At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub bully? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair, and operations. So whenever you want to talk shop, just reach out. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to the Wire to Wire podcast. As always, it's me, your host, Yousa. Now, without further ado, let's just get right to it. Team USA is currently competing in the Olympics, taking place in Paris. Now, there are some observations that I made in regards to this team that I believe is holding them back from being an even more dominant force than they could actually be based on the roster that they have in place. Now, one of the things that I've noticed is their rotation seems a bit off. When you have a team with this much talent, it's hard to balance minutes and egos, but I think it's something that they really need to tighten up on. Now, Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics, he got a DNP in the opening game against Serbia. Now, I don't care what the circumstances are. He should get minutes, even if it's garbage minutes, in a blowout win. Instead, Steve Kerr had LeBron out there stat padding, but they had Jason Tatum starting the next game. But then Joel Embiid didn't get to play. Now, Steph and Curry against South Sudan only scored three points, and he's having a hard time finding his rhythm. And Joel Embiid has also been struggling. Now, Kevin Durant, of course, has been exceptional, especially against Serbia, in which he was really the leader of the team at what propelled them to victory. But even though the US is winning, it still seems a bit disjointed. Now, they're clearly the more talented and athletic team, so it makes sense that they're winning, but they just don't look as dominant. Now, why is that? And I believe that there are many problems, and I think the biggest one, and some might agree with me, and many of you probably won't. But to me, the biggest thing holding them back is actually LeBron James. His game doesn't work well with other talented players of this caliber. He doesn't make his teammates better. He doesn't know how to play in an actual system. He's not a good off-ball player. He just dominates and holds the ball until he can pass it to someone for a three, or he'll try to out muscle and barrel his way to the basket for a layup. And if he doesn't get the drop on his defender, and he's not bailed out by the whistle, or he can't shoulder and muscle his way through a defender, it ends up just becoming an empty possession. And the thing is, he doesn't know how to adapt his game, especially in the setting. And I don't care about that dumb survey, or that poll that they did with the team where he was voted the best player. I've never even heard of something like that being done before. So to me, it means absolutely nothing. It's just more mainstream LeBron propaganda for us to be inundated with. Now, I'm going to show you guys a clip to really highlight what it is that I'm talking about. Now, before I run this clip, you guys be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel. Now here, check this out. Let's head down. They've brought James going to work on the dribble into the wraparound pass. Baseline blocked off. It'll bring it out up against Wenyan Gabriel. James, head fake, fake. Shot off the mark, though, after the Davis offensive rebound. Halliburton. James on the flash, mid-range up against O'Mott this time. Can't find a way past, excellent. Now, a lot of people will say, well, that's just one play from the entire game. No, it's not. He's leading turnovers. What you saw in that video is a quintessential LeBron play and it illustrates exactly what I'm saying right now and what I've been saying for quite some time. And honestly, what many others have been saying for quite some time now, LeBron doesn't have a bag. Also, people will say, well, you stepped up in big moments to help the team win. He's Captain America. Okay, well, let's debunk that narrative with some context. You know, I know a lot of LeBron fans, they hate context, but let me give you guys some of that context. Why are they even in close games to begin with? Who put them in that predicament of being in a close game? LeBron did. There's a reason why key guys on this team are struggling. It's the same way where it's like, oh, the Cavs were down 3-1 and then they came back to win. Well, if LeBron is so great, why were they even down 3-1 to begin with? Oh, it's his teammates fault. And that is always gonna be the default excuse. Has it ever occurred that star players have a hard time adapting their game to the LeBron James system? And Jason Tatum, he plays the exact same position as LeBron. So him being the young talent that he is and the young star that he is, he's losing out on minutes because LeBron would rather stat pad than go to the bench and let others do their thing. It's very suffocating and difficult to play with. And the other problem, really, which is kind of an offshoot of what I'm discussing now, is the politics behind the team that I believe is influencing the coaching. Now, Steve Kerr, he knows what the problem is. He's a former player, he was a general manager and he is the current coach for the Golden State Warriors. He's seen the game from three different perspectives, but he knows that he can't bench LeBron, right? He can't reduce his minutes or give him a DNP so other guys can step up and get it going, right? Nike, FIBA, and the mainstream media would eviscerate him if he even considered doing anything like that. So him, like all of the other coaches that coached LeBron, they have their hands tied, proverbially speaking, when it comes to this, they just have to watch the circus as it unfolds. And what makes it tricky is that LeBron learned how to manipulate the game so he knows how to get his numbers so that his fans can say, "Well, see, look at his numbers." So he can make it look like he did his job and that he had a good game. So if you look at the narrative right now in the conversation surrounding the Olympics, they're putting the blame on Kerr, right? And they're criticizing the different guys that are struggling. So Joel Embiid has been called trash so far throughout this Olympics. Stefan Curry has been getting attacked for his struggles, right? And the cycle is gonna keep continuing. There's gonna be other guys who end up getting scapegoated, right? Who are gonna get blamed for anything that goes wrong or for having bad games, right? And I'm telling you, every game that is close, right? Or where a player struggles, they will absolutely face public scrutiny. From the media, from the fans. It's just a cycle at this point. And this happens to whatever team LeBron plays for, right? It's just rinse and repeat. Now, I don't know if people genuinely don't see this or if it's willful ignorance, but the truth is right there for people to see. Just open your eyes and look. So Team USA is a collection of the best players in America, right? So if that is the case, how is it the same thing that happens to the teams that LeBron plays for, right? Is now happening to Team USA. The reality is this team has a lot of talent on paper and it's a good blend of young and emerging future stars and veteran stars, right? And there's a lot of leadership on this team. It really has the potential to be exciting. Now, to be honest, I personally think that Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant should be the captains of this team. Kevin Durant is one of the greatest Olympic players that we've ever seen. He's a consummate professional and he's a winner on the stage. I personally think LeBron should be relegated to the bench, right? And just be used as another veteran voice? Or truthfully, he shouldn't even be on this team. And I'm serious as hell about that. I'm not trolling. It's not about talent because if it was, Jaylen Brown would be on the team right now. But their logic is that Jaylen Brown is not a good basketball fit, right? Okay, so if LeBron is a small forward and Stephen Curry is a point guard, how the hell is it a good basketball fit for LeBron James to be running the point guard and for Curry to be standing in the corner waiting to get the ball? Shouldn't LeBron, as the front court player, be able to adapt and play off the ball? Instead, it's four guys, and I don't even wanna say four guys. It's four stars who are standing around watching LeBron and do whatever the hell he wants. And that doesn't make sense basketball-wise. I'm literally using the same logic that they're using. Only my logic actually makes sense. I'm not incorporating politics and different agendas, right? So yes, LeBron should not have been invited to participate on this team. And I don't care if he makes history with winning his third gold medal. Kevin Durano Carmelo Anthony already did that. The manner in which they did it is way more impressive than LeBron's. And I don't care if LeBron is going on 40. That longevity stuff, it doesn't move the needle for me. When he does something good, oh, he's almost 40 having played 21 seasons. But when things go wrong, he's almost 40 playing 21 seasons. What do you expect from him? How about if he can't handle the accountability and the responsibility to go with the acclaim, then just go retire? But I believe Team USA should reduce his role and really start to properly use the other star players that are there. Now, will they actually do that? Hell no, they won't. But that's why I believe, no matter how this thing plays out, whether Team USA wins gold or not, we're not really gonna truly see this team at their best. Now, with the 1992 Dream Team, with the '08 Redeem Team, with the 2012 and 2016 Olympics teams even, we saw guys truly stand out because whether it was Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, or Carmelo Anthony, who were the leaders of those respective teams? They knew how to play system basketball that allowed for all of the talent to shine and excel, right? They set the tone, they sacrificed, they adapted their games, and that led to us seeing some of the most fun, structured, smooth, international competition of basketball that we've seen from Team USA. But we're just not getting that here. Now, LeBron might be out there enjoying himself, right? But I doubt that his teammates are. Now, I personally believe that LeBron is just doing this for content, right? I think they want to position this for a last dance type documentary where they're gonna showcase the end of his career. Now he overcame odds to be playing this long and ended up winning a gold medal at the age of 39, blah, blah, blah. Listen, it's all for self and grandizing, and I believe it's all to push and further his agenda and it's all for content. Now, Team USA should do the right thing, but they won't. And that's why I believe from a performance standpoint, this will be a lackluster Olympics, regardless of the outcome, whether they would gold or not. But that's all I got for you guys today. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel. You can also follow me and the podcast on Instagram and TikTok. You can also check out my books. The link will be in the description. Until next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
