Mike K's tenure as team USA questioned...

[Errntknght]

From a rumors page...

Bronze-Medal fallout
October 1
New York Daily News (scroll down): "Considering how Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski went against orders and did not play the Phoenix Suns-style offense, wouldn't implement zone defenses and didn't seek input from his assistants, nobody will be surprised if he bows out before next summer's competition in Venezuela."

 

[overseascardfan]

Is D'Antoni coaching the Italian team? Because if Colangelo wanted Team USA to play like the Sun's then why didn't he put D'Antoni as head coach. I think Billy Donovan would be a great replacement for Coach K. He is a disciplinarian who would stress defense and is one of the best young college coaches in the country.

 

[George O'Brien]

I think Coach K fell into the trap of believing that pressure defense was the answer to everything. I think part of it is that the USA team could play a level of pressure defense that no one had experience against. However, he was totally unprepared for the Greeks.

Part of the problem was that the theory the USA team used was that if you could get the ball out of the hands of the point guard, the other team's offense would be severly limited. This broke down because the Greeks could use other people to not only bring the ball up, but even to run the pick and roll with.

Ironically, since most teams used zone defenses, the Greeks never even showed their pick and roll in the games prior to the USA team. Without a zone, the USA team was very ill prepared for what they met.

On offense, Coach K did not understand the D'Antoni theory that the way to beat the zone is to shoot early before it is set up. That plus putting all shooters on the floor all the time.