USA Basketball 'Would Love to See 3x3 in the Olympics'

(ATR) USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo tells Around the Rings that USA Basketball is "very supportive of three-on-three basketball".

"We’re for it," Colangelo told ATR during the Team USA media summit in Los Angeles, California. "It will bring more exposure for the game of basketball and three-on-three is a good game. It’s a different game without question and we would love to see that as part of the Olympic effort going forward."

Colangelo says that the U.S. has begun developing its three-on-three program through regional camps and tournaments.

"We are pretty heavy into three-on-three basketball on a national basis," he tells ATR. "We are very supportive, we have clinics and we have tournaments."

USA Basketball communications chief Craig Miller says the development for the discipline begins at the junior level and that the women’s program has already seen success winning two world championships in 2012 and 2014.

"USA Basketball fields a men’s and women’s U-18 three-on-three team that competes at the world championships and the open division," Miller says. "Our women’s program has been very successful at that and additionally there has been a lot of emphasis on conducting - as Jerry said - regional camps for three-on-three and we also host some national tournaments as well."

The new discipline is being pushed by FIBA to be added to the program for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Colangelo tells ATR that USA Basketball was prepared for the discipline to be added ahead of the Rio 2016 Games this August.

"We thought there was a chance it could happen for [Rio] '16 but it didn’t quite get over that hump," he says.

As the Rio Games draw near, USA Basketball is ramping up its preparations to try and win a third-straight Olympic gold on the men’s side and a sixth-straight on the women’s. Colangelo says the draw for the Olympic tournament will take place Friday, March 11 and then USA Basketball can focus on narrowing its rosters to the 12 men and women who will represent the U.S. at the Games.

"We will select the 12 players at the end of June when the NBA season and playoffs are over, either the 26th, 27th or 28th of June," he says. "We then proceed to training camp in Las Vegas that begins around July 17. We’re there a week and will play a game and then we move on to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston where we play friendly games against international competition and then we embark to Rio from Houston."

Colangelo discussed the challenges of cutting the men’s team roster of 34 down to the 12 that will compete this summer and said the national federation is now using a more analytical approach for team selection.

"We aren’t finished with our model but can retrieve all of the information collected and use that as a tool if we get down to a nitty-gritty decision of some kind, like combinations of players," he says. "This is a new venture for us in terms of the analytical approach, but only as a tool and I’m excited about that."

"There are things you can pull from analytics that make your situation better. Certain players play better with certain players."

When asked if off-the-court issues such as Blake Griffin breaking his hand punching a Los Angeles Clippers team assistant will affect team selection, Colangelo said he wouldn’t get into specifics about players but that "past work record" will play a role in the selection.

"We all make mistakes and so I don’t judge people based on that," he says. "If they have cumulative character and they can play then they have a shot to represent us."

Colangelo also confirmed to the media that Rio 2016 will be coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last Olympic foray. Coach K will bring his 75-1 national team record to Rio where he attempts to win his third gold medal before handing over the reins of the program to San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Colangelo says Popovich only agreed to the deal so long as Colangelo stayed at the helm of the national federation.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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