1988 USA 3

John Thompson, who was an assitstant coach for Dean Smith on the 1976 Olympic team and was  a finalist for the head coach spot of the 1984 team, was heavily criticized for players he selected and style of coaching he used.

Thompson thought full-court pressure would be effective however Soviet Union was unfazed by pressure, Soviet team broke pressure by getting ball to Arvydas Sabonis in back court and passing ball to teammate in front court.

The team also lacked solid point guard, and of all the players criticized that Thompson took many felt Charles Smith IV (Thompson's guard on his Georgetown squad) was the most undeserving of spot on team as Thompson cut the likes of Rod Strickland, Sherman Douglas, Pooh Richardson and Dana Barros.

This team also lacked solid outside shooting with Hersey Hawkins being the only reliable deep threat but suffered a knee injury in a game against Eygpt as Thompson elected to take the likes of defensive stoppers/athletes such as Stacey Augmon and Jeff Grayer. 

This team still had strenghts such as its athleticism and had Hersey Hawkins not been injured this team probably would've beat the Soviet Union. and could've gone on to win Gold Medal however John Thompson should have taken more 3-point shooters in the first place and selected better overall players rather then the defensive players he did. He also elected players to for fulfill his own agenda such as taking a player like JR Reid as a favor to his close friend Dean Smith while he cut a player like Derrick Coleman who he probably did  not take becauase he played at Syracuse and was going to return as a senior for the 88-89 season and Thompson perhaps (consciously or subconsciously) did  not want to let Derrick improve playing against NBA players during summer exhibitions and against international players during the Olympics.