The 'What-If' Dream Team

This USA Basketball team is not the team people wanted. It’s OK to say it.

After superstar players started dropping from Team USA like it was an organic chemistry class, the United States is left with a team that only has two players with Olympic experience and lot of disappointment.

Are USA Basketball fans a little spoiled? Of course they are.

The past two Olympic teams have played some of the most entertainingly dominant basketball fans have seen since the 1992 Dream Team. Since the Redeem Team formed in 2008, Team USA has won by an average of 30 points and grabbed two gold medals with relative ease.

Those wins did have a certain amount of star power behind them — star power that is shockingly absent from the current version of the team. Other than Kevin Durant, there is no other player on the team who is regarded with the reverence that the biggest stars in the NBA get.

No one doubts that this team can bring back a third straight gold medal. USA Basketball has a deep talent pool and should have little resistance with other international teams aging faster than the Dab.

With so much talent at the top of the NBA, superstar players missed out on a team that could have been mentioned with the Redeem and Dream Teams. Can people honestly say that a roster like this wouldn’t have the weapons to be as dominant as the aforementioned teams and win a third straight gold?

'Three-mium' Team
PG: Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook
SG: James Harden, Klay Thompson
SF: Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant
PF: LeBron James, Draymond Green, LaMarcus Aldridge
C: DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins

Pretty scary, right?

The beautiful thing about basketball today is the versatility that is demanded of players. The flexibility that Mike Krzyzewski would have had with this lineup would have been a nightmare for even Krzyzewski himself to plan against.

For every situation, there is a lineup that can be implemented to force its will on an opponent. Let’s look at this menu of delicious matchup problems.

Starting Lineup
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Lebron James
C: DeAndre Jordan

In terms of what coach Krzyzewski would like to do, this most likely would be the lineup that started things off for Team USA. Chris Paul is the best pure point guard in the league right now, averaging 19 points and 10 assists the last three years. Throw in two steals a game and generally pesky defense, and you get the perfect guard to distribute the ball to the outstanding athletes and shooters of Team USA.

And he’d have plenty of both to pass to with this lineup.

Klay Thompson is coming off a career year, making 276 three-pointers this past season. On the other wing, you'd have a near seven-foot monster who can shoot from anywhere on the floor and create for himself.

The best player in the NBA, LeBron James, would be able to impose his will from the perimeter or the block with ease. Whether creating for others or bullying people on the inside, he has a counter for any defense opposing teams could throw at him.

Lastly, the "What-If" Team USA has DeAndre Jordan, a master at finishing around the basket, shooting 70.3 percent from the field. And forget about trying to finish around him on defense. Jordan moves his feet well on the perimeter and swatted 177 shots this past season.

Most years, this would be a heck of an All-NBA First Team.

Small Ball
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Stephen Curry
SF: Klay Thompson
PF: Kevin Durant
C: LeBron James

Golden State’s small ball “Death Lineup” gained notoriety throughout the year, and for good reason.  It had a plus/minus rating of +163 and led the league in net rating at +47 (min. 100 minutes). Now imagine that kind of dominance with LeBron James, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant in the mix.

Not only can this lineup score at will, but its length and quick hands would prevent any team from getting too comfortable. While the lineup has great individual defenders, these guys also play the passing lanes very well, forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets on the other end.

Defense Wins Gold Medals Lineup
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Russell Westbrook
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: Draymond Green
C: DeAndre Jordan

Hide your wives; hide your kids. This lineup is out for blood.

Try bringing the ball up against Paul and Westbook pressing, and you’re in for a bad day. Even once you pass out of the initial press, you have Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green and DeAndre Jordan just waiting to intercept any poorly thrown ball.

It doesn’t get any easier when teams are in their halfcourt sets, either. Westbrook and Paul are relentless, and there aren’t a lot of players in the world who can get around Leonard and Green. And if all that breaks down, Team USA would have one of the best shot blockers in the back cleaning up any mess the team leaves for him.

In the words of Bryan Mills: Good luck.

Death from Above Lineup
PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: Kevin Durant
C: Draymond Green

If you want to watch the extreme version of contemporary basketball, this would be the lineup to hope for. No matter how tall or big you are, you better be able to make it rain.

If hell froze over, and Team USA found itself down big and in need of buckets, there is no doubt this lineup would get the team back in a hurry. Between Warriors teammates Curry, Thompson, Durant and Green, no man shoots below 38 percent from the three-point line.

NBA purists would hate it, but at least the rest of the world would love to watch the net catch fire.

Ground and Pound Lineup
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: DeMarcus Cousins

This lineup, on the other hand, would make basketball purists melt. You have one guy who can deliver any pass, two post-up threats and two three-point shooters who can take advantage of double teams.

Wake up grandpa. I think he fainted from joy.

Aldridge led the league in points scored from the post, and Cousins ranked fifth in the league in the same category. Surround them with two gunners who both shot above 42 percent from three-point range, and you have a pick-your-poison situation.

All Flop Lineup
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Stephen Curry
SF: James Harden
PF: LeBron James
C: DeMarcus Cousins

Well, if the U.S. is going to play basketball on the world’s stage, it might as well play it like the rest of the world does. To be fair to the players, it has worked out well for them.

Whether it’s the forced snap of the neck or running your arm into the defender, these players know how to get to the line to slow the game down and get easy points at the charity stripe. Harden and Cousins have made a living at the line and are ranked first and second in the league in free-throw attempts.

Seems Vlade Divac taught his center well.

With USA’s superior depth, it could get key players in foul trouble and reap the rewards when bench players get extended minutes.  Not only could the team dominate on offense and defense, but it could control the foul line as well. Alas, if only Coach K had all these talents at his disposal. Without them all, he'll have to find another way to win gold with the best of the rest the U.S. has to offer.