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KoriEllis
09-03-2004, 07:29 AM
David Flores: Bass stunned by USA's bronze
Web Posted: 09/03/2004 12:00 AM CDT

www.mysanantonio.com/spor...5aecb.html (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA090304.1C.Florescolumn.4555aecb.html)


San Antonio Express-News

For all the obvious reasons, the United States' embarrassing performance in the men's basketball competition was one of the major story lines of the Olympics.

In San Antonio, former Spurs coach and NBA executive Bob Bass watched on TV and was puzzled by what he saw happening in Athens, Greece.

On second thought, "mortified" might be a better word to describe how Bass felt after the United States, with a team comprised of NBA players, went 5-3 and had to settle for the bronze medal.

"I thought we were going to win all the time," Bass said. "Even going into the fourth quarter of the semifinal against Argentina, I thought we were going to pull it out. I thought we'd hit two or three shots in a row, get some steals and rattle them."

It didn't happen.

The Argentines, led by Spurs star Manu Ginobili, beat the Yanks 89-81 last Friday and went on to win the gold medal.

Bass, who returned to San Antonio in June after retiring as the New Orleans Hornets' executive vice president of basketball operations, still was baffled by the Americans' meltdown when we spoke Wednesday.

"I don't think I've ever seen an instance where the style of the international game neutralized the athletic ability of the American team," Bass said. "We had some great athletes over there, but as far as that athleticism being a real big factor, I didn't see it."

The Americans had won 109 of 111 Olympic games dating back to 1936. More importantly, they were 24-0 since NBA players were first invited to fill out the U.S roster in 1992.

The U.S. team lost as many games — in pool play, mind you — as it did in Olympic competition in the previous 68 years combined.

"There's no question that they're playing great basketball outside the United States now," Bass said. "I think the ballhandling on those European teams is better, for example, but I think our perimeter defense was subpar.

"We didn't get a lot of easy baskets and score in transition off our defense."

The rest of the world has made up a lot of jump shots on U.S. basketball over the past decade, as indicated by the growing number of international players in the NBA.

There are a variety of reasons why the Americans didn't bring home the gold, including poor shooting, poor perimeter defense and the absence of a bona fide center.

But there was one glaring flaw in the makeup of the team: The players didn't complement each other.

The bottom line is that the USA Basketball selection committee dropped the ball in its arrogance and the miscalculation was costly.

True, the committee was turned down by a number of top-tier NBA players. But it's almost as if the committee forgot that basketball is a team sport, foolishly figuring that the United States would bring home the gold with any squad comprised of NBA players.

Bass, 75, defended coach Larry Brown and the selection committee, but he didn't disagree with some of the other points I've made.

Bass scoffed at the notion that the international game has a better flow than an NBA game, making it more appealing to fans.

"If the game was like that over here, nobody would pay $50 to watch it," he said. "I don't think that style of play would fill the arenas. It gets tiresome to watch perimeter shooting the whole night.

"That's not fun to watch; that's not as exciting. Fans want to see players make plays. I think we've got a great game for the fans in the NBA."

Bass was a member of the selection committee that picked the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team."

"Somehow, the players who can go over there and win it are going to have to make a commitment to play in the summer," he said. "I know that's a hard situation because of injuries and free agency, but you've got to put a team together early enough to where it can practice together for a while."

One thing Bass doesn't advocate is a return to the days when the United States sent its best collegiate players to the Olympics.

"They'd get wiped out," Bass said. "It would be a disaster."

Given what happened in Athens, who would disagree?