The US will lose their basketball hegemony if

[midnightpulp]

elite dribble-drive penetration is a developed as an "afterthought" skill for up-and-coming players in favor of "I wanna be like Wardell!"

It's blindly obvious why the US are struggling with Australia. In the past, the US team could deal with hot shooting nights from the opposition by just taking it to the rack. No country on Earth can deal with the speed, quickness, and athleticism of a Jordan, Lebron, Westbrook, and players of that mold. This is how Cleveland beat the Warriors, as well. The Warriors couldn't stay hot from distance and had nothing to fall back on, so when the game got tight, the Cavs were able to produce higher percentage shots through penetration (mostly from Lebron). Also how the Thunder almost beat them. Couldn't stop Westbrook.

Now everyone wants to be a jumpshooter. There's only two elite penetrators in the league: Lebron and Westbrook. Before the "Wardell Era," every good team had great penetrators. Manu, Tony Parker, Wade, Marbury, 3 peat Kobe, Nash was crafty at getting into the paint. And the league was filled with great penetrators all around, like Marbury, A.I. (he still chucked too much, though), Steve Francis, etc.

Jumpshots are too high variance, especially in pressure situations. Jumpers need to be balanced with great penetration and just not used as the primary game tactic.

And of course post-play is all but dead, but that's another topic.

[apalisoc_9]

Meh..Wardel is a phenomenal penetrator, but I get your point.

It's the SFs that kids really need to watch and play..because.even PGs can emulate their game.

Leonard, Lebron, George, Durant are the most versatile of scorers with decent penetration skills and 3 balls

[John Petrucci]

This is some of the ugliest basketball we've seen from team USA in a decade. Just a pathetic display. If Carmelo isn't hot with his hero balling it could've easily been a loss and possibly not very close.

Nice post OP, I agree.

[midnightpulp]

Meh..Wardel is a phenomenal penetrator, but I get your point.

It's the SFs that kids really need to watch and play..because.even PGs can emulate their game.

Leonard, Lebron, George, Durant are the most versatile of scorers with decent penetration skills and 3 balls

I would call Wardell a slightly above average penetrator by past standards. He's good because defenders have to crowd him to take away his shooting, making it easier, obviously, for him to beat them off the dribble. Kawhi, George, and Durant are just slightly above average as well. There's only two really elite penetrators left now that Wade, Manu, and Parker have declined.

Thing is, kids will think Wardell's once-in-a-generation shooting acumen can be "learned," so you'll have a lot of Lebron, Westbook, etc tier athletes wasting their time shooting 28 footers off the dribble instead of working on their explosiveness and finishing ability.

The should be watching old videos of Wade, Manu, Francis, Parker, Marbury. Learning a great dribble-drive game is easier for a great athlete than learning to shoot long range off the dribble like Wardell does.