Of course, with the Golden State Warriors signing Kevin Durant in July, the team in Oakland will be heavy favorites to come out of the West, but that’s not stopping “The Admiral” from believing in the team that he won two titles with.
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Durant was in good company with new Warriors teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, so it may have been a good thing that Russell Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder stayed home.
Their win over Serbia was the most lopsided gold-medal victory since the 1992 Dream Team and USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo was unusually frank about why a significant gap continues to exist despite the growth of the game around the world and the worldwide talent littered throughout NBA rosters.
“It was therapy for me after making a big change in my life”, he told The Vertical after scoring 30 points in the United States’ win over Serbia for gold on Sunday. “It made my life easier …”
“I’ve been really a lucky guy, collegiately and internationally to be part of championship teams”, said Krzyzewski, commonly called “Coach K”. “You give a team a month-three weeks-to get together and you’re going to make mistakes, you’re just not going to be as sharp. It was definitely different for me, but to come here in an environment where people accepted me and didn’t care about anything except being my buddy, that’s what I needed”.
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Carmelo Anthony after gold medal win: ‘I know this is the end.’ Just because it’s ‘Melo, I would love to pass him. “Who knows? We’ll see”. “It takes time, you look at what happened with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh”. “Monty Williams used to tell me that every day: Don’t let anybody steal my joy”.
