Staff USA head coach Steve Kerr motions as he speaks along with his gamers at a apply throughout coaching camp for the US males’s basketball group Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Picture/John Locher)
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — This was the final act of the World Cup preseason for Staff USA.
Just a few hours earlier than flying to the Philippines on Monday for its World Cup keep, an excellent portion of the USA Basketball journey celebration — some gamers and relations, together with coaches and workers — visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, a powerful heart of worship that has seen the likes of Pope Francis, President Joe Biden, King Charles III and Rihanna shed their footwear to step on its gleaming white marble flooring lately.
Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson posed for images with tour guides. Erik Spoelstra marveled at what he noticed. Steve Kerr received a bunch of images along with his spouse. And when the excursions had been completed, no person was in a rush to depart.
“I needed to see the mosque,” Kerr, the U.S. coach for the World Cup, stated earlier within the week. “It seems wonderful.”
It’s, in spite of everything, trip time within the NBA. And USA Basketball went to nice lengths to make sure that there could be a work-life steadiness for many who dedicated six weeks of their time with hopes of getting the Individuals again atop the worldwide stage.
Some who made the journey midway world wide to be a part of the expertise have ridden camels. Others went to the Ferrari World amusement park, some performed golf, some shopped or visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi. There was loads of time to relax on the pool or stroll alongside the sand because the 102-degree bathtub water of the Persian Gulf gently lapped the shore.
However now, Manila awaits. The World Cup is lastly right here.
(L-R) Austin Reaves #15, Walker Kessler #14, Jaren Jackson Jr. #13, Josh Hart #12, Jalen Brunson #11, Anthony Edwards #10, Bobby Portis #9, Paolo Banchero #8, Brandon Ingram #7, Cam Johnson #6, Mikal Bridges #5 and Tyrese Haliburton #4 of the US. Ethan Miller/Getty Pictures/AFP
“I do know everybody’s going to be centered on who wins, and clearly we’re — we desperately need to win,” Kerr stated. “However that is an unbelievable expertise, too, for our gamers, our coaches, our households to see the world, to essentially expertise competitors on the highest type all around the globe. What an expertise. I feel our guys are loving it.”
Profitable helps. The Individuals performed 5 exhibition video games this summer season and received all of them, rallying from a 16-point deficit within the second half to cap that stretch Sunday with a 99-91 comeback victory over Germany. The group was assured in its possibilities earlier than Sunday, and that win solely heightened these emotions.
They’ve loved each second of the journey thus far.
“I used to be with my household and I used to be strolling by the lodge and somebody’s screaming ‘Austin, can I take an image?’” stated U.S. guard Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers. “For that to occur over right here, it’s particular to me. I by no means take any of that as a right. Anytime I can attempt to signal something for anyone, I attempt to signal every part. For me, it’s particular. It’s one thing someday I’ll look again at and smile about.”
U.S. ahead Bobby Portis was in Abu Dhabi final 12 months as properly; he and the Milwaukee Bucks flew over to play within the preseason in opposition to the Atlanta Hawks. He received a kandura — the standard white long-sleeved gown — and matching headdress on that journey and wore them to the world Sunday for the Individuals’ finale within the desert.
He introduced his household on the journey.
“I needed to carry them on this journey,” Portis stated. “They maintain me going.”
It’s a brand new expertise for nearly everybody on the journey. Some gamers hadn’t been to Abu Dhabi, some haven’t been to Manila and a few hadn’t been to Spain — which was the primary of three worldwide stops for the Individuals this summer season.
U.S. heart Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz hadn’t been wherever abroad. Identical goes for U.S. guard Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers.
“I receives a commission some huge cash to play a toddler’s sport and I get a whole lot of alternatives that individuals would kill for simply because I’m good at a sport,” Haliburton stated. “Generally perspective issues. I introduced my mother and pop and my girlfriend. My mother and pop have by no means been to any of those locations. Most likely dreamed of touring like this. Now they get to do this and watch their son play basketball? It’s such a blessing {that a} ball can take you to those locations.”
When the mosque journey was over Monday, the journey celebration headed again to the lodge to prepare for the nine-hour in a single day flight to Manila. The World Cup favorites had been scheduled to reach within the basketball-crazed Philippines on Tuesday morning, after which a number of days of apply will await earlier than the Individuals play their event opener on Saturday in opposition to New Zealand.
Trip is over. It’ll be time to lock in on profitable a World Cup.
“These guys are all individuals who need the expertise and need the competitors but in addition need to win a gold medal and need to be a part of one thing particular,” Kerr stated. “That’s why they’re right here.”
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