| South Florida Sun-Sentinel Jun. 23--One thing got lost in all the fuss over whether Heat star Dwyane Wade should play for the U.S. national team at the Beijing Olympics this summer. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS The U.S. team really doesn't need him to win a gold medal. It used to be that was no big deal, but things changed as the world got better and the best Americans stopped playing in international competition. USA Basketball called in Jerry Colangelo to fix things and, what do you know, he actually did it. The powerhouse U.S. Olympic team announced Monday, three years in the making, is the final proof. "I thought the culture certainly needed to change", Colangelo said Monday. "We needed new infrastructure. We needed commitment from players and coaches. All of that took place and culminated with the selection of the 12 players today to represent the United States in Beijing." Putting together a U.S. team truly representative of the quality of basketball in this country is what it's been about all along. Given our best players are in the NBA, with multimillion-dollar salaries, long seasons and other selfish concerns, it was no given that Colangelo would get it done. His chances appeared even slimmer after he announced in 2006 that playing for the national team would no longer be a luxury for players. Colangelo said the commitment was three summers, training camps included, or no Beijing. This might have been a shock to the system for star players accustomed to everyone around them catering to their needs. There was a chance such tough talk would backfire, and the U.S. would end up with a team of second-level NBA players. Instead, Colangelo has a team capable of reclaiming the country's place at the top of international basketball. The team isn't the absolute best the U.S. could put together, but it's pretty close. It's so good that U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski answered a question about having Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams at point guard by noting that Wade, Kobe Bryant, or LeBron James also could fill that role. All that talent doesn't guarantee gold, even considering the three summers it will have had to develop chemistry. It does, however, mark an impressive achievement by Colangelo, the former NBA executive. Throughout the process, Colangelo wasn't shy about calling out players he felt were wavering on their commitment, and even took on James last year. There's been some buzz about NBA teams discouraging their players from playing this summer but none of it ever made it to Colangelo. "Let's put it this way: I read and heard 1/8the concerns3/8 about guys participating, but no one said it to me face-to-face or picked up the phone to express it", he said. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and my opinion, since you asked me, is it's a little selfish to think of it only in that way. "There is something about national pride and representing the country." There is something to that, and that's why it was perilous for any NBA executives to publicly discourage players from Beijing. Still, it's not hard to figure patriotism isn't why some players are doing it. They see dollar signs with the Olympics in a massive emerging consumer market. But cashing in is part of the American way, too. The players go to China as pitchmen but also as Americans, so if selfish goals lead to Olympic glory, that's just how it is. Even if the Americans somehow don't win gold at the Olympics, Colangelo now has a blueprint on how to do it in the future. "The vision he had to build this infrastructure and program, it is a program right now worthy of winning", Coach K said. "This is the summer we have been preparing for and it's here. It's not about sacrificing." It is a sacrifice, of course, and that's why skeptics wondered if Colangelo could ever put together a team this good. But he did it so well that Wade, one of the few prominent NBA players willing to play in the 2004 Athens Olympics, goes to Beijing as a role player. That's a good sign that American basketball is back, thanks to Colangelo. Michael Cunningham can be reached at mcunningham@sun-sentinel.com.
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