Colangelo gets basketball ‘fix’ from U.S. hoops squad

By Rob Miech

Monday, July 27, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

In the alley behind his home on 22nd Street in Hungry Hill, on the south side of Chicago, someone tossed 7-year-old Jerry Colangelo a basketball.

“Just the smell of that ball meant so much to me,” he says of that moment in 1946. “It was the beginning of a love affair. Been that way ever since.”

His 10 grandchildren often hear that story.

“It’s part of the legacy,” Colangelo says. “A little bit of my life.”

That’s why the 69-year-old patriarch of the U.S. national hoops team sits courtside at Valley High before any Team USA prospect takes a shot or starts stretching.

Colangelo watches everything. He has no time for small talk with whoever sits next to him, unless it’s Mike Krzyzewski or Mike D’Antoni. Even then, chatter with the coaches is minimal.

There are nuances to catch, subtleties to remember and bad habits (if not names) to forget.

Colangelo digests everything. He owes it to the game.

“Well, basketball has been so good to me,” he says. “It’s given me a life, a family and a career. I’ve been blessed in so many ways. For me, it’s my connection with the game.

“Now that I’m out of the NBA, this is my fix, my basketball fix. That passion for the game, I’ve never lost that. And I never will, as long as I’m walking.”

The mini-camp in Las Vegas was Colangelo’s latest idea, a way to gauge if young pros fit into the Team USA family and to continue the squad’s summer Vegas connection.

“I was excited to get this camp started,” he says. “I love every minute of it. There’s no place I’d rather be than right here, right now. What we’re doing, it’s exciting for me. Keeps me young.”

The oenophiles

Colangelo became the managing director of the U.S. national team in 2005 and convinced Krzyzewski, a fellow Chicago native, to coach the squad.

It was a savvy move. Krzyzewski, the Duke coach, has the twin allures of zero NBA allegiances and Hall of Fame credentials. Players thirst to learn from him.

It further enhanced a relationship that started in the late 1960s, when Krzyzewski played basketball for Colangelo’s close friend Bobby Knight at the U.S. Military Academy in New York.

Colangelo and Krzyzewski bonded instantly, thanks to those Windy City ties.

“There’s always been mutual respect,” Colangelo says. “It goes back a long time. We hit it off real quick.”

They share a passion for wine, and Colangelo believes he has the oenophile edge over the 62-year-old Krzyzewski on heritage alone.

“I’m way ahead of him on that one,” Colangelo says. “We haven’t found any real good Polish wines, but I’ve found a lot of good Italian wines.”

Is Colangelo’s palate that much more advanced than Krzyzewski’s?

“His wallet is much more advanced than mine,” Krzyzewski says with a sly smile, “which leads to, sometimes, a better palate.”

Colangelo laughs.

“Hey,” he says, “that’s pretty good.”

Continuity

Colangelo and Krzyzewski shared ample toasts after the U.S. won the gold medal at the Beijing Games in August, but it wasn’t certain that either would return.

Given a larger role, as chairman of USA Basketball, Colangelo re-signed. He coaxed Krzyzewski to come back, recently sealing their deal over an early-morning bottle of red.

Kobe and LeBron and Carmelo are keys to the operation, but the two pillars are Colangelo and Krzyzewski. They always preached continuity with Team USA. Their actions confirmed their convictions.

Krzyzewski says Colangelo is the most important figure because of the universal respect he commands.

“If you’re going to allocate resources to a program, you want to know that the resources are going to be well taken care of,” Krzyzewski says.

He turns and glances at the 20 or so young pro players on the Valley High court.

“These are the resources of the NBA,” Krzyzewski says. “When they are with USA Basketball, they need to be well taken care of. The relationship between the NBA and USA Basketball is critical.”

Colangelo helped start the expansion Suns in Phoenix and has held several prominent committee roles for the NBA, including a stretch as chairman of the Board of Governors.

“The biggest thing for USA Basketball was the continuation of Jerry Colangelo running the whole thing,” Krzyzewski says. “It starts there. We’re already a family. We’re way ahead of where a USA team has ever been, and we need to capitalize on it.

“This is a great growth time while Jerry is in charge. That’s why I think his is the most critical position.”

Golden

The dynamic duo’s steering of Team USA to victory in China ended an inglorious run of three consecutive major international competitions in which the U.S. did not win gold.

Worse, in the 2002 and 2006 World Championships, and the 2004 Olympics in Greece, the Americans didn’t even play in the championship game.

“(Colangelo) has done an unbelievable job of getting everyone on the same page,” said guard Kevin Durant, who could be a part of Team USA for many years to come. “It’s bigger than LeBron or Kobe or Coach K … it’s about the country.

“The gold is a big thing now.”

Krzyzewski, however, has some unfinished business. Under his watch, the U.S. lost to Greece in the semifinals at the Worlds in 2006 and went home with the bronze medal.

That’s why Turkey next summer is so significant.

Another goal is 2016, especially if Chicago plays host to the Summer Games. It would be a grand dénouement to an 11-year run for two of Chicago’s favorite sons.

Saturday night, before the Showcase scrimmage at the Thomas & Mack Center, Colangelo sits in a baseline chair and eats popcorn from a small bag more than an hour before tip-off.

He misses nothing. He takes it all in. Afterward, as Krzyzewski conducts a disorganized press conference, Colangelo strolls up to Krzyzewski and hands him a final stat sheet.

Colangelo stays right there, soaking it all in.

D’Antoni, the New York Knicks coach who is continuing as a Team USA assistant to Krzyzewski, discovered how significant basketball is to Colangelo after the Americans beat Spain for gold in China.

“He was balling like a baby,” D’Antoni says. “He’s won the World Series, been everywhere and done everything, and he’s crying, really crying, when we won the gold medal.”

Only the players, however, were given gold medals.

“Well, it’s a symbol,” D’Antoni says. “It’s in his heart.”