Olympic champions expect underdog role
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The United States will be an underdog at the world basketball championships in Turkey later this month because of a lack of height and international experience, the USA Basketball chairman said on Saturday.
Jerry Colangelo conceded the team bears little resemblance talent-wise to the Kobe Bryant and LeBron James-led squad that swept to Olympic gold two years ago in Beijing.
"It's a different group. It's a young group," he told Reuters courtside before the US met China in a tune-up at Madison Square Garden, a game the US won 98-51 behind Danny Granger's 22 points.
"We don't have a lot of size up front. We lost some people who we were banking on. We lost size going in, but you deal with the cards that you're dealt."
Eric Gordon scored 15 points for the US and Kevin Durant had 14. Yi Jianlian led China with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Sun Yue scored eight points.
The US led 32-4 on fast-break points and forced 25 turnovers.
New York Knicks center Amare Stoudemire decided not to play, and injuries to Golden State forward David Lee and Phoenix center Robin Lopez have left the team with Tyson Chandler and Lamar Odom as its key players under the basket.
They are quality NBA big men but hardly offer the presence of Orlando Magic bruiser Dwight Howard, who helped patrol the paint for the US squad in 2008.
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who led team to Olympic gold in Beijing, admits this crew will need some breaks in Turkey to walk away with the FIBA world title.
"Will it be harder than Beijing? Yes," he said. "There is not as much room for error. Like a loose ball, the wrong foul when the other team is in the bonus. Little things like that.
"This team will have to use its coupons and go for sales a little bit. The Olympic team didn't have to do that as much, but that's OK."
Krzyzewski still has to make three more cuts to get his team down to 12. Players in danger, like Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee and Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon, had another chance to impress when the Americans faced France on Sunday.
China took on Puerto Rico in the second game.
The US squad is made up of NBA players and the unequivocal leader is Durant, the smooth-shooting 6-foot-9 (2.06m) Oklahoma City guard who led the league in scoring this year.
Durant knows how much teams love to topple the US.
"We're always going to have a bull's eye on our backs, and especially now since we won the Olympics," he said. "We have some of the best talent in the world."
