Takeaways from Team USA's FIBA World Cup win over New Zealand - ESPN

MANILA, Philippines — When Paolo Banchero got off the bus Tuesday morning at the team hotel in Manila, he was cradling a FIBA basketball, which had been his carry-on for the 10-hour flight from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The softer but bouncier ball frustrates many NBA players, and like a running back trying to stop fumbles, Banchero was trying to spend some extra time with the rock.

The Orlando Magic star has been putting in extra shooting work after practice with Chip Engelland, Team USA's shooting coach, and also working with the Oklahoma City Thunder assistant before games. He was quite proud that he made his first two 3-pointers with Team USA in the third quarter in Saturday's win against New Zealand. But he was probably more relieved he made 3-of-5 free throws in his 21-point performance off the bench. The ball has been bothering him from the line, where he was 2-of-10 in the warmup games.

Coach Steve Kerr is clearly a fan of Banchero and has given him a big role as a backup center who initiates the offense on rebounds. It's the role Draymond Green plays with Kerr's Golden State Warriors. And Banchero has backed up Kerr's faith and earned more minutes, which led to Saturday's offensive explosion.

More takeaways from Team USA's win against New Zealand:

• Speaking of playing roles, Brandon Ingram had a mold in sight when he joined Team USA. He wanted to be in the Carmelo Anthony/Kevin Durant role, a stretch 4 who crushes slower defenders and is a scoring hub. Ingram should be one of the team's stars, a veteran scoring specialist with big-game experience.

But it's not happening.

Ingram has really struggled during his Team USA experience. He averaged 7.8 points and shot just 42% in the warmup games, while the