LeBron James: "We Have to Be a No Excuse Team"
The
first episode of "Road to Redemption" detailed Team USA's history in FIBA competition since NBA players began participating in 1992: Team USA won Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000 plus a FIBA World Championship in 1994 (Team USA won a bronze medal in the FIBA World Championship in 1998 when college and CBA players replaced NBA players due to the NBA lockout). Since 2000, though, Team USA has experienced a series of failures: a sixth place finish in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
The current squad--assembled by Managing Director Jerry Colangelo and coached by Mike Krzyzewski--consists of players who made a three year commitment to turn the program around. The initial result--a 10-0 sweep to the gold medal in the FIBA Americas tournament in 2007--was good but that was just a warmup to the main event: the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Two key additions to the team are Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, the new starting backcourt. Kidd has an undefeated record in FIBA play, including winning a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, while Bryant--who called himself the "Doberman" after
shutting down Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, a longtime Team USA nemesis--has become the team's defensive stopper, something that no one on recent Team USA rosters was willing and/or able to do.
Parts two and three of "Road to Redemption" look at Team USA's bonding process on and off the court during the month leading up to the Olympics. Kidd went on a golf outing with young point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams. As they rode in golf carts, Kidd told them, "Whatever I can do to pass on from who I've learned from--Stockton, Magic and Gary (Payton)--that is my duty, to share with you guys. You guys are too talented and I want you guys to be successful." The three point guards joked around as they staged an impromptu closest to the pin contest, with the losers having to do 25 pushups. "Or we can do your age--we can do 50," quipped Williams to Kidd. Kidd, playing in flip flops, put two balls on the green, but Williams landed the closest shot to the pin, so Kidd and Paul had to do the pushups. "J, we'll give you five off--you get a senior discount," Williams said.
"I think golf is 10 times harder than basketball--50 times," Williams added afterwards.
"I just showed that if you don't practice you will be trash," Paul added with a rueful laugh.
Coach Krzyzewski gave each player a notebook that has a picture of the gold medal on the first page. During one practice he gathered all of the players around to watch a video of Marvin Gaye's
classic rendition of the national anthem prior to the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, telling the team, "That is going to be our song."
"I believe in visualization," Coach Krzyzewski explained later. "Let's put a vision in your mind about being on that gold medal stand and hearing our song."
Also, the entire team took a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty. "What we're trying to do is develop a spirit where we're not just saying something, we're showing them something," said Krzyzewski. "And then allowing them to feel something." I agree with Coach Krzyzewski about the importance of visualization and the power of symbols to motivate and inspire people.
"This is the first thing a lot of people saw when they came to this country," said Bryant of the Statue of Liberty. "This is where a lot of dreams started for a lot of different people and families. You have a dream in America where you can literally go from the bottom to the top. This is our dream here now, to bring a gold medal back to this country."
During one of Team USA's meetings, LeBron James delivered perhaps the clearest and strongest message about what this team's mentality has to be. Echoing a theme that is very familiar to anyone who follows James' Cleveland Cavaliers, he said, "When we go across these waters and we go play, we got to be a 'no excuse' team. What I mean is, it's going to be us against the world and we got to look at it that way. We can't blame the refs, we can't blame the crowd, we can't blame anything else on anybody. We are in a position right now where we control our own destiny. I know I'm guilty of this sometimes: I sit at home and say, 'If I had Dwight Howard on my team or if I had Carlos Boozer on my team or if I had Chris Paul as my point guard I would win an NBA championship.' So what's my excuse now? I got all y'all on this team, so what's my excuse now? Do we all have an excuse? We don't. This is everything that we always dreamed of, of having that guy next to you and winning something. I'm excited and I know you guys are. This is what I've always wanted, playing alongside Carmelo Anthony, playing alongside Jason, playing with Kobe. I don't have no excuse now--none of us."
Bryant added, "To me, defense and rebounding wins every time, no matter where you play--you play here, you play on Mars, you play anywhere you want: if you can shut somebody down and rebound the basketball then you're going to win no matter who you are playing against. That's the standard we have to set."
Labels: 2008 Olympic Team, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, Jerry Colangelo, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Mike Krzyzewski
posted by David Friedman @ 2:43 PM
Scenes From "Road to Redemption"
ESPN is airing a series of shows about Team USA called "Road to Redemption." The first episode brings the viewer up to speed on the history of NBA players being members of Team USA. The 1992 Dream Team dominated in the first Olympics in which American professional basketball players participated (other countries had been sending their pros to the Olympics for years). The 1996 version of Team USA also won easily but by 2000 the rest of the world had improved to the point that Team USA had to survive some close games before capturing the gold medal. Then came the disaster in 2002 when Team USA finished sixth in the FIBA World Championship ("Road to Redemption" does not even mention that fiasco). In the 2004 Olympics, Team USA lost to Puerto Rico 92-73 in the first game of the tournament, the most lopsided defeat ever suffered in FIBA play by a Team USA squad comprised of NBA players. Team USA also lost to Lithuania but managed to advance to the medal round only to lose to Argentina; they settled for the bronze medal after winning a rematch against Lithuania. Two years later in the FIBA World Championship, Team USA once again had to settle for the bronze medal after
losing to Greece in the semifinals. That meant that Team USA would have to at least reach the Finals of the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament in order to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Contrary to what a lot of people say, the primary problem in 2002, 2004 and 2006 was not poor shooting but rather poor defense, as I explained in a September 4, 2007 post titled
The Real Story Behind Team USA's Losses in Previous FIBA Events. As Fran Fraschilla noted when
I interviewed him, poor perimeter defense also compromises the interior defense because "the first post defender is always the man guarding the ball." Team USA's guards and wings did not defend well consistently and thus opposing teams feasted on open shots. Team USA scored plenty of points but their defense was bad (for instance, Greece beat them 101-95 in 2006--in a 40 minute game). Jerry Colangelo, the managing director for USA Basketball, understood that it was essential to improve the team's perimeter defense. Team USA also needed some veteran leaders to provide stability and set an example not only in games but also on the practice court. Enter Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, the new starting backcourt.
Bryant is quite simply the best player in the world. That is true not just because he has no weaknesses in terms of his skill set but also because of his killer mentality. In "Road to Redemption," Colangelo recalls, "The very first play of the very first scrimmage there is a loose ball and there is Kobe Bryant diving on the floor. That set the tone." Coach Mike Krzyzewski adds, "He showed a selflessness right away in telling us, 'Look, I want to play defense. I want to guard the best offensive player every time.'" Mike Miller says, "He competes more than anyone I've ever seen in my life. He takes a challenge against everybody. He's got a different mentality and that's a mentality of being the best." As Miller's comments were aired, "Road to Redemption" showed some practice footage of Bryant breaking Miller down off the dribble and driving to the hoop. Someone--it's not clear who--said "That's off" as Bryant shot but the ball went through the net and Bryant responded triumphantly, "Shut up. Shut up."
Great basketball coaches and players understand that practice is supposed to be hard so that the games will be easy (or at least easier). Champions like Phil Jackson and John Wooden do their most important work behind the scenes and then the uninformed wonder why they sit on the bench impassively during games; the reason is that they did their work during practice and it is up to the players to execute during the games. Colangelo says of Bryant, "I think his presence alone makes us a much tougher team. Who was there every morning? Kobe Bryant, working out every morning--
hard." Carmelo Anthony declares, "Kobe's work ethic is out of this world. Seeing him work, it just makes all of the other players elevate their games to a higher level."
Kidd's leadership is also important. He paced Team USA in assists in 2000, the last time that Team USA won a gold medal in international play, and he has never lost a FIBA game. Coach Krzyzewski says that Kidd "is like a coach on the floor--a really good coach on the floor" and he praises "the subtle things that he's doing in a drill or in a huddle." Several scenes of practice footage support that point, as Kidd pulls aside various players at different times to offer advice about how they should position themselves offensively or defensively. "He's kind of that missing piece that just bonds everyone together," Chris Bosh says. "I think he makes everybody better and when you can make guys like Kobe, Carmelo and LeBron better it just really takes the team up a notch."
"I'm so young and have a lot to learn about this game," Deron Williams admits. "I feel like he's the type of player that can teach me those little things I need to know to improve my game and take it to the next level."
Last summer, with Bryant and Kidd running things from the backcourt, Team USA rolled through the FIBA Americas tournament with a 10-0 record, earning a berth in the Beijing Olympics
with a 118-81 victory over Argentina in the gold medal game. The next step on the "Road to Redemption" is a five game exhibition tour that starts tonight with a game versus Canada.
Labels: 2008 Olympic Team, Jason Kidd, Jerry Colangelo, Kobe Bryant, Mike Krzyzewski
posted by David Friedman @ 6:37 AM
Tune in to Gotham Sports Radio on Sunday to Listen to me Talk Hoops
On Sunday December 23, I will be a guest on Gotham Hoops Live. Starting at 9 p.m., host Mike Silva will be interviewing me about various topics, including my recent posts about the 1992 Dream Team versus the 2008 Olympic team and Chet Walker's role in pioneering free agency. You can listen live by clicking on the following link:
Gotham Hoops LiveIf you cannot tune in on Sunday, you will be able to find an archived version of the show here:
Gotham Sports RadioLabels: 1992 Dream Team, 2008 Olympic Team, Chet Walker, Gotham Hoops Live, Mike Silva, NBA
posted by David Friedman @ 5:15 PM
