Chris Hayes may disagree, but sports do matter. Obama and his aides played up the president's supposed affinity for hoops in order to up his optics and boost his ego. However, facts are stubborn things, and the facts remain that our president's administration just isn't that good at basketball.
Championships are won and lost with defense. Last weekend's USA Basketball National 3x3 tournament was the first time we got to see an Obama staffer, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, actually play against someone actually trying to win. The results were uninspiring.
It wasn't pretty for Duncan (#64). You got to wonder why a 6'5 player is playing in space against the guard and not on the forward who scored the easy lay-up . That's just poor defensive strategy.
Why was Duncan getting sucked in by the ball handler when that was his teammate's man? Duncan must be one of the players who constantly yaps at his teammates to play better defense when he blew his own assignment. The video even captures Duncan barking from the bench at his teammates.
There's no reason for Duncan to play at the top of the key unless he's soft and doesn't want to scrap in the low post.
Defensive blunders aside, Duncan did dish some dimes. One thing playing with a ball-hogging POTUS will teach you is how to dish the rock.
The Secretary isn't awful. He can put the ball down on the floor in spite of his size.
The Obama brand of basketball serves as a handy metaphor for Obama's brand of policymaking. Obama just jacks up shots without doing any of the down and dirty work it takes to win titles and be a global leader.
So where is the FIBA 3x3 World Championship this year? I'll give you one guess.
As winner of the USA Basketball Men's 3x3 National Championship, the team earned the right to represent the United States at the 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championship that will be played June 5-8 in Moscow, Russia.
Good luck with that, Arne.
