Larry Brown still can't shake the feeling in his gut that's been stuck there for 15 years and he knows his longtime colleague Gregg Popovich. It was just a decade-and-a-half ago that Team USA embarked in a customary mission to bring gold back from the Olympics, but they failed, and greatly so — mustering only a humbling bronze medal after a semifinal loss to Argentina.
“I still haven’t gotten over that, and I’m sure Pop hasn’t, either.” Brown told Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Popovich, who was an assistant coach under Brown in 2004, has been outspoken about those dark times in the international game — one which forced a house-cleaning process for USA Basketball in hopes to put the United States back in its rightful place as the most dominant nation in the sport. Pop called it unmistakably “the worst loss” of his career, even after having lost a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
This convocation process has not been short of pains, as several stars turned down an invitation to participate, with Popovich rendered only able to take the 12 healthiest bodies to China for this 2019 FIBA World Cup. Brown however is optimistic that his former assistant coach will make the most of this chance.
“It’s unfortunate that a lot of guys didn’t go, but I’m pretty confident they’re going to do all right,” Brown said. “This is an opportunity Pop’s waited a long time for. He’d never tell anybody that, but I know.”
Popovich has been looking to pluck that thorn right out of his spine since it stuck so painfully many years ago. The recently-turned 70-year-old coach can relish that chance now that his team has reached the knockout stage. A gold medal at this World Cup would be the first stage in removing such a painful memory that's been engraved in the program's mission for so long.
“It’ll put a lot of things behind us all,” Brown said.
The Americans first must get through France and if they do so, they must then go through a thriving Argentina in the semifinal — the same mission bestowed upon them 15 years ago.
Talk about poetic redemption.
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