Kleeman's Last Word: Olympic Basketball Lessons and NBA News

I decided to toss a month's worth of thoughts and analysis of recent news into one heart attack read.

Watching the U.S. Men's Basketball team on Oprah Winfrey's season opener Monday afternoon renewed my interest in reviewing the Olympic tournament, even if I am a few weeks late.

The Knicks and the Grizzlies are talking a trade, the NBA got something right with its fans and Oklahoma's first professional franchise unveiled a nickname that has me puzzled.

1) Teams Win Basketball Tournaments, Not Individual Stars

The ugly lesson from the 2004 Athens bronze catastrophe is simple. It takes more than a disassembled collection of NBA hotshots to beat the international elite.

What most critics forget about that 2004 squad was the nine players selected for the senior team that dropped out at the last minute to heed terrorism concerns or nurse offseason injuries.

Who knows what that team might have accomplished if the veterans who had practiced and competed with the team previously had played?

When you mash a cadre of soon-to-be sophomores and two egomaniacal point guards with attitude baggage, can you expect that team to beat a foreign squad that has played together for at least five years and practiced vigorously, in an elimination game?

Team USA's first bow to bronze since NBA players began competing in the Olympics needed to happen. The United States needed a thorough butt kicking, so that the immature youngsters could learn that starring on a professional basketball team and representing a country are two different things. The coaches needed to see the necessity of rebuilding team camaraderie.

With its invincibility shattered, the United States Basketball organization made an easy first move by snagging Jerry Colangelo as its basketball operations manager. He asked every player who wanted to vie for a roster spot to ink a three-year commitment.

When the United States mauled a capable, if unspectacular, Australia team by 31 points, for example, those three years of work materialized. It was never about talent, star power, or athleticism.

Colangelo sculpted a 12-man roster that always sported its imperfections, whether a lack of size or erratic shooting, but never let any one of them outclass the team concept.

Those who underscore the importance of team building, probably think 2004 means more than it should. Was a lowly bronze medal an admonishment or a wake up call?

Not waiting for their own answer to that question, the U.S. squad marked this newest quest with respect and diligence. If the neophyte 2004 team seemed like it treated its Olympic competition as predestined road kill, this one killed international foes, decapitated them, then ran over the detached body again for good measure.

What results can a three-year training and team development program produce?

USA 118, Spain 107

USA 101, Argentina 81

USA 106, Germany 57

USA 119, Spain 82

USA 92, Greece 69

USA 97, Angola 76

USA 101, China 70

The 2004 team failed to get its pickup truck out of first gear and Lithuania, Puerto Rico and Argentina offered up some bloody Whiffleball bat beatings. The 2008 squad ripped out the brakes and couldn't wipe teams off its windshield fast enough.

Argentina and Spain tested them with inspired medal round efforts, but it was never going to be enough. When the best players in the world revitalized the meaning of team in ‘Team USA,’ and completed a gold rush three years in the making, the rest of the world was again taking notes.

Those who left the Gold Medal game loading ammunition for a useless Kobe vs. LeBron argument missed the 2004 lesson. Head back to class, children.

Colangelo built the best 12-man roster in the world. It was the best because the players bought in to the “you help me when I’m struggling, I help you when you’re struggling” mantra.

With egos ditched and a singular goal within reach, Team USA struck gold by outlasting Spain in a final showdown. Spain can tell everyone else that second place is no consolation.

2) Some Players Make a Golden Difference...No Kidd-ing Around or Kobe Beef Allowed

The 2004 roster revisited:

• Centers: Tim Duncan, Emeka Okafor
• Forwards: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Richard Jefferson, Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, Amare Stoudemire, LeBron James
• Guards: Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Dwyane Wade

Here’s the 2008 edition:

• Centers: Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh
• Forwards: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer
• Guards: Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade

That 2004 team, as hastily as it was assembled, oozed talent. Does anyone doubt that team had the most talented players in the world? The 2008 squad had the best team and the best players.

Wade performed phenomenally, showing few signs of the nagging injuries that slowed his career after a stirring NBA Finals debut. He dropped 27 points on the Spaniards in the final and led Team USA in scoring. No player was more consistently brilliant than Wade in the U.S. gold medal dash.

Bosh shot a ridiculous 80 percent from the field for most of the tournament, James showed immense maturity, becoming the team’s leading shot blocker and at times, one of its premier rebounders, and Anthony was the versatile scrapper that filled in the gaps.

A pair of first-ballot hall of famers made the most noticeable difference, though.

Can a 35-year-old, increasingly defenseless point guard spur team success just by flaunting his undefeated record in international play?

Jason Kidd’s statistics for the tournament: 6-7 field goals (he hoisted seven shots the entire tournament), 13 points, 21 rebounds, two blocks, 16 assists, the fourth lowest minutes played on the team, and 12 turnovers.

If you watched any part of the Road to Redemption series, you saw Kidd sternly addressing his teammates. “I am undefeated in Olympic play and I do not intend to lose,” he said.

Colangelo, Mike Krzyzewski and the entire coaching staff would probably attest that Kidd brought more to the team than knowledge of what winning a gold medal felt like.

The U.S. coaches asked Kidd to lead by example, and he did that from pre-Olympic competition to the final match. Sure, Spain’s guards torched the aging veteran, but they did the same to Williams and Paul.

Kidd will retire from international competition as an unspectacular winner. It seems like he did nothing this summer, and yet he did everything he was asked to do.

Then, there was Kobe Bryant, the reigning MVP who had his dreams of a fourth championship snuffed and whacked by a stifling Boston Celtics defense. He needed this tournament as much as it needed him.

He spent most of the preliminary round bricking contested heaves, at one point shooting a dismal 37 percent, clanged 20 of his 50 free throws and landed on the bench early in several games after committing silly fouls.

This indictment assumes, of course, that what Bryant did in the frou frou first round was supposed to matter.

Near the eight-minute mark in the fourth quarter of the gold medal match, Spain’s Rudy Fernandez threw in an off-balance trey to make it a two-point game. Bryant followed an emergency timeout by throwing in a tough jumper. He finessed a two-point leaner with contact, nailed a three after a hard foul and sank the pressure free throws.

The Kobe Bryant that Colangelo envisioned as a clutch performer danced when it mattered most. He tangoed when Spain threatened to steal the lead and the momentum. Then he drowned a spirited comeback attempt in cold-blooded Sangria.

Some players make the kind of difference that’s worth a gold medal. Bryant and Kidd played for the best team in the world, but few can dispute that the roster would have been as good without them.

3) The boy cried fire: A tale of Lithuania’s biggest loser

No player fussed, argued or grimaced more while contributing less than Lithuania’s supposed star shooter Sarunas Jasikevicius did in his team’s bronze medal game collapse.

Argentina’s Javier Gonzalez inadvertently smacked Jasikevicius in the mouth. The team’s trainer worked hastily to stop the blood, so the shooter could return to the floor, where the Argentines already threatened a double-digit advantage.

He spent most of the quarter railing at the refs. He lost control of himself and his team. When Argentina skipped out to a 20-point lead after an Andres Nocioni 20-footer, Jasikevicius stood from his bench perch, trying to rally his teammates with fist pumps and angst.

Doesn’t that say it all? The most important game of the tournament for his team, and he’s sitting on the bench, watching them collapse. Nothing says ‘I want to win’ like barking as your team gets massacred instead of using your supposed leadership qualities to help it punch back.

Knocked in the mouth? Manu Ginobili uses bumps and bruises as motivation for a scoring rampage.

In an earlier friendly match against the United States, Jasikevicius clanged 13 of 15 shots and spent more time handing the ball to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James than he did running his team’s offense.

I was so thrilled when Steve “Snapper” Jones called this guy out during the bronze medal game. The nose mishap messed with his head all right.

Defenseless, tentative and incapable of a comeback, Lithuania’s national team lost 75-87 in the mold of its leader.

Poor Sarunas? He was four-of-12 with four turnovers. If you ever wondered why this talented shooter’s NBA career flopped, this game said it all.

4) Doing the Manu Thing, Ginobili Thwarts Doctors' Suggestions, Pays for it With Surgery That Will Spurn the Spurs

Gregg Popovich wants you to know that he never told Manu Ginobili he was cleared to play in the Olympics. The Spurs medical staff offers the same message.

Popovich watched Ginobili wreck his ankle again in a semifinal match against the United States because he had no choice. The same player who fearlessly attacks any defense’s sharpest teeth would never pass up the chance to carry his country’s flag into the opening ceremony and help it defend its only basketball gold medal.

Popovich was so upset at Ginobili that he picked him up at the San Antonio airport and planted a kiss on his cheek when he arrived. Pop knows when to let reason trump his anxiety.

So, his $10 million a year, super sub investment was willing to risk further injury and damaging his contract negotiations to compete for an Olympic medal.

As Popovich might tell a sideline reporter in a dry, irritated tone, “he’s Manu Ginobili.” The hall of fame bound coach cannot punish his All-Star reserve for several reasons.

He was an assistant coach for Larry Brown in Athens and expressed interest in the job Krzyzewski ultimately won. He understands what it means to represent your country at the Olympics. He knows how much Ginobili cherishes his 2004 gold medal.

Popovich also cannot scorn Ginobili for exhibiting the characteristics of a three-time champion: honor, pride, relentlessness and an overbearing will to win.

Popovich has called Ginobili “the greatest competitor I have ever coached.” A few no-name TV analysts have noticed, too. Charles Barkley, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Doug Collins, Magic Johnson and Jon Barry seem to like the guy.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Ginobili underwent successful arthroscopic surgery and will need two to three months to recover. That’s a best-case scenario.

This bodes badly for the Spurs, plagued in their fourth title defense by hideous scoring droughts. Ginobili was the team’s best player and leading scorer in the regular season. His left ankle injury, aggravated in the first round against the Phoenix Suns, likely cost the Spurs their best shot at a repeat.

The Los Angeles Lakers ousted the Spurs from the Western Conference Finals in five games. In the team’s lone victory, a 19-point drubbing, Ginobili notched 30 points, and a look at the team’s reliance on him in key regular season matches shows a further correlation. Ginobili threw the series loss entirely on his shoulders in several post-series interviews.

To quote Buck Harvey from the Express-News, “the Spurs aren’t special when Manu isn’t.”

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker could manage 25 a piece in every game of Ginobili’s absence, but that’s only 50 points. Roger Mason and Ime Udoka will need to play spectacular basketball or this team will see November rain.

Gone are the days when the Spurs could coast until a post-All-Star break march to the playoffs. In the wild Western Conference, a playoff berth is an achievement. Considering that seven more losses would have dropped the Spurs from third place to out of the 2008 playoff picture, these early season games without Ginobili should matter.

Less than ten games will separate the teams not in the playoffs from the West’s top seed. Consider it a firm prediction from a guy who doesn’t like guessing.

No one should lambaste Ginobili for soldiering through the Olympics, in pain and loaded with expectation. He led the tournament in scoring, was second in assists and top five in steals. However, quoting stats is always a futile exercise with Manu. If you didn’t watch him during The Games, you missed his impact.

He’s the kind of player you must watch to appreciate. Spurs fans will not be watching Ginobili for the regular season’s opening stretch. That’s not a good thing.

The Spurs should consider Ginobili’s Olympic misjudgment, a great show of character and Argentine pride but a poor one for those who distribute his pay check, when the two parties resume extension negotiations.

If the Spurs lose early and it burns their playoff positioning in April, Ginobili will likely blame himself. If his injury hampers the team’s performance beyond early December, he will again hog the blame.

That should factor into the discussions, too.

5) Proposed Randolph Trade Will Push Knicks Closer to 2010 Dream, But it’s Still a Dream

I cannot discuss a proposed trade that would ship Zach Randolph to Memphis without reviewing its greater purpose.

Randolph will earn $48 million over the next three seasons, and the Knicks want that salary headache off the books so they can make a run at LeBron James.

Does Donnie Walsh need to say, “We want LeBron?” Isn’t it obvious?

The Knicks might pursue 2010’s other marquee free agents—Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer—but a bidding war with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets over No. 23 seems inevitable.

I hated this James-chasing nonsense from the start. Why mortgage valuable talent and orchestrate roster-changing trades to try landing a guy who has never said he wants to leave Cleveland?

James said in an Associated Press article that New York “is a great city.” I couldn’t find it in the archives, but he did say that.

So what? What player would not give that answer? He likes New York. That does not mean he wants to play there or leave his high post with the Cavaliers.

New York and New Jersey are banking on preposterous assumptions to guide their already blurry futures. LeBron and Jay-Z, part owner of the Nets, are pals. If Kobe Bryant tells someone that Gregg Popovich is a great coach, does that mean he is headed for the Spurs?

To channel Charles Barkley, Kobe tops all players in the league, but LeBron is “tugging at his cape.” His jumpshot still abandons him and his free throw shooting percentage stinks.

However, he has morphed into an effective defender, using his length to bother dribble penetration, and his unselfishness makes him an attractive star.

I can understand lusting after such a brilliant talent, especially since he led a team of misfits and spare parts to an NBA Finals berth. This early throne preparation still seems extreme to me.

proposed trade, which the AP and ESPN say Memphis has approved:

Knicks get:

• Marko Jaric
• Darko Milicic

Grizzlies get:

• Zach Randolph

The Knicks would part ways with an All-Star caliber low-post threat to score two of the worst underachievers in NBA history.

Randolph kept his promise last season by not causing any trouble. He also didn’t help The Knicks in an embarrassing 23-59 season. The team has been the best show this side of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus or Cirque Du Soleil.

Ridding the New York locker room of Randolph’s steamy temper and sour attitude will help Walsh fix team chemistry. Jaric and Milicic will probably never do anything to deserve their first round selections but they have a chance to succeed in D’Antoni’s run-and-gun system.

That angle makes it a smart trade for both teams. Memphis gets a veteran big man who can bang with the best in the league and New York gets two players who should fit in a fast-paced offense.

If any coach can reach two clueless international players, shouldn’t it be a guy who spent his entire pro career in Italy? Head coach, Mike D’Antoni, will not turn these defenseless losers into defensive stalwarts, but his system could beef their stats enough to make them respectable NBA-level contributors.

The trade is also questionable for both sides.

The Knicks will trade an expensive contract to get one that’s even worse. Jaric’s $21 million deal is one of the ugliest in pro sports. He will steal... earn, that salary over three years.

Even with some emotional baggage, Randolph is a lot more tradable than Jaric.

Many teams can find a use for a former All-Star with a proven post game. Who the hell will want a $21 million, defenseless point guard who cannot run a 24-win team’s offense?

Also, Memphis would add a firecracker to a locker room full of young party favors. What if Randolph explodes? The Grizzlies need to find cagey and smart veterans to tutor Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo and the rest of the young cast. Do you want this guy teaching your kids?

And if Milicic and Jaric crumble as they have for their entire careers, and Randolph works in Memphis, what then?

One must also consider the two teams’ dismal 2008-2009 prospects. This trade could help both teams win at least 30 games, but it will not take either one to the playoffs.

I suppose I will have to wait until 2010 to properly evaluate this move. That summer is what’s on New York’s mind.

6) NBA TV and Turner Broadcasting Get it Right With “Fan Night”

The NBA’s television station will allow fans to vote for the game they would like to see each Tuesday night. It’s about time.

Most cable and satellite providers offer NBA TV as part of a several dollar per month sports package that includes Speed, Versus and other specialty channels. It may not be ESPN, ABC or TNT, but it is national television.

Fans in larger markets may jam online voting, true, but it gives a team like Milwaukee, with no slated national TV appearances, a chance at a nation-wide audience.

The Bucks are one of several teams that could warrant national exposure. That assumes Scott Skiles stirs up some toughness in this bashful squad and it becomes a playoff contender.

Fans can pick on NBA.com each week from a list of the next Tuesday’s contests.

David Stern and his disciples have allowed teams to increasingly price out the best fans in favor of dispassionate jewelry rattlers. More fan involvement is a good move.

7) I Give Not So Thunderous Applause for OKC’s New NBA Identity

How many people that were not contractually obligated by Clay Bennett to praise his new team’s nickname and logo did so?

A batch of Oklahomans threw out support for the name “Thunder,” while others in the state called it simple and stupid. You can read articles on the subject at The Oklahoman’s Web site.

He was a Sonic, but what do I call Kevin Durant now? I refuse to give up on the theory that people use singular sports team names to piss off nitpickers like me.

Writers in the Bay Area have also pondered how the team will choose a mascot when the Golden State Warriors already employ one who dresses in a thunder costume.

I liked ‘Marshals’ way better than ‘Thunder’ and voted accordingly on the Oklahoman’s Web site. ‘Thunder’ did win the newspaper’s naming poll, and it has marketing potential.

I will leave it to Bennett and crew to convince me that my nickname bashing is baseless.

Can you feel ‘The Thunder?’ The clichés write themselves.