Would the Chicago Bulls beat the current Team USA?

How would an imaginary game go between the United States (2019 FIBA World Cup edition) and the Chicago Bulls, with current rosters?

The FIBA World Cup is right around the corner, starting on Aug. 31 in China, and the United States is not looking good in prep play ahead of its first game against the Czech Republic on Sep. 1. With the loss for Team USA to Australia in a scrimmage over the weekend, handing this squad its first loss in nearly 13 years, there is a lot of cause for concern. With all this in mind, do you think that the current Chicago Bulls roster would be able to beat the current Team USA set for the 2019 FIBA World Cup?

There were a few Bulls that fans in the Windy City felt should’ve been considered for the roster. With all the NBA stars and superstars that dropped off contention to make the team for the FIBA World Cup, Bulls standouts like shooting guard Zach LaVine and recently signed forward Thaddeus Young were either brought into camp in Las Vegas, NV, or looked over completely.

Young was invited to the USA Training Camp in Vegas, but wound up being one of the final cuts from the roster. Since Young does fill a very specific niche off the bench, he wasn’t going to be counted on as a pivotal part of the team. Yet, LaVine could be in that role given how the final roster shook out.

To view the entire final United States roster for the FIBA World Cup, you can go here.

There are still highlighting stars on Team USA, including Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker, Utah Jazz combo guard Donovan Mitchell, and and Milwaukee Bucks wing Khris Middleton. But you could put up a good argument that LaVine is better than two of those three aforementioned NBA stars.

Maybe it is for the better that no current Bulls players are risking fatigue or injury to play for a diminished Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. Team USA is not looking too great through its scrimmage runs thus far. With a loss to Australia, Team USA is facing an uphill battle in a pretty tough group. There are other good competing countries that can threaten Team USA too like Canada and Argentina.

San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills had a huge game for Australia in the win over Team USA, with 30 points. Mills helped Australia end a lengthy 78-game winning streak that spanned over 13 years for the United States.

Team USA also limped past Spain in another pre-World Cup friendly and struggled against the USA Select Team on multiple occasions.

So, the real question here is if the Bulls would be able to take down the current Team USA for the 2019 edition of the FIBA World Cup?

To answer that question, let’s take a look at three primary factors. The first is the fact that the Bulls would have more team chemistry built up compared to Team USA. But Team USA does have a host of Celtics players that could help out in that department.

A second deciding factor in this imaginary game between the Bulls and Team USA would be talent at the top. The Bulls do have players that could take a game over like power forward Lauri Markkanen and LaVine. Seeing how Tomas Satoransky plays for the Czech Republic on Sep. 1 against the US could also help decide which side would win this game.

The third of three factors in this imaginary scenario would be how Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen approached this game. If the Bulls were able to spread out a US team that doesn’t have much consistency on defense, then it would be easy to take advantage of. The Bulls added two good shooters this summer in Satoransky and center Luke Kornet.

This would actually be a really interesting game if the United States faced the Chicago Bulls in a pre-FIBA World Cup scrimmage. Team USA clearly has a lot of work to do before pool play starts for the World Cup against the Czech Republic on Sep. 1.