The Gold Standard

April 15, 2009
The U.S. reasserted its dominance over the basketball world by winning the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Krzyzewski, with an unquestioned track record as the head coach at Duke, was chosen to lead the team. His challenge was to adapt the coaching methods that worked so well with college kids to a team of NBA superstars. The naysayers felt no one could rein in the egos of millionaire NBA stars, but Coach K obviously succeeded. In his telling of the tale, the egos werent an issue. To a man, the players sublimated their games to the needs of the team. If anything, Krzyzewski had to guard against excess deference. Kobe Bryant, the NBAs premier scorer, for example, was so determined to prove his unselfishness that, in an early scrimmage, he did not take a single shot. Krzyzewski relates his team-building techniques, offers numerous anecdotes about the players, and provides insightful commentary on the key games. This is not a great book, but it will serve as the definitive account of the U.S.s climb back to the top of the international basketball mountain.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)