How Tyrese Haliburton transforms Team USA's offense into a dangerous weapon

When Tyrese Haliburton got selected for Team USA's final roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, some fans scoffed at his inclusion. For some reason, many were either pretending not to understand or just did not understand why the best playmaker in the league was included in the final Olympic roster over flashier scorers like Jalen Brunson and Kyrie Irving. Because of this, Haliburton had a point to prove going into the Olympics, and his first stop was on Wednesday in Team USA's first Showcase game against Andrew Nembhard and Team Canada.

Before we get to that game, however, let's rewind to last year. In the 2023 FIBA Men's World Cup, Haliburton played off the bench in around 21.5 minutes per game and averaged 8.6 points, three rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks on 51% from the field and 47% from deep.

Pretty good numbers right? Well, if you look deeper and watch the games, you can see that Haliburton's impact transcended the box score. Because Steve Kerr started a shoot-first guard in Jalen Brunson who likes to play at a slower, half-court pace, Team USA's offense struggled at times with the starters out, especially since they did not bring their best players, possibly due to underestimating international competition.

However, whenever Tyrese Haliburton checked into the game, things took a drastic turn for the better. Their offensive pace increased tenfold, and due to Haliburton's fast-paced style of play, he was able to find plenty of offensive options right in their spots, leading to him having the highest plus/minus on the team by far at +13.1.

Additionally, Haliburton's player efficiency rating of 15.5 was third on the team despite coming off the bench for every single game. As a comparison, Jalen Brunson averaged more points than Haliburton at 11 per game but had a far worse plus/minus of +4.1 and a lower efficiency rating of 12.8.

Long story short, Tyrese Haliburton was arguably the best offensive weapon for Team USA last year and easily their best point guard, as evidenced by the several times he had to save their offense from completely going stagnant during important games.

To this day, some people say that if Steve Kerr had come to his senses and started Haliburton over Brunson, Team USA would have at least qualified for a medal instead of finishing in fourth place and losing to both Germany and Canada in the semi-finals and third-place game.

In the Showcase game against Canada on Wednesday, Haliburton seemingly picked up right where he left off. There was a clear difference between his minutes leading the offense and Stephen Curry's, who is Team USA's starting point guard for Paris.

When Curry was on the floor, there was not much movement in the offense save for the occasional pick and roll. This led to the offense stagnating and Canada's defense getting set easier and able to disrupt passing lanes, leading to eight first-quarter turnovers for Team USA, most of which came off bad passes or players losing the ball.

In contrast, Tyrese Haliburton had a grand total of zero turnovers in his 20 minutes on the floor. This was despite having a majority of the ball-handling duties, especially after the first quarter when he was allowed to bring the ball up the court and set up the offense.

Disregarding his team-high plus/minus of +17, it was clear from watching the game that Team USA's offense was brought into another gear with Haliburton running the show. Since he plays at such a high pace, the stars were forced to run harder and get down the court quicker, which led to easy opportunities inside and from deep.

One of the biggest criticisms about Haliburton's 2024 season was a completely stupid one. That was the idea that Indiana's offense was a system and Haliburton was a system player, meaning he could not succeed elsewhere and a lot of his productivity was due to Indiana's fast-paced style of play.

However, what these people failed to mention, is that Tyrese Haliburton is not a system player, he is the system. That was proven last year and on Wednesday, when he led an offense of different players with a different coach, and was still the most productive engine on the team, ahead of other elite guards like Stephen Curry and Jrue Holiday.

In contrast to Curry and Holiday's time leading the offense, Haliburton made his teammates feel far more comfortable, as they knew he would get them the ball as soon as they got to their spots.

After the game on Wednesday, a lot of people's opinions on Haliburton changed in real time after seeing the effect he had on Team USA's offense. He was so effective, in fact, that his low point total and efficiency did not even matter, as he made up for it by setting up everyone around him for easy buckets and being a team player, which was exactly why Team USA made the call to bring him on board instead of more scoring-oriented point guards.