AUSTRALIAN Opals coach Brendan Joyce rates Candace Parker one of the world’s top three players and would be astonished if the US omitted her from its Rio Olympic team.
USA Basketball late today will announce its team to defend its Olympic gold in Rio, but there has been widespread speculation Parker, 30 and a 193cm superstar, will not be in coach Geno Auriemma’s final 12.
Parker, who has dunked the ball at high school, college and WNBA levels, led the US to Olympic golds in Beijing and London and in the 2012 campaign, led the US in rebounds and blocked shots, while third amid the team’s scorers.
In Australia’s pursuit for Olympic gold, Parker consistently has been one of the Opals’ biggest obstacles.
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READ NOW“I think everybody would be surprised if they left her out of the team,” Joyce said of the WNBA’s dual-MVP.
“I think she is in the top three players in the world and with her versatility, she has been a defensive nightmare for us.
“I rate her with Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi as the three best players in the world.”
The Los Angeles Sparks’ forward-centre still is at the top of her game but Joyce said it was difficult to know Auriemma’s strategy “from such a long way away”.
“For us, it’s always been a question of how are we going to defend Candace Parker because of her versatility,” Joyce said.
“But we’re not there to know what Geno is thinking.”
Chicago Sky’s Elena Delle Donne, Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner and University of Connecticut senior Breanna Stewart all are expected to be Olympic debutantes for the US in Rio.
Griner and Stewart were members of Auriemma’s 2014 FIBA World Championship gold medallist in Turkey, where the Aussies claimed bronze.
“Delle Donne is a great player but I’d think they’d both be in the team,” Joyce said of Parker.
The Opals World Championship captain Penny Taylor and starting playmaker Erin Phillips, both back in the WNBA, should be among the first players selected for Australia to Rio.
Taylor was selected in the All Star Five at the Worlds, with Phillips considered unlucky to miss the star quintet.