Steve Cole looked at himself in the newspaper.
In that photo, he was wearing Team USA No. 6 shirt, his pants so short that they barely covered his thighs, and his blonde hair was much fluffier than he looks now, defending an Italian defender. The newspaper was handed to Cole by a Spanish journalist before the U.S. team traveled to the United Arab Emirates for final preparations.
Newspapers carried reports that Cole played for Team USA in 1986. It was the last World Championship U.S. men's basketball team in history to consist of non-professional players, and Cole and Monk won the World Championship in Spain together with David Robinson, Charles Smith, Kenny Smith and Sean Elliott at the university.
Thirty-seven years on, Cole has gone from an average junior at the University of Arizona to a four-time NBA coach. As Popovich's assistant coach, he participated in Team USA's gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and witnessed the U.S. men's basketball team finish seventh at the 2019 World Cup in China. Now he faces a task that looks almost as daunting as Popovich did four years ago: to compete for the world championship with a team of 12 with an average age of 24.4 — not much older than the 1986 college team.
The world doesn't like the American team, and not just because they're young. Historically, Team USA has won every Olympic title since 1992, except for bronze in 2004. In the past six World Cup and World Championships, the U.S. team has broken the sand four times.
Even as superstars like Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo announce their withdrawal from the World Cup, world basketball continues to have a growing impact on the U.S. men's basketball team. Kevin Durant's first FIBA defeat in Tokyo the year before last, as evidenced by the time when just 12 NBA players could make opponents surrender. Canada's outside line, led by Shay Kyrgyz-Alexander, is nothing short of the United States, Luka Doncic's star flavor is enough to crush everyone on this American team, Australia has a record 10 NBA players on its primary list, and Spain, France and Germany will remain strong contenders for World Cup medals in last year's European Championship. Can an American team so young and lacking stars really beat these strong opponents all the way to the championship?
Durant, Tatum and Booker, who won the U.S. team in Tokyo, will not be in the Philippines. No one on this U.S. men's basketball team has ever made the All-NBA team, and only four — Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halliburton, Jalen Jackson Jr. and Brandon Ingram — have been All-Stars, but they have all only been selected once. It is no exaggeration to say that this American men's basketball team has a bleak star.
But with the defeat of Puerto Rico in the second half of the first game, Slovenia without Doncic, the defeat of Spain in the fourth quarter, and the end of three warm-up games, people saw an "affordable" American team that far exceeded their imagination.
This is first and foremost thanks to the team's core defender, Bronson. He scored a team-high 21 points on 9-of-9 shooting against Spain, completely erasing the stereotype that a small guard is not fit to play FIBA. In fact, at the age of 27 in two weeks, he is also the leader of the American men's basketball team. Cole has always liked him: "We have a great team. A lot of them have leadership, which is fun. But I think Jaylen [Bronson] is the natural leader, and as a point guard, he leads his team all the time. On the first day of training, he was the one who took the lead in shouting '1, 2, 3, Team America,' as if it came naturally to him. ”
Cole's trust in Bronson is also evident in his platoon formation in training with the team. During training, he adjusted the starting line-up, with Edwards, Cameron Johnson and Tyrese Halliburton in and out of the roster, and only Bronson standing.
Bronson does play the role of boss in the team's locker room, and not least because of his age, leadership and ability on the court. He, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart spent three years together at Villanova University, winning two national championships together, and these three players are now the backbone of the American men's basketball team. After they entered the league, their network spread throughout the team, and Johnson who was used to trade Durant with Bridges, Ingram, who used to play with the Pelicans with Hart... The young U.S. men's basketball team is quite close to each other.
"A lot of us were friends in the league," Bridges explained, "and I mean, like I had a good relationship with Jalen [Jackson], we were drafted and talked together a lot. Ante and I always talk to each other in games. BI (Ingram) and I also play together a lot because of Josh (Hart's). Now we can fight together for the United States ... Winning an NCAA championship for your school is a great thing, winning an NBA championship for your city is great, but playing for the country, it's a completely different level, and we young people have to compete together for a championship in six to seven weeks... Man, it's all amazing, and that's why I love it. ”
It's hard to imagine how this team managed to build extraordinary chemistry in such a short period of time. You know, even with the Villanova trioje, most of them have never played together, and they need to cultivate a rapport in just a few weeks to compete with opponents who may have played together for more than a decade. And that's the main reason why people didn't like Team USA in the past at the World Series.
Bobby Portis, the oldest member of the U.S. team, credits the team's selflessness in integrating so quickly: "We have a lot of Villanova University players who play together a lot, but I think most of our run-in was done in the arena. Shooting together, chatting together, lifting iron together, this is a shortcut to strengthen the relationship in a short time. The most important thing is that they are very selfless players, willing to sacrifice and dedicate themselves to the victory of the game and the development of the team, and of course you can't help but get better when you are surrounded by such players. ”
When Halliburton, who was the backup, doubled in assists in two of the three warm-up games, when Ingram, who was in the Pelicans, observed his teammates' movements in every single, and when Edwards, who was known for his points in the Timberwolves, was fully committed on the defensive end, the American team showed quite good spirit. People began to fantasize that maybe they could recreate the 2010 U.S. victory in Turkey.
In 2010, due to the absence of the core players who led the "Redemption Team" Mengba to win the gold medal in Beijing in 2008, the US men's basketball team led by Durant was also evaluated by the media as the "B-Team". But that young team sang the triumph all the way through their great momentum and projection. At least in the world's No. 2 and No. 1 games between the United States and Spain, we can really see a little shadow of the 2010 American team in this American men's basketball team.
67% shooting from the field and 56% from three-point range, limiting Spain's shooting percentage to 42%. The old Spanish team wiped out the U.S. lead in the third quarter, and even overtook the score at one point, but the young U.S. team used the non-stop pressing and impact of the whole court to make them exhausted at the end of the game. Maybe the U.S. men's basketball team isn't starry enough, but Kerr has managed to squeeze the team together as a whole — at least it looks much better than the 2019 U.S. men's team.
Of course, we're not saying they're really invincible. The young U.S. men's basketball team is still adapting to different game lengths, different rules, different venues and different penalty scales, their defensive communication needs to be strengthened, projection stability needs to be improved, and Jaren Jaren, who has never been known for being strong, can withstand the more solid European White Bears is still in doubt, and they can lose to any world powerhouse in a World Cup that is a decisive winner in the knockout round. But so what?
The lack of star squads and Americans' disregard for the basketball World Cup have reduced the pressure on their results in disguise, and for this young American team, the most important thing is not to "win" but to "get better". Now it looks like they've been practicing under Cole for less than a month, and they're already much better off than they looked when the roster was announced. In this atmosphere of going hand in hand and growing together, the relationship between the players is bound to heat up rapidly. The 2010 World Championship spawned the camaraderie of Iguodala, Curry and Durant, setting the stage for the 2016 decision. Who dares to say that the next super huddle that shakes the league will not be in these American men's basketball teams that are now advancing and growing together?