---

Team USA has looked about as impressive in their pre-Olympic tour as Craig Sager and Ernie Johnson looked in that dunk contest 20 years ago. Crushed by Italy, a squeaker over Germany, and a couple of wins against Serbia-Montenegro and Turkey that aren't as impressive as they might appear. Other teams have taken turns making us look sluggish, confused, and unprepared. We've looked like Jerry Sloan in a rap battle. The team has taken a beating in the press, and I doubt there are any two people out there more amused by it than Darko Milicic and Nikoloz Tskitishvili.

Why Darko and Skita? Well, they're probably rooting for their home countries to paste the Americans, for one thing. But Team USA is getting killed in the press right now for the same reasons Skita and Darko have been killed in the press - because it is impossible for someone to adjust to a completely new style of basketball in a short period of time. The same reasons that those two guys have struggled in the NBA are the same reasons that Team USA has struggled in their pre-Olympic tour.

Internationally, the game is vastly different. It's about zone defenses, outside shooting, moving the ball, and everyone functioning as a unit on both sides of the floor. In the United States, the game is more individual. Man-to-man defense. Taking the defender off the dribble. Banging inside. Fast breaks. Strength and sheer athleticism. It's a different game, and they are able to dictate the style of play. The American team is, in essence, showing up for a Greco-Roman wrestling match wearing a pair of boxing gloves.

Just to illustrate the differences, look at Dirk Nowitzki. In Cologne against Team USA, Dirk was the best player on the floor, though that would never be the case in a Mavs vs. Spurs game. In fact, there's a long list of American NBA players better than Dirk Nowitzki, especially considering his defensive deficiencies. In international play, though, it doesn't get better than Dirk. He's a lights-out shooter. He can create shots for other teammates. He's an excellent passer. In a zone, his defensive problems are masked, and his length makes him effective. But he comes to the NBA, and there are things he can't do that are required of someone his size. He can't bang for rebounds. He can't muscle anyone in the post. His man-to-man defense is porous.

In international ball, Dirk is a great, great player.

In the NBA, he's a very good one. There are countless other examples of guys who excel in Europe, but probably couldn't make an NBA roster, and vice-versa. The game is that different.

One of the sad things about it is that if the Americans don't win the gold, it will be blamed on a lack of effort, and the prevalent, underlying assumption that all NBA players are uncaring, money-grubbing, prima donnas will rise to the surface. They're trying, believe me. Anyone playing for Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich either gives 100%, or risks being actually murdered by one of their coaches. If the Americans lose, the players will get labeled as selfish and lazy, unable and unwilling to pass the ball and play as a team. That will not be the case. Allen Iverson wants a gold medal as much as he's wanted anything in his life. So do the other guys. Believe it. They're just being asked to do the unreasonable.

So what can the Americans do? Is a gold medal even a possibility?

Yes, it is, though I wouldn't put the chances at better than 50%. If a gold medal is going to be had, it's going to be in spite of the choices made by the selection committee. Shoot-first point guards, and offensively-limited bangers are useless in this style of play. If a gold medal is had, it will be because of the dominance of Tim Duncan, the innate and unteachable understanding of the game by Carmelo Anthony, and because someone, be it Iverson, Anthony, or both, gets hot with their perimeter shooting.

The thinking seems to be that once the Americans torched the Serbia-Montenegro team, that the ship had been righted. Don't believe the hype. Serbia-Montenegro had as much interest in winning that game as Jeff McInnis does in fighting Charles Oakley. They sat Peja Drobnjak and Zarko Caparkapa, two of their best players. They did not play zone defense, which had killed the U.S. in previous games on the tour. Their offense didn't look anything like what we've seen in the past at the World Championships. I'm not saying they tanked, but they're definitely laying low and not bringing out the big guns until the stakes are a little higher. They're hustling us, Fast Eddie Felson style.

The immediate solution is to just put the ball in the hands of Tim Duncan and Carmelo Anthony, get someone to knock down some shots, listen to everything Larry Brown says, give 100% on defense, and hope for the best. If they play as a team, everybody makes good decisions, and everyone gets after it on defense, it might be enough for the gold. It might be.

The long-term solution is one that isn't likely to ever happen. It would require some foresight, some planning, some informed decisions, and a willingness to pass up an opportunity to promote the young stars of the NBA, and judging from how this roster was put together, those things are in short supply with the selection committee.

The concept of an All-Star team worked in the past, and it may even work this year. But the day is coming when it won't. It worked in 1992, sure, because Michael, Magic, and Larry were there, and the rest of the team was willing to defer to them. In fact, most of the opposition was willing to defer to them, as well. There are still players in the NBA for whom there truly is no defense - internationally, or in the NBA. Tim Duncan is the only one who made the trip. If Shaq, Kobe, Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd made the trip, all of this is moot, but they didn't. This is not 1992. It's 2004, and Team USA would be better off if everyone involved could forget that 1992 ever happened. The gap in talent between the United States and the rest of the world, while still huge, is shrinking. As that gap gets smaller, the chances of winning a gold medal by relying on sheer athleticism and talent get slimmer and slimmer. Attention must be paid to our opponents, the style of play we've got to defend and counter, and these things take time. An NBA All-Star team will never have time to sufficiently adjust their games. I don't care how much talent a guy has, that transition isn't being made overnight.

The USA basketball teams should be like the USA soccer teams, and if the NBA schedule does not allow for athletes to put in the necessary months of training, then NBA players can't be a part of it. NBA players should not be necessary to win. The United States churns out amazing basketball players at an astonishing rate. The level of ability between NBA players and NBDL players is substantial, sure, but smaller than most people realize. The difference is usually a few inches in height, a few more pounds of muscle, maybe a better jump shot, or some athleticism. Players on that level could get the job done, and would still be, by far, the most athletic team in the competition. There are shooters in the college game - a lot of them - that would be absolute assassins on the international 3-point line. Most of them are just a bit too small or just a bit too slow to make it in the NBA. But they'd still be among the most athletic players in international competition, and could be the kind of shooter necessary to win.

It comes down to this question: What's more important, talent or teamwork? We'll find out in Athens, and we might not like the answer.

Question, comment, problem, tirade, hate mail, or love note? Feel free.

M. J. Darnell runs www.themightymjd.com.