A few days ago I noted that only one player for Team USA has been above average in each and every game. That player was Chris Paul.
Well, against Australia on Sunday Mr. Paul posted the following numbers: In 23 minutes he took five field goals and only hit one. He didn’t go to the line, so this means he only scored two points. He did get two steals, but turned the ball over twice. Additionally, he posted three rebounds, four assists, and two personal fouls. Put it all together, and we get a Win Score of 1.0. His Win Score per-minute was only 0.043, and that is well below average. In sum, Paul had a bad game.
And that means that every player on Team USA has posted at least one below average game. Here is who each player faltered against.
Chris Paul: Australia
Carmelo Anthony:China (barely)
LeBron James: Italy
Joe Johnson: Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Italy
Kirk Hinrich: Italy, Senegal
Dwyane Wade: Puerto Rico
Elton Brand: Puerto Rico, Australia
Dwight Howard: Slovenia, Italy
Shane Battier: China, Italy
Chris Bosh: China, Slovenia
Antawn Jamison: Puerto Rico, China, Italy, Australia
Brad Miller: Senegal, Australia
Upon further review, if Anthony played anytime at shooting guard against China – and he probably did — then he was not below average in that game. So Anthony, who has been the most productive player so far, may have a perfect record.
His two co-captains have only faltered once each, while every other player has posted at least two below average performances.
So if productivity in international play is the criteria, the captains of this team were correctly chosen. As noted, the performance of King James and Flash is not surprising. Of the players on Team USA, these two were the best in the NBA last season. Melo, though, was not one of the best players last season. Hence it would have been hard to predict prior to Japan that Anthony would be the most consistent and productive player on Team USA.
That being said, it is the case that Mr. Anthony has been amazing. One wonders, though, if he can he continue to hit three point shots at a 50% clip. And, furthermore, can he continue to generate more steals than turnovers?
So far everybody has had at least one truly bad game. The exception is Anthony. Hopefully he can fend off his bad game for three more contests.
– DJ
Wages of Wins Journal 
Jake
August 29, 2006
Perhaps the fact that the interational 3 pt line is a little closer has contributed to anthony’s success.
also, i am wondering what position each of these players was judged at. Do you consider LeBron a 2 or a 3? is Wade a 1 or a 2?
nancy
August 29, 2006
i don’t think hinrich had a bad game against australia at all.
sure he only took one shot (and made it) for a total of two points – but he led the team in assists (5) and it was his defensive intensity, especially in the second quarter that led to the blowout. kirk is there to play defense, not to jack up shots. he’s pass first!
i would agree with italy (foul trouble) and senegal.
just my opinion of course.
dberri
August 29, 2006
Good call Nancy. I mis-read the spreadsheet on Hinrich. He had a per-minute Win Score against Australia of 0.310, which is quite good. I fixed the post to reflect what you found.
As for Jake’s question…LeBron had a per-minute Win Score against Italy of 0.000. So position played would not change the conclusion for James. Also, the difference between a 1 and a 2 is quite small so it makes no difference whether we place Wade at the point guard or shooting guard spot. I tend to think of him as a shooting guard, though.
In general, there is very little difference in productivity between a center and power forward. Also, point guards and shooting guards are pretty similar. Where there is a difference is between small forward and power forward, and again between small forward and shooting guard. For those players, how you define position can matter.
In these games, though, it really hasn’t mattered how position is defined. Players have generally been well above average regardless of position played.
Travis
August 29, 2006
I wonder if playing in these games will have any kind of impact on a player’s stats for the 2006-2007 season?
Maybe, as a result of this, Carmello will play a lot better in the upcoming season then he otherwise would have or maybe some of these players will become fatigued or simply tired of playing basketball and as a result will see a decline in their stats.