The Boston Celtics make not be playing right now, but some of their core players are getting some nice experience by playing for Team USA.
This year, the Celtics have four players on the international roster including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and the newly-signed Kemba Walker. With those four in action, many view this a chance for the C's to develop some early chemistry after issues in that department plagued them last year.
However, Team USA isn't exactly off to a great start. They lost an exhibition match against Team Australia over the weekend, marking the first time in over a decade that they had been beaten. Despite the issues, Walker isn't worried about the team's capabilities in the lead-up to their first FIBA World Cup game on Sep. 1, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
They say Team USA doesn’t lose, I get it, they haven’t lost in a very long time, which I understand, but it happens. Teams lose. We are just going to take this loss and build from it, that’s all we can do is continue to try our best to get better.
The real thing doesn’t start until China, so we’ve got one more game. We’re going to head to Sydney and focus on Canada and from that point out the real thing starts. That’s all we are worried about, just continuing to get better, continuing to learn each other.
Walker does have a point, and this iteration of Team USA has only been playing together for a short period of time. Still, seeing Team USA succeed and develop chemistry early would likely be a good sign for the Celtics, as it could give their quartet some needed experience playing together while also proving that they can jell with any group of players. So, they will be watching closely to see how Walker, Smart, Tatum, and Brown are able to fit into the squad.
So far, Walker has been solid and led Team USA with 22 points against Australia. He could be counted on as one of their veteran leaders and may have a chance to be the USA's leading scorer.
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