Colangelo looking forward to Vegas mini-camp

By Rob Miech

Friday, June 12, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Jerry Colangelo left a Phoenix barbershop Thursday afternoon with a spring in his step, but not because he was just a tad lighter.

The architect of USA Basketball has been gliding since Team USA captured Olympic gold in China last summer.

“We had a big job in front of us back in 2005,” Colangelo said. “When I took this on, we had a plan and a vision. We knew we had to change the culture and put some infrastructure in place.

“Thankfully, all of that happened. There was buy-in. We had our success. The best way to describe it is the night we got our gold medals, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ played and our flag was being raised … it was a moment of total fulfillment.”

Colangelo didn’t pause.

“But I’m also a person that says, that’s yesterday’s news. Now we move forward. It’s good to know we’re not starting from scratch. The pipeline is in place. People now want to play for the U.S. and represent us. I feel good about that. It’s important to perpetuate it.”

The first step was to keep Colangelo in charge of the organization, and he agreed to do so as chairman of USA Basketball.

The next step was to continue the program’s rich link in Las Vegas, which will be the stage for a national-team mini-camp that starts July 22. A July 25 scrimmage at the Thomas & Mack Center will cap the camp.

Colangelo was in Las Vegas 10 days ago to solidify arrangements with Las Vegas Events president Pat Christensen and Wynn officials.

The mini-camp will be an indoctrination event for younger players to learn about the national-team system and what is expected of them.

“They’ll know what it’s all about,” Colangelo said. “I want to condition them on the way we do a lot of things when we have a veteran group in place, in terms of meetings and video sessions and practices. They’ll get immersed into our system.”

Colangelo said a roster of two dozen players will be released next week, but he revealed that Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder and O.J. Mayo of Memphis will participate.

Colangelo expects most of the Olympic gold medal-winning squad to return for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey and the 2012 Olympics in London.

So the young players who will convene in Las Vegas next month will essentially be competing for scant spots on the senior team.

The point, Colangelo said, is to always have a senior roster of up to three dozen players. Turnover, he said, always will be a given.

“There should be turnover, to some degree,” he said. “How many? Three? Four? Five? I don’t know. Only time will determine that. The original concept was to always have a core group of players.

“I know seven or eight want to play in the World Championship. I’ve spoken to everyone. What’s important is that we have players in the pipeline who have a desire to play and represent us. This camp is an important piece of that.”

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers has told Colangelo of his strong desire to continue playing for Team USA.

Between the Lakers and the national team, Bryant has played just about non-stop for three years.

“Count him in, he’s indicated to me,” Colangelo said. “He’s the consummate competitor. People have always talked about Michael Jordan being one of the great competitors of all time. I think that’s true. Behind him is Kobe Bryant.

“He’s a warrior. I heard someone say this morning that he hit a wall the other night. His response was, so what? What difference does it make? Next time, he’ll go right through the wall. That says it all.”

Jay Triano, who was hired to coach the Toronto Raptors last month and who has two summers of experience with Team USA, will run the mini-camp in Las Vegas.

As for who will coach the team in the run-up to Turkey in 2010 and London in 2012, Colangelo reserved hope that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will continue in that capacity.

Colangelo met with Krzyzewski on Monday night in Chicago to discuss the future.

“We’re talking it through,” Colangelo said. “There are pros and cons. He’s older and he accomplished what he set out to accomplish. My feeling is that he’s giving it real hard consideration.

“The (long-term) staff will be in place by the time of our camp in July.”

With a high finish in Turkey, Team USA would not need to participate in a FIBA Americas tournament in 2011 to qualify for the Olympics in London.

However, Colangelo said the national team will not be taking any summers off before the next Olympics, and that means a Las Vegas presence for the squad each of the next four summers.

It blasted the field in winning the FIBA Americas tournament at the Mack in 2007 and smashed Canada in the arena before leaving for China last summer.

“My personal opinion is we still need to win the World Championship in 2010,” Colangelo said. “I think it’s important. The rest of the world still puts a lot of emphasis on the World Championship.

“I’ve talked often about showing respect to the rest of the basketball world. I think we do that by fielding the best team we can for that competition.”

Colangelo’s interest in keeping the U.S. atop the basketball world has not waned since he took over running the national program.

“I love this game,” he said. “It’s such a great game. For me, to be in a position to give back and represent your country is a blessing.”