ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. coach Steve Kerr declined to commit to using Joel Embiid as the starting center at the Olympics on Monday despite having a chance to do so, instead saying the lineup is “still being refined.”
Some context: Anthony Davis, who served as Embiid’s backup in the U.S. team’s two exhibition games, including Monday’s 98-92 win over Australia, played like Wilt Chamberlain.
Meanwhile, Embiid showed significant improvement against Australia compared to last week’s win over Canada but didn’t look at his best.
So Kerr was asked by a foreign media reporter at the Etihad Arena on Monday night whether he was considering starting Davis or Bam Adebayo over Embiid, given Embiid’s struggles early in the Olympic exhibition season.
“We’re going to continue to experiment with our lineups over the next few games,” Kerr said. “Joel’s getting better every day. Usually, a bigger guy takes a little bit longer to get into rhythm and flow, but I love Joel. He’s a dominant player. I think it’s going to be a matter of figuring out what the best combinations are and getting the right people together. It’s still a work in progress.”
Kerr has kept his lineup consistent despite its inconsistency during exhibition season, with Embiid, LeBron James and Stephen Curry starting twice each through two games.
Embiid played through knee surgery during the NBA playoffs and appeared to be regaining his form with the U.S. national team, recording five points and six rebounds in a win over Canada last week before fouling out in the third quarter, and 10 points and five rebounds against Australia, but also committing three turnovers.
Meanwhile, Davis recorded double-doubles in both games, including a 17-point, 14-rebound performance against Australia. Davis and Anthony Edwards shared the team’s scoring title, and Davis also dominated defensively. The U.S. team likes to use Davis and Adebayo together on the second unit, with Adebayo being the stronger of the two units through the two games.
The U.S. starters have spent a lot of time in these games trying to anchor Embiid on the offensive end — not a bad idea for a 7-foot-11 player who averaged nearly 35 points per game and shot 38.8 percent from the 3-point line last season for the Philadelphia 76ers — but this aggressive play has led to some awkward possessions and Embiid is playing at a different speed than James, Curry and Edwards, who scored 14 points as a starter against Australia.
“Obviously, he’s a guy that gets attention, so we’ve got to take advantage of that attention and put him in position,” Curry said of Embiid. “We still don’t know if he’s going to score or if he’s kicking out, how we get the space around him to give him an opportunity. And if he’s not in the post, we’ll look for other opportunities and team chemistry. So, I think we were a little bit better today, and we’ll have three more games, we’ll be even better and take advantage of the threat that he and everybody else on the court are.”
No other Olympic team could match the depth of the U.S. roster, and having a player with Davis’ size and skill coming off the bench would give the U.S. a noticeable advantage. The U.S. team has been plagued by injury issues, with Embiid limited in practice, Kawhi Leonard sent home with a sore knee and Jayson Tatum missing the first few days of camp, forcing the team to consider pairing Davis with Adebayo.
Joel Embiid has struggled through two games, and head coach Steve Kerr has yet to commit the 2022-23 NBA MVP to being in the Olympic starting lineup. (Candice Ward/USA Today)
Decision makers are ecstatic with the results so far: The U.S. bench as a whole outperformed the starters in both games, and the Davis-Adebayo duo on the second unit has been a fixture.
“The AD can be anyone,” Carr said.
Davis said he and Adebayo are “still figuring it out” and “get in each other’s way” at times, which has led to defensive mistakes and turnovers. With time, they could become a more formidable duo. Davis played a few minutes with the starters on Monday, and Kerr replaced Embiid with the other starters in the third quarter.
Davis averaged nearly 25 points per game for the Lakers last season and is a scoring threat, but on this team, with James, Curry, Edwards and the starters on the wing, Davis will likely play without a substantial offensive role. Kerr won’t have to call plays for Davis, and he can score on offensive rebounds if needed.
The U.S. doesn’t think Embiid is the right choice to use as a defensive or offensive anchor. They looked for him in the two exhibition games, to begin with. There are still three warmups to go before the U.S. plays its first Olympic game against Serbia on July 28 (and Wednesday’s exhibition in Abu Dhabi), so Embiid could develop further and fit into Kerr’s starting five as most experts expect. The U.S. still needs Kevin Durant (calf strain) on the court, and Leonard’s replacement, Derrick White, did not play against Australia.
But with the Olympics less than two weeks away, Kerr acknowledged that NBA MVP Embiid is unlikely to start, a testament to Davis’ form and Embiid’s progress in getting back into shape.
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(Top photo of Anthony Davis during Monday’s win over Australia: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)
