It seems that head coach Steve Kerr has made up his mind about Team USA’s new starting lineup, especially after Josh Hart‘s last performance against Jordan. Initially, the Warriors trainer was giving the oportunity to Brandon Ingram, but after several chances the Pelicans star simply wasn’t putting up the numbers the staff was expecting.
As the Americans are preparing to face off against Montenegro this Friday for the competition’s second round, Kerr now believes that Ingram will be more effective on the second unit, instead of having him share the ball dominance with Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards.
“I really liked the lineup shift for B.I.,” he said this Thursday. “The game was much smoother. He had five assists, there was more space, he had the ball more. I know he enjoyed it. We’ll keep doing the same thing tomorrow, we’ll start the same way as we did last night and see how that goes. But I can’t speak highly enough of B.I., just his character and the way he handled that. Because he’s not used to coming off the bench. And he was playing fine. He wasn’t really struggling, he just wasn’t featured in that lineup.”
Steve Kerr officially moved Josh Hart into the starting lineup over Brandon Ingram earlier today pic.twitter.com/0FXzxaKUyI
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 30, 2023
The New York star is not only taller than Ingram, but he’s also a strong defender and has shown his talent before for winning rebounds. Also, now that he’s starting for Team USA, he’s sharing the floor with two former college teammates Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, and the on-court chemistry is already proving its’ worth.
“Josh is our leading rebounder, he had 12 more last night,” the head coach said. “He has a strength and a tenacity to him that sometimes overcomes a height disadvantage. He’s used to guarding bigger guys with all the switching that happens in the NBA. So we go into a game comfortable with Josh guarding 4s.”
At the start of the week, Brandon was asked about his impact with the U.S. national squad, and admitted he’s not used to being on the bench.
“This is totally different than what I am used to. The team is winning right now, so I can’t be selfish thinking about myself. But it’s a little frustrating right now for me, and I’m just trying to figure out ways I can be effective,” he explained.
Coach Kerr shared the reasons why he wants to keep mixing lineups to try and find the team’s most effective formula
Team USA’s head coach explained after the Jordan match that he’s still trying to find the best starting lineup to compete in the final stages of the FIBA World Cup.
“Yeah, we just wanted to look at some different lineups. You know the tricky part with FIBA is you only have a few weeks to figure out your team as opposed to an NBA season with six, seven, eight months. So we just felt like it was important to take a look at Josh as the starting group and Brandon in the next group and see if the combinations fit. I like what I saw, and obviously, the game wasn’t competitive, but there was youth flow with both groups, so we’ll see. We haven’t made a decision moving forward, but we just wanted to look at new things,” Kerr said on Wednesday.
After his latest adjustment to the lineup this week, Ingram explained that he remains excited to help the team even from the bench, as he appreciates the communication he’s exchanged with the coaching staff.
“They thought it was a better fit for me playing with Tyrese [Haliburton] and playing with some guys that are a little less ball-dominant than Jalen and Ant. They just talked about it being a better fit, and I agreed with them,” said the New Orleans guard.
