Regain the glory."
Those words, used by U.S. coach George Karl in an interview lastweek, are a fitting battle cry for the NBA players who will representthe United States in the World Basketball Championship that beginsThursday in Indianapolis.
If we could come together and play special basketball in six orseven of the nine games, we could regain the glory of Americanbasketball," Karl said. It seems like America is on the back page alittle bit and has been bumped around a little bit. But the best wayto showcase our country ... [and] showcase our game is to play greatand win."
For 11 days, the United States will be one of 16 teams playing 62games to determine which country is the best in the world. The otherteams are defending champion Yugoslavia, Germany, Canada, Spain,Puerto Rico, Russia, Turkey, China, Algeria, Angola, Argentina,Brazil, Lebanon, New Zealand and Venezuela.
The United States, the birthplace of basketball, has traditionallybeen the king of the sport.
But over the years, the other teams of the world closed the gap onus," said NBA commissioner David Stern, who envisions NBA franchiseseventually in Europe and Asia. Improved foreign competition forced usto start sending our very best to beat their very best."
That was proved as recently as 1998, when the last worldchampionship was held in Greece. The owners had locked out NBAplayers, so they withdrew from the U.S. national team.
USA Basketball sent a team of college players and minor-leaguepros to Greece.
The result was predictable. The Americans had to settle for thebronze medal. Yugoslavia won the gold and Russia the silver. Thistime, the United States again is being represented by NBA players,who are 54-0 in international competition, including the Olympics,the McDonald's Championship and exhibition games.
Although this team doesn't include top-echelon stars such asShaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson or Tim Duncan, Karlthinks he has enough talent to strike gold again with a team led byCeltics forward Paul Pierce, Hornets guard Baron Davis, Pacersteammates Reggie Miller and Jermaine O'Neal and Clippers teammatesElton Brand and Andre Miller. Bulls rookie guard Jay Williams was alate addition to the team.
Winning gold won't be an easy task, however.
They will be playing the toughest field of foreign talent ever,"Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld said. The skill and talent levelof foreign players is now at an all-time high as evidenced by theincreased number of foreign players performing in the NBA."
These include Mavericks All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki of Germany,Kings teammates Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac of Yugoslavia, 2001-02 rookie of the year Pau Gasol of Spain and China's Yao Ming, whowas the No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft.
Foreign players are also being drafted in record numbers eachyear," Stern said. This year, a record 17 players who were bornabroad were drafted."
You can't take anyone for granted," Reggie Miller said. A lot ofour stars are international players who have taken what they havelearned in the NBA and have brought it back to their own countriesand their club and national teams."
But the Americans are talking with smash-mouth confidence.
The way people are talking about our team, we're going to playharder than we normally would," Jermaine O'Neal said. Everybodythinks they have an opportunity to beat us. For some reason, peoplethink we're not that good because we have a couple of guys who aren'tplaying, like Shaq and those guys. If you look at the league leadersin rebounds, blocks, assists, scoring, we have 'em right here. Itkind of upsets the team a little bit when everyone talks about us asa JV team. We feel like we can play against anybody, let alone otherNBA players. We just have to show the people what we're talkingabout. We have to go out and play well to shut up the critics."
Assistant coach Kelvin Sampson said the keys to a U.S. victory areversatility, athleticism and defense.
Pacers coach Isiah Thomas said the key is teamwork.
I think it's very smart what the selection committee has done,"Thomas said. They have put together a team. In the past, the primaryfocus has been on assembling as many stars as possible. But justbecause you can put a lot of stars together does not mean that'sgoing to be your best team. In this case, however, they are puttingtogether players who complement each other well and are willing to goout and work hard."
And win.
We consider ourselves to be the best players in the world," saidPistons forward Ben Wallace, who brings toughness and rebounding tothe team. What better way to show it than to go out and goundefeated? By us doing that, that'll stop a lot of people [from]looking at us and saying we're not as strong as some teams of thepast."
THE FACTS
WHAT: FIBA 2002 World Basketball Championship. Teams from 16nations will play 62 games in 11 days.
WHEN: Aug. 29-Sept. 8.
WHERE: Conseco Fieldhouse and RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
TEAMS: Pool A: Yugoslavia, Spain, Canada, Angola. Pool B: Brazil,Turkey, Puerto Rico, Lebanon. Pool C: United States, Germany, China,Algeria. Pool D: Argentina, Russia, New Zealand, Venezuela.
U.S. PRELIMINARY ROUND: Algeria, 8 p.m. Thursday (TNT). Germany, 7p.m. Friday (ESPN2). China, 8 p.m. Saturday (TNT).
SECOND ROUND: Sept. 2-4.
QUARTERFINALS: Sept. 5.
SEMIFINALS: Sept. 7.
FINAL: Sept. 8 (Ch. 5).
TICKETS: Priced from $10 to $190, more than 150,000 tickets havebeen sold and many remain. Call Ticketmaster (1-866-849-4922), orWorld Basketball Championship office (1-317-237-2002) or visitwww.worldbasketball.com or www.usabasketball.com.
THE u.s. ROSTER
NAME POS HT TEAM
Elton Brand F 6-8 Clippers
Antonio Davis C 6-9 Raptors
Baron Davis G 6-3 Hornets
Michael Finley G 6-7 Mavericks
Raef LaFrentz F/C 6-11 Mavericks
Shawn Marion F 6-7 Suns
Andre Miller G 6-2 Clippers
Reggie Miller G 6-7 Pacers
Jermaine O'Neal C/F 6-11 Pacers
Paul Pierce F 6-6 Celtics
Ben Wallace F/C 6-9 Pistons
Jay Williams G 6-2 BULLS
ALTERNATE
Nick Collison F 6-9 Kansas
Head Coach: George Karl, Milwaukee Bucks
Assistant Coach: Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
Assistant Coach: Mike Montgomery, Stanford University
Assistant Coach: Kelvin Sampson, University of Oklahoma
the history
1950--At Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gold: Argentina. Silver: United States. Bronze: Chile.
1954--At Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Gold: United States. Silver: Brazil. Bronze: Philippines.
1959--At Santiago, Chile
Gold: Brazil. Silver: United States. Bronze: Chile.
1963--At Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Gold: Brazil. Silver: Yugoslavia. Bronze: Soviet Union.
1967--At Montevideo, Uruguay
Gold: Soviet Union. Silver: Yugoslavia. Bronze: Brazil.
1970--At Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
Gold: Yugoslavia. Silver: Brazil. Bronze: Soviet Union.
1974--At San Juan, Puerto Rico
Gold: Soviet Union. Silver: Yugoslavia. Bronze: United States.
1978--At Manila, Philippines
Gold: Yugoslavia. Silver: Soviet Union. Bronze: Brazil.
1982--At Cali, Colombia
Gold: Soviet Union. Silver: United States. Bronze: Yugoslavia.
1986--At Madrid, Spain
Gold: United States. Silver: Soviet Union. Bronze: Yugoslavia.
1990--At Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gold: Yugoslavia. Silver: Soviet Union. Bronze: United States.
1994--At Toronto, Canada
Gold: United States. Silver: Russia. Bronze: Croatia.
1998--At Athens, Greece
Gold: Yugoslavia. Silver: Russia. Bronze: United States.
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