Teamwork key to Olympic hopes
Bryant, James lead squad; ex-Illini Williams makes cut
The days of the Dream Team have long since ended, but USA Basketball is hoping that its new approach to selecting an Olympic team avoids a repeat of the nightmare from the Athens Games in 2004.
Instead of merely picking the best NBA All-Stars available, managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski took a ''team'' approach to assembling the 12-man roster for the Beijing Games announced Monday at the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
''Teams win games,'' Colangelo said. ''Basketball is the ultimate team game, and we wanted to put together a roster that would play with a team concept.''
Of course, the roster doesn't lack for star power. League most valuable player Kobe Bryant highlights a squad that also includes LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd and Dwyane Wade. Completing the roster are Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd and former Illinois star Deron Williams.
Besides ''team,'' the other word of emphasis for Krzyzewski when explaining the new approach for the U.S. senior men's team was ''respect'' -- respect for the other basketball playing countries and how far they've progressed since the Dream Team rolled to the gold medal in 1992.
''We respect the international game,'' he said. ''It's really the world's game. We think we're the best at playing the game, but it's really the world's game.''
The previous process relied solely on the U.S. having superior athletes. A roster was selected in the late spring, and the players came together for a couple of weeks of practices with the coach before they started playing games.
That worked fine for the first few Olympics after NBA players were allowed to participate, but the United States had to settle for the bronze medal four years ago.
That led USA Basketball to rethink how it went about its business. Colangelo was hired and began putting the current process in place. Instead of having a different coach for every competition, Krzyzewski has been the coach for the last three years. Most of the 12 players also have been involved with the team since 2006.
The result -- or at least the hope -- is that the familiarity with each other and the international rules will lead to better results on the court.
The roster is loaded with perimeter players -- and contains just three big men -- because of the different rules and style of the international game.
''We're a team already,'' Krzyzewski said. ''We don't have to come together when we start training camp in late July.
''Our goal is to be there on Aug. 24 when they tap it up [in the gold-medal game] and to hear the national anthem played when they award the gold medals.''
Although most of the roster spots were foregone conclusions, Williams wasn't sure he made the cut until he was contacted two weeks ago.
''The Final Four was amazing and the championship game was a great experience,'' he said of the Illini's run in the NCAA tournament in 2005. ''But getting a chance to represent my country and play for a gold medal is special. I won't really know what it's like until I go over there, but I would put winning a gold medal up there with winning an NBA championship.''
Wade, after an injury-plagued season with the Miami Heat, has been rehabbing his knee all spring in Chicago to be ready for the Olympics. He said he never considered sitting out, even after his name was mentioned in trade rumors.
''I was going to make it out,'' the Chicago native said. ''This is my team. I made a three-year commitment.''