Turnovers another issue U.S. Team needs to address

NEW YORK -- There are two ways you can look at the sloppy play of Thursday night's USA Basketball intrasquad scrimmage at Radio City Music Hall. Either the U.S. Team forced 27 turnovers or they committed 27 turnovers.

The former would be evidence of their aggressive defense. The latter would be a serious concern, especially since they played just 24 minutes of basketball, three fifths of a FIBA game.

"We committed probably about 18 or 19, I think," Chauncey Billups said Friday, believing that most were those that you want to be concerned about. Billups led all 15 players with five turnovers, a number he reached only nine times in 73 games with the Nuggets last season.

There are several reasons for the number of turnovers we saw Thursday. Certainly, the strange environment was one. But playing on a stage with an unusual background is more of an excuse for the poor shooting (the two teams combined to shoot just 7-for-36 from 3-point range) than for the poor passing.

Still, USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski isn't going to worry about the turnovers just yet.

"They're playing against each other," Krzyzewski said. "It's turnovers against another team [that would be a concern], and we don't know that [yet]."

They have been scrimmaging against the Select Team, a group of college stars, since they first came together in Las Vegas last month. But the U.S. will finally face an international squad on Saturday, when they hold a closed scrimmage against China at Madison Square Garden.

Then on Sunday, they'll play a full exhibition against France (1 p.m. ET, ESPN2). So before they head to Europe for three more exhibition games, we'll have a better idea of just what this team's strengths and weaknesses are.

Krzyzewski says that, with his team's lack of size, rebounding is concern No. 1. And indeed it should be. But turnovers can't be too far behind. With FIBA games lasting only 40 minutes and the World Championship being a single-elimination tournament after the preliminary round, every possession is that much more critical.

Chemistry, of course, is another reason for the amount of miscues. These players just don't know each other very well. The only set of NBA teammates on the 15-man roster is Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. And the Thunder players haven't spent much time on the floor together with the U.S. Team.

"We've been together for a couple of weeks," Billups said. "When I drive, I'm still getting to know if [a particular player] likes to go back-door or if they like to stay spotted. And that's a split second I've got to make that decision. It's not that easy, but at the same time, it's something that has to be cleaned up, because we can't lose a game because of that."

The World Championship is just two weeks away, so it will be impossible for the team to be completely comfortable with each other when they open the competition against Croatia on Aug. 28.

Another thing they've got to get used to is the ball itself. The composite FIBA basketball feels different than the leather these guys are accustomed to playing with.

"We're still trying to get used to that ball," Andre Iguodala said. "We get a new one every game. We don't get one that's broken in. So we have a tough time getting a hold of the ball."

But some of the problems are due to simple decision-making. Several of Thursday's turnovers were a result of overpenetration, with one of the guards taking the ball too deep into the paint before making a play.

There's no defensive 3-second call in international competition. So teams can play zone defense or a soft man, packing the paint. And that's when a guard can really get into trouble by penetrating too far and running into an extra defender or two.

Westbrook is the biggest culprit when it comes to overpenetrating, looking to get a bucket or an assist on every play, instead of taking what the defense gives him. Billups said that he's already addressed the issue with the Thunder point guard.

"Get singles," Billups told Westbrook. "That home run will come."

Iguodala adds that guys are sometimes looking to pass before they look at the basket.

"Everybody's looking to make the extra pass, and sometimes we can over-pass, which could be a good thing with this group," he said. And Krzyzewski takes the same optimistic viewpoint.

"Turnovers in a game like last night mean that they're trying to be unselfish," the coach said.

There's a fine line between being unselfish and being too unselfish. And the U.S. has two weeks to find it.

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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