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Could the U.S. have avoided the Dream Team disaster?

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Warriors-Knicks trade talks dead | Point guard merry-go-round continues | Can Kemp regain the Magic in Orlando? | Peep Show

NBA position battles: Will the Pistons push Chucky Atkins aside?

NBA Free Agent Watch

INDIANAPOLIS -- Punch drunk, slapped silly and kicked in the craw, the president of USA Basketball officially declared the city of Indianapolis a disaster area Thursday night after Team USA was knocked out of medal contention by Yugoslavia.

The last time the U.S. finished fifth or worse in either the World Championships or the Olympics was 1978, when America featured a team of Irvin Kiffin, Tim Hall, Eugene Parker and Brad Hoffman. Exactly.

There isn't a humble pie big enough to compensate for the fact that New Zealand, a team the U.S. trounced by 50 points, will be playing for a medal on Saturday. Our lot is the consolation bracket, where you've got to believe Jay Williams, Raef LaFrentz and Elton Brand will finally get to see some playing time.

After Wednesday night's loss to Argentina, it was still vogue for sports writers to beat their chests and proclaim that this one time aberration did not knock America off its "best in the world" pedestal. After two straight losses, and a probable fifth-place finish, it sounds a little silly to be talking about the world catching up to us. If we don't, it's only a matter of time before Angola starts licking their chops.

We're in their rear view mirror at the moment.

After the game, Antonio Davis tried to piece together what this team had learned. "Coming into this thing, I don't think we realized how important it is to the other teams and how important it should've been to us, not only to represent our country, but represent the game of basketball . . . Our young people today and our coaches of today have to go out and teach guys the game of basketball the right way. I think if we continue to do that we'll grow as much as they've grown."

What else did we learn? Could USA Basketball have avoided this embarrassment? Probably. Insider talked to several NBA scouts and coaches to piece together what we should do the next time around.

1. Get a coach that's intimately familiar with international competition

This isn't a knock on George Karl or the Team USA coaching staff. But it was painfully apparent, especially against Argentina, that the U.S. wasn't prepared for all of the clever offenses and style of play that was thrown at it. I know bestowing this job on a top-flight coach every two years is a great honor, but we need to find a coach who understands the international game and stick with him. Yugoslavia's coach, Svetislav Pesic, was there when Vlade Divac was a teenager. Continuity, a tried and true offensive system that works under FIBA rules and a staff that has intimately scouted each of the opposing teams would do wonders. Why not appoint someone like Suns assistant Mike D'Antoni (who recently coached Benetton Treviso in the Euroleague Final Four) and leave him there for the next 10 years? That way the coach isn't learning right along with the players. Maybe D'Antonio can develop a system that works in international competition.

2. Do a better job recruiting players for Team USA

You can blame Shaq, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady all you want for skipping this event, but USA Basketball also deserves some of the blame. If you can't sell a tournament like this to the fans, how do you sell it to the players? No one wants to give up a summer just to have a bull's-eye painted on his jersey. Maybe we should throw the Dream Teamers a little cash. Given the rapidly shrinking free agent market, it might actually mean someting to them.

We'll never get Shaq back (even the Lakers are having problems motivating him) but we should do a better job recruiting our younger players to get involved. We also should make each appointment to the team a four-year commitment. The team needs continuity. If every two years, only half of the team was replaced, we'd always have players on the floor who have been there before.

3. Build a better balanced team

Ben Wallace is a fantastic player, but he's all wrong for this style of play. International big men spend most of the game along the perimeter, keeping great rebounders and shot blockers like Wallace out of position to do what they do best. On offense, the U.S. had virtually no low-post game to speak of. The U.S. guards have been criticized for being too selfish with the ball, but who exactly were they supposed to throw it to? Wallace and Davis are liabilities on offense and Karl spent much of the game playing them together. Our most versatile center offensively, LaFrentz, never got in the game. Jermaine O'Neal can score, but his game never seemed to translate here. That's why Andre Miller kept experiencing some serious Cavs deja vu and started chucking up 17 shots a night.

The team also needs more than two outside threats. Almost everyone on the Argentina and Yugoslavia teams can shoot from the perimeter. Even Divac was making threes Thursday night. We cringed when anyone not named Reggie Miller or Paul Pierce took a shot from beyond the arc the last two games.

Finally, the U.S. needs to be careful about who it picks to run the team. This isn't an indictment on Andre Miller who, next to Pierce, is Team USA's most consistent player. But when Andre wasn't in the game, the offense became stagnant. The team would've been better off with Pepe Sanchez as the backup point guard most nights. Carrying two young point guards is always a risk. I know Jason Kidd backed out at the last minute, but why didn't USA Basketball give Gary Payton a call?

4. Give the team more time to prepare

It was painfully obvious, especially offensively, that the team never quite got in synch. "We've been going through a feeling-out process," said Elton Brand, "and with 10-minute quarters in international ball you can't do that." Two weeks isn't enough time to prepare for international competition. If the U.S. hires a regular coach, gets longer commitments for its players and then seriously institutes a more regimented and frequent training schedule, we'll be ready for Athens in 2004.

Yugoslavia delivers the knockout blow to USA Basketball

Chad Ford / ESPN.com

No Longer on Top of the World

Michael Wilbon / Washington Post

Players' individualism is U.S. team's fatal flaw

C. Jemal Horton / Indianapolis Star

NBA stars left U.S. in the lurch

Jay Mariotti / Chicago Sun-Times

A world of reasons for American failure

Rick Telander / Chicago Sun-Times

Warriors-Knicks trade talks dead

So much for a no-brainer deal. Just days after the Warriors offered the Knicks a sweetheart deal of Danny Fortson and Chris Mills for Charlie Ward and Travis Knight, it appears that Knicks GM Scott Layden won't pull the trigger, a league source told Insider Thursday night.

The Warriors, who are desperately trying to find some chemistry and some cap room, were willing to basically give Fortson, the fourth-leading rebounder in the NBA last season, away for nothing.

The Knicks, however, are hoping to use Ward in a package deal that addresses a need ¡ª either point guard or center. Fortson, an undersized power forward, would create a bit of a logjam with Antonio McDyess, Kurt Thomas, Clarence Weatherspoon and Othella Harrington on the roster.

The Knicks' surprising decision to pass on the Warriors' offer leaves Golden State in a bit of a lurch. Fortson now knows he's trade bait and he isn't happy.

"I already have enough baggage on me. I don't need another suitcase in my belongings," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. Fortson is vowing not to relinquish his starting position to Antawn Jamison without a fight.

"Antawn wasn't happy whenever I was playing the 4 [power forward]," Fortson said. "I have a problem with just because he's Antawn Jamison, I should give up my spot because he wants it. The only problem I see with me being at Golden State is Antawn Jamison and me in training camp. I'm not going to give it up easily. He's going to have to take it from me.

"He's bold enough to tell everyone that he wants to play power forward. I hope he's out there lifting weights and is ready to bang. . . . Give me a good enough reason to sit on the bench."

Fortson not leaving without fight

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Point guard merry-go-round continues

The point guard merry-go-round continued Thursday as Travis Best became the latest free agent to bite the bullet, swallow his pride and take the Heat's one-year, $1.4 million offer.

That's tough medicine to swallow when you consider that Best turned down a three-year contract worth roughly $7 million to play in Minnesota just a few days ago. "Travis has talked about playing for the Heat for several years," Forrest King, Best's agent, told the Sun Sentinel. "The whole time we were in Indianapolis we talked to [general anager] Donnie [Walsh] about a trade. We're just happy he got an opportunity to play for the Heat."

According to King, Best rejected the Timberwolves' offer because of the unknown status of injured starter Terrell Brandon.

The move by the Heat spells the end of Rod Strickland's one-year tenure with Miami. Will he now move onto Cleveland or Boston? Both teams have been spurned over the last few days by the likes of Best and Erick Strickland. With Kevin Ollie agreeing to a one-year, minimum deal with the Bucks Thursday, the pickings are getting pretty slim.

Celtics GM Chris Wallace isn't even sure he'll get a point guard now. "We had narrowed in on that [point guard] position to see how it all shook out among the upper-echelon players," Wallace told the Boston Globe. "Now, we are expanding the search. We're starting to look more seriously at players at other positions."

That leaves Cleveland for Strickland, right? "We've had meaningful discussions with Rod, and he has an interest in coming to Cleveland," GM Jim Paxson told the Akron Beacon Journal. "But there are some financial things that would have to be worked out."

Strickland and agent Leon Rose met Wednesday night in Houston with Cavs coach John Lucas. Rose said it was a "very positive'' meeting and that both sides would be "very comfortable" with each other.

Where does that leave Damon Jones, Cleveland's second option should Strickland go elsewhere? He may be the last point guard left without a chair when the music stops.

Heat picks up free agent Best

Harvey Fialkov / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best should prove better

Ira Winderman / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best snubs Celtics, signs on with Heat

Shira Springer / Boston Globe

Signing Strickland: Does it make cents?

Chris Tomasson / Akron Beacon-Journal

Bucks sign veteran guard Ollie

Staff / Racine Journal Times

Can Kemp regain the Magic in Orlando?

After balking at signing Keon Clark because of character issues, it seems entirely consistent that a few weeks later we learn that the Magic have given a job to Shawn Kemp, a man of enormous character (we'll let you decide what kind).

We did our homework, our research, discussed other possibilities and made a decision," GM John Gabriel told the Orlando Sentinel. "We thought this was the best solution in helping our team."

This is not, Gabriel says, a move of desperation.

"No," Gabriel said. "It wasn't. We don't view it like that at all. Desperation moves are ones that affect the core of your team. This is an addition to our club from last year."

But it was a gamble. The truth is, if Kemp gets himself in shape and stays focused, the Magic have a steal on their hands and a chance to compete for the Eastern Conference Championship. If he doesn't, Doc Rivers is looking at yet another early playoff exit.

Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill have already walked (or limped) through that door. That Kemp is seen as a possible savior puts the Magic's woes in perspective, writes Sentinel columnist Brian Schmitz.

"Kemp needs them as much as the Magic need Kemp, a sad commentary either way you look at it.They could be picky and principled when they had Shaq. The Magic now are fighting to reclaim this market. Attendance is down. The arena issue simmers. Grant Hill's ankle still causes nervous stomachs. In Kemp, the Magic have signed a 6-10 wide-body who, frankly, represents everything that once repulsed DeVos. But they are in dire need of big men, and nobody on the waiver wire or out on bail is seemingly off limits."

Magic sign 'big' Kemp

Jerry Brewer / Orlando Sentinel

Kemp can help the Magic

Brian Schmitz / Orlando Sentinel

Peep Show

Mavs: It appears that, after spending much of the summer at a standstill, the Mavs are talking with restricted free agent Eduardo Najera and "moving in a positive direction," president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. Najera is seeking a long-term deal that would provide security in Dallas and is expected to secure $2-3 million per year. "Things look good," owner Mark Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. "It's not done, but it looks good."

Hawks: The team has finally come to an agreement with 6-foot-7 guard Ira Newble on a one-year contract for next season. "We have our inside defensive specialist in Theo Ratliff and our outside defensive specialist in Ira," vice president and general manager Pete Babcock told the Atlanta Constitution Journal. The Hawks did not reveal numbers on the deal, but Newble, 27, is believed to be getting $700,000. He turned down an offer of one year plus an option.

Pacers, Celtics: Erick Strickland, who signed a one-year, $762,435 deal with the Pacers Thursday, said he chose Indiana over Boston because the Pacers seemed "more committed to winning." I bet Celtics GM Chris Wallace loved hearing that.

Mavs expect to re-sign Najera

Jodie Valade / Dallas Morning News

Newble consents to one-year contract

Jeffrey Denberg / Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Pacers get new backup guard

Mark Montieth / Indianapolis Star

[hds428]

if we could get in on the Fortson deal, he'd be a good solid addition to our front line. Hell if GS was only asking for Ward and Mills maybe they would do it for Hendu and junkmail!

[Guest]

No Fortson...read what he says...he can clearly

tell he is a troublemaker...no deal I don;t want

him and he wouldn't be good for the team.