USA men’s basketball team head coach Steve Kerr has a tough task ahead of him before the 2024 Paris Olympic games begin: deciding who his starting five will be. In a press conference held on Thursday, the 27th of June, over a Zoom call, Kerr revealed how he plans to build his starting lineup.
“It’s a great question. My staff and I have talked about it quite a bit. It’s a good problem to have but I’m guessing all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday so how do you pick five out of 12? The idea is you find combinations that click and two-way lineups that can be effective on both ends,” Kerr said.
That’s what training camp is for
Before competing in Paris for gold, which will take place from the 26th of July to the 11th of August, Team USA will gather in Las Vegas for their training camp and then travel to Abu Dhabi and London to play several exhibition games. Kerr said he’ll use this preparation process to build his rotation and find the perfect lineup combinations he’ll utilize in the tournament.
“Our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning the gold medal no matter what it looks like and no matter who’s playing,” Kerr added.
Team USA will first place Canada in Las Vegas on the 11th of July, which should be a promising exhibition match as these two teams are filled with high-level talent. The Canadians were also the team that defeated the Americans in the 2023 FIBA World Cup held in Manila so this exciting rematch is something to look out for.
After facing Canada in Vegas, Team USA, who is expected to be complete in this year’s tournament, will go up against Australia and Serbia in Abu Dhabi and then play South Sudan as well as Germany in London.
Why exhibition games matters
While the common consciousness is that Team USA are the undisputed favorites to win the tournament, Kerr mentioned that their biggest disadvantage is the fact that they don’t have continuity nor do they have enough reps. That’s why these exhibition games matter for Team USA and it’s also a measuring stick to see how they match up against some of their competition.
As we saw during the FIBA World Cup, their lack of continuity and reps together ended up being a huge factor in Team USA’s disappointing fourth-place finish. But this time around, the current Golden State Warriors head coach believes they have enough firepower to compete against the world and make up for their biggest disadvantages.
Related: Steve Kerr on how he envisions Steph Curry and LeBron teaming up for Team USA
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