According to ESPN, the U.S. men's basketball team has preliminarily finalized 11 of the 12-man squad for this summer's Paris Olympics. Steve Kerr, the current head coach of the U.S. men's basketball team, can finally breathe a sigh of relief, after the bitter defeat of the men's basketball World Cup in Manila, the pressure on the champion coach can be imagined, and now the big names have expressed their participation, which also ushered in the dawn of his Olympic title defense.
However, even if LeBron James, a regular who has participated in the Olympic Games for the fourth time, and Stephen Curry, who is making his Olympic debut, also participate, the power of Janku's teaming up is not as strong as the addition of another real FIBA killer to make Kerr even happier. This great god is none other than the United States team history, tied with Anthony as the only superstar to have three Olympic gold medals - Kevin Durant. As early as last season, at the Christmas game between the Warriors and the Nets, Kerr began his "recruitment", and then he "secretly sent autumn waves" to Adu several times. Kerr's hard work has finally paid off, and this time Durant's selection has given him the best confidence to get his wish.
It is no exaggeration to say that Durant is the strongest player in the history of the U.S. men's basketball team. In the FIBA system, because there is no three-second defense rule, many stars feel very uncomfortable and are at a loss when facing joint defenses. The reason why Durant and Anthony are called big killers is because their silky mid-range and long-range shooting can always open up territory and open up the situation for the American team with indiscriminate single projection. Compared to melons, Adu's ceiling will be a step higher.
The data doesn't lie, Durant participated in 1 World Cup and 3 Olympic Games, and the U.S. team did not let the championship trophy fall to him during this period, and Durant contributed an average of 20.6 points per game in 31 international games for the U.S. team, shooting 53.8% from the field and 48.8% from three-point range - this is the data under the FIBA system, terrifying! On the Olympic stage, Durant scored a total of 435 points, averaging 18.9 points per game, and is the all-time scoring champion of the U.S. men's basketball team. As a comparison, Old Man Joe averaged 16 points per game when playing for the American team, James scored 14.4 points, Kobe Bryant scored 13.6 points, and another "big killer" Anthony scored 14.9 points.
So you can understand why Kerr started to "recruit" Durant early, right? Kerr has no room for error to fail, this time he must not miss the Paris Olympics, in order to give his own US team coach and the glory of the American men's basketball team a layer of double insurance, must invite the "Rand ancestor" out of the mountain to escort, now the gold medal is basically stable. On the inside, because Embiid chose to play for the United States team, it not only greatly improved the depth of the No. 5 lineup, but also weakened the French team's book strength. Tatum, Holiday , Booker and Adebayo are also the most popular players in the Mesozoic Generation, and with Edwards and Haliburton, two young offspring, the American team has no obvious flaws in the lineup.
And in the selection of the last spot in the 12-man squad, Kerr also has a backhand, and can decide whether to strengthen the guard line according to the final state and health of the players, or continue to recruit forward players who can attack and defend well. At present, the most vocal backup candidate is Leonard, and it depends on whether Xiaoka's knee injury is serious at that time. In fact, Owen is also a good candidate, and seeing Zhan Ou join forces again, I believe that everyone can also fulfill their long-cherished wishes, and the call will not be lower than that of Doku to meet again.
So, what do you think is the certainty of the U.S. team with Durant winning the championship this time? If you were Kerr, who would you choose for the last spot?