FIBA ASIA – It’s gold medal time; who’s prepared?

WUHAN (FIBA Asia Championship) - “I didn’t think they were going to beat Jordan anyway,” China coach Bob Donewald told a disbelieving press conference the day Jordan stunned Iran in the FIBA Asia Championship Quarter-Finals.

While the prediction seemed unlikely when you consider that Jordan - who have hit less than 28% from the three-point line for the rest of the tournament - had to nail 10/23 triples to sneak past Iran, Donewald had well-placed confidence in the off-court team that has served him so well.

“My staff and my scouts kept saying ‘you watch, Jordan’s beating Iran today. They’re out of shape and Jordan plays hard’,” Donewald added.

In today’s basketball, scouting has developed into an art form that simply has to be perfected.

“It’s normal now, if teams aren’t doing it they’re off the curve,” said Jordan coach Tab Baldwin who, point guard Sam Daghles revealed, spends immeasurable hours pouring over tapes of upcoming opponents.

“It’s common to be working at four in the morning,” Baldwin said, knowing that the two weeks of a FIBA tournament can take their toll.

“It was a big eye-opener for me going back to 2002 (FIBA World Championship), I remember my family in America watching games and seeing some of the interviews after the game and saying to me ‘what’s wrong with you? You look half dead.’

“Of course the adrenalin keeps you going so you don’t notice that stuff but afterwards, seeing some of the video with the black eyes, the red eyes, but you don’t really feel it at the time.”

China has locked down opponents’ offences all tournament in Wuhan, and Donewald said preparation has been one of the keys.

“They’ve been outstanding,” he said of his scouting team.

“For two summers now coach Ernak has been the lead on our defensive system. And then we have got the NBA guy here, Pete Fowler, who is just really knowledgeable in terms of scouting.

"We take all that information, we take all the video analysis and we’ve got statistical analysis as well, and then we make our decisions.”

For Baldwin, the key is getting the players to understand the messages, but things don’t always go to plan.

“It takes a lot of work, you have to look at five or six hours of tape to get it down to 30 minutes for the players,” he said.

“Getting them to absorb it is the next step, that’s the most important thing. Generally what you emphasise is what they pick up the best,” he added.

“They also pick up stuff when they watch themselves the best, but that’s not usually what I want to show them! They love highlight films. I rarely do that but they can turn a scouting session into a highlight film sometimes, or a comedy session!”

Donewald too acknowledged that all the scouting in the world achieves little without a committed team.

“I speak on behalf of all my staff when we say it is my players,” he said.

“Because they adhere to the principles, they put in tremendous effort, and give the credit to my players because they go out there and work their asses off and play tremendous defence.”

Donewald had one more prediction to share with the media when he spotted Baldwin in his post Semi-Final press conference.

“When the Jordan game was over the last time we played them I said to their coach - and he is here so you can ask him - I said ‘I will see you in the finals’. So Tab, I’ll see you tomorrow baby, we’ll have a good game!”

Baldwin laughed, knowing that he still had a lot of work to do before hitting the sidelines for his team’s first ever FIBA Asia Championship final.

“Tonight will be a late night,” he said. “But it’s the final game, so I wont be begrudging the minutes!”

No doubt both coaches and both teams would give up more than a little bit of sleep to get that one place at the London Olympics.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA