The Impact of Defense on Team USA's Olympic Roster and Performance

LILLE, France — The global basketball scene has been rapidly catching up to the US for the past three decades. This shift became evident when former NBA commissioner David Stern and FIBA president Boris Stankovic embraced international players, and the legendary Dream Team helped ignite the basketball revolution worldwide.

The shooting, the fundamentals, the basketball IQ and even the coaching created pockets of basketball hotbeds in Europe and Asia and Australia and Africa. The international game and its players are rising in numbers and impact.

But there’s one aspect of basketball where the world still trails the Americans, and the gap has only been bridged slightly: defense.

When USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill and coach Steve Kerr brainstormed about 2024 and how to assemble the best team for international play, they did it with D in mind. They wisely and correctly emphasized that end of the court and how to best exploit the part of the game that the world can’t even begin to match.

As the USA prepares to finish pool play here at the 2024 Olympics with a Saturday game against Puerto Rico, defense has been this team’s identity — and will be the muscle flex into next week’s medal round.

Defense has dictated everything, including decisions about who starts, who plays and the results through two games.

“Defense, defense, defense,” Kerr said. “That’s it.”

The Americans’ defensive rotations are crisper, their strategy smarter and they’re more opportunistic. Oh, and this is important, too: the USA simply has better defenders.

“It doesn’t even matter if we’re having trouble scoring,” said Kevin Durant. “We know what we can rely on if other things aren’t working.”

Other than the occasional backdoor cuts that caught this team by surprise, the Americans are putting a stop to any and all threats to their defensive throne.

Serbia was locked up and Nikola Jokic, the three-time Kia NBA MVP, was for the most part silenced because he dealt with not one but three All-Defensive Team big-man members: Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Joel Embiid.

South Sudan’s quickness and 3-point shooting, which bamboozled the Americans in a suspenseful one-point exhibition game last month in London, was diminished once Kerr and his coaching staff devised methods to settle those issues.

“Our identity is defense and it starts with on-ball pressure,” Kerr said.

International players have been dogged by poor defense for many years, a reputation rooted in reality. Obviously, there are outliers, starting with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, and in the past, Manu Ginobili. But those are the exceptions and not the rule.

Meanwhile, as they surveyed NBA rosters for candidates for 2024, Kerr and Hill placed special emphasis on defense. That’s why they bypassed Damian Lillard, Jalen Brunson and Kyrie Irving, among others.

“You can see the impact Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are making,” Kerr said. “They are accustomed to being complimentary players to stars. It doesn’t make sense for us to put our five leading scorers from an NBA season on the floor because those guys don’t complement each other well.”

When Hill and Kerr chose Durant, Stephen Curry and LeBron James for the team — giving those generational players respect and perhaps one last taste of the Olympics — the shift then was to surround them with solid defenders.

It has proven to be the balance and the blend that has this team undefeated and positioned to be the No. 1 overall seed heading into the medal round.

Therefore, here’s who was placed on this team and the credentials they brought:

Joel Embiid. When he chose to play for the USA instead of France, that was a big win for Kerr and Hill. No question, Embiid’s overall impact in these Games is minimal so far, partly because he isn’t completely healthy or in the best of condition, and even his flaws are mainly turnovers. The fact is, he’s a three-time All-Defensive team member and a superb rim protector.

Bam Adebayo. He constantly complains about never winning the Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award, and he has a legitimate case. Not many players, centers or otherwise, can match his versatility.

“I can guard one through five,” he said.

Adebayo was All-Defensive First Team last season. In the most recent Olympic game, he terrorized South Sudan with his defense in the paint.

Anthony Davis. A three-time All-Defensive First Team player, Davis had a strong case to win the top award last season, which went to Gobert. No matter. Davis is a generational defensive player because his quickness and length allow him to guard multiple positions.

He and Adebayo, when placed on the second unit for much of Team USA’s games this summer, have been flawless.

Jrue Holiday. Widely recognized as a top defender for years, and perhaps the best defensive guard in the game right now, Holiday has wreaked havoc on shooters and ball handlers. It was an easy call by Kerr and Hill to elevate him for this team over scorers. He started most of the Team USA games this summer and will start against Puerto Rico and its quick guards if his creaky ankle allows.

Kawhi Leonard. Although injury red flags were everywhere when they chose him for the team, and those warning signs proved prophetic when they sent him home after camp, Kawhi was chosen to lock up opposing swingmen. When healthy, he has few equals.

Derrick White. There was plenty of blowback in the NBA world when Hill selected this Celtic and not that Celtic — meaning, Jaylen Brown — to replace Kawhi. But, again, Hill knew what he was doing, and the results are strongly backing him up.

That’s because White has arguably been this team’s most important player; Kerr gave him the ultimate compliment by calling him “a FIBA player” following USA’s win over South Sudan.

White’s defense has been tremendous; he does something within moments after he checks in. In addition, White blends in and connects with the international style of play and with his more accomplished teammates.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” White said. “I don’t have to change my game that much, compared to how I play in the NBA, not as much as some of the other guys.”

Others have supplied defense as well. In the case of Devin Booker, his defense has actually been better than his offense. Same for Anthony Edwards.

When the Games are over and assuming the USA is wearing the gold medal, this could be Team USA’s best defensive team, or among the best, at the Olympics.

Defense was an emphasis in 1988 when John Thompson tried to emulate his aggressive Georgetown teams, but the Americans had few scorers on that team. They settled for the bronze medal, the first time the USA failed to win gold in an undisputed Olympic Games (not counting 1972 and its controversial Soviet Union win).

That pushed Stern and Stankovic to open the Games to professionals and the Dream Team. While that 1992 team was all about history and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, defense was clearly the foundation.

Jordan and Pippen were ball hawks who gave nightmares to opposing players who never felt or witnessed that level and intensity on defense. Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson took care of rim protection.

From a defensive standpoint, that’s what the 2024 team is up against, and so far, so solid.

“We have players who can score,” Kerr said. “We know that in history, we win when we defend well.”

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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