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FIBA World Cup: What We Learned About Each Player On Team USA’s Roster

By Gerald Bourguet

Team USA won the gold medal of the FIBA World Cup with a win over Serbia Sunday. (Photo Credit: FIBA photo)
Team USA won the gold medal of the FIBA World Cup with a win over Serbia Sunday. (Photo Credit: FIBA photo) /
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FIBA World Cup
Stephen Curry had a solid, but not overwhelming FIBA tournament. (Photo Credit: FIBA photo) /

Stephen Curry

Out of all of Team USA’s starters, Stephen Curry was probably the biggest disappointment at the 2014 FIBA World Cup. He averaged a respectable 10.7 points and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 43.8 percent from three-point range, but other than his big 20-point game against Mexico where he shot the lights out, Curry didn’t really get his chance to shine.

Part of that had to do with the way Coach K used him. Although having Curry move off the ball as a catch-and-shoot threat is a tantalizing prospect, most of Team USA’s offense operated through post-ups and one-on-one isolations. With the ball mostly in Kyrie Irving’s hands and Team USA going small, there weren’t always enough touches to go around between Irving, Curry and James Harden.

That being said, there’s a pretty darn good chance Steve Kerr won’t be using his star player so ineffectively. Curry wasn’t terrible during the tournament by any means, but he was taken advantage of defensively, he dealt with foul trouble in quite a few games and he didn’t have Klay Thompson alongside him in the backcourt to take the defensive pressure off like he normally does. With the Golden State Warriors, he’ll go back to being one of the league’s best point guards again soon.