Prigioni (Argentina)
G Carlos Delfino (Argentina)
G Raulzinho Neto (Brazil)
G Manu Ginobili (Argentina)
G Marquinhos Viera (Brazil)
F Andres Nocioni (Argentina)
F Luis Scola (Argentina)
F Anderson Varejao (Brazil)
C Lucas Nogueira (Brazil)
C Nene (Brazil)
C Tiago Splitter (Brazil)
2. Pan Europe
G Tony Parker (France)
G Goran Dragic (Slovenia)
G Ricky Rubio (Spain)
G Rudy Fernandez (Spain)
F Nicolas Batum (France)
F Luol Deng (England)
F Boris Diaw (France)
F Dirk Nowitzki (Germany)
F Serge Ibaka (Spain)
C Joakim Noah (France)
C Pau Gasol (Spain)
C Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania)
*Under Armour just signed Mudiay, a potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, to a lucrative shoe deal. In helping Mudiay gain more exposure and potentially become the first great guard out of Africa, Under Armour would have a vested interest in becoming a sponsor of this pan-continental cup.
** Essentially, Australia and New Zealand.
*** Russia (but not Baltic states), Turkey and rest of mainland Asia
Follow Demirel further down the proverbial pan-continental basketball rabbit hole on Twitter.
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Forget Team USA vs. South America or Europe…. The only interesting game would be Team USA vs. Rest of the world.
Back about a decade ago, you know, when Team USA last lost, the reason they would lose wasn’t because of a lack of talent (even the 2004 team was the most talented in the tournament by far), it was because of a lack of chemistry and FIBA acumen. The all-Euro team, while star-studded, would be a patchwork group just like those teams from 2002-2006. Team USA, at that point, would have a huge edge in chemistry. Just look at the line-ups.
Starters:
Irving
Durant
James
Love
Davis
That is the core of the Cavs with the addition of Durant in place of Waiters and Davis in place of Varajao. Furthermore, with the exception of Irving and Durant, everyone in that lineup would have played at least one tournament together.
The Second string would be almost as good in regards to chemistry.
Curry
Hardin, Thompson
Carmelo, George
Faried
Cousins
With the exceptions of Melo (one of the best FIBA players of all time) and George (on the team as a 12th man because of a Colangelo promise), the back-ups all just finished being the only World Champions to win an entire tournament by 20 or more points.
An all-world team would be the only competition, and I guess it would look like this:
Tony Parker, Goran Dragic, Ricky Rubio
Manu Ginobili, Rudy Fernandez
Nicolas Batum, Luol Deng, Boris Diaw
Dirk, Pau Gasol
Jokim Noah, Marc Gasol
I guess one could make the argument that Parker is better than Irving, but it is close at this point (considering Irving just won the World Championship MVP and is about to experience life on a contender), however Curry has the edge on Goran, but it’s close.
The PF position is also close. Dirk is a top 3 all-time PF, and Pau is a probable HOFer. Although they are getting up there in years, their experience would trump Love and Faried, although their youth and Faried’s energy off the bench might give a slight edge to Team USA.
The point and PF, though, are the only possible Team World has.
Durant/Hardin/Thompson > Ginobili/Fernandez
Lebron/Melo > Batum/Deng/Diaw
Davis/Cousins > Noah/Marc Gasol
Team USA is younger, more athletic, better at shooting and has significantly more games played together then Team World would. They also have LeBron James…. which quite frankly, might be all they need anyway.
Honestly, I think it might be time to face the facts. The world is no longer catching up at basketball. The aging generation of talent has not been replaced, and the United States are just getting younger and better.
We can hand Team USA the Olympic gold in 2016
We can pencil in Coach K for about an 80 game win-streak this time 2 years from now.
We can predict will near certainty that Team USA will have gone over a decade between its last loss and its next.
We can call the NBA Champions World Champions again (we always could actually, but now there is no argument at all).
And we can look forward to a true challenger to the Dream Team two years from now.
Valanciunas instead of Marc Gasol in Team Euro? I don’t think so. Maybe belinelli should make the Team as well…
For Pan Oceania:
Pretty sure they’d be no BJ Anthony there
Forgot Andrew Bogut, Brad Newley, Thon Maker
and think they can finish 4th
I ruled Bogut out because he hasn’t played in an international competition since 2011, which is a sign he wouldn’t actually play in this thing if it existed.
Maker would be there this time next year, but he’s too raw at this point. Plus – correctly if I’m wrong – but I also don’t think he’s played in an international competition. Definitely not for an Australia national team.
Mea Culpa on Cipriano’s home country. I knew it was Angola, but was on Congo automatic.
I did totally whiff on Al Horford – he absolutely deserves a spot on that team (over Bennett).
Thanks for the catches!
Forgot Al Horford (Dominican Republic)
Ciprino in Angloan not Congolsese
Also forgot Carlos Moralis from Angola who tried out with Toronto and was FIBA Africa MVP 2013