It's a bit of a shock that the Team USA men's basketball team did not win the FIBA World Cup this year, but it's not that big of a shock that one member of the Celtics got high praise from an exceptional NBA head coach in the process.
For the NBA players, this is pretty much just some prep for guys headed into the season, If it were real and everyone was 100 percent and ready to go, then I would guess that Team USA would've blown every team out by like 100 points -- except maybe one or two of them that had a starting five of NBA players past and present.
Regardless, Jaylen Brown was on the team -- and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich liked what he saw from the youngster. Here is what he had to say about it.
“Well he’s a strong player,” Popovich said. “For his size and strength he moves well, and he will penetrate. He can catch and pull it. Get to the rim. And he’s unselfish and finding other people. He’s just kind of an all-around player. He has stepped in and given us good minutes at both ends of the floor for sure.”
That's good to hear from someone outside of this little region we call New England. If he's stepped up and played well at the international level, it's kind of fair to expect him to be even better this season that he was last season, if we are being completely honest.
Granted, the NBA offseason is pretty short for teams who made it to the playoffs the previous season, it still gives one reason to be optimistic about his capabilities. After all, he is still only 22 years old, so one can assume he has not played his best basketball just yet.