This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rio de Janeiro – Ever since July 22, when I attended a USA men's basketball exhibition game in Las Vegas, I've pictured Gordon Hayward of the Jazz and former Weber State guard Damian Lillard on this team. As of Sunday's gold medal contest vs. Serbia, I will have covered all eight USA games in the Olympic tournament. I've enjoyed watching the team play – and some close games have made the tournament more interesting than I anticipated – but it would have been more fun to have either Hayward or Liilard here, if not both of them. They declined invitations, for various reasons. So where would they have fit into the team? Hayward likely would have come to Rio instead of Harrison Barnes, who has hardly played. But Hayward may have earned some consistent playing time with his passing ability, which the Americans could use. Lillard either would have come in place of Kyle Lowry or played ahead of him in the rotation. Kyrie Irving probably would have remained the starting point guard. Considering these are 40-minute games, roughly 15 to 18 minutes would have been available to Lillard. Hayward is confident he'll get another opportunity in 2020, and the same undoubtedly is true of Lillard, given his status in the NBA. – Kurt Kragthorpe