VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France – Team USA men’s 5×5 assistant basketball coach Erik Spoelstra called it a master’s class in coaching.
Four of the best basketball coaches in the world working together, learning from one another and enjoying the 2024 Paris Olympics experience led by U.S. head coach Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors) and assistants Ty Lue (Los Angeles Clippers), Mark Few (Gonzaga) and Spoelstra (Miami Heat).
‘We’re all coming together, and we’ve all gotten better from this, and at this point in our careers, it’s so gratifying,’ Spoelstra said.
The coaches have impressive credentials: Kerr has four NBA titles, Spoelstra two, Lue one and Few has led Gonzaga to two Final Fours.
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‘Just incredible people,’ Few said of his fellow U.S. coaches. ‘They’re humble, even with the incredible amount of success they’ve had. The amount of humility they have is impressive and inspiring, but also they love to share ideas. We just sit and talk hoops or we talk how to present it to the players, how to deal with the players, how to handle the whole coaching profession.
‘At the end of the day, it is coaching, and so we’ve just had some great sessions. Whether we’re on the floor, in the film room, in the meeting room, or just out to dinner, it’s been great. We’ve developed great friendships over the course of this last year.’
Kerr put Lue in charge of defense, Spoelstra in charge of offense and Few in charge of what he calls specials teams, which includes zone offense and zone defense (because zones are utilized more in college) and out of bounds plays.
‘You have these meetings every day, and you go, ‘Oh, that’s a really good idea. I hadn’t thought of doing something that way,’’ Kerr said.
USA TODAY Sports talked with all four coaches about their USA Basketball experience which includes last summer’s FIBA World Cup and this summer’s Olympics.
Steve Kerr
Spoelstra got to know Kerr when Kerr worked as an analyst for TNT, and the network televised several Heat games as the Heat appeared in four consecutive Finals with LeBron James in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
‘During the pregame prep interviews, he came across as highly intelligent, very curious,’ Spoelstra said. ‘And the questions he would ask weren’t necessarily the normal ones about the broadcast but behind-the-scenes stuff, trying to get a feel for a team philosophies, defensive coverages, things more in depth. And I always found those discussions interesting.
‘And then as I’ve gotten to know him in this setting, he’s very good with people. He can see the big picture and can manage things from a higher lens.’
Kerr absorbs responsibility. When he didn’t play All-NBA first-team forward Jayson Tatum in the first Olympics game against Serbia, Kerr explained his decision in a calm, logical manner. He said it’s his job to make decisions that give the U.S. the best chance of winning gold.
That’s what Few appreciates about Kerr. They are similar, and both acknowledge that.
‘He’s just so genuine and so real and treats everybody so good,’ Few said. ‘He commands a great audience that way, just out of respect. And then I feel like our styles are very similar. It might seem that we’re slightly laid back. There’s a fire that burns intensely in him, and he’s quite an intense competitor. He’s very collaborative too, and I like to do with my staff – gather all the wisdom in the whole room and try to harness that. I think he’s very much all about that too.’
Asked what he knows now about Kerr that he didn’t know before joining this staff, Lue said, ‘Nothing.’ From their Finals battles in 2016, 2017 and 2018, Lue learned what kind of coach Kerr is.
But Lue said, ‘Having all these basketball minds in the same room and having a chance to learn and pick up different things has been great for me.’
Ty Lue
Spoelstra compared Lue to Russell Crowe’s portrayal of mathematician and economist John Nash in the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind.’
‘If he had a wall in every coach’s meeting, he’d be filling it up with a bunch of different Xs and Os diagrams, ideas and thoughts and most of them out of the box,’ Spoelstra said. ‘He’s a very creative thinker, and he’s not afraid to take calculated chances, particularly in playoffs series. He has a great feel for teams and personnel tendencies And as I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve enjoyed just seeing how he thinks the game.’
Said Few: ‘Ty’s amazing. He remembers every set and every play and every defense from 2005 until the present. He’s like a savant in that way.’
Lue and Kerr had battles in the Finals with Lue’s Cleveland Cavaliers winning that memorable seven-game series in 2016 and Kerr’s Warriors winning in 2017 and 2018 against the Cavs.
‘He’s a brilliant defensive mind, and he showed that in the playoffs when we played them year after year,’ Kerr said. ‘They had a real knack for making adjustments and understanding what was happening and what we were trying to do. I think he’s one of the great defensive minds in the game. And coaching with him the last couple of summers, that’s only been reinforced. He’s brilliant with his drill work and with his preparation for what we want to do.’
Mark Few
Spoelstra and Few go back more than 30 years when Spoelstra played at Portland and Few was a Gonzaga assistant coach. ‘Because of the success that he’s had at Gonzaga, I’ve been a fan of his and rooted for him and rooted for the program that’s become the representative of West Coast Conference,’ Spoelstra said. ‘And we all have that mid-major chip on our shoulders. And he’s taken a program now that was a mid-major and turned it into major-major.
“Even with the success that they’ve had, he is one of the most underrated coaches in all of basketball. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer right now. And he’s so humble and understated. He doesn’t want any of the credit.’
USA Basketball has a long history of keeping a college coach on staff of the Olympic team, and Kerr found a kindred spirit.
‘My kind of guy. He just gets it,” Kerr said. “He’s passionate about the game, passionate about life, passionate about his family. Humble enough to know that he doesn’t have all the answers, but driven and smart enough to seek the answers. And above all, he loves being part of the staff. And so the dinners and the coaches’ meetings, there’s great humor and joy. It’s just somebody I want to be around every day.’
Spoelstra had another pop culture reference. Few likes to fly-fish, and recalling the great last line from the novella ‘A River Runs Through It,’ Spoelstra said of Few, ‘he is haunted by waters and game plans and strategies to help his team be their best version.’
Erik Spoelstra
While Spoelstra was impressed with Kerr’s inquisitive mind during the Heat’s Finals runs, Kerr was equally impressed with Spoelstra.
‘I always just loved his combination of confidence and humility,’ Kerr said. ‘He’s a very good communicator, not only with our players, but with the rest of the staff – really clear and decisive in what he wants to see. He and the Heat have built an amazing culture. We all talk about it, and it’s a real thing.
‘Having Spo on the staff is really big for me and a big deal for the team and getting to know him now behind the scenes and last summer, he’s every bit is good, or even better, than I thought he was.’
Spoelstra and Lue never coached against each other in the playoffs, but they’ve met in regular-season games. ‘Hard-nosed, tough, no BS,’ Lue said. ‘His teams play hard, they compete. They’re always going to be in shape. They’re going to do things the right way, and it doesn’t change. He’s the same way. Fiery, into it, passionate about it, and so when he speaks and is making a point, guys are locked in and paying attention.’
Just as players have set aside ego, the coaches did the same. Each has the résumé to be the head coach of the Olympic team.
‘It’s an absolute honor to be part of the USA basketball program,’ Spoelstra said. ‘I always want to be a part of it in any shape or fashion, and then to collaborate with these great basketball minds, it’s been just an absolute blessing to be able to learn and grow.’
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