Keep Dreamin' Team
THE MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM that will suit up for the U.S. at the Rio Olympics is headlined by A-listers like Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant. It's clear, however, that this is a B team.
The roster is missing some of the game's biggest stars. Consider the completely separate team that might have represented the red, white and blue this summer (far column). The actual Rio-bound squad is also less accomplished than the U.S. teams that won gold at the 2008 and '12 Games, though it looks better than the bronze medalists from '04. The following chart shows the average pretournament PERs (Player Efficiency Ratings) and Win Shares for those teams, as well as for the 2016 crew and the "All-Summer Off" team.
The U.S. should still win gold in Rio, but it may not be as easy as in years past.
The 12-man U.S. team includes nine 2016 All-Stars, the same number as the 2008 and '12 teams that brought home gold medals.
2016 RIO TEAM
PG Kyrie Irving
PG Kyle Lowry
SG Klay Thompson
SG Jimmy Butler
SG DeMar DeRozan
SF Kevin Durant
SF Paul George
SF Harrison Barnes
PF Carmelo Anthony
PF Draymond Green
C DeMarcus Cousins
C DeAndre Jordan
SUMMER OFF TEAM
Stephen Curry PG
Chris Paul PG
John Wall PG
James Harden SG
Russell Westbrook SG
Damian Lillard SG
LeBron James SF
Kawhi Leonard SF
Blake Griffin PF
LaMarcus Aldridge PF
Anthony Davis C
Andre Drummond C
[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]
AVG. PER
20.7
AVG. WS
8.9
AVG. PER
24.8
AVG. WS
10.7
2012 LONDON TEAM
AVG. PER
24.0
AVG. WS*
11.3
2008 BEIJING TEAM
AVG. PER
22.1
AVG. WS
10.2
2004 ATHENS TEAM
AVG. PER
19.8
AVG. WS
7.7
*LOCKOUT-SHORTENED YEAR; CALCULATION BASED ON 82-GAME SEASON