Posts Tagged ‘Jerry Colangelo’

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Desperate Lithuania Up Next For U.S.

August 3, 2012  ·  8:07PM

LONDON – Unlike many of the other teams in this competition, certain members of the Lithuanian contingent here at the Olympics have tangible knowledge of what it feels like to take a bite out of the machine that is the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team.

Before the U.S. program was back to its current and dominant state, basketball-mad Lithuania shocked the basketball world with a during the 2004 Olympics, a loss the U.S. made up for in the bronze medal game.

Veteran Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius led the charge in that 2004 upset and is still on the roster, along with fellow former NBA player Darius Songaila. But times have changed a bit since then for both sides.

The U.S. is back to its gold medal ways, courtesy of the complete program makeover engineered by USA Basketball chairman and managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski. The U.S. is chasing a second straight gold medal and has won their three games here by a jaw-dropping average of 52.3 points, a figure boosted significantly by Thursday night’s record-setting 83-point drubbing of Nigeria.

Lithuania is still one of the world’s most formidable outfits, the mere mention of the three-time Olympic bronze medalists prompts an immediate demeanor shift for Krzyzewski. But they are not among the favorites in this tournament, relying as much or more on younger stars like Linas Kleiza and prized Toronto Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas to carry the team than they do some of their stars from previous teams.

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Posted in London 2012 / Comments (17) /

Age-Limit Rule An Issue for 2016?

July 27, 2012  ·  11:51AM

LONDON – If the movement that many believe to be afoot has any legs, Anthony Davis might be the only member of the current U.S. Men’s Senior National Team automatically eligible to participate in the 2016 Olympics.

There are rumblings that this might be the last Olympics for all NBA players if an 23-under age-limit rule goes into effect before the next Summer Games are held in Rio de Janeiro.

NBA Commissioner David Stern insists that there has been no “definitive” stance on the issue yet, but USA Basketball chairman and managing director Jerry Colangelo admitted Friday morning that he “senses there’s a change in the air, and when that takes place remains to be seen.”

Colangelo said that there have been discussions about the “23-under” rule, which FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has implemented for the men in this summer’s Games, with the caveat that the each team can have three players over the age of 23. And there are plenty of discussions to come regarding FIBA and the rules that will impact Olympic basketball for years to come.

“If there is a change, then we’ll address the change and do what needs to be done,” Colangelo said. “We have a wealth of talent to select from at all ages now. Our junior teams are all gold medalists and they want to play for the senior team. So we’ll be able to pull from a lot of players.”

As for the age-limit rule, Colangelo has an appreciation for both sides of the argument having spent four decades at the forefront of the game in the NBA and beyond.

“There are pluses and minuses and pros and cons, a lot to be negotiated, a lot of parties to get to the table to agree and who knows how long that will take,” he said. “I just have to keep going forward and do whatever I have to do. Our job, my job and whoever follows me, and that’s to be as competitive as you can within the parameters you have to work with. And you can do that with great infrastructure. And we do. That’s the point. We have built the infrastructure and we should be able to handle any changes that come our way.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (47) /

Report: Torn Meniscus Knocks Clippers’ All-Star Blake Griffin Out Of Olympics

July 13, 2012  ·  12:46AM

LAS VEGAS – Not all the news from USA Basketball’s blowout win over the Dominican Republic in their exhibition opener Thursday night at UNLV was good news.

As the U.S. players made their way from the locker room after the game, word spread Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin, who went home earlier in the day with a sore left knee, was diagnosed with a torn left meniscus and will require surgery early next week, per The Los Angeles Times. He is expected to miss eight weeks, costing him his spot on the Olympic team and putting a huge scare into the Clippers, who signed him to a five-year extension worth $95 million, just two days ago.

No one took the news harder than Griffin’s All-Star teammate Chris Paul, who was informed of the news as he walked up to the assembled media awaiting the team as they exited the locker room.

“Wow. That’s a tough one. It’s a huge blow,” Paul said. “One of the things I was looking most forward to in this whole Olympic experience was being with him, so we both could grow a little bit as players and things like that. But his health comes before anything, so I’m going to go call him and check on him.”

Griffin joins a long list of U.S. stars who will miss the games due to injury, a group that already included Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups and LaMarcus Aldridge.

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (20) /

USA Basketball: Lights, Camera, Action!

July 12, 2012  ·  10:40AM

LAS VEGAS – A normal meeting between a Mike Krzyzewski-coached team and a John Calipari-coached team includes both sides boasting a bevy of high school All-American types.

The Nov. 13 Duke-Kentucky clash will include many of college basketball’s best and brightest prospects.

But tonight’s exhibition matchup at UNLV between the U.S. Olympic team, coached by Krzyzewski, and the Calipari-coached Dominican Republic team (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) will be a decidedly one-sided affair in favor of Krzyzewski’s crew.

The U.S. boasts 10 gold medalists and 12 of the NBA’s biggest and brightest stars. The Dominican team has just two NBA players on the roster, Hawks All-Star center Al Horford and Kings swingman Francisco Garcia.

But Krzyzewski insists that logistics have prevented his team from getting the smooth start to the training camp process that they need to be ready for the start of the Olympic competition in London in just two weeks.

Instead of showing up here last week with the 12-man roster already set, the final team wasn’t settled upon until after the second day of practice. Injuries to superstars like Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh put several new faces in the mix for roster spots for London.

A delayed NBA season coupled with an earlier than usual start (July 27, as opposed to Aug. 8) to the Olympics and the machinations of free agency forced a staggered start to this process as well.

“It’s a disjointed start because we had to use the first couple of days for selection, free agency and then injury. So the early start of the Olympics puts us in that window of the NBA free agency,” Krzyzewski said. “In ’08 our practices started the 20th. We never had to deal with that and we didn’t have an injury at one position and free agency at the same position. So that has an impact. It’s a negative impact that we have to overcome.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (13) /

Hang Time Podcast (Episode 86) With Warren LeGarie and Jerry Colangelo

July 11, 2012  ·  8:39PM

LAS VEGAS – For at least a few more days, this sweltering city will serve as the center of the basketball universe, with a small satellite in Orlando orbiting the action here.

With USA Basketball training camp in full swing at UNLV, complete with Thursday night’s exhibition opener against the Dominican Republic, and 24 NBA teams converging upon the Las Vegas Strip for Summer League action that kicks off Friday, there are no basketball needs that can’t be satisfied here.

Two of basketball’s biggest power brokers, Summer League co-owner Warren LeGarie and USA Basketball chairman and managing director Jerry Colangelo, the two men most responsible for all of the attention focused here right now, joined us on Episode 86 of the Hang Time Podcast to talk Summer League, USA Basketball, the upcoming London Olympic Games and more.

When we say “more” we’re talking Day 200 of the Dwight Howard watch (don’t get excited, he still hasn’t been traded), the open of the free agent signing period and the day The Deron Williams Brooklyn Experience officially began and the day two-time MVP and Phoenix Suns icon Steve Nash joined the dark side in Los Angeles.

Check out all that and more on Episode 86 of the Hang Time Podcast featuring Las Vegas Summer League czar Warren LeGarie and USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo (who actually joined us from courtside at the Olympic team’s Wednesday morning workout, as you’ll hear in the background).

LISTEN HERE:


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Posted in Free Agency 2012, London 2012, Podcast, USA Basketball / Comment (1) /

USA Basketball: A New Look For LeBron

July 11, 2012  ·  11:24AM

LAS VEGAS – LeBron James sat on the edge of his chair, his arms crossed and a smile on his face as the questions came one after the other.

He’s still basking in that championship glow, the one that had escaped him for years, the one he owns now just weeks removed from his MVP performance in the Miami Heat’s triumph in The Finals.

That doesn’t mean he’s relaxing right now, though. After leading the Heat to the NBA’s ultimate prize, the new-look LeBron has some new responsibilities as the alpha male for the U.S. Olympic team as they prepare for London.

This is his third time preparing for the Olympics but his first time doing it without any loose ends lingering from the NBA season. This is an older, wiser and more focused James than we’ve seen in the past. And even if James insists that what he’s accomplished in the past eight months — a third MVP trophy, the first Finals MVP and Larry O’Brien trophy — change nothing, his Olympic teammates with championship experience of their own know better.

“He’s already an incredible player,” Tyson Chandler said. “He’s going to be a different player now.”

That’s great news for the U.S. and has to be a head-scratcher for the teams that await in London, many of whom are still rubbing the bruises they got from James and the gold medal-winning U.S. team in Beijing four years ago.

James knows this could very well be his last Olympics, what with a new wave of talented players rising up the ranks and the possibility of new rules that may keep veteran players on the sidelines. So he’s conscious of this team and its place in history. He also knows how important it is to lead them into the competition the way the best player in the world is supposed to.

“This is all about pride,” James said of the tone being set during training camp and the lead up to London. “It’s all about pride and representing this country the right way. And I’m happy to be a part of it.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (42) /

USA Basketball: No Growing Pains

July 10, 2012  ·  7:40PM

LAS VEGAS – Anyone wondering where the players and coaches involved in the USA Basketball program get their confidence from need look no further than to Jerry Colangelo.

The longtime NBA executive and USA Basketball’s chairman and managing director exudes the utmost confidence in the players that have helped build the national program, from the high schoolers to the global superstars on display here at training camp this week, back into the world’s best.

When Colangelo took over in 2005 there was major work to be done. Eight years later there are gold medal teams at every level and Colangelo’s grand plan is in full swing, with no significant growing pains in sight.

Members of the Olympic team worked out Tuesday morning at UNLV while members of the gold medal winning Under-17 Team, which includes the nation’s top rising senior Jabari Parker, watching from the other side of the court. Colangelo made it clear that the players that comprise both teams represent the recent past, present and future of USA Basketball, which is exactly the way it was planned.

And with the 20-year anniversary of the original Dream Team as a backdrop, Colangelo couldn’t ask for a better platform than the competition in London to showcase the best of the very best in what is a much different global basketball climate than the U.S. was dealing with in the aftermath of the Dream Team’s gold medal run.

“When I came along, I wasn’t happy about how people looked at us as Americans, as athletes and basketball people,” Colangelo said. “And I was determined that we were going to change that. How do you fix it? You show respect to the rest of the world’s basketball community and then you go about working to get your respect back. I knew if we do it together, it would be a fantastic experience. Well, [the players] bought in. And now if you look at our programs, the junior teams … 16, 17, 18 and 19 … they are all full, they are all loaded, they are all gold medalists. They want to play, they want to represent their country. That’s what we set out to do. And in eight years, our program is as strong as it could be right now. And I’m pleased with that.”

That’s also why Colangelo has no problem with the team heading to London playing with gold-medal-or-bust expectations hanging over them. After the bronze medal finish in 2004 and the gold medal work of the “Redeem Team” in Beijing in 2008, he demands this current embrace being the best.

“In 2008 we were climbing the hill,” he said. “Now we’re on top of the hill. We have to defend the hill. I’d rather be on top of the hill defending it rather than climbing it every time.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (3) /

USA Basketball: Thunder Trio Eager For Another Shot To Win It All … In London

July 10, 2012  ·  10:56AM

LAS VEGAS – You’d think Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden would be sick of seeing each other by now.

The Oklahoma City Thunder trio have been going basically non-stop since the NBA season opened, grinding away through every milestone together just as they have throughout their NBA careers.

Nearly every prominent professional first, both good and bad, has come together. Their first taste of playoff success, their first trip to the Western Conference finals, their first appearance in The Finals and the fallout that comes with falling short on that grand stage.

That’s why their time on the U.S. Olympic team, and even their time here at USA Basketball training camp, isn’t something they’ll take for granted. While it can’t completely wipe away the sting of losing to the Heat in The Finals the way they did, Westbrook said, it’s at least a start on the road to redemption for the Thunder’s young core.

“Being here and having the opportunity to win a gold medal is one way to make my summer feel halfway decent,” he said. “But you always want to win a championship when you have the opportunity staring you in the face. And it’s great we get to be together all summer. We had a break from each other, for about two days. That was it. I’m used to seeing Kevin every summer and now James. So that’s great.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (46) /

USA Basketball: Summer Time Is ‘Melo Time

July 9, 2012  ·  9:13AM





LAS VEGAS – The noticeable ease that Carmelo Anthony operates with when he has those three letters (U-S-A) across his chest is unmistakable.

In this environment, when he can blend in with an array of other stars, when the pressure to be the alpha male is absent from the equation, when he’s not obligated to carry the heaviest load — as he has in both of his NBA stops in Denver and New York — there is clearly a different air about Anthony.

And it’s not that he minds carrying the burden for his franchise, its fans and an entire city. He’s been doing that seemingly forever, since his time at Syracuse.

But USA Basketball has been a haven for Anthony the past nine years. His connection to the current program predates the reign of both USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski as stewards of the program.

Anthony has played on 10 USA Basketball teams (some 59 games). Only LeBron James has been with the program as long, as they are both playing on their third straight Olympic team.

And while James is clearly this team’s best player, Kobe Bryant its unquestioned leader and Kevin Durant perhaps its most intriguing talent, you could make the argument that Anthony will be the this team’s most important player in London. This may be especially true given a lack of experienced frontcourt depth and Anthony’s ability to play power forward in international competition.

“On this team he does what he does best, just finish plays,” Bryant said. “We don’t ask him to be something he’s not. He goes out there and finishes plays and shoots when he’s open and if he’s not he passes it. That’s why he always kicks serious butt when he’s here.”

Anthony has always been one of the NBA’s elite scorers. He’s also been one of the most nit-picked superstars of his generation, as well. His top five Draft classmates — James, Darko Milicic, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh —  all own or will own NBA Championship rings. The Heat won’t officially get theirs until opening night of the 2012-13 season.

Even with all of the accolades he’s piled up throughout his NBA career, he’s a five-time All-Star and All-NBA performer, Anthony gets more headlines for his deficiencies than he does for anything else.

“I don’t know why he takes a beating about his game at any time,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s one of the top players in the world. Carmelo, in international play, can play three different positions. On our team he’s not married to one position. So any time down the floor he can be in different spots. And I think a really good player likes that. Defensively, the physicality of the game is something Carmelo likes, he’s a guy who enjoys contact and he doesn’t back down from it. He’s able to play through it and use it. Carmelo is one of the better international players, he’s one the best [NBA] players, but it doesn’t always translate internationally … as good a player as he in the NBA, internationally he’s just a sensational player.”

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (131) /

USA Basketball: Nothing But Gold

July 8, 2012  ·  8:48AM

LAS VEGAS – Chris Paul‘s gold medal from Beijing will be making the rounds during training camp and the run-up to London for the Olympics.

It’s a calculated move designed to motivate Paul more than anyone else. Since 10 of the 12 players on the roster already own gold medals of their own, from either Beijing or the 2010 World Championship in Turkey, there isn’t much need for any contrived motivational ploys from Paul or anyone else.

When asked how Olympic gold would compare to winning a NBA title, Paul was quick to remind us all that he has no basis for making such a comparison.

“I have mine to take on the trip with me just to remember it by,” Paul said. “There’s a lot of guys that can say they won a NBA championship but there are very few guys who can say they’ve ever won a gold medal.”

Paul wisely changed lanes when one reporter suggested he declare the U.S unbeatable in London, but he and all of the other players on the roster made it clear that this is a gold medal mission in every sense.

“You don’t go into this process thinking about anything else,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

LEADER OF THE PACK

While LeBron James and Kevin Durant come into this process as the two most decorated players on the roster, based on their most recent performances during the NBA season, Kobe Bryant remains this team’s elder statesman and clear leader in so many ways.

After the formal news conference announcing the team, the players retreated to an adjacent ballroom where they were seated at 12 different tables and interviewed by hundreds of reporters.

Bryant’s time in that setting was shorter than anyone else’s, he politely answered questions and then headed for the door. As he stood up, Russell Westbrook, whose station as next to Bryant’s, looked over and playfully asked why the Los Angeles Lakers star was allowed to exit before anyone else.

“You get that with 17 years in the game,”  a smiling Bryant said as he cut through the door on his way out.

“I guess he is the OG on this team,” Westbrook mused. “You gotta respect that.”

With so many experienced players on the roster, Bryant probably won’t have to conduct daily lessons on the dos and don’ts of preparation for the Olympics.

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Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (41) /

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