Team USA basketball notebook: Is it time to move Joel Embiid to bench, start Anthony Davis?

Through two exhibition games, Anthony Davis has been the best player for Team USA: A combined 27 points, 25 rebounds and six blocks on 11-of-22 shooting. He’s been a force on both ends of the court.

He’s done all that off the bench, Joel Embiid has been the starting center for Team USA. Embiid looked better in Game 2 against Australia — 10 points, five rebounds — than he did fouling out in the first exhibition, but coming off a knee injury heading into the playoffs, he has seemed a step behind in Steve Kerr’s pace and space offense.

Is it time to make a change at starting center? Kerr left the door open without really saying anything in his comments to reporters after the USA beat Australia on Monday (via Joe Varden at The Athletic).

“These next few games, I’m going to continue to experiment with the lineups,” Kerr said. “Joel is getting better and better every day. It usually takes big guys a little bit longer to get rhythm and flow, but I love Joel, he’s a dominant player, and I think it’s going to be important for us to figure out the best combinations and putting the right people together, and that’s still a work in progress.”

The USA will need Embiid’s size and physicality inside in Paris — the USA got bullied in the paint at the FIBA World Championships a year ago and came into this camp with the size to combat that in Embiid, Davis and Bam Adebayo. USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill specifically recruited Embiid, a physically dominating center, for just this reason.

The best test may come Wednesday, when the USA plays another Paris tune-up game against Serbia and its big front line featuring three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Will Kerr stick with Embiid against Jokic, or will he go with the slightly smaller but quicker Davis? Both will likely get their chance. The USA struggled to contain an NBA center for Australia in Jock Landale (Rockets), but Serbia provides a more skilled test.

It’s something to watch. If Embiid struggles Wednesday Kerr will have some serious considerations to make (the USA’s first game in the Paris Olympics is against that same Serbian squad on July 28).

Here is some other Team USA news.

Clippers “very disappointed” Kawhi Leonard sent home

When USA Basketball said Kawhi Leonard withdrew from Team USA, they made it clear this was not Leonard’s decision:

”... However, [Leonard] respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Clippers president Lawrence Frank said at Summer League in Las Vegas not to include them in this decision, that they are disappointed their star will not be part of the Games (via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).

“No, it was USAB’s call and I was quite frankly very disappointed with the decision,” Frank said. “Kawhi wanted to play. We wanted him to play. I was there the first two practices, he looked very good. Was a full participant in everything that they did. I wasn’t there for the third practice where ultimately that was the point where they decided to go in a different direction [last Wednesday].

“I expressed to them I really wish that they would’ve given Kawhi more time.”

Leonard was a full participant in the part of the first USA practice the media got to see but was not moving fluidly on the second day (the third practice was more of a walk-through). Whatever the Clippers’ involvement in USA Basketball’s decision on Leonard, Frank’s comments are what the team should say publicly to support its star, who was unhappy he was being sent home.

Jaylen Brown says he is happy for Derrick White

Celtics guard Derrick White was picked to replace Leonard on the USA roster, which some saw as a snub to Celtics wing Jaylen Brown because the Finals MVP is more of a positional match with Leonard (both White and Brown are elite defenders, White is a better 3-point shooter but again both are good from deep.

Brown was in Las Vegas watching Summer League games and said he felt snubbed but was happy for his teammate to be going, speaking to Jared Weiss of The Athletic.