A new approach, a new roster and a new chance for Team USA to make us proud at the World Championships - By Henry Abbott
Talent. Talent will take you far in this world.
In the game of basketball, though, talent combined with cohesiveness will take you further.
That’s the formula that the USA Basketball Men’s Senior Team will be working with this summer at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where they will test a new coach, a new team and a new approach designed to restore U.S. basketball to international prominence after disappointing results in recent years.
New Philosophy
In the past, the USA roster was selected by committee. Now a full "national team" approach has been embraced in order to create a team with a coherent philosophy and roster continuity year in and year out. The players selected for this year’s team have committed to participating this summer for the World Championship, next summer for practices if they win in 2006, or for the Olympic qualifier in Venezuela if they finish second or lower in Japan. And of course, in 2008 for the Olympics.
And every player on this team has passed a face-to-face interview with Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of USA Basketball Men’s Senior Team.
"When I talked to the players," he explains, "I wanted people associated with the whole endeavor who shared a passion for representing their country on the international stage. We are all lucky to have been born in this great country. We have all been blessed in our personal lives. The players I was looking for are glad to have a chance to give back. At the same time, there is a lot of anti-American sentiment in the world at the moment. If we can represent the country with class, dignity and respect for the world basketball community, then that plays an important part in making people proud of the U.S. We’re on a mission to turn around some attitudes about us while winning some games. I heard from several of these players that they were disturbed about how our team performed in the last World Championship and Olympics. They get it. They shared my vision and passion to make America and the world proud."
Colangelo says that patriotism played a role in choosing coach Mike Krzyzewski: "He is an incredible guy, a good person and a great coach. He cares about his country. His track record in that sense—playing at the military academy, coaching there, serving in the armed forces—says a great deal."
Stiff Competition
"People think that the rest of the world suddenly got much better at basketball," says the NBA Vice President of International Communications Terry Lyons. "But it has been coming for a long time," says Lyons, noting the that the close scores in the 1976 Olympics, the bronze medal won by the USA at Seoul in 1988 and a host of other close games at all levels (including the NBA) throughout the 1990s.
"Players from all over the world have been playing at a very high level for years," says Lyons, "and they are only getting better."
"People were just intimidated by us," says Coach Krzyzewski. "We could really impose our will, the way we played, and they didn't have counters. To assume that the world was going to stand pat and not adjust was very foolish on our part. They learned how to play the game on a higher level. Look at the number of international players in the NBA right now. So, we've lost that intimidation factor. And people started using different styles of play to try to beat us, and they were smart. Doing that enhanced the game of basketball worldwide. What we need to do is counter that."
These are just some of the other teams that deserve serious consideration:
+ Argentina, led by the Chicago Bulls’ Andres Nocioni and the San Antonio Spurs’ Fabricio Oberto, won the last major international competition (the 2004 Olympics) and has to be considered a favorite.
+ Centered around the Memphis Grizzlies’ Pau Gasol, the Toronto Raptors’ Jose Calderon and promising youngster Rudy Fernandez, Spain has a coherent and dangerous squad that many consider a favorite to win a medal.
+ Lithuania is one of the world's top-ranked teams and features Bulls forward Darius Songaila and Indiana Pacers guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, who has a well-deserved reputation for excelling in international competition.
+ With a scrappy and tough all-around team, surprising Greece marched to several impressive victories in winning the intense European qualifying tournament.
+ The Italians lost a tight gold-medal game to Argentina in Athens, and while the only NBA-level talent they feature is youngster Andrea Bargnani, they have a quick-passing, Phoenix Suns-style offense that has been very successful in recent competition.
+ Serbia and Montenegro's team is in a period of transition, but the nation is historically the most dominant World Championship team, the reigning World Champion and home to eight current NBA players. The New Jersey Nets' Nenad Krstic and the Orlando Magic's Darko Milicic may compete, as well as Houston Rockets draftee Milos Vujanic.
+ Puerto Rico, who beat the U.S. team in Athens, is led by feisty Orlando Magic point guard Carlos Arroyo and deadeye sharpshooter Elias Ayuso.
+ Although they suffered a stinging defeat in last year’s European Championships, France has a bevy of young talent—including the Spurs' Tony Parker, the Phoenix Suns' Boris Diaw and the Golden State Warriors' Mickael Pietrus—and is looking to make a statement.
+ Germany has showed surprisingly well in recent international competition behind the dominant play of the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki.
+ The Brazilian basketball program continues to improve behind young talents like the Phoenix Suns' Leandro Barbosa and the Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao.
+ By now the world knows all about Houston Rockets' center Yao Ming, but Chinese basketball has improved by leaps and bounds, led by smart all-around guard Liu Wei.
+ With veteran point guard Shane Heal and 2005's top NBA Draft pick Andrew Bogut, Australia has the pieces to be very competitive.
+ New Zealand pulls an upset in practically every tournament, usually behind the shooting of San Antonio Spurs forward Sean Marks and scrappy guard Mark Dickel.
+ As the world learned in the 2002 World Cup, never discount the host country: Japan would love to validate their much-improved basketball program—led by D-League guard Yuta Tabuse—and give the home fans something to cheer for.
Winner Takes All
With the improved quality of basketball around the globe, the World Championships have been expanded to accommodate 24 teams, and the tournament has taken on a uniquely grueling structure:
+ Initially, every team will play "round-robin" games within a group of six. The top four teams from every group qualify for what is essentially an elimination tournament from that point on. That means that in the second phase of the tournament, the gloves are truly off. Half of the remaining 16 teams will be sent home without ceremony.
+ The final eight teams will duke it out in a tournament with consolation games to sort out the lower seeds. A single loss after the preliminary round will eliminate any possibility of the World Championship.
+ Consider the schedule: The U.S. will play its first game on the afternoon of August 19 against a tough Puerto Rican team. That begins a stint of five games in six days that will send a third of the tournament's 24 teams home. And that’s the easy part.
+ After one or two days off, the team will play a must-win game—quite possibly against one of the top contenders listed above.
+ From there the winning team will need three straight wins (in four days) against the cream of the crop to secure gold.
+ A single loss after the first round will eliminate any possibility of the World Championship. And a first place finish is the one true prize of the competition, because the winner automatically qualifies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics—avoiding a similar labyrinth of qualifying games the following summer.
The whole tournament will be completed by the evening of September 2—making it nine games in 15 days. Fatigue will be a factor, so a deep bench will be essential.
Balance
"Good teams," says Colangelo "have components that are designed to work together. They have role players, they have distributors, they have scorers. You do not win with stars at every position. We wanted to assemble a group that would win. So we identified categories of players that we needed and every player fits into a category."
Who will play for Team USA? Thanks to the team’s new philosophy of continuity, a large number of players have been invited. Not all will make the active roster, but all will learn the system and be available in the event they are needed at some point in the next three summers.
In early July, roughly 23 players will assemble in Las Vegas with Coach Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff to begin the process of learning how to play together with maximum efficacy. For the World Championships, 12 will be picked from the following list:
Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Kobe Bryant, Kirk Hinrich, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Adam Morrison, Lamar Odom, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, J.J. Redick, Luke Ridnour, Amaré Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade.
In addition, Chauncey Billups and Michael Redd are part of the team for the long term and will practice with the team, but they have been granted permission to attend to family matters this summer in lieu of playing in Japan. Odom (personal), Pierce (surgery) and Redick (rehabbing back) all will miss the training camp. Greg Oden has been invited to participate, but will not be able to play because of injury, however, he will still attend camp in Las Vegas.
It's a fantastic roster, with great defenders (Marion, Bryant, Bowen, Battier, Hinrich), shooters (Redd, Redick, Morrison), multi-faceted scorers (Bryant, Wade, James, Anthony, Pierce, Johnson, Odom), ball-handlers/passers (James, Paul, Billups, Arenas, Ridnour, Hinrich) and big men who can rebound, pass and score (Brand, Bosh, Marion, Howard, Miller).
Continuity
The players' three year commitments give the U.S. team something its opponents have long enjoyed: roster continuity. There is a great likelihood that some of the younger players on the team—like Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison—will be invited to be part of the program for many years to come.
Some players are invited to Las Vegas this summer just to soak up the team’s "corporate culture." Initially, up to 24 players are expected to report, and the roster will be trimmed to about 15 by the end of July. Those 15 players will then play in some tune-up games in China and Korea. For the World Championship, tournament rules cap the roster at 12 players—so an additional three will be part of the traveling squad and ready to go, but on the sidelines.
Despite the deliberate addition of some role players, coach Krzyzewski will still face the inherent conundrum of having too much star power. That will force some difficult decisions to be made in terms of who to leave off the active roster, and who to play. For instance, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant all play similar positions, demand time with the ball and are among the world's top five players. Would that be effective? And if not—which one would you bench? Can you really play them all together at the same time?
Lyons doesn't know the answer to that question, but he isn't fretting over it: "I can't wait. Whatever happens, it's going to be a great show."
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