Will schedules hinder the U.S. women's team?

Interesting article that addresses whether/how the WNBA finals and playing overseas will impact the U.S. Women's team. I don't agree that missing players who competed in the WNBA finals (the Mercury's Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, the Shock's Swin Cash and Katie Smith) is hurting the US team. It's probably tiring for those players, because they're not getting a break at all, but the US team still defeated defending champs Australia quite decisively (bearing in mind that Australia's also been without Mercury players Penny Taylor and Belinda Snell, and WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson).

As for players spending their off-seasons overseas, playing for more money -- who can blame them? WNBA salaries are not lavish (I think they're shockingly small), and people have to make a living. Still, the human body can only play constant basketball for so long, and a few players have missed WNBA season games while recovering from injuries they received overseas (knock on wood for the ballers).

The argument in the article is that winter is the traditional training period for the US team, and many players are busy overseas, so this lack of team practice will affect performance. I don't agree with that, either. Every player on the US team is exceptional and knows how to play on a team, many already play or have played on teams together.

I think the possibility that the players may be (or get) worn out is the bigger problem.