Charles Barkley Questions How Team USA Was Built for 2016 Rio Olympics
Even without the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, many expected the United States men's basketball team to cruise to a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
However, things haven't gone smoothly for Mike Krzyzewski and Co. lately—and Charles Barkley believes roster construction is the reason why.
Team USA went 5-0 in the preliminary rounds but won its final three games by a combined 16 points, including back-to-back three-point victories to close out group play. Those close calls are hardly the blowout victories the squad has come to expect, with Paul George even saying he thought the team was going to dominate the competition.
Anyone who has watched the games knows Team USA can score. There are plenty of shooters throughout the roster—and therein lies the problem, according to Barkley.
The TNT analyst told Sports360AZ's Brad Cesmat (h/t Cindy Boren of the Washington Post) that he believes the roster configuration is why the team has run into problems:
"If you take away DeAndre Jordan, every guy on that team is a ball-dominant guy. You see them playing a lot of one-on-one basketball. That's the thing I've noticed more than anything. Like, you have to understand when you put a team together like that, you have to have some role players. … But you take a guy like Kyle Lowry, who is a hell of a player, he wants to score. Kyrie [Irving] wants to score. Kevin [Durant] wants to score. [DeMar] DeRozan wants to score. So I think they have been really stagnant offensively.
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Whether the United States walks away with its third straight gold medal should not matter when building a team in the future. Barkley hopes USA basketball learns from its struggles in Rio and uses that as a lesson in how to fill out a roster in future Games.
"When they put that team together in the future, they have to realize we can't have just really, really great offensive players," Barkley said. "They gotta have players that if they don't get a shot, they're not just gonna stand around and mope."
Team USA has survived each test thus far. The only thing that matters is what's on the scoreboard at the end of the game and who winds up with gold medals. Even if it isn't pretty, the United States will be happy to come out on top.
Barkley just hopes that, win or lose, the 2016 Olympics serve as a lesson for the decision-makers.
