| On the Eve of the Basketball World Championships |
By Jason Behr
August 27, 2010
Does anyone remember that moment from the movie Hoosiers when they had the pep
rally before their opening game? When the team was announced, chants from the
stands started erupting of "We want Jimmy! We want Jimmy!" By that, they were
referring to local star Jimmy Chitwood who was not playing ball due to "personal"
reasons.
Gene Hackman's classic response to that was: "I would hope you would support who
we are, not who we are not". That's the scenario Coach Mike Krzyzewski is
encountering this summer for the upcoming Basketball World Championships.
Team USA begins play in the FIBA Championships in Turkey on August 28 in group
play where they will play 5 games in 6 days. While the scheduling make-up might not
be a concern, it's the team make-up that could be of concern. Coach K has been
asked to assemble this team over the last month or so, and it's not the team he was
expecting….or the team our country was expecting.
As you may have read during the NBA All-Star break, Team USA was given
commitments by high profile guys like LeBron, Kobe, D Wade, Dwight Howard, etc.
Basically it was expected that the core of the gold medal 2008 Olympic Team would be
playing on the 2010 World Championship Team. But then a mass exodus erupted
quicker than yelling "fire" in a crowded Times Square theater. Bowing out were
LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Howard, etc. In fact, after Deron Williams and Chris Paul, the
entire 12-man roster of the '08 Olympic Team had jumped ship.
Coach K has had to react to that and assemble the secondary squad to compete for
the World Championships with Kevin Durant being the focal point. The squad was to
have a good mix of young talented guards and young up-coming big men with a dash of
experienced veterans. But it was the big men who started disappearing. In almost
snake-bitten fashion, gone were David Lee, Robin and Brook Lopez, all due to injury.
Plus Amare Stoudemire had to withdraw because his new meal-ticket, New York
Knicks, couldn’t get "insurance" for him to play over seas.
Coach K, now entering the depths of C-Team status, brought in one additional big
man, Kevin Love, to compliment the existing front line of Chandler and Odom. Those
two actually have some international experience. But after Chauncey Billups, Team
USA is left with 9 others without any international experience. Limited on experience
and limited on up-front size, Team USA does bring a depth of talented young guards to
the table. The key for Coach K is going to be to use those guards on a rotating basis to
pressure and wear down their opponents. Also, pressure can lead to turnovers which
can lead to easy transition baskets. If there's one thing Team USA is top-heavy on is
wing players and they're best off using that to their advantage. While there may be low
output from the low-post, hopefully they're able to make up for that with plenty of
transition baskets….aka, highlight reel dunks for SportsCenter.
August 27, 2010
Does anyone remember that moment from the movie Hoosiers when they had the pep
rally before their opening game? When the team was announced, chants from the
stands started erupting of "We want Jimmy! We want Jimmy!" By that, they were
referring to local star Jimmy Chitwood who was not playing ball due to "personal"
reasons.
Gene Hackman's classic response to that was: "I would hope you would support who
we are, not who we are not". That's the scenario Coach Mike Krzyzewski is
encountering this summer for the upcoming Basketball World Championships.
Team USA begins play in the FIBA Championships in Turkey on August 28 in group
play where they will play 5 games in 6 days. While the scheduling make-up might not
be a concern, it's the team make-up that could be of concern. Coach K has been
asked to assemble this team over the last month or so, and it's not the team he was
expecting….or the team our country was expecting.
As you may have read during the NBA All-Star break, Team USA was given
commitments by high profile guys like LeBron, Kobe, D Wade, Dwight Howard, etc.
Basically it was expected that the core of the gold medal 2008 Olympic Team would be
playing on the 2010 World Championship Team. But then a mass exodus erupted
quicker than yelling "fire" in a crowded Times Square theater. Bowing out were
LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Howard, etc. In fact, after Deron Williams and Chris Paul, the
entire 12-man roster of the '08 Olympic Team had jumped ship.
Coach K has had to react to that and assemble the secondary squad to compete for
the World Championships with Kevin Durant being the focal point. The squad was to
have a good mix of young talented guards and young up-coming big men with a dash of
experienced veterans. But it was the big men who started disappearing. In almost
snake-bitten fashion, gone were David Lee, Robin and Brook Lopez, all due to injury.
Plus Amare Stoudemire had to withdraw because his new meal-ticket, New York
Knicks, couldn’t get "insurance" for him to play over seas.
Coach K, now entering the depths of C-Team status, brought in one additional big
man, Kevin Love, to compliment the existing front line of Chandler and Odom. Those
two actually have some international experience. But after Chauncey Billups, Team
USA is left with 9 others without any international experience. Limited on experience
and limited on up-front size, Team USA does bring a depth of talented young guards to
the table. The key for Coach K is going to be to use those guards on a rotating basis to
pressure and wear down their opponents. Also, pressure can lead to turnovers which
can lead to easy transition baskets. If there's one thing Team USA is top-heavy on is
wing players and they're best off using that to their advantage. While there may be low
output from the low-post, hopefully they're able to make up for that with plenty of
transition baskets….aka, highlight reel dunks for SportsCenter.
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