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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > April > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USColangelo returns pride to USA Basketball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chicago — In the past few days, we have seen Dennis Felton shave his mustache and Mike Woodson shave his head.
Given this unexpected intersection of hoops dreams and extreme grooming makeovers, what would this mean for Mike Krzyzewski’s suspiciously consistent jet-black ‘do if the U.S. Olympic basketball team suddenly gets crazy and, like, even beats Puerto Rico?
The NBA playoffs began this weekend. The league is composed of the best players in the world. As Krzyzewski said the other day, while discussing the game’s growth overseas: “We’ve had somewhat of an arrogance in our basketball community and in our country, in terms of saying, ‘It’s our game.’ Well, it’s not our game. It’s the world’s game.”
Here’s the problem with that statement: There are approximately 450 players in the NBA. That breaks down as: 375 are from here, 75 from somewhere else.
Maybe it’s not just our game anymore. But I kind of like the odds.
This past week, U.S. Olympic officials, coaches and athletes congregated in Chicago for a media summit, part of the buildup for this summer in Beijing.
Noteworthy was how members of USA Basketball suddenly were as humble as the rower.
When the United States began sending pros to the Olympics in 1992, it seemed less about reaffirming superiority (a given) than it was a global marketing venture. But after going 24-0 with three gold medals in three Olympics, the U.S. team became Exhibit A for all that was wrong about this decision.
Players didn’t seem to care. They went to Athens for the plane ticket, the vacation and the suite aboard the Queen Mary 2. The threat of losing a shoe contract would’ve been a greater motivator than winning a gold medal.
They lost their first game. By 19 points. To Puerto Rico. They went 5-3. The U.S. Olympic record before Athens: 109-2. They won a bronze medal. No word if anybody melted it down for paper clips.
The Acropolis had more living creatures.
“I was embarrassed,” said Jerry Colangelo, the long-time Phoenix Suns executive and a Hall of Famer. “I was embarrassed to watch those games — I can’t be any more honest than that. It was a sad moment to see the state of basketball, as far as the U.S. was concerned.”
What bothered him most?
“The body language. The performance. The attitude.”
Note: He didn’t say anything about talent.
Body language, effort and attitude aren’t problems in the playoffs. They shouldn’t be problems in the Olympics.
Eight months after Athens, USA Basketball asked Colangelo to become its managing director. He demanded, and was given, total autonomy. He named Krzyzewski the coach. Thirty-three players — including the Hawks’ Joe Johnson — were selected to the senior national team. From that, the 12-man Olympic roster (and three alternates) will be named. Colangelo has had face-to-face meetings with each player.
“They were told, ‘When you walk through this door, check your ego. This is about we. This is about us. This is about the USA.’ We’ve talked to them as much as we can about their attitudes. [A repeat of Athens] is just flat out not going to happen — because if it does they’re gone.”
The playoffs are the best time of the year in the NBA, less because of the talent than the fact the best teams win. If the U.S. team does another faceplant in China, you wonder if momentum will increase to go back to sending college players.
Colangelo is aware of the big picture: “There has to be a goal. There has to be an objective other than just fixing and painting the house. That goal is to win a gold medal, but more important is how we do it. We want continuity.”
“We’re a team now, we’re not a selection of All-Stars,” Krzyzewski said. “We want to set a program that will make other players want to be a part of the Olympics. We have a unique opportunity to set the standard.”
Funny. That used to come naturally.
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Comments
By Najeh Davenpoop
April 20, 2008 8:12 PM | Link to this
Make the foreigners play just one international tournament by NBA rules and let’s see who wins.
As long as you make American NBA players suddenly adjust to the very different FIBA game in order to compete with international players who have been playing FIBA rules all their lives, the USA team is going to have some trouble.
And it’s not just your supposedly me-first NBA players who don’t like soft Euro-style basketball. It was the Big Fundamental himself, Tim Duncan, who after the 2004 Olympics said “FIBA sucks” and promised never to compete in a FIBA-rules tournament again.
By JSS
April 20, 2008 11:38 PM | Link to this
What the **! Try taking some shooters to bust zones for christ sakes… And if you can’t defend the perimeter (which the USA refuses to do), it does not matter if it is FIBA, YMCA, or the playground rules, you will be exposed. So guess what, wow Euro and South American coaches “pick and roll” our Americans to death. Larry Brown and Popovich were screaming for the bigs to step out and hedge the penetrator. “The Big Fundamental” never adjusted. The only person on the 2004 team who acted like he had a clue was Iverson. Who knew? The rest of the world that’s who… People are running the 1973 UCLA high post screen and roll on the Americans and they have no answer. Don’t blame the trapezoid for not recognizing the obvious.
Oh Jeff Schultz, you are STILL A NO TALENT HACK!!!