The Future Of Team USA Basketball Is Now In The Hands Of Steve Kerr
David Dow. Getty Images.Remember when Team USA lost an exhibition game and then backed that up by losing to France early in Tokyo and people freaked out? Granted the US should never lose when it comes to basketball, but at the end of the day they still brought home the gold which last time I checked is all that mattered. We knew then that it would most likely be the last time Pop was the head coach of that group and once Grant Hill was hired to build the team moving forward, I was curious as to who he would pick as the next head coach. In September he talked about how he wanted someone who was a current NBA coach and someone who also had previous USA Basketball experience. I'd say Steve Kerr fits the bill pretty well in that regard.
If you were to ask someone who watches the NBA who the top active coaches are right now that could make up this staff, you're going to get a whole lot of Kerr/Monty/Spoelstra mentions. Personally, I would also include someone like Quinn Snyder, but for the sake of this Team USA staff that's a pretty legit group of NBA coaches. The big thing with Team USA will always be convincing the best of the best to sacrifice their summer to play in the Olympics. Considering all three of those guys are not only players coaches but also extremely successful, I feel good about their ability to build and best utilize a legit Team USA roster. You want Steph to play in the Olympics? Having his coach seems like a good idea. When was the last time you ever heard of a player complain about playing under Kerr/Monty/Spo? You can probably count it on like 1 or 2 fingers.
I think we can all agree while watching Team USA that they were ready for a change. Putting the future of the team with that type of staff should have you feeling great. Everything from a system fit, to player relationships, to schemes, that's literally the best of the best from the best league on the planet. Pop's system was growing a little stale in international competition, so now I want to see what type of roster they build. If Kerr is leading the way, you should probably load up on shooters. Spo will have them ready to unleash weird zones and is an X and O wizard. Everything Monty touches right now seems to only get better on both ends of the floor. Few coaches connect to their players like he does.
Hard to argue that Grant Hill made the wrong choice here. Now he just has to do his part to convince the best of the best to keep playing for Team USA. Hopefully, after the run they just had and KD still being committed that the rest will follow.
