Four teams that can beat Team USA at FIBA World Cup - USA TODAY

Posted: 31 Aug 2019 09:38 AM PDT

The U.S. men's senior basketball team has won every major competition in the last 11 years – the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 world championship in Turkey, 2012 London Olympics, 2014 world championship in Spain and 2016 Rio Olympics.

But with major NBA stars deciding not to play for Team USA at this year's FIBA World Cup in China, the Americans are not a lock to win gold.

The U.S. is still the favorite, but international basketball expert and ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said there are nine teams that could medal and four teams that present a significant challenge for the U.S.

"This is the most parity we've seen in the World Cup maybe ever," Fraschilla said of the event, where 54 NBA players will participate in a 32-team field. "Literally, eight or nine teams can medal with a break here or there."

Fraschilla said the two biggest obstacles for the U.S. are defense and finding a go-to scorer who can get a basket in crunch time or when the offense breaks down.

"They have to be able to defend offense systems that they're not always used to seeing in the NBA night in, night out," Fraschilla said. "That's a challenge and the way you make up for that is with depth and the ability to go eight or nine deep and wear the opponent down."

The U.S. has scoring options, starting with Utah's Donovan Mitchell and Boston's Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker.

The U.S., coached by San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, opens the first round of group play Sunday against the Czech Republic, faces Turkey on Tuesday and finishes group play Thursday against Japan. The U.S. shouldn't have any problem with group play, but the second round of group play and the knockout round figures to be more difficult.

The four teams Fraschilla says can beat the U.S are Australia, France, Serbia and Spain because of their continuity.

"That is important because (this is) a year where Team USA cannot overwhelm the competition purely on talent," Fraschilla said. "Their lack of continuity based on the short training camps vs. the experience of coaches who have had these teams under their wing for a couple of different international cycles is going to cause Team USA more trouble than normal."

He's also not counting out Lithuania or Greece, which has NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Here's a closer look at the four teams that can beat the U.S., according to Fraschilla

Australia

Coach: Andrej Lemanis

Names to know: San Antonio's Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut, Utah's Joe Ingles, Cleveland's Matthew Dellavedova, Phoenix's Aron Baynes.

2016 Olympics: Lost to Spain in bronze-medal game.

Fraschilla: "They have a style and system that promotes ball movement and team play and they certainly have the continuity. More so than any other team Team USA faces, the American basketball fan will recognize Australia's players. Take away the intimidation factor that's no longer there with Australia playing Team USA, they will go toe-to-toe."

France

Coach: Vincent Collet

Names to know: Utah's Rudy Gobert, Charlotte's Nic Batum, Orlando's Evan Fournier, New York's Frank Ntilikina, Boston's Vincent Poirier.

2016 Olympics: Lost to Spain in quarterfinals.

Fraschilla: "Here's the thing about France and it's why their guys usually do well in the NBA even more so than Serbia, Spain and Australia: France produces NBA athletes, guys who can keep up step for step athletically. With France, you start with Gobert in the middle and throw in a Nic Batum who has been at times an above-average NBA player and Fournier who is coming off a really good season in Orlando."

Serbia

Coach: Sasha Djordjevic

Names to know: Denver's Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia's Boban Marjanovic, Sacramento's Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica and San Antonio 2015 first-round pick Nikola Milutinov.

2016 Olympics: Won silver, losing to U.S. in gold-medal game.

Fraschilla: "Their style of play and ability to read an opponent's defense because of the cerebralness with which they play is why they are always so well regarded. In this particular cycle, you're talking about having one of the two or three best players in the entire tournament in Nikola Jokic."

Spain

Coach: Sergio Scariolo

Names to know: Toronto's Marc Gasol, Phoenix's Ricky Rubio, Charlotte's Willy Hernangomez, Denver's Juan Hernangomez and Real Madrid's Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernandez.

2016 Olympics: Defeated Australia in bronze-medal game.

Fraschilla: "Although they don't have the same complement of guys we're used to seeing, they still have Gasol and Rubio and it has coach Sergio Scariolo. Another team that has continuity because of their coach and some returning players."

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Polish people hold deep affection for Americans, but not necessarily Trump - USA TODAY

Posted: 31 Aug 2019 01:42 PM PDT

Vice President Mike Pence will go to Poland in place of President Donald Trump as Hurricane Dorian heads its way towards Florida. USA TODAY

WARSAW, Poland – Jacek Szemplinski, like many of his countrymen, has a soft spot in his heart for Americans. He sees them as straight-talkers and practical people who use simple words to express big ideas.

But the Polish businessman has a more complicated view of President Donald Trump, who he regards as "a strong man" and "a fighter" but who he also fears is playing a dangerous game by waging a trade war with China.

"I have doubts about him," Szemplinski said, pausing during a stroll through a downtown park in the Polish capital Saturday morning.

For Polish people who already harbored suspicions of the American president, Trump further fueled their skepticism when he announced abruptly Thursday that he was canceling a two-day trip to Poland so he could remain in the United States and monitor Hurricane Dorian, which is barreling toward the East Coast.

In his place, Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence, who will attend services commemorating the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II and attend a series of meetings on Sunday and Monday, including a bilateral discussion with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

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Szemplinski and other Poles don't buy Trump's explanation for pulling out of the trip.

"I don't know what he's going to do about the storm," said Antoni Kwiatkowski, a music student who questioned Trump's rationale for staying home.

"I don't believe this storm is the real reason" for Trump canceling, Szemplinski agreed. "I think Trump doesn't like somebody. I don't know who. But he doesn't like somebody."

Though they may not always agree with the American president, the Polish people historically have held a sincere fondness for Americans and a deep respect for the presidency itself.

"Poland has been for a long time one of the most pro-American countries in Europe, if not the world," said Daniel Fried, who served as U.S. ambassador to Poland for more than two years under former President Bill Clinton.

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"The Polish people have looked at the United States as their benefactor, their ally," Fried said. "And they think, with some basis, that the United States is one of the early sponsors of their regaining their independence in 1918."

Last summer, an outdoor photo exhibit in downtown Warsaw paid tribute to former President Woodrow Wilson and American diplomat Edward Mandell House – a close Wilson adviser known as "Colonel House," even though he had no military background – for embracing and facilitating the cause of Polish independence.

"Nobody remembers that in the United States, outside of people who know the history," Fried said. But, "the Poles have never forgotten."

The U.S.-Polish relationship goes back even further and can be traced to the American Revolution, when Polish Colonel Casimir Pulaski fought the British alongside George Washington, said Heather Conley, an expert on European affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Our country is enriched by a strong Polish-American community, and we see Poland's return to independence and American support for the Solidarity movement as a shared success," Conley said. "They are a strong ally and partner to the U.S. In other words, this relationship transcends any one particular U.S. president."

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Poland's nationalist, right-wing government has embraced Trump and welcomed him enthusiastically during his first trip to Warsaw in 2017. The ruling party shares the president's hard-line views on immigration and, like Trump, has often found itself in conflict with the rest of the European Union.

For his part, Trump has been eager to strengthen ties with the Polish government, which is looking to spend billions of dollars to buy F-35 jets and other weaponry from the United States as it seeks the establishment of a permanent U.S. military base in Poland.

During Pence's visit to Warsaw, the two countries also are expected to sign a deal calling for them to work together to improve the security of Poland's 5G telecommunications system as the Trump administration tries to counter the influence of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.

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But the Polish government's affinity for the American leader isn't necessarily shared by the Polish people, who, like the rest of Europe, are curious about, yet divided over, his presidency.

"Donald Trump – he's very crazy," said Michal Capucino, a restaurant worker biking in the shadow of the Palace of Culture and Science, a gigantic tower that Joseph Stalin considered his gift to the Polish people, who now regard it as a symbol of Soviet domination.

Kwiatkowski, the music student, said he dislikes Trump's "extreme politics" and "ultra-dominating behavior."

But Weronika Harutivnian, a bakery worker visiting relatives in Warsaw, said Trump has "a strong hand" and knows how to solve problems.

"People say he's not a good president, but to me, he's very good and he knows what to do," she said.

For many Poles, "he makes us want to go to America," she said.

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