00:00 USA Basketball Men's National Team Managing Director,
00:03 Grant Hill, joins Sports Illustrated
00:05 on behalf of USA Basketball ahead of the 2023 FIBA World
00:09 Cup.
00:10 I'm Claudette Montana with Sports Illustrated,
00:12 and Grant Hill joins me now.
00:13 And I want to dive right into this.
00:15 This is kind of a new regime, if you will,
00:18 for Team USA between you and Steve Kerr.
00:21 What are your expectations for this team ahead of the World
00:24 Cup?
00:24 Well, we're, first of all, very excited, very thrilled
00:26 to have this role and this responsibility,
00:30 both Steve and I. And of course, the expectation is
00:33 and always will be to have success and win a gold medal.
00:36 And of course, we understand just how difficult that is.
00:41 But we're excited.
00:42 We're up for the challenge.
00:43 We're part of a great legacy with the USA Basketball
00:47 program.
00:47 And we feel like this team and this roster,
00:50 the complementary skill sets and personalities,
00:53 and I think just overall excitement
00:55 and competitive nature of this group
00:58 really gives us an opportunity to meet those expectations
01:01 that we have.
01:02 Beyond Team USA, who do you think
01:05 could be the most competitive teams in this tournament?
01:09 Yeah, it's a great question.
01:10 I mean, I think sometimes we, as Americans,
01:15 think that we're the best in the world.
01:17 And we certainly have shown that at times.
01:19 But the talent of other countries is incredible.
01:22 France is a great team that's been together.
01:25 They have continuity.
01:26 They've been in the gold medal game against us
01:28 in the Olympics in 2021.
01:32 Canada is so talented.
01:34 Spain is always good.
01:35 So one of the important things to emphasize
01:39 is we have to understand the FIBA game,
01:41 but also respect the FIBA game and respect our opponents.
01:45 It's different than what we're accustomed to in the NBA.
01:49 So it's important for us to instill sort of what
01:53 it takes to be successful, the style of play,
01:56 how the game is officiated, the rules, all of that.
02:00 And thankfully, we have time.
02:01 We have some time-- not a lot of time,
02:02 but we have some time to get our guys up to speed.
02:06 But there's a lot of great individual talent,
02:09 and there's some great teams that
02:11 feel as though they have a chance at the same goal
02:14 that we do.
02:15 Yeah, talking about style of play,
02:17 some guys have said that the game overseas
02:19 is a little bit more physical.
02:21 What do you think the challenges are just
02:23 playing internationally?
02:24 Well, I think here in the States, playing in the NBA,
02:27 you grow accustomed to a certain style,
02:30 and it becomes sort of second nature.
02:32 It becomes instinctive.
02:34 And now all of a sudden, there's fewer possessions.
02:38 Maybe they allow more physicality on defense.
02:42 There's certain nuances to the game
02:44 or certain styles of play and behavior
02:47 that works in the NBA that doesn't always work and lead
02:52 to success in the FIBA game.
02:54 So it's changing some of those habits and changing it quickly.
02:58 Overseas players who are in the NBA may play one way,
03:01 but they may get in the FIBA competition,
03:03 and they're world beaters.
03:04 And we've seen that.
03:05 We've seen that historically in international FIBA play
03:11 from a number of guys.
03:12 So we just got to be ready.
03:14 We got to focus on what we need to do
03:16 and make sure we bring the effort,
03:19 make sure we understand the rules,
03:21 make sure we play together.
03:22 And we play with confidence, you know?
03:24 But we also have the appropriate fear necessary when going
03:28 against a worthy competitor.
03:29 You guys have a really talented group of guys, a young team,
03:32 but very talented.
03:34 One of those guys is Paolo Banqueiro, a Duke alum.
03:37 I know that you went to Duke.
03:39 Is it exciting and kind of nice to have a fellow Blue
03:42 Devil out there?
03:43 You know, it is nice.
03:44 I mean, Paolo and also Brandon Ingram, another Duke guy
03:48 as well on this roster.
03:50 And so, yeah, I mean, there's certainly a connection to them
03:54 and following their careers, both in college
03:56 and also in the NBA.
03:57 But they're here because of their play and who they are
04:00 and what they can bring to this team.
04:02 They both have a unique skill set.
04:05 Paolo being so young, so strong, so skilled,
04:09 he's a guy that has an opportunity
04:11 to have this USA basketball relationship
04:14 for quite some time.
04:15 His style of play, what he can do,
04:18 really brings a level of versatility for our bigs.
04:22 And we're excited.
04:23 We understand he's young, but he's incredibly talented.
04:27 And he wanted to do this and be a part of it.
04:29 And we're grateful he is.
04:31 Since I have you on the Duke topic,
04:32 I have to ask you, who do you think is the best
04:34 player to come out of Duke?
04:35 Yeah, that's a hard question.
04:37 We've had-- thankfully, we've had
04:40 so many incredibly talented players,
04:42 guys who have had exceptional careers in college
04:45 and have gone on and been in the NBA.
04:47 So I'm going to put myself in the conversation.
04:51 But you've got Jason Tatum, Zion Williamson,
04:55 Ben Carroll could be there, Brandon Ingram, Johnny Dock.
04:58 I mean, there's a long list of worthy candidates, if you will.
05:03 So of course, I'm a competitor.
05:05 And so I'm going to-- my name's going to be up there.
05:08 But mainly, it's a sense of pride, all of them,
05:11 to see them grow and just have the careers
05:15 and the impact on the basketball court
05:17 that all of them have had.
05:18 Yeah, got to throw yourself in there, of course.
05:20 But can I ask you, if you have to name your all-time starting
05:23 five Duke players, who would it be?
05:26 You know, that's tough, because you're inevitably
05:28 going to leave someone out who's worthy.
05:30 But I'm going to exclude myself, OK?
05:33 So I'm going to remove my name from this.
05:37 So I think Christian Latham, my teammate, just incredible,
05:41 one of the greatest college basketball
05:43 players of all time in the history of the game.
05:46 So I'll go Christian.
05:47 I got to go with Johnny Dawkins, who
05:49 was the first real sort of all-American that
05:53 committed to Duke and became a player of the year candidate.
05:56 I like Shane Battier.
05:58 He was someone who was a superior leader
06:02 and was just a great college basketball player.
06:05 I'll go with Jason Tatum, one of the young guys.
06:07 And it's a toss-up between JJ Reddick and Jay Williams.
06:11 But I'll go with Jason Williams.
06:12 I'll give Jason Williams some love.
06:14 But you know, there's so many--
06:16 Kyle Irving, JJ Reddick.
06:17 I mean, we've had so many guys that could be on that list.
06:20 And it certainly is very subjective.
06:23 But that's my list.
06:24 The Duke basketball program is just like a funnel to the NBA,
06:28 it feels like.
06:29 There's just amazing talent that comes out of the program.
06:31 Every single year, it's so much fun to watch.
06:33 Well, I'm looking forward to watching you guys.
06:36 I know America's looking forward to watching you guys as well.
06:39 And hey, best of luck in these next couple of weeks.
06:42 OK.
06:43 I appreciate it.
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