After FIBA canceled the notion of automatic participation for winning the last Olympic games, Team USA faced an unforeseen problem — having to qualify once again, this time in a time lapse that would interfere with NBA players going into training camp.
For this specific scenario, Jeff Van Gundy, who last coached the Houston Rockets in 2007, was hired to be at the helm of a team comprised of the next best professional basketball league — the G League.
The biggest problem Van Gundy faces is not lack of NBA talent, but lack of continuity, continuity all these other teams have had within their rosters, some for eight or even 10 years going into these qualifiers.
The 55-year-old coach, turned analyst, turned coach once again, will be the one responsible to anchor Team USA to the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, where NBA athletes will take the baton and start the pursue for another gold medal under head coach Gregg Popovich.
Van Gundy hasn't coached in 10 years, but instead been the entertaining and many times, the disagreeing voice next to Mark Jackson in many ESPN broadcasts during the NBA season.
“I told myself, ‘You better get your s*** together and not f*** this up,” Van Gundy told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. “You better be ready.”
The international view on this coaching change and the lack of an NBA presence is viewed as the best opportunity to get the United States out of competition in the past three decades, before the NBA allowed its players to indulge in international competition.
“Don't underestimate how vulnerable these teams think we are right now,” said Van Gundy. “It starts with me. Here's what they're thinking, ‘This clown hasn't coached in 10 years. Never coached a FIBA game. And they're going to entrust him?'”
“There's a sense of vulnerability that these teams see, so we have just got to be ready. That's why I go back: Let's play really, really hard and let's pass. And let's see where that takes us.”
Van Gundy will lead these players to the AmeriCup, a process that has proved hard to sell, being a warmup equivalent to what EuroBasket is for the other continent. This team will have a much different look than the newest version of the Dream Team or even the Redeem Team, sporting known college standouts like Kendall Marshall and Marshall Plumlee and others not-so-known like Reggie Hearn and Billy Baron.
Players are paid $100 for every day of the three weeks they spend in the three-week long tournament, along with a $75 per diem, according to Wojnarowski.
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