Gonzaga’s Mark Few on Team USA: Traveling with rock stars, cooling of in London
About the Globe Trotter series: The Spokesman-Review is planning to connect periodically with Gonzaga coach Mark Few to highlight his on- and off-court experience as an assistant coach with the U.S. Olympic basketball team.
The U.S. led by 26 points when Jrue Holiday zipped a behind-the-back pass to Stephen Curry, triggering an elevation in decibel and anticipation levels from a sellout crowd of 12,517 inside Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena.
Wednesday’s exhibition blowout over Serbia had long been decided, but the fans reacted as if Curry’s 3-pointer was a buzzer beater in the NBA Finals.
“It’s pretty incredible, and it’s not just at the arenas,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, an assistant on Steve Kerr’s staff. “Literally traveling around, I’m aging myself here, but it’s like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. Or probably Taylor Swift these days.
Not even Billy Idol, who scolds “corporate types” for calling each other rock stars in a Workday television commercial, would quibble with Few’s assessment of Team USA’s star-studded roster.
There are four NBA MVPs – the 1992 Dream Team had three with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson – with Curry, LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant. Kerr, assistants Ty Lue and Erik Spoelstra and numerous players own NBA championship rings.
Eleven of the 12 expected to line up at the Summer Olympics have been NBA All-Stars.
It was 12 all-stars before Kawhi Leonard, two-time Finals MVP and six-time all-star, was replaced by Derrick White, a key contributor in Boston’s recent championship run.
Few once compared 2005-06 road trips with Adam Morrison with a Rolling Stones tour when Morrison was in the national spotlight with co-player of the year J.J. Redick. James, Curry and Durant, who has yet to play due to a calf strain, rank among the most famous athletes on the planet in this current era of social media and basketball’s worldwide popularity.
The O2 Arena crowd in London roared in pregame warmups when James did a routine one-handed dunk before Saturday’s contest against South Sudan. Upper-deck seats for Monday’s exhibition vs. Germany are selling for $335-$402 at Vivid Seats.
“Any time we’re getting on or off the bus or we’re in hotel lobbies, it’s jam-packed,” Few said. “We spend a lot of time trying to sneak around. The arenas have been electric, and these are exhibition games. It was amazing in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. They’re just really excited to see this caliber of guys. It’s not lacking in noise.”
The Americans have certainly been challenged during four exhibition victories, including Saturday’s 101-100 win over South Sudan after trailing by 14 points at halftime. There have been rough patches with turnovers, rebounding issues and defensive lapses against Canada, Australia and South Sudan, but the U.S was smooth while routing Serbia 105-79.
Some of the chemistry issues are to be expected as a talented roster still needs time to mesh, as Kerr pointed out following a six-point win over Australia – particularly when facing experienced opponents with little roster turnover running intricate offensive sets.
“Serbia is going to be in the hunt for a gold medal and I feel like Canada is, too, with 12 guys or close to it in the NBA,” Few said, prior to the narrow win over South Sudan. “We certainly made a jump (against Serbia) from how the Australia game ended. We had a pretty good film session and walk-through after that.
“These guys are pros and have been around the block and they understand. Obviously, when we played (three-time MVP Nikola) Jokic, it was probably our best effort defensively and offensively so far. We took care of the ball. It’s almost a case of being too unselfish sometimes. We have to go back to what we bring as individual players and tap into that. All these teams love to cut, and that’s been an adjustment for our guys.”
London’s mild weather has provided relief after temperatures soared into the 110s for exhibition games in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. The lowest overnight temperature in Abu Dhabi was 91 degrees and there wasn’t any cooling off with water temperatures roughly the same in the Persian Gulf.
Pickleball enthusiast Few hasn’t broken out his paddle, but he was able to squeeze in a few tourist activities and sample great food in Abu Dhabi. Many U.S. players recorded cellphone videos upon arriving when they were greeted by traditional dancers. Between the team’s trek to Abu Dhabi last August and a handful of days earlier this week, Few visited the Grand Mosque and went to the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 2,716.5 feet with more than 160 floors.
“Really cool and really impressive,” Few said of the Grand Mosque. “It’s really westernized, so clean (in Abu Dhabi). Just great restaurants and facilities and the hotel, St. Regis, is amazing and sits right on the beach. It was tough to get outside because the humidity was way up, too. That’s what’s been so nice about London.”
Assistant coaches split up scouting report assignments and Few compiled the one for Australia, which has former Saint Mary’s standouts Patty Mills, Jock Landale and Matthew Dellavedova.
“I was joking to the group, ‘As if I hadn’t seen the three Saint Mary’s guys enough,’ ” Few cracked.
Few usually watches game video to scout opponents on the team’s long flights from Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi and then from Abu Dhabi to London. He sits near Spoelstra and, contrary to the players, neither sleeps much on planes.
“Just bang through video, mark it and clip it, write it up,” Few said. “ ‘Spo’ is such a student of the game, he wanted to watch some of our offensive stuff, so we watched our Gonzaga-Kansas game. Before you know it, the time passes.”