World Championship
LONDON – Ten years ago, San
Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford walked into a steak
house in Indianapolis, leaned into a private dining room, and witnessed Manu
Ginobili and the brokenhearted Argentine silver medalists
gathered at a long table for dinner. Children bounced on knees, wives and
girlfriends chatted, and the fiber of a 2004 Olympic gold medalist strengthened
itself in the aftermath of basketball's '02 world championships.
Argentina had delivered the United States its first loss in the post-Dream
Team era, sending a ragged and motley Team USA tumbling toward sixth place and a
well-deserved moment of global reckoning. USA Basketball
had no system, no soul, no vision. The program had collapsed under the weight of
its own neglect and hubris, a sense of entitlement that ultimately met its
international match with a relentless band of brothers out of Argentina.
Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford walked into a steak
house in Indianapolis, leaned into a private dining room, and witnessed Manu
Ginobili and the brokenhearted Argentine silver medalists
gathered at a long table for dinner. Children bounced on knees, wives and
girlfriends chatted, and the fiber of a 2004 Olympic gold medalist strengthened
itself in the aftermath of basketball's '02 world championships.
Argentina had delivered the United States its first loss in the post-Dream
Team era, sending a ragged and motley Team USA tumbling toward sixth place and a
well-deserved moment of global reckoning. USA Basketball
had no system, no soul, no vision. The program had collapsed under the weight of
its own neglect and hubris, a sense of entitlement that ultimately met its
international match with a relentless band of brothers out of Argentina.
In Argentina
Argentina had long been a good team, but Manu Ginobili's emerging greatness promised to make them champions. He was daring and fearless, alive with a fervor and an innate sense of duty and obligation for the greater good of his basketball teams.
"The American guys had limousines lined up at the team hotel to get out of
Indy as soon as they could," Buford said by phone from San Antonio this week.
"The way the Argentines played, the passion they had for their national program,
the way that they cared about each other, was something that was clearly missing
with the U.S. program."
A senior USA Basketball official, Sean Ford, happened to be at the restaurant in July 2002, and the scene of the Argentine team stayed with him. As much as any national team on the planet, Argentina's rise to relevance demanded something closer to a revolution than a response stateside. Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski were hired, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd were recruited, and truer training camps and feeder systems were installed.
"The American guys had limousines lined up at the team hotel to get out of
Indy as soon as they could," Buford said by phone from San Antonio this week.
"The way the Argentines played, the passion they had for their national program,
the way that they cared about each other, was something that was clearly missing
with the U.S. program."
A senior USA Basketball official, Sean Ford, happened to be at the restaurant in July 2002, and the scene of the Argentine team stayed with him. As much as any national team on the planet, Argentina's rise to relevance demanded something closer to a revolution than a response stateside. Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski were hired, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd were recruited, and truer training camps and feeder systems were installed.