Chauncey Billups was selected for Team USA because of the 13 seasons he has spent in the NBA. He’s a veteran, a strong lockerroom presence and someone that has proved that he can make shots in big games throughout his many post-season runs with the Detroit Pistons. But did his reputation, which is impressive, give him a starting spot on this team that he didn’t deserve. Is the fact that he is the team’s elder-statesmen the only reason he is starting the game at shooting guard?

Billups has been compared to Jason Kidd numerous times this summer because Kidd was the same situation that Chauncey is now back in 2008. He was the veteran voice on a team full of egos and was able to operate smoothly for a fourth of the game while Chris Paul and Deron Williams took care of the rest. But that’s about the end of their similarities. In the lockerroom, they have the same responsibilities, but on the court, Kidd had very different tasks. With Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade on the team, Kidd was the starting point guard. He was playing his natural position and he didn’t have to play for long stretches because he had the Paul/Williams dynamic behind him. Billups, on the other hand, is this team’s starting shooting guard, which is not his natural position, and Kobe and Wade aren’t there to back him up.

So essentially, Billups is playing out of position and starting simply because of his age. Or at least that’s how it seems considering Chauncey’s performance from the field so far in this tournament. When you see that someone has shot four-of-19 from three-point land while going just 14-of-35 overall, you’d have to ask yourself why this person was starting. Yes, anybody can have a bad five game stretch but Billups didn’t exactly set the world on fire when he shot 39% from three with Denver last season. He’s been forcing shots throughout the tournament, trying too hard to make the big shots, and his back-up has been doing a much better job on both ends of the floor.

Eric Gordon did have a bad game against Slovenia when he seven three’s and made just two, but overall, he’s been pretty darn good. He’s averaging 10 points a game while shooting 58% from the floor and 46% from three. Gordon seemingly hasn’t missed an open look from downtown and he’s been able to come in and contribute right away off the bench. Defensively, Eric has been stout as well. He’s a big, strong body, and he’s been able to rip a steal per game so far. He’s even found himself up against a post on a couple of occasions on defensive rotations and he didn’t give up an inch.

The question becomes whether or not you place the better player in the starting line-up or continue to go with the veteran, hoping he finds his stroke while Gordon continues to come off the bench. Some people don’t think it matters how you start. Its a common thought that if Billups starts out poorly that Team USA can always insert a different player in down the stretch. There is some logic behind that but when you consider that Team USA’s biggest problems has been the stretch run, putting Gordon in as the starter becomes a more logical option. For instance, Team USA only had a six point lead at half time against Tunisia yesterday, whom they were favored to beat by 45 points. They ended up winning by 35, but if they were to get off to that kind of start against Spain or Argentina or Serbia, they may be going home earlier than anybody had planned.

Gordon alongside Rose gives Team USA a lot of versatility offensively. Gordon immediately becomes more of a shooting threat than Billups has been while Rose can continue relentlessly attacking the rim. With Kevin Durant alongside those two providing the most complete scoring package any one player in the league has, Andre Iguodala defending like mad on the wing and getting out in transition, and Lamar Odom effectively contributing on the boards, Team USA would be prepared to battle right out of the gates and in crunch time if necessary.

Billups’ role as a bench member would be uncertain. If he wasn’t producing as a starter, I’d assume limited minutes would be a prescription to cure the problem from a team standpoint.  No matter what, though, it seems as if he’s going to play shooting guard. With all of the point guards on this team, there’s no space to play Chauncey there and since he had previously shown the ability to make a catch and shoot three, he was deemed able to play the two. I think that having Chauncey on this squad, despite what he brings from a mentor perspective, will end up being a mistake. I doubt he will be removed from the starting line-up which means he will be placed in an uncomfortable position in a few big games but he should be.

This could all change if Billups were to have an outbreak or at least a surge to get back to average but Team USA doesn’t have time to wait for that to happen. They are out of group play now and are entering into the round of 16, where one less means you are going home. They may have an easy opponent in Angola to start it off but after that, they will have to face some tough opponents and they simply cannot afford to get out to slow starts. They already had a tough game against Brazil because of sluggish play in the first twenty minutes and they barely escaped that game with a W.

Chauncey is a good player, but his fit with Team USA is questionable at the least. Its a novel idea having a veteran around such a young group in their first international competition but the fit on the court doesn’t work. Billups is a point guard playing the shooting guard spot even though he’s had some issues with his shot. Gordon would fix those issues. He’s been shooting the ball extremely well all summer during practice sessions and games and defensively he has the strength, quickness and endurance to be effective for long stretches.

I’m not expecting Coach K to insert Gordon into the starting line-up at any point during this tournament. Though it seems like the best decision as far as the starters go, Billups’ role would be even harder to define on the bench. Team USA can survive with a few poor shooters on the floor simply because of their athletic ability, which allows them to assert their will offensively and defensively. But as their opponents become tougher, it will be harder to put up with a one-of-five performance from three and even harder to comeback from an early 19-18 deficit.

Lets hope Chauncey gets on a roll soon, because if he doesn’t, Coach K and his staff will regret not inserting Gordon into the line-up before this tournament even began.

Team USA was able to rest their starters for more than half of the game for the second straight day as the American National Team took care of Tunisia 92-57, capping off group play with a 5-0 record. Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala and Chauncey Billups all played under 18 minutes while Derrick Rose, the team’s other starter, played just 21 minutes.

“Congratulations to (Tunisia),” Coach K said after the game. “We thought in our pool, every team played hard. It was a great pool and Tunisia’s play was symbolic of the type of hard play on every possession … they showed that. It translated to an outstanding first half for them. To talk about how hard they played, you get 25 offensive rebounds, it means you never give up on the ball.”

The Americans had one of the best defensive performances of the entire tournament in this game as they held Tunisia to 27% shooting from the floor and beyond the arc. Team USA also accumulated 15 combined steals and blocks which fueled their offensive onslaught.

The only issue from today’s performance arose in the rebounding department as Tunisia secured a total of 25 offensive rebounds. That’s 25 O-boards on 52 missed shots, which means they were able to get the ball back on nearly half of their misses. They did have a larger than normal amount of shots to rebound but still, Team USA should of had this big of a deficit in the rebounding department.

Guard Eric Gordon led Team USA with his second scoring outbreak of the tournament as he went off for 21 points on seven-of-10 shooting (four-of-seven from three). with three steals. Eric has had a couple of ineffective games but when he has been on he’s been an invaluable contributor to the team. Gordon’s previous rival for the final spot, Stephen Curry, also had a good game as he showed off why he was on the team. Curry had 13 points on five-of-eight shooting with three three’s, three rebounds and two assists.

“I just had a lot of open shots and I had to knock them down,” Gordon said after the game. “That was the thing … we played really good defense and came down the floor in transition. We had a lot of guys that were open and luckily I was the one that was able to knock down the 3-point shots.”

Durant did play a limited amount of minutes but the scoring machine was still able to put up 14 points on 56% shooting.  Russell Westbrook also scored 14 points (67% shooting) while Andre Iguodala led the team with six rebounds.

Team USA will play their next game next Monday in the win or go home round of the tournament. As the #1 seed in Group B, they are slotted to play the #4 seed in Group A, which is currently Angola. Angola, if you remember, was on the wrong end of a 94-44 blowout against Serbia earlier this week .

After overcoming their toughest group opponent in Brazil two days ago, Team USA has a chance to take it slow as they get closer to the elimination portion of the tournament. Coach K was able to keep all of his players under 21 minutes of play and the Americans defeated Iran 88-51 to improve to 4-0 in group play.

“It was an honor to play against (Iran),” said Coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I thought the Iran team played extremely hard and had a really good game plan.  I thought they played well.  For us we were a little bit fresher today.  In our last game, when we played Brazil, that was our sixth game in 10 days in three countries.  I just thought we were tired, more mentally than physically.”

The United States didn’t start dominating right away as a slow offensive beginning kept them at a relatively low point total. But after a period or so, their defense on Iran’s guards was too great for them to keep possession of the ball and Team USA started to force a lot of turnovers. And as well all know, once this team gets out on the break, they are very hard to stop.

Team USA’s leading scorer was Kevin Love, who had 13 points and six rebounds in just 11 minutes of play. Love shot six-of-eight from the field including a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper. This game may not have been against the best opponent in the tournament but Love has proved that he can play at this level and, as I wrote, he should be playing more when going home and advancing are the only options starting next week.

“(Kevin)’s had a tremendous impact on our team,” Coach K said of Love. “He gives us a different center than Lamar or Tyson in that he can shoot the 3.  He’s probably as good a rebounder as we have even though he’s probably undersized for the position. When he’s in the ball game, he spreads it out and we have a little more room to maneuver inside and then his rebounding has given us second and third shots.  He’s done a really good job.  He’s very dependable for us.”

Derrick Rose also had a great game for Team USA today, relentlessly attacking the basket and blowing by his defenders with ease play after play. Rose finished with 11 points on five-of-six shooting. Kevin Durant also had double digit points with 12 to go along with five rebounds in 20 minutes, which is half the amount of time he played against Brazil.  Assumed 11th and 12th men Danny Granger and Stephen Curry had good games off the bench as well as they received extended playing time. Granger had 10 points on four-of-six shooting while Curry had four points, four assists and five rebounds.

“I just try to come in and have energy,” said Love. “I think everybody has kind of bought into their role.  For me, it’s to come in and be an energy guy.  Guy that rebounds and gets easy baskets, shoot high percentage and plays good defense.  A couple of things I can always do is play defense and rebound.  That’s the kind of mindset I have coming into the game and it’s worked for me this far in my career and this far in this tournament.”

Iran was lead by NBA player Hamed  Haddadi even though he had a particularly bad day from the field. Haddadi had 19 points and six rebounds but he shot just seven-of-22 from the field (0-of-5 from three). Still, Hamed is having a great tournament for his national team as he is averaging 21 points and nine rebounds a game.

Team USA will have another easy game tomorrow against Tunisia before advancing to the elimination rounds. They lead the tournament with their 4-0 record.

Photo Credit: Bryan Smith/ZUMA Press/Icon SMI

Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn made himself an infamous figure around the NBA last off-season when he drafted Jonny Flynn with the sixth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. It wasn’t so much that Flynn wasn’t a great player, though he still wasn’t deserving of a selection that high, but it was because Kahn had drafted another point guard right before him: Ricky Rubio.

As we all know, Rubio decided not to come and play for the T’Wolves. Whether it was because Flynn was drafted right after him or if it was just because Minnesota was too small of a market for him to play in, Ricky opted to stay in Spain rather than come overseas and play for the worst team in the Western Conference.

The fact that he has never actually suited up for Minnesota only makes it worse for Kahn but there might be a way for him to redeem himself. He’ll never be able to get last season back, but it was pretty much a lost one anyways, even if Rubio was there, but he can change the face of his team. Considering he traded his best player (Al Jefferson) this off-season to Utah for next to nothing and that Kevin Love was glued to the bench last season for no reason, changing the dynamic of his team seems like it’d be a good idea.

Kahn has been reluctant to so much as entertain offers for Ricky over the past year but another summer is about to end and there is little reason to believe that he’ll be here anytime soon and, though it doesn’t mean he won’t turn into a superstar in the NBA, he hasn’t looked great with the Spanish National Team this summer. Pair another season without him while still possessing the ability to trade him with Carmelo Anthony‘s desire to be traded and Kahn would be a fool not to offer something involving Rubio to Denver, at least in my mind.

Denver’s a larger city (14th in population compared to 48th for Minneapolis), the Nuggets are a better team, even without Melo, and the pace George Karl likes to play at seems perfect for Rubio’s style of play. Ricky likes to push things in transition which gives him the opportunity to trick defenders as he’s moving to swiftly for them to eliminate all of his options. His most valuable asset is his ability to make plays and the more possessions he has, the better chance he has to dominate on the dribble and distribute the ball around, especially with the athletes he’d have around him. And who knows, perhaps Rubio was really excited to play for Minnesota when he found out they drafted Ty Lawson, only to find out later that he was traded to the Nuggets.

The Nuggets have made it clear that they want to keep Carmelo, but he does have some leverage with his contract expiring at the end of this season,when he can leave Denver giving them nothing to show for in return. On the flip side, it’d be a bad move for Anthony not to sign an extension with Denver if he was after money because he won’t be able to receive close to the amount he can now with a new CBA in place or if there is a lockout.

In this scenario, lets say Melo and the Nuggets don’t have a very productive meeting and the team looks to deal him. Minnesota is already on their list of preferred trade partners (our friend Sam Amico reports that the T’Wolves, Kings and Nets are the three top dogs in the hunt) and, with Al Jefferson now in Utah, the best tradeable asset they have is Rubio (I consider Kevin Love way more valuable than Rubio and untouchable). Seeing that he fits in extremely well with the system in Denver and that new Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri likes what Minnesota can offer, this seems like it should be plausible.

Denver losing Melo would signal a rebuilding process. Trading him will mean the same but in this case it can give them a very good headstart in the right direction. There’s no telling what Rubio’s actual value is at this point but how does a Rubio, Wesley Johnson and one more forward (maybe Michael Beasley or Martell Webster) for Melo and a second round pick. Denver rebuilds, Minnesota gets a proven star. What’s not to like about this deal?

Here’s what the depth charts would look like for both teams.

Denver

PG: Chauncey Billups, Rubio, Ty Lawson, SG: Arron Afflalo, J.R. Smith, SF: Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, PF: Al Harington, Kenyon Martin C: Nene, Chris Andersen

Minnesota

PG: Flynn, Luke Ridnour, SG: Corey Brewer, Wayne Ellington, SF: Carmelo Anthony, Lazar Hayward, PF: Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, C: Darko Milicic, Kosta Koufos

As you can see, the point guard situation in Denver would be even more clogged than Minnesota but with Melo gone, the Nuggets would likely shop Billups around as well. Say they can flip Chauncey for an average shooting guard or small forward or package him with J.R. Smith (who they are shopping at the moment) to get a pretty good one. That’s a very good team with athletic young talent and a core of Rubio, Johnson and Nene to build around. Minnesota gives up a player that may never play for them anyways, the fourth overall pick from this season and an extra forward. After a year or so of wheeling and dealing, Kahn would basically be giving up a rookie, Webster, Randy Foye and Mike Miller (he traded these two for the pick he used on Rubio) for Carmelo Anthony. Not bad.

Minnesota, on the other hand, would receive a dominant scorer that Kurt Rambis could use as a new/different version Kobe in his edition of the triangle offense. Al Jefferson was their goto man last season and that didn’t workout very well. With Melo, they know they’re going to get a top level scorer, and they can start building around he, Love, and Flynn. They won’t be a contender right away, but they would still have a ton of cap space to use in the off-seasons of 2011 and 2012.

In the end, this comes down to two things that aren’t set in stone. For one, we don’t know if Rubio will ever come and play in the NBA. I’m assuming a trade to Denver would get him excited about coming over but there is a good chance that I’m wrong and its possible that Ricky never comes over. Secondly, we don’t know if Denver is willing to trade Carmelo, and if they are, whether or not a package built around young, future stars is enough for them to trade away one of the game’s best scorers.

If Rubio is willing to come over and Denver wants to start over, though, I like this deal. I like it a lot, for both sides. So perhaps Kahn can make right of this Rubio situation after all.

The San Antonio Spurs are very excited that they’re best foreign prospect Tiago Splitter decided to come to the United States to put on the silver and black. Splitter was drafted with the 28th overall pick in 2007 but he has matured into a much better big man than projected during his past two seasons playing overseas in the Euroleauge.

Splitter is not a young prospect with a lot of international experience like Ricky Rubio, rather he is rather old, at least for an NBA rookie, at age 25. But he does has played a lot of big games at a high level both in the Euroleague and with Brazil’s National Team.

Splitter has one last international assignment before he suits up with the Spurs as he is again apart of the Brazilian National Team during the FIBA World Championships this summer and he is actually starting at center with Nene skipping this summer’s games.

In three games so far, Tiago is averaging 14 points, six rebounds and an assist per game while converting 56% of his looks from the field. Those numbers aren’t bad but his rebounding hasn’t been all that great and his stats in the Euroleague were also a little below average. He had just four rebounds against Iran and Tunisia before grabbing 10 against the United States. I guess you could say that getting 10 against the US, even though they aren’t a big team, is something to go on but I’m still not too sure he’s a top level rebounder.

Once you get passed that, though, Splitter has looked very good. Offensively, you can tell he has a lot of that European big man skill that guys like Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitizki have, at least when it comes to his touch around the basket. Tiago has not shown much range, but again, he does resemble Pau and Dirk with his ability to finish at the rim with either hand and over defenders.

Splitter has shown a very quick turnaround flip shot that he has mastered on the block. He’s got more than a few post moves, some of which are deliberate, and this little beauty of a shot is a perfect way to keep the defender off balance. While being defended by Lamar Odom against Team USA, Tiago made this move look oh so perfect. He backed Odom down on the block and in the blink of an eye his hands were up from his hip and his body was turning towards the basket as he flipped it in perfectly. Odom had his arms straight, extended all the way, which is hard for anyone to finish over, but Splitter made easy work of him.

Like I said, Tiago has a lot of moves and I haven’t seen them all in use during this tournament. That being said, I’ve seen enough of his work to say that he has a very nice skillset offensively. He’s long, quick, smart and really that’s all you need to be to be considered the best center the Spurs have seen since David Robinson. Splitter isn’t the #1 option for Brazil, though they ran a ton of pick and rolls featuring him as he cuts to the basket, which is a good thing. He’s not going to be the goto post player for the Spurs. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and maybe even Richard Jefferson will likely be featured before Splitter and that’s OK. Tiago isn’t an out of this world talent that will eventually be the leader of this team but he is a very capable offensive player that will complement the rest of the team well.

Defensively, Splitter did a good job of protecting the rim against Team USA. He played the angles well, stopped Lamar Odom from getting good looks at the rim (aside from one in the final two minutes that he had to concede due to his four fouls but Lamar missed anyways), and even cut him off baseline on a senseless drive by Odom. He has shown good instincts and has the desire to get stops that his team needs. I’m not sure how much of that could by pride or that he was playing against Team USA. It may not be any different than how he plays in the NBA but there is a chance that a jersey with Brazil on the front and an opposition with USA on the front would get his juices flowing more than someone in a Mavericks jersey will.

Nonetheless, from everything I have seen, Splitter has the tools to become an effective option for the Spurs on both ends of the floor. Tim Duncan is aging and is in dire need of a center that can protect the lane with him and take some pressure off of him on offense as well. Tiago can do that, at least more than Antonio McDyess could. And if rebounding actually is an issue (or at the very least, not a strength), Splitter will have the pleasure of playing alongside Duncan, who still averaged 10 rebounds in 31 minutes last season, and DeJuan Blair, who averaged 6.4 rebounds in 18 minutes a game in his rookie year, with the second unit.

Team USA faced a test against Spain prior to the World Championships, but their game against Brazil today was clearly their biggest challenge of the summer. Fighting an uphill battle most of the game after getting behind late in the first quarter, the Americans had to rally in the second half to overcome a three-point halftime deficit. Thanks to an explosion from Kevin Durant a few solid defensive stands down the stretch, Team USA kept their undefeated streak alive at three games as they defeated Brazil 70-68.

Brazil gained the lead in the first quarter thanks to a couple of ridiculous contested three-pointers from Leandro Barbosa. Team USA’s offensive execution wasn’t great as Brazil’s defense forced several long, contested shots, and when they did score, Barbosa or Marcus Vinicius were tossing up three’s in response and Tiago Splitter was working the pick and roll beautifully as Brazil’s off-the-ball movement flourished. . It wasn’t until the second half when Team USA was finally able to get out on the break and take advantage of their greatest strength and even then Brazil was fast enough to get back and foul them rather than giving them an easy bucket.

After Lamar Odom gave Team USA a 64-62 advantage with seven minutes left in the game, only 12 points were scored by both teams combined. Luckily for Team USA, they were able to hold Brazil to a tie, giving them the two point lead when the buzzer sounded. Derrick Rose had a pretty circus shot that he banked in on the reverse while getting fouled (missed the free throw). Minutes later at the 3:54 mark, Rose drove to the basket again in transition and was fouled again. This time he made both free throws.

The next basket didn’t come until there was just 1:04 left in the game when Brazil got a basket from Marcelo Tieppo Huertas. Chauncey Billups responded with a lay-up in transition which was answered by Leandro Barbosa with a two of his own. Now down 70-68 with possession of the ball after a Billups missed three, Brazil looked to score in transition after rebounding his shot.

With five seconds left, Huertas stepped to the line with a chance to tie the game but missed the first one. On the ensuing shot, Heartas attempted to throw it off the rim so that his teammates could grab a rebound and attempt a putback at the buzzer. He missed perfectly as the ball bounced behind the USA players to the left corner. Alex Ribeiro Garcia came up with the ball and was immediately trapped on the baseline. Garcia passed it into Barbosa as the clock winded down and the NBA star had a chance to tie it at the buzzer with a lay-up but his shot rimmed out and Team USA escaped with a come from behind victory.

“I thought it was in to tell you the truth,” Derrick Rose said after the game.  “Thank God it came out.”

Things didn’t look good early for Team USA but in the end, the fact that Brazil challenged them and forced them to shut things down defensively and score big baskets on the other should help this team going on. Adversity isn’t something you want to face constantly but when you do face it and you come out on top, you receive more confidence in yourself and the Americans should be proud that they were able to come through when it mattered most today.

Though the team a whole didn’t look great today, Kevin Durant continued to shine through. Durant is just so, so good. I’m running out of things to say about this guy. He’s the best player in this tournament and he’s making a case for himself as the top talent in the NBA. Durant played the entire game (save for 35 seconds or so) today and he never gave in. He was just as active and effective in the final minute of the game as he was right after tipoff.

Durant finished with 27 points on nine-of-18 shooting with four three-pointers along with 10 rebounds and seven turnovers (sloppy passes and a few travel calls). He continues to impress with his ability to score the ball even when the rest of the Team USA offense isn’t getting anything done or moving at all. He needed to step up in this game against Brazil in order to preserve a perfect group record and Durant did just that and even more.

“It was a hard game, a tough game from the beginning,” said Durant.  “Brazil is a well-coached team.  They have a lot of great players, they are very disciplined.  I think in that first half we didn’t bring any energy as a group.  Overall it was a great game.  We fought hard.  Both teams fought hard and it’s something we can learn from.”

Derrick Rose had 11 points (4-of-7 FG), five rebounds, four steals and two assists in this game. Rose really attacked the Brazilian guards when he could defensively and was equally aggressive on the other end when taking it to the basket and finishing with creative shots like his unique floater or reverse lay-up underneath the backboard. Chauncey Billups scored the second most points for Team USA with 15 but he shot one-of-seven from deep and forced too many shots from deep.

“It was definitely exciting,” said Rose. “They’re a good team.  They challenged us throughout the whole game.  This is what we live for: to play in these type of games.”

Lamar Odom played 30 minutes in this game and was clearly gassed by the end of the contest. Odom had to played extended minutes in this game but its not clear why. I made a call yesterday for Kevin Love to get more playing time and even Tyson Chandler did well in his five minute stretch. But instead, Coach K went with Odom and though he rebounded well in the fourth quarter (and grabbed nine overall), Lamar had four turnovers, three fouls and missed six out of 10 shots. More Kevin Love, please.

(Coach K’s comments on Love after the game: “Kevin could play 20 minutes or none.  He’s just gotta be ready for that. Having Lamar in there as long as we did and I thought Tyson did a good job for a few minutes.  Again, we’re still finding out about our team.” Not sure I agree.)

One player that may not get as much credit as he deserves for his performance today was Andre Iguodala. Though Barbosa did cross him once and he had issues moving the basketball on a possession or two, Iguodala played his role perfectly. He played 29 minutes and took just one shot, but he contributed with his defense. Iguodala took over on Barbosa late in the game and was a big reason he finished just five-of-18 from the field and three-of-13 from three. Iguodala  had five steals in this game and five rebounds. Excellent, excellent game from Andre.

“Andre is our best defender,” Coach K said after the game. “Even if he doesn’t score, he’s going to be on one of the two of those guys.  We got a little bit of a lead and Machado scored five straight points to keep them in the ball game right at the end of the third quarter and I had Andre out of the game.  And, I got him right back in.”

“I know my role on this team,” Iguodala said.  “The main thing is we got the win.  All the other stuff doesn’t matter.  It only matters what the score is at the end of the game.  I had a job, which was to make it tough on Barbosa to score and he had to pull out his best moves to score in the second half. With this group, I feel like I go out there and try to shut down whoever their top scorer is.”

As you can see, the starters played most of the minutes. Stephen Curry and Danny Granger didn’t play, Eric Gordon, Love and Chandler all played just five minutes and Russell Westbrook and Rudy Gay played just 13 and 11 minutes respectively. Those five guys combined for just six bench points.

Other than Barbosa, who had his moments but was overall ineffective, Brazil was led by Vinicius and Tiago Splitter. Marcus had 16 points with four three’s and Splitter had 13 points and 10 rebounds. More on him later.

Team USA has an off day tomorrow and their remaining opponents (Iran and Tunisia) aren’t likely to lose by less than 30. This was an important win for the Americans and they have Kevin Durant to thank for it.

Change is a constant theme in and around the NBA. Every off-season, players change addresses, coaches change their playbooks and some fans change allegiances. Whether by choice or not, these events all take place and if the old saying is true, its for the better.

This summer, we saw perhaps the biggest change of the NBA landscape in the history of the league when LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach to play with his buddy Dwyane Wade. Oh, and Chris Bosh came along too. With this pairing of super friends, who, according to Kobe Bryant, have basically formed Voltron, the NBA has witnessed a swarm of negative attention (specifically from Cleveland) and a whole lot of positive attention.

No doubt, what James, Wade and Bosh did this summer was great for the league. Jersey sales, ticket sales, and TV ratings will likely never be higher than they will with this trio bringing a circus along with them wherever they go. The interest in the league, simply because of this team’s star power, if not because of the seemingly endless talent pool that has made the NBA interesting in almost everyone of its 30 cities, will be at its peak.

In that respect, what James decided this summer really helped the league and will make the game of basketball more popular than ever and with a lockout possibly coming in the NFL next year (yes, I know the same could happen with the NBA), we may see a new sports champion in our country. However, there is a growing belief that with this move, LeBron has hurt his brand. That he’s given up ever being the best player on a title team. That Wade owns Miami and he’ll only be a sidekick for the next six seasons.

There may be some truth to that. He likely would have done his brand better by winning a championship in Cleveland before leaving just so that he could prove he could win on his own. Plus, that may have eased the pain when he left Ohio. But lets be honest, if the Heat win the title, LeBron would be the best player on a title team. Wade is great, an all-time great if you ask me, but he’s 28-years old and had a serious knee injury three years ago which means he doesn’t have all that much time left playing at an elite level. James is 25, healthy (despite concerns about his elbow), and unquestionably the best player in the NBA. He may have a lot of help, which will downgrade the achievement significantly just like it did with Kobe and Shaq, but he will have won. And you won’t be able to take that away from him.

Since he made his choice, there has been a new flow of naysayers coming out against LeBron, saying the very same things I mentioned above over and over again. But I ask you, what’s different than a year ago? Yes, James has a new $50 million mansion to live in and he’s made the most popular and televised decision in the history of basketball, but what has really changed?

I’m not sure who said it first, but in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, General Shepherd unleashed this beauty of a quote when discussing a fictional World War III:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same. Boundaries shift, new players step in; but power always finds a place to rest its head. Locations change… the rationale, the objective. Yesterday’s enemies are today’s recruits… Train them to fight alongside you and pray they don’t eventually decide to hate you for it, too.”

Depending on how you comprehend that saying, it may or may not apply to LeBron’s situation. I translate it into plain English as this: a lot of things may change, but the reactions from the population will always stay the same; you can either be happy or angry and we will never live in utopia so there will always be people on both sides of the argument. After that first sentence, the message still eerily pertains to what happened this off-season, specifically that last line, but that’s a different story for a different day.

And so, nothing has really changed with LeBron. He changed teams, yes, but the reactions of NBA followers is the same. He’s gotten people to go out and get his new Heat jersey but he’s also driven Clevelanders to burn his old one. He’s got people saying he’s going to win the next six NBA championships and he’s got people saying he gave up his legacy to play with his friends. He’s got people saying he’s about to average a triple-double and he’s got people saying Kobe and Michael Jordan never would have done what he did.

Really, how many of those critiques are different from what he was hearing last year at this time? “He hasn’t won a ring,” “He’ll never be Kobe or Michael,” and so on. We’ve heard it before. Its all the same. Though James may have single-handedly diminished the psyche of an entire city, changed the outlook of him in the eyes of his NBA peers, and taken his talents to South Beach, nothing has really changed, folks. He’s still the best player in the NBA (even though some will argue the opposite if his numbers take the slightest dip). He’s still the most dominant athlete the game has ever seen. He’s still capable of posting astronomical stats any given night.

He’s still loved by some, hated by many and watched by all. And after years of waiting, months of constant speculation and weeks to mull it all over, nothing has changed.

Because the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even in basketball.

Kevin Love played all of about 20 minutes in Team USA’s four exhibition games prior to the start of the FIBA World Championships. He was the last man to check in for all four games and he even had a DNP-CD next to his name against Spain. Love was believed to be the 12th man on the team due to his lack of playing time, assuming the role that Carlos Boozer played in 2008 as the sparsely used emergency big man. And the limited minutes Love was playing came after the outcome had already been decided while Tyson Chandler and Lamar Odom split minutes at center.

Being that Love spent most of his time on the bench prior to the World Championships, I think its fair to say that his playing time thus far in the World Championships has been surprising. Not because Kevin isn’t a great player but because it looked as if he was not in Team USA’s plan of attack. In fact, he may not have been part of the gameplan for Coach Mike Krzyzewski prior to the Worlds. And if he wasn’t, his play in Team USA’s first two games has surely changed that fairly quickly.

The center position for Team USA saw its first change when Lamar Odom started the opener against Croatia instead of Tyson Chandler, who had been starting the majority of the scrimmages the Americans had played. Odom was effective for stretches, while Chandler was not all that helpful at all in that first game, which led to a lack of production from the big men, specifically when it came to rebounding the ball.

Enter Kevin Love. Though Coach K made a mistake in not inserting him into the game earlier, Love’s impact was felt right away as he grabbed down rebound after rebound by expertly tipping the ball over and over again until he (or even a teammate in some cases) came up with the ball.

In just 13 minutes of play against Croatia, Love scored seven points (including a three-pointer) and pulled down 10 rebounds. Yes, he had 10 rebounds in 13 minutes. That’s off the charts production especially when you consider Chandler (who had zero boards) and Odom combined to get just five rebounds in 27 minutes and that Croatia actually won the overall rebounding battle 41-39 because of the underwhelming production those two had. In fact, Kevin Durant had to due the bulk of the rebounding with Odom and Chandler in the game as he pulled down eight rebounds.

Love would not disappoint against Slovenia, either. Odom did a better job of rebounding the ball in this game, though he was particularly ineffective in other areas (just five points and five fouls), as he grabbed nine rebounds but Love’s presence was still needed as Chandler had just two rebounds in nine minutes. Kevin played 13 minutes once again, but he ended up grabbing 11 rebounds in limited time anyways, with five of those coming on the offensive end. On one play in particular, Love was tied up with a Slovenian big man but still managed to grab the rebound with one hand and then toss it off the backboard for an AND-1.

To go along with his terrific rebounding numbers, Love also added 10 points, giving him the first double-double for Team USA for the tournament.

When I went over to the FIBA website to see where ranks among the tournament leaders in rebounding, I couldn’t help but chuckle in amazement. Love is tied for third place with an average of 10.5 rebounds a game. Already, he’s in great company, especially for someone not expected to play much during the tournament but consider this: The tree guys tied or ahead of him are Zaid Abbaas (10.5 RPG, Jordan), Levon Kendall (11 RPG, Canada) and Yi Jianlian (11.5 RPG, China) have averaged 29.5, 24, and 34 minutes respectively. Kevin has averaged 10.5 rebounds in 13 minutes a game, which translates to close to 30 rebounds a game per40 minutes.

That’s insane. Love’s numbers in the NBA last season are similar to his production so far in the Worlds. Compared to the minutes Dwight Howard played, Love produced just as well if not better when it came to grabbing rebounds. I think Howard is the best rebounder in basketball specifically because of his athleticism and just how hard it is for someone to go up him and grab it away from him. But Love is a close second and when it comes to instincts and his ability to adjust to his lack of the out of this galaxy athletic ability Dwight has, he’s the cream of the crop.

Love’s interior defense leaves a lot to be desired which has to be the only reason he hasn’t garnered as much playing time on this squad being that he is the team’s best rebounder by far, is an excellent offensive big man, at least internationally, with his ability to stretch the floor and finish at the rim (and he can do this with one hand as he showed today), and then there’s those perfect outlet passes that Kevin throws that ignite the vaunted Team USA fastbreak like none other. As you can see, the positives far outweigh the negatives and one weakness alone is not enough to keep him saddled to the bench.

Love has produced better than Odom and Chandler have combined in way less minutes so there’s little argument against playing him more other than his aforementioned defensive deficiencies. I don’t mind Odom starting. He’s capable of doing extraordinary things on good nights. But playing Chandler over Love is a mistake. Tyson had the ability to be a defensive force prior to his injuries but based on his performance this summer, there isn’t a whole lot of positive that he has shown. Coach K has already shown that Love has earned more playing time because of the burn he got against Slovenia but I think he needs to be in there more.

I understand that 13 minutes a game on this team isn’t horrible due to the nature of how Coach K uses his rotations. Even the best player, Kevin Durant, will likely only play 20-25 minutes a night. But Love should get at least 18-20 minutes per contest. Team USA has had stretches in both of their first two games where rebounding has been an issue and Kevin is an instant solution to the problem. Thus far, Coach K hasn’t inserted him as quickly as Love should have, but his play against Croatia and Slovenia have provided enough reason for that to change, especially with a game against Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter of Brazil coming up tomorrow.

From the day Team USA announced that none of the gold medalists from the 2008 Olympic team, Kevin Durant has been billed as the face of the program. And no matter how much he tried to defer attention and deny being the country’s best, Durant showed today that he’s without a doubt the best player in the World Championships.

Offensively and defensively, Durant willed Team USA to a 99-77 victory against Slovenia to give them a 2-0 record to start Group B play. The final score may lead you to believe this was a blowout but the Slovenians were in this game for a half. Team USA was able to hold them to just 11 points thanks to their stifling defense in the first quarter but their offense was cold and a string of three or four straight traveling calls kept giving Slovenia the ball back. They were never able to capitalize on their chances so they never took the lead but they didn’t get completely dominated from wire to wire.

As a team, the Americans turned it over 17 times, which is never a good thing, with most of their turnovers coming on quick travel calls. Ever since they left the States and have been playing with International referees Team USA has been struggling with the FIBA travel rule. According to the rules, once you catch a pass you are no longer allowed to take a step before you dribble. That’s something that the NBA referees don’t particularly look at and its hard to adapt to especially since most of the time they are in transition, trying to move as quickly as possible.

“The turnovers we had are something we can correct,” Durant said after the game. “We were throwing a cross court pass or traveling.  I think those turnovers we can control and get them down a little bit so yesterday we did a better job on the turnovers but today we just made some costly mistakes and some mistakes that we can correct.”

Additionally, Team USA had some foul trouble in this game, accumulating 28 team fouls (compared to 22 for Slovenia). They seemed to be overaggressive, crowding their men and getting in their jersey, which is legal, but once they move their hand towards the ball the whistle was blown. Six players had three fouls, one had four and Lamar Odom fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter. Only Russell Westbrook did not have a foul. It didn’t hurt them today but against the better teams in the tournament, constant trips to the line will give them three points and slow the game down, which is part of the formula to beat Team USA.

But once things got going, the turnovers and the fouls started to matter less and less, as Kevin Durant took over the basketball game. Kevin played 23 minutes in this game, scoring 22 points on eight-of-13 shooting with a couple of three’s and a few transition jams. Its just so amazing to watch Durant play with this group of guys. Everybody else on the team has a defined role of sorts. Eric Gordon and Stephen Curry are shooters, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are slashers, and  Andre Iguodala is a defender and transition freak, so every game you’ll likely see each of these guys do the same things. With Durant, nothing is ever consistent save for the fact that he’s going to light it up just about every night.

He has the mid-range jumper that he can unleash at any time, whether he’s pulling up or simply getting receiving a pass 16-feet from the basket and stepping back to create space. His range is unlimited from beyond the arc, especially from with the FIBA three-point line, which is probably more like the free throw line for him. He can get past his man with ease with dribble and head fakes. When passing the basketball, Durant has showed a ton of progression from last season with Oklahoma City. You can’t necessarily practice passing, you improve by playing in organized games, and it seems as if Team USA has given him a chance to do that. He’s got everything in his package as he racked up four assists today. Derrick Rose can mix it up and so can Rudy Gay, but Durant’s clearly the most complete weapon on the squad.

And that completeness includes the defensive end, too. Durant had eight rebounds in the tournament opener against Croatia and today he he added four more. To go along with that, Kevin was an absolute pest and piled up a game high four steals with most coming in the early going. Once he got the ball, he got it moving up the floor and was likely the guy at the end of the play throwing it down. Durant has looked so good in the first two games of this tournament and you can tell that he is absolutely determined to bring home the gold. The rest of the tournament should be fun to watch.

“Coach told us that we wanted to disrupt their offense by pressuring them and getting into the passing lanes and I just tried to do that,” Kevin said of his defense. “I played my hardest and I was able to get my hands on a couple basketballs and get us some easy points.  I’m just trying to do my part and coming out there and playing hard as a four-man and scoring when they need me to.”

Along with Durant, Andre Iguodala, Russell Westbrook, Rudy Gay, and Kevin Love all scored in double digits.

Iguodala had 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in this game, though the points may be a bit deceiving. Andre’s shot has been off to say the least so far in this tournament but he has been Team USA’s most effective transition option. Westbrook also had 11 points, adding four rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in 21 minutes of play (just as many as starter Derrick Rose). Russell continues to be extremely effective when he comes into the game by providing strong defense and then being able to score in a variety of ways on the other end (his pull-up 15 footer at the free throw line was pretty).

Rudy Gay showed exactly why he is on this team during today’s game. Not only is he a top notch scorer but he is also a hardworker that attacks the glass and loose balls. I mentioned yesterday that Durant will be the only American averaging or scoring in double digits every game but that Gay would be an explosive scorer off the bench that could score 20. In this game, Rudy got 16 points on five-of-nine shooting with three three-pointers and that was in just 15 minutes. Some think Gay should the starter but I love the dynamic of having a defensive specialist in Iguodala starting and a scorer in Rudy coming in off the bench. Gay also had a block and steal with three rebounds.

Kevin Love’s game was spectacular and I will be talking about him in more detail in a post tomorrow. For now, just now that Love had 10 points on four-of-seven shooting with a game high 11 rebounds. Derrick Rose’s game also deserves some notification as he went three-of-four from the field (one three) for seven points to go along with five assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block.

“(My role is to) [k]eep coming off the bench and just being a spark for the team,” said Love. “I think each player that doesn’t start can do that.  We have a bunch of players that play in the NBA that can play different roles and for me, it’s just getting putbacks on the offensive end and the occasional three and getting to the free throw line and getting offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds.”

The no-shows today were Eric Gordon, who shot just two-of-seven from three-point range after going four-of-six yesterday, Tyson Chandler, who played just nine minutes, Danny Granger and Stephen Curry, who seem to be the 11th and 12th men on the team (they only played seven minutes each) but things have changed before and they can change again. Perhaps Coach K thought more minutes for Gordon would be a good idea after his great game against Croatia which limited Stephen and Granger’s playing time.

Team USA will play their third group game tomorrow against Brazil. The Brazilians will feature NBA players Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao and San Antonio Spurs rookie Tiago Splitter. It should be Team USA’s toughest game thus far (unless you count the Spain exhibition), though they should still come out on top.  Speaking of Spain, they lost yesterday to France. The loss doesn’t have any real consequences (they will still advance) but it does show some signs of weakness as Ricky Rubio was once again a turnover machine and Marc Gasol failed to make late free throws that his brother might have.

Warning: Explicit Language