Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose Lead Team USA Into FIBA World Championships

After following up a gut-check win against Spain with a demolition of a short-handed Greek squad, Team USA enters the FIBA World Championships in Turkey this weekend with plenty of reason for optimism.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski first saw his young gunners triumph against a Spanish team ranked third in the world by FIBA and loaded with NBA talent, including golden boy and Minnesota Timberwolves never-be Ricky Rubio, on the Spaniards' home turf at the Caja Magica in Madrid.

Three days later, he guided the Red, White, and Blue to an 87-59 shellacking of the fourth-ranked Greek team in Athens, slicing up the short-handed hosts like shawarma.

With its exhibition triumphs in the rear-view, the American group, led by 21-year-old NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant and Chicago Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose, now heads into its first pool play match of the World Championships, against Slovenia, with plenty of confidence and momentum.

But is it enough to carry this motley crew of international basketball newbies to a gold-medal finish?

Only time will tell, of course, but Coach K and company have plenty of reasons to be pleased, balanced by a fair crop of concerns.

Strengths

Team America's greatest asset is its athleticism. No team in the field boasts anything close to the bevy of high-fliers and speedsters that Jerry Colangelo has bequeathed to Coach K and his staff.

While the rest of the competition has enough trouble dealing with Rose, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, and Russell Westbrook on the floor, it's perhaps even more difficult for opposing coaches to plan ahead for the US's remarkable physical ability, the likes of which are rarely seen in overseas play.

Speaking of Rose and Westbrook, these two are the core of Team USA's guard-oriented attack. With a well-crafted combination of quick, athletic wing-men like Eric Gordon and "Westy" to go along with heady leaders and steady shots like Chauncey Billups and Stephen Curry, the Americans trot out the deepest back-court in the World Championships.

Even without Rajon Rondo, an NBA All-Star and a terrific point guard in his own right.

This collection, led by the spectacular play of Rose, is beautifully complemented by a comparable glut of versatility on the wing, represented by Durant, Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala, and Danny Granger.

Each of these players has the ability to man multiple positions on the floor and finish in transition, which they have so often done in the exhibitions leading up to the start of meaningful competition in Istanbul.

Such versatility lends itself perfectly to the chemistry and camaraderie that shines through every unselfish pass, every hustle play, and every floor burn that the Americans accumulate together.

Unlike the 2006 team that preceded the "extreme make-over" of USA Basketball, this amalgamation of babyfaces and grizzled vets (among the youngest teams in the competition) plays for each other and their country before they even consider playing for themselves.

Weaknesses

That's not to say this edition of USA Basketball is anything close to the Dream Teams of yore.

This group would be lucky to find itself within sniffing distance of the jocks of the Beijing ballers, much less the Michael Jordan-led 1992 Olympic gold medalists.

To start, the team's bounty of explosive wing players is as startling as its famine of front court players and big bodies.

Starting Odom at center, with only Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love as true post players to back him up, doesn't bode well for the stars and stripes.

Case in point: Kostas Tsartsaris, Greece's lone big man for the game, put up 24 points on his own, snaking around and bowling through the thin line of wide-bodied Americans up front.

Keep in mind, Tsartsaris is the back-up center for the Greeks, with the usual 7-foot starter Ioannis Bourosisout with a broken finger and 370-pound (168-kilo) third-stringer Sofaklis "Baby Shaq" Schortsanitis scratched due to a rolled ankle during warm-ups.

To think, the fattest country on the planet had trouble enough dealing with one of those three. How will it hold up when the entirety of the Big, Fat, Greek Frontline is back at full strength?

With bulk being at such a premium for the American squad, it is imperative that the team uses its speed and athleticism in the open court to out-run its competition. Of course the need to push the ball comes with its own follies.

Such a style of up-and-down play has thus far resulted in about as many cheer-coaxing dunks as groan-inducing turnovers for Team USA.

While some such mistakes may be excusable in "friendlies," Durant and his running-mates will have to clean up their act quickly if they want to place themselves firmly atop FIBA's rankings once again.

The simplest solution to such sloppiness is to slow the pace and limit their running to cuts in the half-court.

But, again, without any big men with the ability to score consistently in the paint, Team USA is ill-suited to set plays, though it'll certainly have to convert some of them into buckets if it wants to bring home the gold.

And while Coach K's kids have been surprising their foes with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's famed "Orange" two-three zone defense, there's no telling how they'll react once their opponents spring the same tactics back on them to neutralize the quickness and athleticism of America's Team.

That's all assuming this bunch of FIBA novices sporting Uncle Sam's colors will first be smart and level-headed enough to deal with international rules and the referees who enforce them.

Outlook

That being said, even without a single player from the squad that brought home  Olympic gold in 2008, this edition of Team USA has as good a chance as any in the field to come away from Istanbul with the top prize.

While it may not be THE clear favorite this time around, America is undoubtedly A favorite to win it all, along with Argentina and the previously-dispatched teams of Spain and Greece.

And though Coach K may be yearning for the Kobe Bryants and LeBron Jameses of the world to fly in to the rescue, it certainly helps that top players from other national teams aren't participating, whether due to injuries (Calderon for Spain, "Sofo" and Bouroussis for Greece), possible suspensions (stemming from the ugly brawl between Serbia and Greece in Madrid), or summer vacations (Manu Ginobili for Argentina, Pau Gasol for Spain, Tony Parker for France).

When it comes down to brass tacks, with Derrick Rose creating for his teammates and Kevin Durant carrying the scoring load, expect Team USA to do some serious damage at the FIBA World Championships.

Perhaps even escaping the Anatolian peninsula with some shiny souvenirs.