The 2010 world championship U.S. squad was coined the B-Deem Team for its lack of A-list stars and was dismissed for being too young and too small.
But the U.S. won four knockout games against Angola, Russia, Lithuania and Turkey by double digits on its way to America’s first FIBA World Championship since 1994 on Sunday.
Director of USA Basketball Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski have to be credited for constructing this championship team. With only eight NBA All-Star appearances on the roster — compared to 53 on the 2008 Olympic group — the U.S. had a much less celebrated talent pool competing in this international competition. Instead of having a team full of alpha dogs, this squad more closely resembled an NBA title contender.
They had an unstoppable superstar (Kevin Durant), a veteran point guard leader (Chauncey Billups), athletic guards that could get to the rim (Russel Westbrook and Derrick Rose), shooters (Eric Gordon and Stephen Curry) and a bunch of big men that were committed to doing the dirty work (Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love).
An unselfish, hard-nosed mentality won for the U.S. Players bought into their roles. And America adjusted well to international competition by playing an undersized, athletic frontcourt to spread the floor offensively and cover pick and rolls.
The hardworking, team-oriented American way identified the 2010 world championship team, but the bunch of narcissistic All-Stars worried about international self-promotion will return for the 2012 Olympics in London.
