Semis Sweet

Spain beats Lithuania and Team USA beats Argentina to set up the Gold Medal match on Sunday that we all expected. The results were as we expected, but there were certainly some surprises in getting those results. The first is that Spain played without Jose Calderon, who injured his adductor muscle and is questionable for the Gold Medal game on Sunday. Calderon just signed a huge contract with Toronto, who have had their share of injury issues with their International players, including just last year with Spain and Jorge Garbojosa. You can be sure that Bryan Colangelo, who is there in China watching his players and also cheering on his dad Jerry, is all over trying to make sure that Calderon is being taken care of in the way that is best for his future. It is an unusual and awkward position for Colangelo, because of the relationships he has with Toronto, Team USA, and also the Spanish Federation.

Argentina just announced the Manu Ginobili, who re-injured his foot and missed most of today’s game against Team USA, is out for the Bronze Medal Game on Sunday. The Spurs have a similar situation with Ginobili that Toronto has with Calderon. They are trying to protect their interest in their star player who is part of the winningest franchise in the sport over the last 10 years. They had their doctors managing Manu and I am sure that part of them did not want him to play. Ginobili was offered the honor of being the flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony and Spurs G.M. R.C. Buford has said that he knew that there was no way Manu was not going to try to play for his home country.

Personally, I think these guys should give every effort to play on their homeland team. I know that their economic future lies with their NBA teams and that they owe a debt to the organization that provides their salary. Playing with your fellow nationals for the honor and glory of your country is too neat of an opportunity to miss, in my opinion.

Argentina tried to hang around today and fought their way back after being down 21 early on to close it to 6 late in the first half. The U.S. kept fouling ARG and sent them to the line to make 12 free throws over a 5 minute stretch. Scola was fantastic and Nocioni and Delfino (along with role player Quinteros) all had their moments in keeping ARG alive for a time in the first half.  ARG made a huge mistake when they fouled Carmelo Anthony on a 3 Point attempt with just a few seconds left in the half. ‘Melo hit all 3 F.T.’s to change the lead from only up 6 to up 9 and a lot of the air was taken out of their sails as they went to the locker room.

Lithuania lost out to Spain but had a wonderful tournament. They have been an amazing model of consistency in Olympic play, seemingly reaching the semifinals every single time they play. They have such an amazing array of big guys that can play and shoot and run. They can just keep them coming at you one after another. Kleiza did not have a big game today like I thought he would need to in order for LIT to win. Jasikevicius to me is the Colin Montgomerie of basketball. “Monty” has never reached the expectations in the Majors that people have had for him. He is “0 for his Life” in Majors, but when the Ryder Cup rolls around, he is absolutely as good as anyone has ever been. Sarunas has a very similar story. He never reached the potential in the NBA that many, including myself, thought he would reach. He has been, however, a monster in International play over the years and I think that the U.S. is glad that they don’t have to see him on Sunday.

• Viktor Khryapa, former NBA player who plays for Russia, has a brother Mikhail who is also good basketball player. What is unique is that his brother plays for Ukraine not Russia. By the way, Viktor missed all the preperation period but still was able to play the tourney on one leg, basically. Russian coach David Blatt, who is an American with dual citizenship, played for Pete Carrill at Princeton. He is very high on Khyapa.

• Dan Doyle is an old friend of mine; a fellow Irishman and fellow former coach who shares a lot of my values and beliefs. He is a lot smarter than I am and a much better person, which is why I chose him to be our next guest in our “5 Questions with….” segment. The Olympic Games, long thought to be the ultimate celebration of amateur sports and all that is right with sport in the world have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. The state of sports in the U.S., has also changed dramatically over the last 20 years (as well as it having changed internationally over the last several years). I thought it would be good to check in with one of my moral compasses, especially since we are out here at the NBC Sports studios in Stamford, CT, just down the road from Dan’s home turf of Rhode Island.

Dan is the  Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island, and author of “The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting.” He is the former head men’s basketball coach at Trinity College, where he led Trinity to national rankings, and was named New England College Coach of the Year

5 Questions with…….Dan Doyle

Q1: The US Men’s Hoops Team has been receiving a lot of attention for their seemingly new found   change in attitude this time around. They have been praised for their sportsmanship and their behavior both on and off the court. Some think it is fantastic while others think that you shouldn’t get extra credit for just acting like a normal decent person. Your thoughts?

A1:  In The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting, I wrote a section entitled, Ten Reasons Why Your Athlete Must Adhere to High Standards of Behavior.  Point #10 is as follows:  Considerate behavior by an athlete toward others produces a disproportionate amount of goodwill, just as inconsiderate behavior by an athlete toward others produces a disproportionate amount of ill will.

Coach K and his staff have created an admirable culture of “selfless ambition”…everything for the good of the team.  This culture has been reflected on and off the court, and has clearly helped to erase our tarnished hoops image abroad – not only as it relates to selfish play, but to immature behavior.  Whether or not the American men win the Gold, I am proud of the way our team has performed in all respects. They have played like professionals and behaved like Olympians. I imagine that many of the forefathers of Olympic basketball, Oscar, West, Russell and Bradley to name a few, feel the same way.

In this case, extra credit is in order.

Q2: The game of basketball seems to be growing in popularity in some areas of the world not known in the past for their basketball interest or success. Besides countries in this tournament like China and Mali, what are some countries that you have been to recently that might surprise our readers as having a love for and/or a new proficiency for basketball?

A2: Let me answer this with four points, beginning with a country I visited nearly three decades ago:

• In 1979, my Trinity Men’s Basketball team became the first American team to travel to Cuba since the Revolution of 1959.  We played the Cuban Men’s National team, and I also conducted a three-hour clinic with the Cuban Women’s National team.  During the trip, I became convinced that as soon as the fundamentals of the game caught up with the considerable athleticism which abounds in countries like Cuba, that we would see much greater parity on an international scale.  Obviously, parity has arrived on the men’s side, and will no doubt evolve on the women’s side in the next decade or two.

• In the 90’s, my Institute for International Sport initiated basketball projects in both Burundi and South Africa.  Each project included sending American coaches and equipment to the countries, and bringing the National Men’s teams of both countries to the United States for an exhibition tour.  With more teaching, facilities and strength enhancement equipment, Burundi, which is a land-locked country in Central Africa that has been overrun with violence between the Hutus and the Tutsis, could become a formidable presence on the international scene.  Over the two year span we worked in Burundi in the early 90’s, our “Project Burundi” made considerable progress in this regard.  Unfortunately, when the violence resurfaced, we had to shut down the project.  That said, there was no doubt in my mind that this small African country could produce some world-class basketball players, particularly from the Tutsi population, which has an average height of about 6’7”.

Through our basketball project in South Africa in the late 90’s, I saw similar potential.  Since we worked in South Africa, the sport has progressed quite well. I believe you will see this trend of improvement continue in South Africa.

• A key point to consider is that in many countries – including third-world countries – young players with potential are generally receptive to instruction on fundamentals, as they are diligent in their practice routines.  In future Olympic Games, both our men’s and women’s teams will be challenged…which makes the competition all the more fun and meaningful.  This reality suggests that we should stay on the track set by Jerry Colangelo; name the head coach and pick the American squad two or three years in advance of the Games, and develop 12 players into a true “team.”

• In the next decade or two, our chief rival, economically, technologically, and on the basketball court – will be China!

Q3: What are your thoughts about NBA players (and other professionals) playing in the Olympics compared to the days of college kids only?

A3: In the mid-70’s, I took my Kingswood-Oxford high school team to Europe. One evening in Spain, we attended a Real Madrid game.  Real Madrid featured two terrific American players, Walter Szczerbiak, father of current NBA player Wally, and Gene Brabender, who had played at the University of Minnesota.

The game pitted Real Madrid against the Yugoslavian National team, starring the late Kresimir Cosic, who is now in the Basketball Hall of Fame. I sat with a Real Madrid executive, who explained that every player on the Spanish National team – as well as every player on the Yugoslavian National team – was a “paid professional”.  It was during this conversation that I realized it would only be a matter of time before the Olympic basketball competition became open to all players, including NBA players.

As for the question of college players versus professionals, given the way that other countries have improved, all the while employing paid professionals, I do not believe that our college kids would stand a chance of even a Bronze medal.  For that reason, and many others, I have no problem with NBA players competing in the Olympics – for the U.S. or other countries.

Q4: As an career advocate of sportsmanship and good parenting in athletics, how has the parenting of young athletes changed for better or worse over the last few years?

A4: Deb Doermann Burch and I spent nearly eight years writing The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting to address this very important issue. We realized from the outset that there is much greater parental engagement than that which existed 15 to 20 years ago. A key objective of the book is to provide sports parents with a coherent philosophy that they can employ in dealing with a variety of issues. This includes the important issue of parent interaction with a coach, which is one of the biggest changes that has surfaced in the last two decades.

A core principle of the book is as follows:

On matters of playing time and strategy, parents should refrain from contacting the coach. By contrast, if it is a matter of ethics – or a medical issue – a parent not only has the right, but the obligation to interact with the coach.

The positive sports experience encompasses a child taking the journey toward self-reliance. When a problem surfaces, the good sports parent is one who acts as “counselor of wisdom” – guiding the child toward the solution, but allowing the child to work out the problem.

The intrusive sports parent – and there are far too many in American society – is the one who employs the “quick fix” but imprudent response of impulsively calling the coach to complain.

A wise sports parent is one who recognizes that the full sports experience is replete with lessons – both from success and failure. While it is difficult to quantify sports parenting improvement or regression, it is clear that responding proportionally to a problem is the mark not only of a leader…but of an effective sports parent.

Q5: There are a ton of athletes, in a wide range of sports, that are representing countries other than the countries that they were born in. Certainly there are many different stories and reasons for each athlete, but the basketball athletes (Chris Kaman, J.R. Holden and Becky Hammon)  have received a lot of coverage. How do you feel about this?

I thought that Harvey Araton of the New York Times had it right about Becky Hammon when he wrote, ‘she is representing the Russian Basketball Federation, not the government that sent troops into Georgia, stirring old Cold War tensions on the eve of the Games.’

I believe that an American athlete has the obligation to always try to represent the United States in Olympic competition. But if the door is closed to an American Olympic team, as appears to be the case with both Becky and Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers, and if the athlete has fulfilled dual citizenship requirements, then I have no problem with the athlete making the only competitive choice available.

One possible future problem is that an increase in elite athletes with dual citizenship could conceivably cause bidding wars for their services on Olympic teams. Up to this point, I see no evidence of this occurring. If it does surface as a problem, the IOC could deal with it by establishing a “country of primary residency” rule, similar to what we do in the United States with respect to paying State taxes. This is why you see so many wealthy Americans living in Florida for six or more months!

I do feel that if an American citizen has grown up here, and enjoyed the many benefits of being an American, his or her first obligation is to play for America.

Thanks go out to Dan for his insight and expertise. Please check out his work and his efforts at his website for his Institute for International Sport at:

http://www.internationalsport.com/iishome.cfm