Get Ready for 2008

The ignorance of USA Basketball continues to baffle me. The Charlotte Observer sat down with bronze medal winning coach Mike Krzyzewski last week after he returned to the motherland.

The 1st question coach K was asked really shows how much research he put in to this tournament:

Q. You mentioned how narrow the margin is and how great the international teams are. Did you really appreciate that before this?

A: It’s even better… Take the game against Greece. (Theodoros) Papaloukas, No. 4 for them, is the MVP of Europe. I’d never heard of him before. He plays with (former Duke star) Trajan (Langdon). Trajan said they have a really great guard on their team. He didn’t say he was 6-7, 28 years old and makes probably five or six million dollars a year and is an amazing leader.

Hold on a second here. You are the head coach of the most talked about basketball country in the world. You are playing in a tournament to avenge your losses at the Olympics and World Basketball Championships and you don’t know who the best players are on the other team? You didn’t know how tall he was? Or that he was the best player in one of the better leagues outside the NBA? Did Trajan’s phone card run out? Forget that, why should Trajan have to tell you anyways? Did you fly to Asia to meet the American troops or did you go to win a basketball tournament?

The Americans were far more concerned with solidifying their own core than scouting the opposition. A telling sign that they still don’t get it. The rest of the world has caught up. Have we established that yet? ‘Cause USA Basketball obviously isn’t of aware of it. Like anyone, they will learn from their mistakes.

Mind you, I am a fan of their selection process this year and realize they had a three year plan going in to the FIBA Championships. They are building a “team” as opposed to the squads of the past that were built on stars who can get by on talent alone. If the right players are selected — there needs to be some subtractions from this year’s group in my eyes — that talent will be what puts them over the top in Beijing in 2008.

There are people out there that think this gathering of selected players for weeks at a time isn’t enough. Chuck Klosterman wrote an interesting piece for ESPN where he describes the only remedy is players who are solely devoted to the national team all year round. I disagree. The rest of the world doesn’t need to see each other every day to win these tournaments. They all have players who play in leagues all over the world and then gather to form their national teams in the summer. The first difference between the US and international teams is the other squads are mostly made up of the same players from tournament to tournament. In turn, camaraderie and chemistry are developed that the Americans couldn’t dream of. As we see, Jerry Colangelo and friends have caught on to this as exhibited by the selection process. The second difference is that these teams take the Worlds and Olympics extremely seriously. Let’s face it, the US and their fans don’t give a flying crap about these international tournaments, but that attitude is starting to change. Don’t forget that Americans are extremely proud and hate to lose.

I seriously can’t wait for basketball in Beijing. Well, ball and the sight of gynormous Greek Sofoklis Schortsanitis trying to balance on the Great Wall. Please take a field trip there my Greek friends.

Q&A: Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski [The Charlotte Observer]
A New Game Plan For Team USA [ESPN Page 2]

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By Tas Melas at 6:23 pm on 09.13.2006 — Tags: Coaches, International

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7 Responses to “Get Ready for 2008”

  1. Lucas at 6:33 pm on 09.13.2006

    Coach Mike was too busy on the phone with Redick trying to get the numbers of a bunch of sexy Duke ladies.

    And by ‘ladies,’ I mean dudes.

  2. Matt at 8:01 pm on 09.13.2006

    “You are the head coach of the most talked about basketball country in the world…..”

    That whole paragraph was a great use of hubie-speak

  3. J.E. Skeets at 8:57 pm on 09.13.2006

    Good call. Is there a Hubie textilizer yet?

  4. Slim at 11:45 pm on 09.13.2006

    C’mon now, why the Dukie hate? Actually, I know the answer to that, but I can’t help it.

    I know team USA has scouts. In fact, one of them is former Rockets and Lakers coach Rudy T. Nonetheless that really was dumb for Coach K to say. I know they have scouts that do that stuff for him, plus with Jim Beohiem and Mike D’Antoni on his bench with him, you really think that he didn’t have a scouting report? I don’t believe that for a second. In all reality, with Jim B (a zone D specialist) and Mike D (an offensive guru) the team should have played WAY better. I don’t think we ever actually played zone (K LOVES man to man) and our offense looked like all the Duke sets, with the exception that instead of a spot up shot, they drive. I think K blew everything off and just said that “I’m going to do this my way beacue it works here” and learned that it really didn’t. I hate saying that because I’m a huge Duke fan, and I love K, but really, you don’t think they had a scouting report? You don’t think a zone specialist and a o-guru wanted to tweak somethings? I find that hard to belive.

  5. ravi at 11:53 am on 09.14.2006

    Atleast he now knows the name of that player. Thats a start.
    There needs to be some incentive for players to perform well here (All this Patriotic fervor etc doesnt work too much). Plus this team needed a few additions/subtractions. Once you have the Mamba, you dont need Wade. You gotta have someone like Bowen or Iggy who can play some D all the time. And you really need a good shooter. Redd was sorely missed. This team was otherwise well-assembled. Coach K is excellent at maximizing strengths of players in the long-term.

  6. Jack at 9:41 pm on 09.14.2006

    I think it was MOSTLY Coach K’s fault, not the players’. His strict adherence to the sacred man-to-man was what doomed them, and his offense that stemmed directly from that was the dagger in the heart. When your defense isn’t working, (and especially if the offense is a direct dependent on that defense) CHANGE IT. They should have at least experimented during training camp with different types and different strategies, rather than just hoping that the competition would be blown away by their immense athleticism. I’ll give it to them: most of the time, this was the case. But then you get to the really good teams (i.e. Italy and Greece) and they struggle. They managed to pull out the win with Italy, but weren’t so lucky with Greece. Tough break, Coach K. I can’t help but think that had D’Antoni been head coach, USA would have fared better, due to his superior knowledge of the international game (he both played and coached internationally) and his better overall concept of team-basketball (check out the Phoenix Suns). But overall, I believe it was Coach K’s stubbornness to not investigate and experiment with other types of play that cost them the medal.

    But yes, some tweaks need to be made to the roster. Kobe will be available, as well as many more who missed out this last time. My updated roster would be:
    PG: Chris Paul, Chauncy Billups, Dwyane Wade
    SG: Kobe Bryant, Michael Redd, Joe Johnson
    SF: LeBron James, Shawn Marion, Carmelo Anthony
    PF/C: Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, Elton Brand.

    Yes, Gilbert Arenas and Chris Bosh would complain at being left off, but they don’t contribute to the team like these other guys. I might actually trade Bosh for Dwyane Wade, as this team has plenty of slashers and a spare big man never goes amiss. But this roster added some better shooting (Redd), more experience (Bryant, Billups, and Marion) and kept most of the same players to keep the existing chemistry.

    Also, there are some absolutely SICK line-ups that could be made here…ownage.

  7. The District Celtic at 6:13 am on 02.15.2007

    love for JJ at the two but no Paul Pierce…and Michael Redd, too?? That hurts…

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