“Team USA players are frustrated with Gregg Popovich”: Damian Lillard and co seemingly irked by Coach Pop employing a Spurs type offense in embarrassing loss to France

Gregg Popovich apparently doesn’t have many fans when it comes to his offense on Team USA as guys like Damian Lillard are frustrated. 

Team USA has had an up-and-down time together and they are currently in the latter half of that phrase. Ater dropping games to countries like Australia, Damian Lillard and company picked up their slack by handily beating Argentina and Spain in the remaining two exhibition games. With fans exhaling a sigh of relief, Team USS has once again given them something to worry about. 

Last night’s bout against France saw the Americans completely lose their footing in the second half of the game as they gave up an abysmal 16-2 run to close out the fourth quarter. Guys like Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard had decent games up until the halftime buzzer sounded but due to excessive fouling and fumbling of the ball down the stretch, could not hold on.

Also read: “Damian Lillard turned into Ben Simmons against France”: NBA fans react to the Blazers star’s abysmal performance in Team USA’s loss to Rudy Gobert and co

One particular aspect of how Team USA lost is the amount of ‘overpassing’ that took place. This was reminiscent of what Gregg Popovich does with his San Antonio Spurs and players were reportedly not pleased. 

Team USA players frustrated with how Gregg Popovich is employing a Spurs type offense. 

Making the extra pass is always welcomed when that extra pass leads to a better shot. Passing off a shot that is already quite decent for the sake of ball movement is something Team USA looked like it was trying to do. Ball movement is a crucial ingredient in Coach Pop’s ‘Spursian’ offense and players are seemingly not having it. 

“Popovich is horrified by his own record coaching this team. He dwells on it and hates losing. The players are frustrated too, grumbling on their way back to the locker room about ‘running the San Antonio offense’ when apparently, they feel like there are better ideas. Pop has said the offense would be based on concepts instead of set plays,” said Joe Vardon.

Also read: “Only Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James can save Team USA now”: NBA Twitter clamors for Lakers and Blazers superstars to aid Damian Lillard and co following abysmal loss to France

Most of Team USA consists of players who are used to ‘being the man’ on their own NBA teams. So, in an effort to eradicate this narrative, it felt as though they were looking to pass as much as they can to bring about the essence of ball movement and good chemistry. 

Instead, this only led to guys like Damian Lillard and Zach Lavine giving up wide open looks for the sake of making that one extra pass.