Team USA should be alert moving forward. The challenge from South Sudan stunned them, as Carlik Jones and Co. turned out to be the true dark horses making it a nightmare for the hoopers. Like Carlik, Team South Sudan comprises names like Wenyen Gabriel and some known players who unfortunately struggled to land long-term contracts in the NBA and aren’t nearly as experienced as the Championship and MVP winners in Team USA. So, one would think that, after this game, there needs to be a serious reform in the defense and rotations.

Steve Kerr talked about the lessons learned. From a fans’ perspective, Kerr’s rotations have been blamed throughout the exhibition camp, especially that of his big three candidates like Joel Embiid. “The lesson for us, I think, is we’ve got seven games left after this, so who the hell knows what our rotation’s going to look like. It’s probably different every game, but we have a pretty good feel for what guys can do when we need a really good defensive stretch, what the game calls for.”

“We’ve got, we’ve got options, and we like what we have.”, Steve Kerr said via The Athletic. Now when it comes to Anthony Edwards, there’ve been narratives that surround a so-called hidden agenda keeping Ant-Man from the starting lineup. With Edwards spearheading the Wolves and emerging as the surprise new contenders in the West with the Warriors and Lakers way behind, there’s shockingly still no clarity on Anthony getting a starting spot in the roster yet. Nevertheless, If not ANT, then why can’t Steve Kerr add Anthony Davis?

After all, AD is one of the most complete basketball players on the roster. Fox Sports analyst Steve Hartman believes him to be the X-Factor too. “If you watch Laker basketball season long, he was the most valuable player for the Lakers, because he can do it at both ends when he is healthy, and he was certainly healthy this year,” he ranted.

On the other hand, Joel Embiid started slowly, got fouled out, but is now doing well with his part. However, the squad is also playing without KD. Compensating for the same, Davis can be a better option to replace The Process. It’s also important to note that Kerr had admitted “not doing a great job” picking the South Sudan lineup, post the game.

But serious and major changes to the lineup, at this point, might impact their Olympics performance as they attempt to build the team’s cohesion. With Steve Kerr not having the fixed routines set and still experimenting it likely wouldn’t bode well for Team USA.

Also, the narrative about the ‘world is catching up’ in the world of basketball is somewhat turning into a reality too. The Hoopers’ loss to Canada in the 2023 FIBA World Cup was a stamp of the same. However, as we now focus on the upcoming Olympics, what’s the next optimal option for Team USA?

Can Team USA ace the Group Stage?

The Americans will be taking on Germany in another exhibition game which will then be followed by the main tournament. Their first game is against Serbia, followed by South Sudan, and Puerto Rico. Now, we’ve seen them deal with Serbia before, however, they’ll meet the Sudanese yet again, after a nail-biter in London for their penultimate group-stage game. There are a lot of conclusions that come out of the exhibition game against South Sudan. It could’ve been just a bump on the road for Team USA. At the end of the day, it was just one game and we can also consider KD to be on the floor by August 1st.

But there were clear instances during that game where the underdogs actually had the better of LeBron James and Co. It was only their 18-0 streak of points in the latter half of the game that got Team USA back into the mix. Fans and critics can go berserk on Steve Kerr for his rotations, however, it wouldn’t be the only reason for their poor performances. It will be interesting to see Team USA’s next lineup, considering the major jolt that they received in the last game.

What are your thoughts on Kerr’s rotations? Do you think AD should take over? Let us know in the comments.