Team USA got bounced out of the FIBA World Cup in embarrassing fashion, suffering back-to-back losses to France and Serbia, with no chance of being awarded a medal.
And USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo, who oversees the program, is not happy about it.
Everyone has assumed that Team USA will welcome back so many of the NBA superstars that backed out of the World Cup for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but that’s apparently not the case.
“I can only say, you can’t help but notice and remember who you thought you were going to war with and who didn’t show up,” Colangelo said, via the Associated Press. “I’m a firm believer that you deal with the cards you’re dealt. All we could have done, and we did it, is get the commitments from a lot of players. So with that kind of a hand you feel reasonably confident that you’re going to be able to put a very good representative team on the court.
“No one would have anticipated the pullouts that we had.”
Colangelo then addressed how Team USA will deal with the early exit from the World Cup going forward, and what it might mean for the team’s future.
“We’re going to let the dust settle, let things depress a little bit,” Colangelo said. “Obviously I’m always thinking ahead, which means what’s going to take place, and it’s going to happen fast and soon because we just have to get our act together for the Olympics.”
It will be interesting to see how the team deals with the embarrassing loss, and if the NBA superstars are just welcomed back with open arms.
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