China ultimate road test for US men's basketball

(AP) Team USA basketball player Tayshaun Prince (left) talks with coach Mike Krzyzewski, during a team practice at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008.

BEIJING—So, Coach K. Your opening game in the Olympics is against China. Would that be analogous to some poor first-round NCAA Tournament foe of yours being forced to play Duke in, say, Raleigh or Greensboro?

‘‘No,’’ decides Mike Krzyzewski. ‘‘Cameron.’’

That, of course, would be Cameron Indoor Stadium, home to the Duke Blue Devils since 1941.

Now, it’s not as if China is a medal favorite or anything like that. The Chinese have a nice frontcourt, anchored by national flag-bearer Yao Ming, who may or may not be fully recovered from the foot fracture that brought a premature end to his season with the Houston Rockets (like he’d tell anyone if were hurting). But the Chinese have yet to develop a top-quality guard. Come on, the US may face some formidable opposition here in its quest for gold, but China?

I think it’s great we’re playing China in our first game,’’ says Coach K. ‘‘I want our guys to feel it, to understand what it means to play someone with the ultimate nationalistic spirit on their home court. Who you are normally is not necessarily who you will be that night. You can watch them on tape, but it won’t be the same.’’

China’s No. 1 sports passion is table tennis, but in terms of team games, basketball is No. 1 and getting more popular with each passing day. It can easily be argued that this match with the Americans is the most eagerly anticipated team athletic event in Chinese history. Sunday's game will have an almost unimaginably large domestic television audience, and it’s safe to say that the joint known as the Olympic Basketball Stadium will be rockin’.

For those of you who labor under the delusion that America is still the epicenter of world basketball, be advised that the United States of America is champion of nothing. The last American international triumph involving our top professionals came in the Sydney Olympics eight years ago, and even that was a huff-and-puff affair in which we were life and death with Lithuania and twice struggled with France.

In the two World Championships and the Olympics that followed, we lost seven games and did no better than win a bronze medal. The reigning Olympic champion is Argentina. The reigning world champion is Spain. In neither case is basketball the biggest sport in that country. America may be the birthplace of basketball, but it has been humbled.

America had long been in the habit of throwing together collections of All-Stars and hoping they’d figure out a way to coexist as they annihilated inferior international foes on the basis of raw talent. But a funny thing happened on the way to our expected golds — the Dream Team.

The famed 1992 Dream Team changed everything. FIBA believed that if it imported the NBA stars into the mix, that rising tide, to borrow a phrase, would lift all the basketball boats worldwide. But it could never have conceived that the basketball world could change so rapidly, that the Americans would struggle to win just two Olympiads down the road and would stagger home a disgraced sixth in the World Championships a mere 10 years hence, and, amazingly, would suffer this humiliation on their own soil (Indianapolis).

Mike D’Antoni, now an assistant coach on the American team, became an Italian legend as both a player and a coach. He says there were always quality players in Europe: ‘‘I saw guys I knew could easily play in the NBA. [Boris] Petrovic. [Toni] Kukoc. Guys like that.’’ The barrier, he believes was as much mental as physical. Having the Dream Team in their midst, day after day, during the 1992 Olympics enabled the other players to understand that the Americans were merely very good players, not demigods.

‘‘The mystique wore off after a while,’’ he says. ‘‘Seeing them day after day, you saw a few warts.’’

Meanwhile, young people all over the world were fascinated by what they were seeing.

‘‘Some 7- or 8-year-old kid might have been watching and saying to himself, ‘Some day I could be that guy,’’’ Coach K points out. Absolutely. And they might have had surnames such as Ginobili or Gasol.

After decades of basing all their basketball theories on what they were taught by the Americans (Red Auerbach being a pioneer in this regard), the Europeans, in particular, developed their own methods. They have placed heavy emphasis on fundamentals and shooting. They put young people together and kept them as teammates for years. The gap between themselves and the supposedly gifted Americans grew narrower and narrower.

The Americans were forced to react. It was decided that the only way for the US to regain supremacy in its own game was to develop the concept of a true national team. Jerry Colangelo accepted the responsibility of become Managing Director of the USA Basketball Senior National Team (phew!), and he has worked in that capacity for the past three years. Mike Krzyzewski was named coach, and players were asked to make a three-year commitment.

An original roster of 33 was chosen, and from that group, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, and Chris Paul have now been with the team for the entire time. Six may not be 12, but with the same coaching staff, there is a sense of continuity.

Most Americans still don’t get it. They think we should be able to win these competitions with garden variety NBA All-Stars, period. They still think we should be able to overwhelm the world with talent.

Seven losses in the last three major international competitions proves otherwise.

‘‘We have changed the system and the system is right,’’ maintains D’Antoni. ‘‘This system does not predict success, but it gives you a chance. The other way, we’d have no chance.’’

The NBA has a lot at stake here, doesn’t it? The USA/NBA is 0 for 3 in the last three major international competitions. Players are starting to leave America to go overseas for lucrative contracts, not the other way around. Isn’t all this damaging to the NBA brand?

Colangelo, who has now spent 40 years as an NBA executive, coach, and owner, won’t go that far.

‘‘We’re in FIBA’s world, with FIBA’s rules,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s a different game. People should understand this, and separate it.’’

However you slice it, the US remains champion of nothing until further notice. It would be pretty bad if USA Basketball comes out of Beijing going 0 for 4.

‘‘I guarantee nothing,’’ says Colangelo. ‘‘But I couldn’t be happier with our team. Now we just have to go out and get the job done.’’

It all starts Sunday, in the road game to end all road games.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at ryan@globe.com.