Steve Kerr don’t like the favorite tag. A few hours before the start of the World Cup, the American coach believes that “Team USA” is among the favorites, among others.
” We are no longer in the era of 1992 », drop the technician in reference to the epic of the “Dream Team” in Barcelona and the American hegemony over world basketball.
With the massive arrival of international players in the NBA, Americans know that this period of absolute dominance is over for years. Latest illustration to date: the 2019 World Cup.
” The last time we participated in this tournament, we finished in seventh place and we lost three matches I think (Editor’s note: two in reality)”, did not forget Steve Kerr, then assistant of this team, eliminated in the quarter-finals against the French.
After this defeat, the team led by Gregg Popovich lost to Serbia in the classification match, before winning against Poland to obtain a place unworthy of their past.
” We had to deal with injuries, and the absence of Jason Tatum hurt us a lot that year “, Continues the Warriors coach in reference to the sprained ankle of the young Celtics star, who averaged more than 10 points and 7 rebounds (in two games) before joining the infirmary.
At the time, Jerry Colangelo had already highlighted the injury factor to explain this new disappointment on the international scene. ” I believe that if we hadn’t had these injuries, we would have won. These wounds were too much to bear “, had formulated the boss of the American selection.
More of a “passing team” this year
Prior to this competition, “Team USA” had also faced a wave of desertion from its NBA stars of rare intensity. Result: the leaders had to bet on stars in the making (Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown…). A bit like this 2023 version.
” It’s similar to this team. The 2019 team was also very young, we had Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown emerging, a few veterans like Harrison Barnes, Brook Lopez, Mason Plumlee. We had a good mix of players, but every team is different “recalls Steve Kerr, forgetting to mention Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton, Marcus Smart or Myles Turner.
But according to him, the current formation is “ probably more of a team of smugglers. I believe this team (from 2019) had a lot of great individual scorers. But what’s really unique about American basketball is that we have a new team every year. »
“Unique” and far from comfortable in terms of continuity, while Team USA recently made the choice to no longer require players to commit to several years.
“ It’s a problem for a lot of teams, not just us, especially now that the World Cup and the Olympics are being played back to back. We see a lot of stars from other teams not playing, so we’re not the only team with a new squad. “, ends the coach.
