Unless they intend on driving the ball to the hoop against packed-in zone defenses every time down the court, Allen Iverson and company need to seriously concentrate on making some perimeter shots. If the shots don’t start falling soon, then the Americans may not return home with any sort of medal around their necks.
Returning home without gold would be humiliating enough, let alone coming home medal-less. In Olympic history, the United States has been the gold standard in men’s basketball. Entering the 2004 Athens games, the US men had compiled an astonishing 109-2 record in Olympic basketball play.
Although America’s claim to superiority in basketball may be safe for now, there is mounting evidence to suggest that international players have dramatically progressed in recent years. If you’re not convinced, look no further than the results of NBA MVP balloting from the last two years. Peja Stojakovic finished 4th in NBA MVP voting in the 2003-2004 season, and Dirk Nowitzki finished 7th in the 2002-2003 season. A decade ago, few would’ve predicted that a foreign player could become a superstar in the NBA. But by virtue of their own greatness, Dirk Nowitzki and Peja Stojakovic have shown that they can more than hold their own against their supposedly superior American counterparts.
Not surprisingly, the success of Dirk and Peja has been intimately tied to the one thing that most America players lack—a decent jump shot. Stojakovic is a 2-time 3-point shooting contest winner and a career 40% shooter from behind the arc, while Nowitzki is a career 46% shooter from the field and a career 37% shooter from 3-point land. With few exceptions, America doesn’t produce many great pure shooters anymore. Because of the relative scarcity of quality American shooters, the USA Olympic basketball selection committee was put between a rock and a hard place. When deciding whom to put on the Olympic team, they didn’t have many shooting specialists to choose from.
What’s more, if they had invited players like Michael Redd and Brent Barry to play for Team USA, then they would’ve hurt the team’s marketability. Redd and Barry may be “good peoples,” but they wouldn’t have helped sell jerseys. Instead of fielding a team with dead-eyes, the US men’s basketball Olympic selection committee invited up-and-coming stars like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony—players who have yet to refine their outside shot, but who would certainly boost sales of Team USA merchandise.
Considering the fact that international basketball puts a premium on perimeter shooting, the decision to fill-up the rosters with mediocre shooters seems rather troubling. Though players like James and Anthony have great marketing value, their inability to consistently hit outside shots may seriously put US hopes of gold in jeopardy. Perhaps what’s even more troubling is the fact that the United States men are essentially being beat by 20-foot jumpers.
In the NBA the 3-point line is 24 feet out, but in international basketball the 3-point line is only 21 feet out. Since NBA players are accustomed to taking 3’s from farther out on the court, the closer 3-point line should’ve given US players an advantage over their foreign foes. But because of the decreasing emphasis placed upon shooting the ball in the NBA, few American players have developed a reliable jump shot.
When you look at who’s featured on the US men’s basketball team in Athens, it’s sad to note that the best 3-point shooter on the squad barely finished in the top 50 in 3-point percentage last season. As much as Richard Jefferson brings to the team, almost everyone in the league knows the RJ isn’t much of a threat from the outside. In fact, it was just last season when Jefferson actually began hitting his outside shots with some sort of consistency. Although Jefferson may be an All-Star for years to come, he’s not a great shooter. And he’s proven that in Athens, by shooting just 15% from the field at the games.
Outside of Jefferson, there are also other prominent non-shooters featured on the team. Allen Iverson is a career clunker whose career field goal percentage hovers just above 40%, slashing point guard Stephon Marbury is a career 31% 3-point shooter, and LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwayne Wade each shot less than 33% from behind the arc in their rookie seasons.
The team’s poor shooting is evidenced by the statistics from the first three games they’ve played in Athens:
In their humiliating loss to Puerto Rico, the US men shot a pathetic 13% from 3-point land and a mere 35% from the field—while the Puerto Ricans shot over 50% from field and behind the arc.
In their meager 6-point victory against Greece, Team USA went 4 of 21 from behind the 3-point line and managed to shoot just 40% from the field overall—while the host country Greeks shot an impressive 42% from 3.
In their comeback victory against Australia on Thursday, the Americans connected on only 18% of their 3’s—while the Aussies nailed 46%.
Looking at those numbers, the US chances of winning the gold in men’s basketball seem quite bleak. When your opponents can hit the 3-point shot and you can’t, then they can trade baskets with you and still pull out a victory. In other words, no lead is safe.
That said, I continue to believe that the US will win the gold. In spite of their consistently awful outside shooting, Team USA finally appears to be figuring out how to use their strengths to their advantage. On Thursday against Australia, the Americans shot an impressive 57% from the field by forcing turnovers, getting easy buckets, and throwing the ball into Tim Duncan. If they start hitting some shots as well, then they’re really going to give their opponents some trouble.
This current incarnation of the US men’s basketball squad may not be another Dream Team, but it’s still good enough to win Olympic gold.
Vincent Lim resides in sunny Southern California and is currently enrolled at UCLA. When he's not watching a game or tuned into ESPN, he enjoys surfing the Net and studying history.
