Mike Krzyzewski to step down as the coach of US National Basketball team after London Olympics
The coach of the USA national basketball team, Mike Krzyzewski, has announced that he will relinquish his position as coach after the summer Olympic Games in London this year.
Mike, who is also the coach of Duke University, was made coach of the national team before the 2008 Olympics in China. He made the announcement at the U.S Olympic Committees Media Summit.
"I think this is the last time. I hope we can win the gold medal” said Krzyzewski
The US national team had fallen off the world stage, finishing 6th place at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis and then finishing with a Bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. USA basketball then installed Jerry Colangelo as chairman, who hired Krzyzewski at the coach of the national team. Krzyzewski has had a successful run with the team, winning the gold medal at the Beijing Games and then winning the FIBA World Championship in Turkey in 2010.
"I think it will always be [that way] for whoever the men's coach is ... just because there's an assumption that the U.S. should just win and that it wouldn't take very much. And I think that assumption led us to not winning during a long period of time, so we've stopped assuming and started working” said Krzyzewski referring to the high expectations placed on US national teams.
This time around will be a very tricky assignment for the coach as the US national team is already missing some key players. LaMarcus Aldridge, Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard and Chauncey Billups have already been ruled out with injuries. Chris Bosh recently was injured in an NBA Eastern Conference Semi Final clash against the Indiana Pacers. Although the initial reports suggest it is only a strained abdominal muscle but it is too early to say if he will be completely healthy for the camp before the Olympics.
After the flurry of injuries, Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden and university of Kentucky forward Anthony Davis have been added to the preliminary roster.
Davis was the star player of the Kentucky team which won the NCAA tournament this year. He is predicted to be the #1 Draft Pick at this year’s NBA Draft. With the addition of Davis into the squad, the USA roster has only four centre/power forwards. These are Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and Anthony Davis. If Bosh recovers in time, he will be the fifth.
Although LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant can play at the power forward position as well, the centre position will remain weak. This will be an issue when USA will take on Spain, which has the three big men in Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol and Serge Ibaka.
USA Basketball was initially scheduled to announce their 12 man squad on June 18th. However, the date for the announcement has now been moved to July 7th, as the NBA Finals can go up to June 26th if they go to 7 games.
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