Colangelo having the time of his life

SAPPORO, Japan – At 66, Jerry Colangelo hardly needed to puff up his resume.

As the longtime owner of the Phoenix Suns and the man who helped found the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colangelo made a lot of money as well as every list of the most influential figures in American sports.

They dedicated a day in his honor in Phoenix and a street in his honor in Chicago Heights, Ill., his hometown. He’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

But after selling his interest in the Suns for an NBA-record $401 million in 2004, the energetic Colangelo wasn’t ready to line up for the early bird buffet.

He jumped in 2005 when USA Basketball offered him the newly created position of managing director of the men’s senior national team. Colangelo is in charge through the 2008 Olympics. The Americans began group play in the FIBA World Championships on Saturday with a victory over Puerto Rico, and Colangelo is enjoying every minute.

“I love the game,” Colangelo said. “The game has been pretty darn good to me. I’ve had a love affair with the game of basketball from the time I was 7 years old and I’ve been very blessed in my lifetime to have played, coached, scouted, owned, done the whole thing, and it’s all about giving back. It’s all about caring, it’s about a passion for the game.”

USA Basketball seemed to lack that passion in recent years. The Americans may have founded the sport, but the rest of the world had long since caught up.

Team USA won nine gold medals in its first 10 Olympics, the only blemish coming in the controversial loss to the Soviets in the 1972 final. After slipping to a bronze medal in 1988, Team USA bounced back with gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000. But another bronze medal finish in 2004 left the program in disarray.

Colangelo’s first move was finding the right coach. He selected Mike Krzyzewski, a fellow Chicagoan. Although Krzyzewski had served as an assistant coach on the 1992 Dream Team, he was viewed as a risk because he hadn’t coached in the NBA. But Krzyzewski shared Colangelo’s vision that the U.S. needed to change its approach and emphasize fundamentals, starting with defense.

Colangelo required a three-year commitment from players. Skeptics said NBA stars would never go along. But Colangelo believed that he could persuade the players, and that’s exactly what he did in a series of private one-on-one interviews.

Kobe Bryant bought in, as did LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Elton Brand and Carmelo Anthony. Bryant will miss the worlds after minor knee surgery, but is expected to be available for the 2008 Olympics.

“The whole thing started with the old-fashioned thing of Jerry meeting with each of these players face to face and explaining what needed to be done and what their commitment would be,” Krzyzewski said. “A lot of it is just a handshake, looking each other in the eye and trusting one another.”

Colangelo wanted to put together a team, not a collection of All-Stars with shoe contracts.

The real test will come on the court, where the Americans are heavily favored to win their first FIBA gold medal since 1994. And that would provide another line on Colangelo’s resume, not that he needed one.