The Stephen A. Smith ShowInterview: ESPN Brian Windhorst - Olympic Gold will Not Be Easy. Kicks off TEAM USA vs Two-time MVP Jokic.
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
The Olympics are on the way in Paris. That would be Paris, France, of course, and Team USA, because I'm a basketball lovel is my focal point. Sure I'm looking forward to track and field. Sure I'm looking forward to some swimmings. For sure, I'm looking forward to those things. But damn it, you understand I love me some basketball. Okay, track and field, I just want to focus on that as well, because I love that. But let me say this about some basketball team USA. Better win to Bill Win. I don't want to hear about No France, even if they do have Victor Win Beyonna and Rudy go Bed. I don't want to hear about Serbia, even if they do have look on the O Kich. I don't want to hear about Canada, even if they do have my league MVP Shay Gilges Alexander and that brother Jamal Murray who's no joke in a form, Nick and RJ. Barrett and the Hall of Fame pest that is is Dylan Brooks. I don't care about all of that. It's Team USA. It's Lebron James, the flag bearrow. Okay, that Lebron James thirty nine looking like twenty nine, busting everybody you know living What about Steph Curry. It's about Devin Booker. It's about Drew Holliday Lee that screen up. I want everybody to see this. About Tyree'se Hallerberry. It's about Anthony Edwards. It's about Jason Tatum, the champion that is Jason Timmon. It's about Kevin Durant, Katie Trey, who hasn't played in exhibitions, who's expected back at some point, who's one of the greatest Olympians ever. It's about that dude, Anthony Davis. It's about Derek White. It's about Joe l MB, the one who says he'd be in a goat conversation word it not for injuries and of course being out of bio.
Ten.
USA got a crew. They don't have a team. I get all of that because they ain't a customer to play together. But they got a crew. They're so talented it should be able to make up for the lack of cohesiveness and chemistry. I don't want to hear it. You gotta handle your business. You gotta handle your business. The question is how difficult will that be to pull off? And believe it or not. It's not a question for me to answer, because while I know my NBA basketball, damnit, I don't know everybody on Serbia. I don't know everybody on France. I don't know everybody on Australia and Germany and Canada. But I know everybody on Team USA. I know the person who does know all of those teams and all of the names on the team and the kind of attributes that they bring to the table. He is my colleague during my daytime job at ESPN. He is an inside of the NBA, inside the Extraordinay. He travels all over the world with Team USA, has been doing it for the last couple of years or so. I remember when when Banna was gonna be drafted number one overall, there was one man. There was one man that the worldwide Leader Center parties. And it is my next guest NBA insider and analysts and senior writer extraordin there for ESPN, the one and only Brian wind Tors, my colleague for my day job. What's up, buddy, How you doing.
Hey, steven A, You're missed over here in Paris. This is your kind of scene, man, That's.
What I'm sorry I'm saying, I'm looking at the background the Eiffel Tower, hoping. I'm like this, Wendy. I mean, he moved on up in this world. I haven't been there. I've never been there, but I mean I'll give it. I'll give it credit where credit is due. It is well deserved. Let's get right into it, because I know you're pressed for time with the opening ceremonies or what have you. Brian Winterrs, I got Canada as the number one threat to knocking off Team USA. I got Canada. I'm looking at, you know, my league MVP sha Gil just Alexander. They got Jamorrow Murray, they got all j Barrett, They not Alexander Walker, Kelly Olennock, nev Hard and Indiana. I'm looking at this team and I'm saying, hey, they got a chance. When you think about Team USA and the number one threat to them, who do you see?
So, Yeah, that's a good pick, stephn A. Because they've got ten current NBA players on their roster. There's no there's no team in history other than the Americans and pasted Olympics that have ever had that many NBA players. So and actually all twelve of their guys have played in the NBA, and you look at them, they're the only team that can compare to the US with their wing play. You know, there's just out in Europe. Out in other places in the world. They have big men, they have guards. They don't typically have NBA level wings, and that's why the Canadians have a good have a good chance. I I think when the US plays against Canada, they're a little bit more comfortable. They know their players. The teams play similar styles. They don't have to get out of their comfort zone. They're not going to play a FEBUS style game. They're going to play an NBA style game. So I would think that Canada has the best chance to beat the US head to head playing a regular game. But I actually think the team to keep an eye on is Serbia. Serbia has a couple things going for him. Number One, they got Nikola Jokic. Jokich is the best player in the world, best big man in the world arguably whatever. Right. Secondly, they have NBA level guards. They're not star guards, but they have bogged down Bogdanovich and Vasili Mesich. They play in the NBA. Some of these teams have great big men and they just don't have good guards, like that's France's problem. France has Victor Wembinya, Marudy Gobert. Their guard play just in that good and this is the most important thing. They're gonna get potentially three shots at them. They played in in Abu Dhabi last week. The US blew them out, But I I think there was some roped up going on in that game by Serbia. I can't tell exactly what happened. There was something wired about the way Serbia. They sat two of their guys, they sat their second best big man, and they sat bogged down Bogdanovich. And then I'm not sure that they played the game necessarily full power, even though Jokic played three quarters. So it was something Steven, There's something about the game that it seemed weird to me. They are sixteen point underdogs. There's fifteen or sixteen point underdogs to the US on Sunday. I just don't believe that number. I don't think that they are a fifteen or sixteen point difference in their team. But they don't have to win the game in Abu but Abu Dhabi, they don't have to win the game on Sunday. They got to win the potential third meeting, which is potentially in the medal round for the medal. It's hard to be a team in any league at any time three times. So I think Serbia has they're a serious threat. Yet Nikola Moltanov there, that third guy there, he's a number one draft pick. He never came over to the NBA. He was drafted by the Spurs about seven eight years ago, so he's an NBA level player. He just stayed overseas. Serbia is a is a team that is a dangerous team. Certainly you're right though about Canada.
What about France because I'm thinking about winm Mignon and Rudy Gobi. I'm thinking about a front line where you can, right, you can rule out those alley oops. You ain't gonna be throwing alley oops against Win Beyond and Rudy Gobia. I don't see that happening. And I think it's gonna require Team USA to shoot better from the perimeter because of the size France has on its front line, and shooting potentially or at least sporadically, is a problem for Team USA. What about that notion against.
Frank that's a that's a fair point. So tam USA is only shot thirty five percent on threes in their warm up games. And remember the line is closer. It's a foot closer in the corners, it's three feet closer at the top of the key. So you think their percentages would go up, not down. Also, Team USA likes they've been playing lineups without a lot of shooting in it. For example, they've been playing Anthony Davis and bam Adebayo together because they're so good defensively, and that hurts that they don't have. That's those aren't That's not a good shooting lineup. Here's the thing about France three years ago and the French ahead of US I think seven or at the gold medal game, the US had to make a comeback to win that. I would have said that France would have been the favorite other than the US. Here in Paris, obviously it's a home game for them. Stephen A, they not played well over the last year. Last year at the World Cup, he did not qualify for the Metal play. They got knocked out in the group stage one. Benyama didn't play, but still it was not a good sign. They lost four times. They played five exhibition games before they came here to Paris. They lost four of them. So, look, they're playing at home. You're right, they've got that great size. Maybe that ends up being a real problem for their opponents, but they do not come in here on a good momentum. To be honest with you.
Let me go on to another subject, because I want to know, as you've watched Team USA, what's been the issue with them? Steve Kerr just turned on a different switch and seemed a bit different once he arrived in Paris than he was leading up to the games, going through the exhibition games that he went when Abu Dhabi in London and Las Vegas and all of that stuff. What's going on? What's his primary concern with Team USA?
Yeah, so I think he doesn't think that they're playing fast enough. Quite Frankly, we as a nation, we have no chemistry. And that doesn't mean the players don't like each other. That means that they just haven't played together very long. So when they run half court offense, it's just not very good at Edwards tends to play isolation basketball. Like I said, we don't always have the best shooting teams out there. Players don't have good feel for how to run two man games. I know that some of these guys have played together before, but you just can't throw dudes together in the middle of everything expected to all just work out fine. So what Steve Kerr wants him to do is he wants them to play fast so that there's less half court offense and more transition offense. That should be easy to do because they're only playing four and five minutes first, you know, I have to worry about tiring yourself out. He's putting five subs in at a time, and those five subs are all all stars. And what's happened? These teams are trying to slow the US down because they do better in the half court defending the US, and it was it's been working against them. And so Steve Kerr, I think, reviewed the film and said, listen, I got to try to inspire these guys. And one of the big tests to me, stephen A is going to be on Sunday, after Steve Kerr has really called them out publicly for the last couple of days, how they react to Steve Kerr trying to press them, and and and and and you know the way their mindset is coming out against Serbia.
I expected more from Steph Curry from the standpoint that he's the greatest shoot of God ever created. I know what he brings to the table. He's still a superstar in this game. And on top of it all, he's being coached by his coach, and you know, I'm wondering, what is it. Don't get me wrong, it's not I'm trying to I'm not trying to imply he's played bad, but I certainly infected him to be up there as opposed to Lebron James being the clear face looking like the best player on the team. We know how how important shooting is in Olympic competition, and what is the what's the issue with Steph Curry.
He's just not shot the ball well. He's had a couple of games where he's been one of seven on threes. He did have one great shooting game, which was against Serbia, where he scored eighteen points in the first eleven minutes who was on the court. If it was a regular NBA game, he'd gone for forty five or fifty, no doubt. But he just hasn't shot it well. I mean, they he's generated open looks. He just hasn't hit him, so obviously he can catch fire. He has talked about the muscle memory being a little bit different shooting the ball from twenty twenty two feet twenty and twenty two feet as opposed to twenty two and twenty four feet as the as the three point line is in the NBA. But in all honesty, with his skill level as a shooter and the fact that he's been shooting this way for a month or so, that shouldn't be an issue. So he plays with Lebron. They run two man action that is extremely hard to guard. There is no reason why they won't generate open shots for him. He's just not getting it done. I would say their whole team, you know, actually, stephen A, the team USA is best three point shooter so far has been Lebron in terms of percentage. That's shocking because we know he's not a good He's fine, but he's not a good three point shooter. Even though he had a very good year this last year. Lebron can't be your number one three point shooter in the percentage. You you've got Steff out there, You've got Devin Booker out there. You're gonna get Kevin Durant back, all that stuff's got to be in play.
Does that highlight how desperately they need Kevin Durant in order to come home with the gold.
I definitely think that they need him. I think that there's this concept that this team is so deep and you know, everything that they don't that they can survive without him. They can survive against Puerto Rico without him, they can survive pool play without him. At the highest level of what's going to be demanded from them from these from these top teams, they need Durant. Durant is arguably the greatest Olympian in TMUSA history. He's a league scorer. He averages almost twenty points a game in the Olympic Games, which is hard. Twenty points a game in an Olympic games kind of like twenty five twenty seven points a game in an NBA game because they're shorter. He's extremely valuable because he can score from all three levels and he's just so hard to guard. He's so big. So yes, they absolutely need Durant, and Durant is really focused on trying to get back. He's been working really hard. They're just trying to protect him in that calf injury. I do think he's going to be back, probably for Serbia if there's no setbacks. But even if he's back and in rhythm for the for the metal round, which is which is not for another week and a half, that would would really be helpful.
Just a couple of questions before I let you get on out of here, because I know you got to go and thank you so much for talking to me live from Paris, that one and only Brian went towards here. I got to ask you this, looking at this ross to see in a competition, knowing what you know about Olympic competition, covering it extraordinarily well, the way that you have the team USA make a mistake by not adding Jalen Brown to this team.
I don't think so, and let me explain why. Obviously Jalen Brown is a better player than Derek White. But when you look at the opponents in this Olympics, the best teams have strong big men and strong guards. There isn't necessarily strong wings. So if they were going to have a thirteen player team, even before Kawhi went out, they were going to need another guy who could be really good on guarding the other team's guards. Like one of the reasons why they won the gold medal in Tokyo the last time around was because Drew Holliday was able to control Paddy Mills. Patty Mills was destroying the Olympics, and Drew Holliday shut him down. And so in the Olympics, not in the NBA, not in a vacuum, Jalen You know, Jalen Brown isn't necessarily as valuable as Derek White. I would argue that Drew Holliday was the second most important player for team in Tokyo after Durant, and going into this team, I think Drew Holliday is among the three or four most important players, and they didn't really have a backup for him, and so when a spot came open, their biggest need was a backup for Drew Holliday. It wasn't necessarily the best wing player available. And that's a nuanced answer. I'm telling you that's the way they looked at it. Anybody can say that that Jalen Brown is a better player, and I don't think Derek White would disagree with that. But for the Olympics, for this team, it made sense for them to go with Derek White. They could end up taking a loss and getting burned by a wing player, and they could have egg on their face. It's not an easy decision, but I do understand why they went this way.
Is there a player in the NBA that is not on this team that you believe should have been on this team?
That's a really good question. I mean, if Jalen Brown had been on this roster, that would have been totally acceptable. I think Kyrie of would be the other guy. Uh Kyrie's level of play, he has a history with Team USA. I think Kyrie, you know, would have had a very strong case as well.
The star of this team for these Olympics will be who.
I think There's a chance that it could be Ant Edwards because I just think he's going to be a really scoring machine. But I'm not sure that they're going to trust him at the end of close games just because he doesn't have the reps. And I think they're probably gonna put the ball on Lebron and step and Steph's hands when it really matters, And if theyand up in a close game and they win it, it's probably gonna because of Lebron and Steph. So I think Yan Edwards is the guy that I think could be like the breakout player of this Olympic team. But I think if you're if it's going to require a hero, I think it's going to be Lebron or Steph.
Last question for you, if Team USA somehow, some way manages to fail bringing home the gold, because we all believe they're going to they're the favorites. If they managed to not pulled this off, what are we going to say about them? What are we going to say about Team USA? What are we going to say about the NBA players who represented them.
I think TMOSA is so talented that they may just win it on talent, because that's what they've been doing for the last twenty years. But we don't have a team. We have a collection of players, and I do think there could be a time when we have to pick a team. And what I mean by that is a team that plays together for three summers leading into the Olympics. That's what these other teams do. For most of these teams, this is their third consecutive summer playing together. And it may not be the best players, but we may need to pick twelve guys who are going to commit to three straight summers who can create a continuity. But that said, they've won the last four goals, they win three games in the knockout round, it'll be five in a row. And if it ain't broke, you don't have to fix it. But where I think TEAMSA is vulnerable is that their talent edge is finished and it puts more of an emphasis on the need for team continuity, and we don't have it. And so I suspect that at some point when we lose the gold medal, whether it's this year, whether it's in twenty twenty eight in LA or whether it's in twenty thirty two, but it's going to happen. At some point when we lose the gold medal, the pivot will be to get a three year commitment and put together a true national team, not necessarily a all Hall of Fame or All Star team.
I promise you this is the very last question. You've been covering Lebron James since junior high school. He's achieved everything you could possibly achieve. Four time league MVP, four time champion, you know, all time leading scorer, all of this other stuff. Now, a man is the flag burer a team USA. You know, for the men's he's gonna be carrying an American flag. What does that mean? The Lebron James that you know, and what he's endured throughout his life, what does it mean to him and what does it mean to you to have seen him achieve this moment?
You know, I just the other night in London, he puts on this show. Is the biggest crowd ever to watch a basketball game in England history, and he's thirty nine years old, and he puts on a show and lights up the entire building and sends everybody home with the memory. His teammates are looking at each other on the bench just in awe because this is what they watched in some cases growing up. And so for him to be at age thirty nine doing this, still achieving things. You know, he played his first Olympics in two thousand and four. He's one of the oldest. You know, this flotilla is about to come down the river here behind me. He's one of the oldest people in this entire flotilla. Of all these thousands of athletes, he's one of the oldest ones. And he's still one of the best, and he's still you know, wowing people, and he's still, you know, making history like this is this is unheard of. And this is why I always say Lebron's claim to greatness is the longevity, because I believe no one has been so good for this long. And for some people, they reject that argument and there's no talking them out of it. But Lebron's claim is longevity. It's shown in the NBA, and it is showing on the Olympic stage, where he may win medals twenty years apart. Go find the history of athletes in America or anywhere who've won medals twenty years apart, especially in a sport like basketball, or it's not an individual sport where it's a team sport. It's just it's just it's it's on the edge of being unheard of. And so he's not the one thing I say. There's not a ceremonial role he's got here. He's got a big role on the standard.
I'll close this discussion with you by saying this, I've never budged from Michael Jordan being the best ever. But that's because I go from Michael Jordan as his best Lebron James at his best. Comparing the two like that if the category of longevity comes into play, I would stand down and easily hand that to Lebron James without.
And anybody who who says their bar for the greatest ever is the highest peak. I think Jordan has it without without, you know, without doubt when it comes to the breadth of it. You know, I mean is you know, do you prefer the entire Rocky Mountain Range or Mount Everest? You know, I mean, that's that's a little bit of of an awkward comparison, but like you know, they don't have the tallest mountains in Colorado, but go tell me the views aren't unbelievable and and unique. So that's kind of what he's doing, and and he keeps adding on to it every year. Amazingly.
Proud of you, well man, keep up the great work. By the way, when can we hear When can we see you on the hoop collective? When can we see that?
Yeah, it's coming out. We have two a week right now. I think we're putting out on Tuesdays and Fridays and we'll be doing it. We're doing it live from here and uh from here in uh in Paris and things are you know, it's been quite a journey with this team. It's been on three continents covering this team so far. It's it's amazing to be out there covering you know, Lebron and Steph and Durant and indeed and you know Jason Tatum and all these guys like you know, even the coaching staff. You got Spolstra and tylu and Steve Kerr, Like I'm gonna watch all these guys go in the Hall of Fame. And so it's an incredible experience. This is, you know, in the Olympics in Paris. Uh, It's it's a pretty special moment. And I think everybody understands that. And that's what Steve Cur's trying to get into, Douce, Steph and I is to understand the moment. And I certainly do. I certainly understand how big this moment is. We're about to start a sprill special time.
I'll be watching, man, and I will definitely be watching you. Proud of you. Keep up the great work. Man. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule in Paris, of all places, for the Olympics. Man, Thank you so much. When did you take care of yourself with Tukson you do say you heard him one and only Brian Winters right here. I can't. I can't dispute it. If you're talking longevity, and I'm glad he brought that up because Mount Everest compared to that long rocky mountain road. No, no, I'm not the mount Rocky Mountain Road. I'm about Mount Everetts and for me, for Mount Everests. When you look at Michael Jordan and Lebron James, I'm going with Michael Jordan all day, every day. But if you talk about longevity, there's no question that Lebron James, he's first. He's first, nobody has done. We haven't seen this, we haven't seen this. Okay, this is something special to behold and I'm not gonna take that away from him. Happy that he's be the flag bearer, happy that he's representing Team USA. Don't think he should be the best player on Team USA. But he's playing ball, he's balling out. Let's see what he does. Is the Olympic Games get set to begin, and whether or not Steph Curry and the rest of the coop gonna step up and join him. Anyway, Thanks again to the one and only Brian went us right here on the stephen A. Smith Show, over the Digital Airways YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio
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