Coach K and USA Basketball

I haven't pulled for any USA Olympic team since the Dream Team. Don't start with the unamerican bullshit either.

 

I think after 2004 USA realized that they need to actually put a program together for the National Team. They looked real good and I think they play China tomorrow night (Monday). See how the Duke interior does against Yao. The wings are absolutely insane though. Think when Kobe joins this team

 

Apparently they waxed China. Will be shown tonight on ESPN2.

 

that is pretty unamerican

 

so I guess it was ungerman to be against Hitler.

 

Battier is doing all the dirty work. Playing good D and getting rebounds. It's 24-19 right now at the end of the first. USA not looking that good at all. Dwayne Wade needs to play point. I know Coach K is just trying people out at different spots though.

 

USA slips by Brazil today despite losing Anthony and Wade in the 1st half.

Brazil is one of the better international teams

 

Have they found them yet?

 

Anthony is playing outstanding in the first three games. He's playing like Barkley did in '92. Check Barkley's stats and you'll see what I mean. He dominated Barcelona. I think Battier and Miller (maybe Heinrich) are gone from this team after the 2 games in Seoul. Chris Paul and Arenas haven't been doing that great. They'll keep Bowen for defense. Is it just me or do our guards play no defense. I think it'd be interesting to see how every other nation does playing the NBA rules. No wonder international players shoot the three. Could you imagine what the NBA would be like if there was no post up game because of the trapezoid and a college three point line. The trapezoid sucks real bad.

 

pretty good article on K, and how hes adjusted to team USA and vice versa

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/15242304.htm

Calmer Coach K winning over pros
U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski slightly changes his approach in dealing with NBA stars
LUCIANA CHAVEZ
News & Observer
Two years ago, Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski spent the Fourth of July weekend considering whether to coach the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

He decided that Monday to stay at Duke, where he had won three NCAA titles, but a tantalizing question lingered:

Could Krzyzewski have sold his coaching style in the NBA?

Preliminary feedback is coming in this summer as Krzyzewski coaches the U.S. men's national team led by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade at the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan. Krzyzewski will lead the team through the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"If you ask these guys, I think they'd say they've enjoyed [the training]," the Duke coach said. "So I would have tried to do the same things on whatever team I would've been with."

Krzyzewski has made it easier on himself by quickly showing he knows the difference between molding teenagers into young adults in college and preparing the NBA's best for international play.

The result is that the Duke coach acts a little different than the U.S. coach.

Duke's coach is demonstrative and willing to dress down players or officials during games. Anyone who saw Duke lose to Connecticut in the 2004 Final Four can give you a rundown on what that looks like.

Team USA's coach tends to be more subtle on the sidelines. Whether his team was down four in the second quarter to Puerto Rico in the U.S.'s first exhibition or sluggish during the first 10 minutes against China in its second, Krzyzewski stayed calm.

"He just said that really good teams can't afford to play that way," Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "And he's right. We settled down [in both games]."

Battier says Krzyzewski still gets feisty but attributes the coach's more sedate game-day demeanor to several factors. A big one is that Krzyzewski is working with NBA veterans and professionals.

"We're professionals playing at the highest level of the game," said Battier, a former Duke star under Krzyzewski. "I would hope he would not have to kick us in the pants as much. He's not dealing with a bunch of numskulls who just took it up last week."

It shows in other ways.

Krzyzewski rarely opens practices at Duke, and he does not regularly speak face-to-face with the media after practices, but he does while coaching the U.S. team.

Krzyzewski, who in recent years stopped doing pregame or in-game interviews during Duke broadcasts on network television, wore a live NBATV microphone during a few practices and team meetings in Las Vegas.

Krzyzewski jokes about it, saying just because the policies are different with USA Basketball doesn't mean he'll change with his Duke team.

"These guys are used to that, so I have to adjust to that, and it's fine," Krzyzewski said. "The players have to adjust to the fact that there is no three-second call on zone defense. They don't have to play 100 games. They only have to play 14, so we can pressure teams and not pace ourselves. We're adjusting both ways."

Krzyzewski has valid reasons to alter his approach.

Coaching college students at Duke, he has virtually total control over a young team of mostly scholarship athletes, many of whom dream of an NBA career.

Team USA is made up of millionaire NBA stars. Though the U.S. players have committed to play for the team through the Beijing Olympics, they're still, essentially, on loan.

Keep in mind Krzyzewski's U.S. squad pulls in an annual $167.83 million in NBA salary. Krzyzewski respects the players and the money they make. He said he never once thought he might find it difficult to deal with big-money NBA personalities while coaching the U.S. team.

"If someone is making that much money, it means they're probably working pretty hard to do it," Krzyzewski said. "These guys are unbelievably dedicated. It's too bad that more people can't see how hard they work and how professional they are."

Krzyzewski has backed his U.S. players, rather than set his own agenda, from the beginning. The players have noticed.

"He hasn't come in with this big attitude and demanded everyone's respect," Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. "Some guys would come in here and say, 'I have to show these NBA guys who the man is.' He hasn't done that at all. And that's how we're going to be successful. Players and coaches need to check their egos at the door."

During the early days of training camp in Las Vegas, Krzyzewski chose to spend quite a bit of time standing back and observing, then pulling players aside one by one as necessary.

The one-on-one conversations haven't been about the weather. Miami Heat guard Wade said he and Krzyzewski regularly have discussed how Wade can help lead this squad. Wade isn't a loud, vocal guy, so Krzyzewski keeps pushing the idea that showing up and working hard is another way to get it done.

During another practice, the U.S. team was going through its defensive setups when James' shirt came untucked. Krzyzewski pulled the Cleveland Cavaliers star over to discuss a point about defense then reminded him to tuck the jersey in. James quickly tucked it in and returned to the drill.

Krzyzewski could have run into a sticky situation when players, after several days of early wake-up calls and two practices each day, asked to sleep in past 7 a.m. He made an easy compromise by pushing practice back to noon and holding just one per day.

"That's how Coach would normally do it," U.S. player representative and Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins said. "He gets a feel for his guys and makes that read. We don't set things in stone."

U.S. assistant Nate McMillan, who coaches the Portland Trail Blazers, says that Krzyzewski communicates so well that the adjustment, from working with college players to working with NBA players in international competition, has been easy.

"What I mean by that is that [the best communicators] give you something that always make you say, 'Hmm. I didn't see it that way,' " McMillan said.

The U.S. players, who have been together a total of 18 days and three games, also have warmed to Krzyzewski after figuring out that his single-minded chase for gold medals in Japan and in China matches their own.

"He doesn't care about anything else but winning, and that's the thing we love," James said.

Even the players who weren't quite sure how they might like working with Krzyzewski before they met him dig the energy he's showing to win back some hoops glory for Uncle Sam.

"He doesn't have to go through a big deal to try to show me like, 'Hey, Bruce, this will be really good if you trust me,' " San Antonio Spurs guard Bruce Bowen said. "No, I understand what you're saying. I'm with you 110 percent. Let's go.

"Can I enroll at Duke after this?"

Sold.

Staff writer Luciana Chavez can be reached at 829-4864 or [email protected].