USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo thinks Team USA would have defended their title in FIBA Basketball World Cup if there weren’t injuries.
Colangelo told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated: “I believe that if we didn’t have those injuries, we would have won. The injuries were just too much to absorb.”
Even though almost every single super star pulled out of the national team this year, Colangelo will not hold grudges and is willing to take those players next year.
“The disappointment I feel is not from the guys who said they wouldn’t play. It’s those that said they would, and then backed out,” Colangelo said.
According to Colangelo, the disappointment of the World Cup will stay with him until Tokyo Olympics: “There has not been any disappointment around USA Basketball in a while. This will bother me until the 2020 Olympics.”
Team USA had their worst ever Basketball World Cup finish after finishing 7th at FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. Despite that, the Americans booked the ticket to Tokyo Olympics as the second best team from Americas.
