Yahoo Sports NBA senior Vincent Goodwill reports from Las Vegas on the men’s national team’s performance in Thursday night’s exhibition — their final game in the United States before continuing preparations for Paris.
Video transcript
The biggest takeaway from the United States vs. Canada Sloppiness exhibition game.
The turns were very sloppy, the five-man units, Joel and B getting into trouble.
You got to see some of the problems they might encounter as they head to Abu Dhabi and then the Paris Olympics.
But you also saw some of the blinding athleticism, of the shots rising and falling.
There was a moment where Steph Curry gave it back to Lebron to get back to Lebron.
Everyone stood up here at T Mobile Arena.
Another reason people stood up was the presence of President Barack Obama who was sitting courtside and the night before he spent private time with this year’s team taking photos and talking to Jason Tatum and Edwards Grant Hill told me that it was a very moving and intimate dinner, but back on the dance floor, Steve Kerr said he will mix up the lineups.
He might not go as much to five-man units, but you’ll see mixing and matching in the coming weeks because a lot of teams are like Canada’s Dylan Brooks and Shay Gilds, Alexander’s NBA talents, or international lineups with a lot of continuity.
The U.S. has a lot of work to do between now and Paris, which is one reason they couldn’t afford to keep Kawhi Leonard on the roster as he begins his slow rise to play against the Celtics’ Derek White, who will replace him and he will join the team as soon as he can as another defender and shooter on a roster that needs a little more.
