Guiding modern-day 'Dream Team,' Arizona Wildcat great Steve Kerr aims to avoid a Olympic nightmare

When Golden State coach Steve Kerr moved decorated fellow former Arizona Wildcat Andre Iguodala to the bench for the entire 2014-15 regular season, things worked out pretty well: The Warriors won the 2015 NBA title, and Iguodala was named Finals MVP.

Ten years later, Kerr has a similar problem to delicately wade through. Only this time, it’s on steroids.

As Team USA’s head coach in the Paris Olympics this summer, Kerr will have to tell a bunch of NBA all-stars that they won’t be starting. No matter how many rings, medals or all-star appearances they have.

That’s what happens when your roster includes LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, along with nine other guys that Kerr says could all be in the Basketball Hall of Fame someday.

“It’s a good problem to have, but … how do you pick five out of 12?” Kerr said during a USA Basketball Zoom conference to preview the Team USA training camp that starts July 6 in Las Vegas. “The idea is you find combinations that click, and you find two-way lineups that can be effective at both ends.

“Our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal, no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing.”

That gold medal thing is the other tough part about coaching USA Basketball. Winning one is pretty much a must, and even with the roster he is taking to Paris, Kerr said nothing is guaranteed.

One of many indications came just last Wednesday night: In the first round of the NBA Draft, four players were taken from France … a year after French phenom Victor Wembanyama became the No. 1 pick.

The Americans are really good, sure, but talent elsewhere is closing the gap.

“I think from the standpoint of career achievement, this team is probably as decorated as any since the ’92 ‘Dream Team,’” Kerr said. “The difference is in 1992, the world wasn’t anywhere close to as good as it is now in terms of basketball popularity, with globalization of the game.”

Not only that but, Kerr noted, the team that would have been USA’s top challenger in 1992, Yugoslavia, was broken up because of the Balkan wars while the Soviet Union had also splintered.

“Chuck Daly, the coach of the ’92 team, never took a time out,” Kerr said. “That team was never threatened. So the difference is that, yes, we have a star-studded team filled with Hall of Famers, but we have an altogether different challenge with great teams like Serbia and France, Germany and Spain ... and I’m leaving out others. There’s great teams all over the place.”

Kerr, the former Arizona Wildcat great-turned NBA title-winning player and coach, has experienced it first-hand, too. An assistant coach for USA at the Tokyo Olympics, Kerr saw the Americans stumble in a loss to France before winning the next five games to capture the gold medal.

Then, after Kerr took over as head coach, Team USA didn’t get any medal in the 2023 World Cup, finishing fourth after losing to Germany in the semifinals and then to Canada in the bronze-medal game.

“Last year we spent a month, 40 days together, and I left with nothing,” said Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, one of only two players carried over from the 2023 World Cup team to the 2024 Olympic team. “I left with great experience, good friends, good relationships. But we go to win the gold medal. We don’t have any other expectation. That’s our goal, and that’s what we want to do. I’m excited to compete for it.”

Team USA will start aiming for gold officially when camp opens on July 6 in Las Vegas. It will face Canada in an exhibition at Las Vegas on July 10 before traveling to Abu Dhabi for exhibitions against Australia and Serbia, and to London for exhibitions against South Sudan and Germany.

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Saying FIBA basketball is more of a sprint compared with the marathon of an NBA season, Kerr said he would try to mold Team USA quickly not only through practices and games but also through the cultural and travel experiences that will come from their schedule ahead.

While Kerr said USA always faces a disadvantage in continuity compared with other countries that often have largely the same national rosters from year to year, at least the Americans know each other on some level through NBA competition.

Sometimes, very, very well.

And this time, they get to be teammates.

“I think LeBron and Steph are really excited to play together,” Kerr said. “I’ve talked to both of them about being together after going against one another with such high stakes over the years.

“They obviously fit really well together. I think the idea of Steph playing off the ball and LeBron pushing it in transition, that’s pretty intriguing. Obviously Steph will play on the ball as well, and LeBron has become such a good shooter, but they’re both so good at so many different areas of the game, and I think they’re really excited to … find some of the nuances that they can really exploit, to see where they can have an impact for each other.”

Curry will be playing in his first Olympics, while James already has two Olympic golds (2008, 2012) and a bronze (2004). Oh, and they also each have four NBA titles, and an absurd number of NBA all-star honors (James has 20 and Curry 10).

But there’s little doubt they still also have hunger for a 2024 gold medal somewhere as does Kerr, who also happens to own nine NBA championship rings — five as a player and four as a coach.

“Everyone is thrilled with what’s ahead,” Kerr said. “Our roster is obviously laden with stars and players who have accomplished so much. And what I love about these guys is they want to accomplish more. They want to win an Olympic gold medal. That’s why they all signed up for this.”