"I haunt all of you in your dreams don't I Blazer fans?" (Credit: YardBarker.com)

We’re just a few hours away from the start of the 2010 FIBA World Championships, and I may be in the minority on this, but I’m pretty excited. As crazy as this NBA off-season has been, there hasn’t been that much excitement surrounding the event….at least in this country. It’s been stated time after time, but some European countries actually find the World Championships to be more prestigious than the Olympics, which actually makes sense considering the way other countries compare the World Cup and the Olympics. For one, it’s competitive basketball back on my TV screen. No offense to Becky Hammon and Diana Taurasi, but it’ll be nice to search elsewhere for my basketball fix (yes I’m a junkie).

The story of course is surrounding Team USA’s “B-Squad” attempting to bring home the country’s first World Championship victory since 1994′s forgotten squad won in Toronto. This year’s edition of Team USA hasn’t gotten a ton of fanfare for a couple of reasons. On one side, ‘World Championships’ have never meant that much in the USA. We’re a country that puts a lot of faith, support and importance on the Olympic Games. I mean let’s be real, the excuses for losing are already in place for Joe Schmoe if this Team USA falls: “We didn’t have our best guys. This isn’t the Olympics. We didn’t have any bigs, etc, etc.” The second reason is because of the lack of percieved ‘star power’ on the roster from the mainstream. How do I know this? They didn’t pass the Mom test, aka she doesn’t see this as the “real” Team USA. And I know that something is popular once it gets my mom’s position…when she started asking me about Jersey Shore I knew it was about to blow up.

I like this Team USA for a couple reasons. One, they actually are just flat out likeable. Kevin Durant leads the charge (what a summer he’s had, looking great on the court, tough to stomach for Blazer fans eh?), Derrick Rose is emerging, Chauncey Billups is sweating and they just have a group of guys who I have found to be easy to root for over the summer. They seem to get along with each other, they work hard, and they represent the country. Let’s be honest: the only time Coach K is likeable is when he’s on the sidelines for the USA, not for Duke. Secondly, I like the formation of the team. This is a collective group that together molds together to be a good team. They are athletic, can run, have skillsets that can bring the best out of each other. More importantly, everyone has a role and has bought into it. Have you ever heard Andre Iguodala or Rudy Gay talk this much defense, let alone play it ? Exactly.

Team USA has the talent, speed and teamwork to do really well in this tournament. The questions surround whether they can do the little things to win tough games. How will they do against zones? Will their inexperience hurt them against raucous crowds? What about teams who want to slow down the game? How about the crazy international refs? What about teams who try to smash Team USA in the interior? (I still think Kevin Love is underrated on this team, understandable since he’s the 12th man but still.) None of us know the answers yet. I hope the Greece blowout didn’t send expectations through the roof–this team still has a lot of proving to do. We know they can, the question is will they?

That same formation of roles and buying in is the reason why I wasn’t so ‘shocked’ or ‘upset’ about Rajon Rondo being the final cut or withdrawing. As great as Rondo is, I don’t think he was needed this year. In the international game, you need shooters, so you can see the value of keeping Eric Gordon and Stephen Curry. Not only that but I’ve really liked the way Derrick Rose has played and I think he and Rondo would almost duplicate each other on the same team.

As talented as this Team USA roster is, it won’t be an easy road to the World title for America. They find themselves in a group with tough, gritty European teams such as Croatia and Slovenia, a talented Brazilian team and a potentially crafty Iran. And then there’s Tunisia, bless their hearts for trying. Let’s not forget about the knockout stage which would require Team USA to win four pressure packed contests, potentially against powers such as Spain, Greece, Turkey or Argentina. I’m definitely excited to see what this Team USA team can do starting tomorrow, as should you too. At the very least, it’s some on-court basketball we all can talk about instead of constant streams of speculation.

Click ‘continue reading’ for my wacky, unfounded and mostly fun predictions for the World Championships and more…

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The 76ers, in the past couple weeks, have managed to lose to such teams as the Knicks, the Timberwolves, the Wizards and the Raptors. They also boast offensive (106.7) and defensive (110.0) ratings in the second half the the NBA, sport a sub-.500 effective field goal percentage and only get to the free-throw line on an average of 22 times per 100 field-goal attempts. And yet despite all that, I still think this could be a loss for the Blazers, especially if they play within two adjectives of their listless, confused performance in three of the four quarters against Washington on Monday (minus the third).

That’s because Philly is the fifth in offensive rebounding percentage, and they still managed to beat Portland in Portland on Dec. 28 even with the Blazers grabbing seven more offensive boards than them. Elton Bran, Samuel Dalembert and Mareese Speights are the horses inside, with a dash of Thaddeus Young when they go small, and it should surprise nobody that all three of those bigs scored at least 14 points in Portland, with Brand going off for 25. No surprise again, that Jeff Pendergraph said this:

@pdxtrailblazers: From @TheRealJP31 “I’m kind of excited for tonight because Elton Brand kicked my butt last time pretty bad.”

He sure did. To be fair, that was only Pendergraph’s fourth game in the NBA and third playing more than four minutes, but the burden still lies with him and Dante Cunningham to keep Juwan Howard from getting dunked on 17 times with quick help rotations once Andre Iguodala, for instance, gets in the lane. As with any game, Portland is going to have a tough time winning if the mid-range jumpers aren’t falling at a decent clip, but Philly’s offensive rebound tally should correlate closely to the scoring margin.

Keys to the Game:

Box out: We’ve covered this ground, but again, if the Blazers aren’t actively finding their men and putting a body on them, they will end up on some less than flattering posters.

Find a third scorer: Shouldn’t be as difficult as long as Roy plays, but the Blazers struggled the other afternoon to find a third player to create shots for themselves. Martell Webster had one of his worst recent games against Philadelphia in December, so anything from him is a boost, but one of Miller or Bayless needs to accompany Aldridge and Roy with a handful of self-sufficient offensive possessions.

Pick up your man in transition: Philly is the second-best fast-break team in the league behind Golden State and they will run their young legs down your throat if the Blazers are going to allow their men to run unhindered down the wing slots all night as they did for Washington.

Stay out of overtime: This is a selfish reason, but if nobody can get hurt and everyone can be relatively rested by the time they come to Boston on Friday, that would be grreaaaaaaaat (sips from coffee mug).