USA Select team puts in work on USA World Cup squad

Tyrese Haliburton played about half of the two 10-minute scrimmage sessions with mixed results.

We’ve seen this story before, in fact head coach Steve Kerr referred to the USA Select Team (essentially the B squad) beating the top USA World Cup team as a “time-honored tradition in USA Basketball” going back to the 1992 Dream Team getting beat by a Bobby Hurley led select squad.

Although this select squad led by Cade Cunningham is quite comparable to the young top USA team this year. The WC squad didn’t shoot it well on the perimeter, turned it over a bit too much and struggled on the glass which combined to present the end results.

The scrimmage included two 10-minute games. The Select won the first game, 21-20 and then took the second game, 26-19. Kerr mentioned that they wanted Cade Cunningham to play a Luka Doncic style of game and he had no problem creating like Luka for the Select squad.

Whether getting in the lane to score or setting up his bigs rolling to the hoop, Cunningham was something to watch. Several of his key plays involved fellow Pistons’ big, Jalen Duren who seemed to expose a size and strength problem for the WC squad. Great day to be a Pistons fan with those two playing like they did. One more note on Cunningham, he look so much more mature physically. After a couple of years of injury issues, he is no longer a skinny kid and quite frankly, was the best player on the floor during the scrimmage.

As for Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, he did not start and played roughly the last five minutes of each 10-minute game. Kerr mentioned after the game that he solicited starting lineup advice from 10 coaches and had 10 different lineups. He expects guys to expend energy defensively which will mean going 10 deep in most games.

Haliburton had a rebound in the first game and his only shot attempt was blocked at the rim. He did not initiate a lot of offense with his group which included Anthony Edwards, Paolo Banchero, Bobby Portis and Austin Reaves for much of the first stint. They did finish +3 in the first game.

The second ‘game’ had Haliburton off the bench again, this time with Jalen Brunson for a couple of minutes. Hali would end up running more offense this time around, had a couple of assists and made 1 of 2 three-point attempts. As is the case with most of the playmakers on this team, adjusting to different roles from possession to possession is a challenge when they are used to being the guy everything normally runs through.

Haliburton also took a turn in the Cunningham blender, unable to stop a downhill drive to the bucket. But that was the case for Jaren Jackson Jr., Mikal Bridges and Brunson, as well.

Plenty of work ahead for this World Cup team when you consider the more veteran teams they will have to face in the FIBA competition. Although, I’m not sure the real Luka Doncic will be any tougher to deal with than the Luka-like performance they had to deal with from Cade Cunningham.