FIBA Americas field unlikely to test Americans at all

Argentina, the second-ranked team in the world, won't have Andres Nocioni (left) and Fabricio Oberto (right) at the FIBA Americas tournament. Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images

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LAS VEGAS -- The United States should win every basketball tournament it plays. Period. Putting aside potential continuity issues, when the Americans send their "A" team, the talent gap is that wide.

But Team USA really needs to win this tournament. It took little more than a look at the competition during the FIBA Americas tournament's Opening Ceremonies on Tuesday night to conclude that.

NBA TV host and de facto FIBA emcee Rick Kamla summoned the 10 teams to a makeshift stage set up around the pool area at the Palms Hotel and Casino. As the teams shuffled onto the stage and posted their flags to a smattering of applause from the friends and family in attendance, a realization began to dawn: Not one of these nine other teams should finish a game within 20 points of Team USA.

Forget the star power the Americans will trot out every night, though it is considerable. The competition is pathetic. Argentina, the roadrunner to Team USA's Wile E. Coyote, is sending its Z team, which includes only two NBA players in Carlos Delfino and newly signed Rocket Luis Scola (Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Andres Nocioni and Walter Herrmann are not playing). Puerto Rico has Carlos Arroyo. Canada has Samuel Dalembert. Brazil, which has Leandro Barbosa, Nene and Marcus Vinicius, would be more imposing had Anderson Varejao suited up. But since the floppy-haired and flopping Varajeao is still without an NBA contract for next season, he'll be watching from home.

Even FIBA president Bob Elphinston acknowledged (albeit indirectly) the inferior talents in his opening remarks when he declared that "four or five teams" will be battling it out for the two guaranteed spots in the 2008 Olympics. That would be fine, except there are 10 teams in the tournament.

The thing is, he's not wrong. While the United States and Argentina are 1-2 in the world rankings, respectively, the rest of the field is mediocre. Puerto Rico is 13th. Canada is 16th. Scroll down the list some more and you will find Venezuela (21st), Mexico (34th) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (38th). Most of these teams wouldn't make the NIT.

This has to be a statement tournament for Team USA. Perhaps more than any U.S. basketball team in history, this group needs to go out and assert its dominance. It needs to get out to an early lead and keep the pedal to the metal, because every dominating win builds confidence for 2008, when powerhouses like Spain, Greece and Argentina (the real Argentina) will be champing at the bit for a shot at the Americans.

Momentum will be key and the United States needs to begin building it now.