By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With a total record of 88-1 wins and three gold medal games, coach Mike Krzyzewski is leaving the national team of USA having left behind him an amazing legacy.
He is the only coach who have won three times gold – even if technically the coaches don’t get a medal in Olympic Games – and he restored the basketball world order after the bad results of USA in 2002 Mundobasket and 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
His numbers are impressive, he is stepping down in Rio and in the moment of his triumph he remembered in the post game press conference his only defeat, by Greece in the 2006 Mundobasket semifinal, which became the basis of a decade long total dominance: “I commend the leadership of our veterans for keeping us on course for that.
Carmelo Anthony’s been here as long as I’ve been here. We shared a press conference in Japan in 2006 where after our only loss, he set the tone in that press conference for what was to be one of the standards of our program and that’s collective responsibility. He didn’t make any excuses. We took responsibility for the loss and gave credit to the Greek team. We built on that.
I call it character. At that moment, sometimes in a loss, you find out a deep character in someone and that’s what happened with Carmelo in then the commitment from LeBron and Kobe and all these guys, Chris, Kevin, all these guys have great character. It’s just built to where now we have a great, great culture”.
And now coach K believes that the US national team has a secured future: “What I’ve loved the most about these guys who have made these commitments, they’ve set the example for the younger generation of the United States to where now everybody is proud of USA Basketball. It’s because not just how they played but how they acted and how unselfish they were. I’m amazed at these guys. I’ve learned so much from being around them. It’s made me a better coach. This experience this summer has made me a better coach. I’m just proud of the fact that Jerry Colangelo, when he took over he gave me an opportunity. The way these players have felt, they’ve been given an opportunity to play for their country and you make the most of it. I love the fact that almost a year ago, well, probably seven, eight months ago, we already named Gregg Popovich to take over. So, you have the best guy in the world coach the team now. That says a lot about the program that’s been developed”.
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