Thoughts and Observations About the 2018 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony
In my article Maurice Cheeks, Charlie Scott and Rod Thorn Are Among the Basketball Hall of Fame's Newest Members, I focused on three of the 13 members of the Basketball Hall of Fame's 2018 class. Last night, those men and their classmates were officially enshrined.
Grant Hill was enshrined first. He and 2018 Hall of Fame classmate Jason Kidd will forever be linked not only as co-Rookies of the Year in 1995 but also as unselfish, all-around players who focused first and foremost on team success. Hill alluded to his tendency to be verbose and joked that his wife had urged him to remember the "Five Bs: Be brief, brother, be brief." Turning serious, Hill said that he "fell in love with the game of basketball" by watching Patrick Ewing dominate in both college and the NBA. Hill called Ewing his "basketball hero." Ewing and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski were Hill's two presenters. Hill thanked Coach Krzyzewski for providing the "blueprint" for success. Next, Hill mentioned Isiah Thomas. Hill seemed uncertain whether or not Thomas was in attendance (perhaps that is why he did not choose Thomas as a presenter as well) but as soon as Hill realized that Thomas was in the building he called him up to the stage and embraced Thomas, who he called a "hero, a friend and an advocate for me." Hill thanked Alonzo Mourning for providing the inspiration for how to come back from health problems/injuries. Hill became emotional when he thanked his parents for how they raised him and when he acknowledged his two daughters and his wife. Hill asked his wife if his speech had been short enough and he promised that the other enshrinees' speeches would be shorter.
Rod Thorn spoke next. He was presented by Jerry West. Thorn thanked the Hall of Fame and Jerry Colangelo in particular. Thorn singled out three Hall of Famers who had a special impact on him: Bob ("Slick") Leonard, Richie Guerin and Lenny Wilkens.
Younger fans may not remember or know that Thorn was a collegiate star at West Virginia who was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the second overall pick in the 1963 NBA Draft. Thorn played eight seasons in the NBA before becoming a coach, general manager and league executive. After injuries forced him to retire from playing, Thorn considered going to law school before Kevin Loughery offered him a job as an assistant coach with the New York Nets in the ABA. Thorn recalled, "I knew in my heart I wasn't ready to let the game go."
Thorn said that since his career started as a player he wanted to mention three players "who all had a profound impact on my life": Julius Erving, Michael Jordan and Jason Kidd. Thorn said of Erving, "In 1974, my first season with the Nets, we won the league championship, sparked by the incomparable Julius Erving, who led the team in nearly every statistical category. Night after night, he would perform such incredible athletic feats that would have Kevin and I looking at each other and exclaiming, 'I cannot believe he just did that.' As great as Doc was as a player, he was equally good as a teammate. Thank you Doc for proving that superheroes can be humans, too."
These comments reinforce what Thorn told me over a decade ago about Erving: "I think that he was the best teammate of all the players I've been
involved with in 40-plus years of NBA basketball. He was our leading
scorer, our leading rebounder, our leading shot blocker, our leading
assist guy--you name it, he led our team in it, plus he was the leader of
our team. He guarded the best forward every night, whether it was a
small forward or a big forward. He took most of the big shots. Not only
was he a great player, but more importantly he was a great teammate. He had great lateral quickness and he was a tremendous jumper. He was a
tough guy--that is one thing that is not talked about that much when you
talk about Julius, because of his great athleticism, but he was a tough
guy. I mean he would physically get after guys and play hard. He took a
challenge. He played 43-44 minutes a game for us and guarded the best
guy on the other team every night and was our leading scorer, so the
energy that he expended during a game was much more than the average
player did. It was just phenomenal what he did."
As the Chicago Bulls' general manager, Thorn drafted Michael Jordan.
Thorn joked that without Jordan he would not have a Wikipedia page and
he would not have people sending him items to autograph asking for his
signature and "by the way" asking for Jordan's signature as well.
Thorn
won the 2002 NBA Executive of the Year Award after acquiring Kidd and
building the Nets into a championship contender. Thorn recalled that when he rejoined the Nets, "The team had challenges defending, rebounding and passing, which as you know are the ingredients of a 26 win season." After trading for Kidd, Thorn's Nets won 52 games, one of the best one season turnarounds in league history.
Maurice Cheeks followed Thorn. In the video tribute before Cheeks spoke, Erving said, "He had a very, very high basketball IQ. He was a champion, he was an All-Star and I loved playing with him." Erving and Billy Cunningham presented Cheeks. Cheeks is known as a quiet man of few words but he gave the most emotionally gripping speech of the evening. He opened by saying, "This is amazing and Grant, you're right, this will be short." Cheeks credited his experiences growing up on the South Side of Chicago for teaching him to look out for others as others had looked out for him. He said, "My life has been a string of small moments that led to amazing experiences." Cheeks mentioned his high school teammate William Dise, who was a highly recruited player who signed with West Texas State on condition that the school also sign Cheeks, a skinny and lightly recruited prospect. Cheeks said that his career would have gone much differently if not for Dise.
Cheeks thanked Coach Cunningham and said that he was the kind of coach that you never wanted to let down. Cheeks praised Erving for teaching him how to be a pro and Cheeks also thanked his veteran teammates Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, Bobby Jones, Caldwell Jones, and Henry Bibby. Cheeks said, "Over the years I have had many reasons to thank the Lord and two of them are my beautiful kids...I'm proud to be your dad and I love you both." Cheeks thanked his three brothers, one of whom was murdered in 1991. Cheeks started to get emotional at that point and mentioned that Charles Barkley told him not to cry but Cheeks broke down when he talked about "my very first coach, Mama Cheeks" and all that she did for him and their family--including calling out Maurice's name and his brothers' names so that they would come inside when it got dark. Mama Cheeks attended the ceremony and she looked very proud. As Cheeks wept, Erving walked over, gently grabbed his shoulders and said softly, "Come on Mo, you can do it," lending a helping hand much like Cheeks had lent a helping hand to National Anthem singer Natalie Gilbert years ago. I felt as a kid that the 76ers were a special team with special people and moments like this just confirm that. I am so blessed to have watched that team and then to have had the opportunity to interview Erving, Cunningham, Jones and Pat Williams. Cheeks concluded by thanking the Hall of Fame for "thinking enough of my contributions to the sport to select me for such an honor. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate my 40 years in the NBA and my 62nd birthday (on Saturday). Thank you and God bless."
Later in the program, Charlie Scott was presented by Jerry Colangelo, Dave Cowens, Julius Erving, Spencer Haywood and Roy Williams. During the video tribute to Scott, Erving noted, "He broke the color barrier very much like Jackie Robinson did (in baseball), except it was getting a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina and integrating the school. Charlie Scott was a monster on the basketball court. He could score inside, he could score outside."
Scott began by explaining how he selected his presenters. He said that they were each friends of his for over 40 years. Scott joked that his wife said if they have known him for 40 years and still speak to him then they all deserve to be on the stage with him. "This is an honor that I always dreamed of but could never imagine happening," Scott declared. He called Dean Smith "My mentor and the person who I admire the most in my life." Scott thanked his North Carolina teammates, including Larry Miller, for standing beside him during the sometimes difficult racial integration process. He individually thanked each of his presenters. Regarding Erving and Cowens, the never hesitant to shoot Scott quipped that he helped each of them become great rebounders.
Scott concluded by thanking his wife and children. He said that he once asked a friend to describe him honestly, good and bad. Scott asked his family to raise their hands if they disagreed with this characterization: "People sometimes might take your aloofness as arrogance. You can become very demanding in getting your way. You don't know when to let things go. You never give compliments. You think you're always right....The shocker was his next sentence: Let me tell you about your bad points!" Scott paused after each point and noted that no one in his family raised their hands. He laughed and said, "This was the individual you had to deal with. Your unconditional love and understanding have been my North Star."
In 2015, I wondered if Julius Erving had been a Hall of Fame presenter more than anyone else. At that time, Erving had been selected as a presenter nine times. Now, including last night, he has been a presenter 14 times (9/11/21 note: I just added Alex English to this list after confirming that Erving was English's presenter):
1995: Presented Cheryl Miller
1996: None
1997: Alex English
1998-2000: None
2001: Presented Moses Malone
2002-2003: None
2004: Presented Clyde Drexler
2005: None
2006: Presented Dominique Wilkins
2007-2010: None
2011: Presented Artis Gilmore
2012: Presented Katrina McClain, Ralph Sampson and the All-American Red Heads
2013-2014: None
2015: Presented John Calipari
2016: Presented Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal
2017: None
2018: Presented Maurice Cheeks and Charlie Scott
That list of names spans multiple generations and includes teammates, opponents and players who grew up idolizing Erving. What a tribute to Erving's deep and continuing impact on the sport!
There is a lot of depth to Ray Allen beyond his basketball accomplishments. When you read his words or listen to him speak you understand that he is a remarkable person, not just a great basketball player. Allen spoke repeatedly of the dedication, discipline, perfectionism and sacrifice that it takes to become a great individual player and to become a two-time NBA champion. Those words resonate and are true but what resonated the most is when he talked about his children. Allen was the only enshrinee who talked to/about each of his children specifically and described why each child is so special to him. Allen emphatically declared, "All of you kids are my greatest legacy. I learned in life that our kids pay attention to everything we do, everything we say and everything we don't say and everything we don't do. So I have to be an example to these young people at all times and we got to make sure that we are an example to the kids in our lives at all times, because we do set the tone and the example in all of our communities."
Allen also said, "I don't believe in talent. I'm here because I worked hard my whole life. Without that work, no one in this room would know who I am except my family. So to all the kids around the world watching, paying attention and aspiring to be like us or even on this stage, put the work in and watch the magical ride you go on."
Labels: Basketball Hall of Fame, Charlie Scott, Grant Hill, Isiah Thomas, Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Mike Krzyzewski, Patrick Ewing, Ray Allen, Rod Thorn
posted by David Friedman @ 10:15 PM
Echoes from Laettner's Shot Still Reverberate 20 Years Later
Gene Wojciechowski's new book
The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball meticulously details the circumstances and aftermath of Christian Laettner's game-winning shot against Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final. Wojciechowski begins with the most strategically surprising aspect of that play--Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino did not deploy a defender to contest Grant Hill's inbounds pass--before providing tremendous historical context about a great game that culminated with one of the most indelible moments in sports history.
After hooking the reader with a brief account of the astonishment that basketball observers--including Dick Vitale, Jalen Rose and P.J. Carlesimo--felt about Pitino's defensive strategy on the final play of the game, Wojciechowski circles back in time to describe how Pitino and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski first arrived at their respective schools and how they both rebuilt programs that had fallen on hard times.
Krzyzewski recently set the all-time NCAA record for career wins (breaking the mark held by Bobby Knight, who coached Krzyzewski at West Point), a feat that seemed unimaginable in the early 1980s when Duke alumni and fans demanded that Athletic Director Tom Butters fire Krzyzewski. The Krzyzewski era at Duke hardly got off to a rousing start; in his first three years, the Blue Devils failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and set the school's single season loss record. Krzyzewski's 1-6 head to head record against Tobacco Road rival North Carolina during this period exasperated Duke partisans.
Duke started out 8-0 in 1984 and posted a 15-1 overall mark before losing four straight ACC games. Butters arranged a meeting with Krzyzewski and said, "Mike, we've got a problem. The problem is we've got a public that doesn't know how good you are. We've got a press that's too damn dumb to tell them how good you are. But my greatest problem is that I've got a coach who I'm not sure knows how good he is." Butters then offered Krzyzewski a five year contract extension. The Blue Devils earned their first NCAA Tournament berth of the Krzyzewski era with a 24-10 record and two years later they advanced to the NCAA Championship Game. It is easy to focus on the "lead actor" when telling the story of a famous person's life but without the encouragement of a "supporting actor" like Butters the world may never have had the opportunity to see Krzyzewski's greatness fully blossom.
Pitino arrived at Kentucky right after the program narrowly avoided the so-called death penalty in the wake of 18 violations committed during the Eddie Sutton regime (Sutton was not directly implicated, though it is difficult to believe that he had no idea what was going on under his watch, including the fact that his assistant Dwane Casey--who is now the coach of the Toronto Raptors--sent $1000 to the father of recruit Chris Mills). Pitino, after a quick rise through the collegiate ranks, had recently turned the New York Knicks into a legitimate contender but he was locked in a power struggle with General Manager Al Bianchi. At first Pitino was not sure if he wanted to relocate his family from New York to Kentucky and Kentucky Athletic Director C.M. Newton turned his attention to P.J. Carlesimo, who had just led Seton Hall to an NCAA Championship Game loss to Michigan. It seemed like Kentucky was on the verge of hiring Carlesimo when a funny thing happened: someone decided that Carlesimo's beard was weird and that it would not work to have a bearded Northerner helming the Wildcats. Suddenly, Carlesimo stated that he never really had been interested in leaving Seton Hall and the Wildcats were back to square one. Pitino had turned down the job the first time Newton offered it but upon further consideration Pitino accepted the offer and boldly promised to lead the disgraced program to a national title.
Krzyzewski coached Duke to runner-up finishes in the NCAA Tournament in 1986 and 1990 before capturing his first NCAA title in 1991. Pitino's first Kentucky squad went 14-14 in 1990 but his 1991 team improved to 22-6. Both teams entered the 1992 season with legitimate championship aspirations and those aspirations collided on March 29, 1992 in the NCAA East Regional Final as the teams battled to earn a Final Four berth.
Duke was led by Christian Laettner, who was perceived as a sneering rich kid who played with an edge, the kind of player who you hated if he was on the other team and might have still found irritating at times even if he was on your own team. Laettner actually did not come from a wealthy family and the first time he made it to the Final Four with Duke his parents skipped that month's mortgage payment in order to travel to Seattle to watch him play in person. Although Laettner was wrongly viewed by some as a kid who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, the perception of his edginess was quite correct; Laettner grew up playing against older and bigger opponents, so he quickly learned how to take (and give) blows and he would not back down from anyone. Jamal Mashburn, a dynamic offensive player who could both score in the paint and nail the three point shot, led Kentucky. Both Laettner and Mashburn would later make the NBA All-Star team; several other players from both teams eventually played in the NBA, including Duke's Grant Hill, who made the All-Star team seven times and has recovered from a serious ankle injury to still be a productive player in 2012 at the age of 39.
Duke entered the 1992 East Regional Final as a solid favorite against Kentucky but Pitino thought that his team had a good chance to pull off the upset based on three factors: (1) Even though Duke had the more talented team, Pitino believed that Mashburn would prove to be the single best player on the court; (2) Kentucky's unique style--based on applying intense defensive pressure and shooting a lot of three pointers--would pose problems for Duke; (3) Duke had not played in many close games, so if Kentucky stayed in contact and gained confidence then the Wildcats could go on a game-winning run in the closing minutes. Pitino felt that if he employed the pressure defense too early in the game then Duke's starters would have enough energy to fight through it--thus gaining confidence while also deflating Kentucky's confidence--but if Kentucky could keep the score close without the pressure defense and then apply pressure in the final 10 minutes the Blue Devils might get rattled and/or fatigued.
The game unfolded according to Pitino's plan. Kentucky took an early 20-12 lead and only trailed 50-45 at halftime. Duke pulled ahead 67-55 by the 11:08 mark of the second half and at that point Pitino called a timeout in order to instruct his players to apply the pressure defense the rest of the way. Kentucky sliced Duke's lead to 67-63 in a little over a minute. Two minutes later, momentum could have--and should have--swung Kentucky's way after Laettner stepped on fallen Kentucky player Aminu Timberlake, an action that was worthy of ejection; however, the game officials elected to simply hit Laettner with a technical foul. Kentucky's players neither appreciated that ruling nor the fact that Laettner seemed to have singled out the one player--a skinny, well-mannered freshman--who would not respond confrontationally (that is the kind of move that Kevin Garnett and Kenyon Martin later became well known for in the NBA, taking a verbal and/or physical shot at a younger, smaller opponent while studiously avoiding confrontations with tough guys who would not tolerate such conduct).
The game was tightly contested the rest of the way and the outcome would not be decided until the final 2.1 seconds of overtime. If you are a true basketball fan then you have already seen Grant Hill's full court pass followed by Christian Laettner's game-winning shot many times but Wojciechowski's
The Last Great Game does an excellent job of not only recreating one of the seminal moments in college basketball but also giving the reader an understanding of the thoughts, emotions and motivations of the participants from both sides of this dramatic contest.
Although Laettner's shot ended the game, it did not end that season and does not end the book; the Blue Devils still needed to win two more games to complete their run of back to back titles and Duke accomplished this by knocking off Indiana and the upstart, Fab Five-led Michigan Wolverines. Wojciechowski takes the reader behind the scenes of both of those games as well.
Should Pitino have put a defender on Hill to contest that fateful inbounds pass? Wojciechowski exaggerates a bit when he deems this "the eternal basketball question" but he is right this question is not easy to answer. Pitino's thinking at the time was that if he put a defender on Hill then Hill might run the baseline and Duke could employ an old strategy of Dean Smith's, placing a screener in the defender's path to try to draw a foul. Pitino considered the long pass to be a low percentage play whether or not it was contested and thus preferred to sandwich Laettner with two defenders; unfortunately for Kentucky, those defenders--concerned about being called for a foul--played very tentatively and gave Laettner plenty of room to catch the ball, take a rhythm dribble and launch a very controlled shot.
Pitino, who led Kentucky to a National Championship in 1996, casually dismisses the strategic question: "People make too much of it."
Errata1) On page 61, the text states that Christian Laettner "made his official Duke playing debut November 19, 1998, at the Tipoff Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts." Laettner's freshman year began in 1988, not 1998.
2) There are multiple references to a 1988-89 Duke senior named "Smith" but his first name is not directly mentioned in the text (it is indirectly referred to in a quote) nor is he listed in the book's Index (John Smith is the full name of the player in question).
3) On page 114, the 6-8 Billy Owens is referred to as a guard. While Owens did handle the ball like a guard, he played forward at Syracuse and should thus have been described as a forward (in the NBA, Owens played both forward and guard but the book is referring to his college career).
Labels: Christian Laettner, Duke, Gene Wojciechowski, Grant Hill, Jamal Mashburn, Kentucky, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino
posted by David Friedman @ 2:45 AM
USA Basketball: Inside the Redeem Team
There are a series of 14 videos at the AT&T Blue Room site that describe how this year's Team USA--dubbed the "Redeem Team"--has been put together and provide some highlights from the just concluded pre-Olympic exhibition tour (if the videos don't play automatically after clicking on the links below, go to "connection settings" on the right hand side and make the appropriate selection for your internet setup).
Team USA Managing Director kicks off the first video by saying of Team USA's recent failures in FIBA play, "It really bothered me as an American and, quite honestly, I was mad inside because I take great pride in what we've accomplished in this country with the game of basketball."
Jerry Colangelo--Building the national teamAfter more than a decade of service in the Team USA program, Mike Krzyzewski was likely in line to be the head coach of the Olympic team--but when USA Basketball made the move in 1992 to use NBA players instead of college players, Krzyzewski assumed that he would never get a chance to be the team's coach. That all changed once Colangelo took over:
Selection of Coach KAfter clicking on either of the above links, you will have access to the rest of the videos in a continuous play sequence. The other video titles are:
3) Team--Coming Together
4) Announcement
5) Leaders
6) Big Men
7) Redemption
8) Off Court Preparation
9) The Young Point Guards--Chris Paul & Deron Williams
10) The Role Players
11) Team USA vs. Russia
12) Team USA vs. Turkey
13) Team USA vs. Canada
14) Team USA vs. Lithuania
Some of the above footage has also been shown in the
"Road to Redemption" series of TV shows.
Labels: 2008 Team USA, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd, Jerry Colangelo, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Mike Krzyzewski
posted by David Friedman @ 2:35 PM
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
