A Look Back at Beijing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
Since I am writing about Team USA I would be un-American if I did not begin by wishing our great country a Happy Birthday! Everyone be safe and enjoy your holiday. A big thank you to those who have fought for our freedoms. A friend of mine recently made me realize how many opportunities there are for Americans to create their own work, especially in today’s technology age. Thank you to everyone who has made possible the great dreams that we have.

PERSONNEL NEWS
As soon as I post my own update of personnel yesterday, Lamar Odom announces that he is not going to be able to participate in London. In addition, it was reported today that Anthony Davis will, in fact, report to Team USA’s training camp and participate after his ankle is healed. This makes fifteen players that will be vying for twelve roster spots. More on this Friday.

A LOOK BACK AT BEIJING
The first decade of international competition for Team USA in the new century was subpar, to say the least. Prior to the 2004 Athens Olympics, USA won three consecutive golds and four of the previous five (The lone non-gold year was in 1988, the last year USA sent all amateurs.) But it was obvious that many international opponents were catching up in a sport that the USA owned throughout the sport’s century of existence.

Things hit rock bottom for USA Basketball in 2002 when it finished a pathetic sixth in the FIBA World Championships. To make matters worse the world championships were held on its own soil, in Indianapolis. To add insult to injury a young Team USA brought home just a bronze from the Athens Olympics.

Things began to change when Jerry Colangelo was hired as the Managing Director of the USA Basketball National Team in 2005. And the most important personnel move did not involve making sure LeBron or Kobe or Dwayne Wade participated on the team. It was hiring Mike Krzyzewski as head coach. Coach K was hired to implement a program where the players would participate for three years, with the ultimate goal of bringing home gold from Beijing.

It is really a great story. A story of dealing with adversity. No longer was Team USA the bully that could throw the ball out and beat any France, Germany, or Puerto Rico. USA Basketball responded to their failure.

The 2008 team was comprised of a tremendous mix of veterans (Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd) and youth (LeBron, Carmelo, Dwight Howard), among others. And they had the opportunity to play together for three years. And the coaching staff had the opportunity to spend three years to learn the international game, a game uniquely different than the college game that Krzyzewski and Assistant Jim Boeheim know and the NBA from which Nate McMillan and Mike D’Antoni know.

The buy-in from these so-called spoiled, coddled superstars was off the charts. Ask Krzyzewski if he thinks they’re not professional. It all resulted in dominating performances from Team USA. They won all eight games in Beijing by double digits. They were somewhat challenged in the gold medal game by Spain but was able to pull away for a 118-107 victory.

This was not 1992 “Dream Team” dominating. But it was “Redeem Team” dominating. This team earned their name and the shoe fit. They redeemed USA’s claim as the greatest basketball country in the world.

And they did it the American way: as a team. Six different players led the team in scoring over eight Olympic games. All twelve players played in each game. Five players averaged in double figures while eight averaged at least eight points per game. The up-tempo, pressure-defensive system that Krzyzewski and his staff implemented was just what USA needed to “redeem” themselves.

There are two moments from Beijing that stick out in my memory. Both occurred after the gold medal victory. The first was of Krzyzewski. Keep in mind that the coaches in the Olympics do not receive medals during the medal presentations. Only the athletes. Each player gave Coach K his medal to wear. This is a man that is a graduate of West Point. He coached at West Point. He loves his country more than basketball. And to have his team win a gold medal under his tutelage had to have been at the top of his greatest basketball moments.

The other was of Doug Collins. Collins was serving as color analyst for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. Collins has certainly contributed a lot to the game as a head coach in the NBA and as a broadcaster. But his most famous basketball moment was not a good one. He was on the floor when the officials in the 1972 Munich games took victory away from Team USA not once, but twice, in the most controversial end to probably any basketball game. It was the USA’s first basketball loss in international competition. And it was stolen. Collins’ son, Chris, was part of Krzyzewski’s scouting staff for the Olympics. I’m sure Collins still has a bitter taste of the incident in ’72 but he was sure proud of Team USA in 2008.

TOMORROW: Some thoughts from The Gold Standard: Building a World Class Team, by Mike Krzyzewski