Nate James and Chris Carrawell are having their annual summer basketball camp at nearby Durham Academy this week. The pair started the camp four years ago as a way to give back to the community and provide a great week-long experience for local youth who can’t afford some of the more expensive camps in the Triangle area.
Yesterday, Kyle Singler and Casey Peters visited the NJCC camp, spoke to the campers, showed off some of their favorite drills and signed autographs. Said Casey, the team’s newest walk-on and roommate of Kyle, “It was really great to get to be a part of Coach Nate and C-Well’s camp. They are two of the best basketball minds around and they have such an amazing ability to connect with and teach campers and players of all ages. I’ve spoken at a camp only once before so speaking and doing some drills with my teammate and good friend was really cool.”
July is the biggest month of the year for recruiting travel with major AAU events all over the country and all month (except for during the NCAA-mandated dead period on the 16th-21st). Even if the recruiting destinations were appealing (sometimes they are — Vegas, Orlando — sometimes not as much), coaches live in gyms from 8 AM to 10 PM/midnight for days at a time so they don’t have much time to take in the sights. While in the gyms, coaches are of course shoulder to shoulder with other coaches from around the nation — from old friends to competitors within your conference — sometimes there to watch and recruit the same players.
Recently in South Carolina on the recruiting trail, Coach K and Oklahoma Head Coach/former Blue Devil Jeff Capel crossed paths. The pair was able to catch up and watch some hoops together. A local South Carolina paper, the Aiken Standard, wrote an article that touched on the relationship between the two coaches and asked Coach Capel to share his thoughts on his relationship with Coach K. Coach Capel said, “Coach K told me when he recruited me that this would be a relationship that would last for the rest of our lives, and I’m very fortunate that’s the way it’s been. Obviously when I played for him, I learned a lot, and I probably value that relationship even more now. My dad used to always tell me when I was younger about people that really care about you, or if you care for someone, they always do two things — they’ll believe in you and tell you the truth — and I can always expect that from Coach.”
After talking, Coach K and Coach Capel headed on to the next game, the next gym and the next town, on the hunt for not only the next top prospects but also the next relationship like the one they’ve shared since the Oklahoma leader signed on to play at Duke in the early 90s. They also might be looking for a big-shot taker and maker like this:
We are still in July but Duke sophomore Seth Curry’s summer already includes a trip to New Zealand, nine wins in nine games in the FIBA U19 World Championship and a key role on the first USA Basketball squad to win the U19 gold medal since 1991. Yesterday in Auckland, Curry scored nine points and the Americans slipped past Greece 88-80 to win the gold medal.
After winning the gold, Seth told reporters, “It’s an unbelievable feeling man, we worked so hard… I feel so blessed right now to be able to win a gold medal.” In other words, as he wrote later on Twitter, “We got that GOLD medal baby!!!! first time since 1991. call us the Jr. Redeem Team.”
The 18-year drought by the USA included the 2007 team which featured Seth’s brother Stephen (recently drafted in the lottery by Golden State). Said Seth, “It means a lot especially since my brother has been encouraging us to come over here and win for them because they weren’t able to get one two years ago. I’m really excited.”
A press conference slated for July 21st in Las Vegas will officially set the course of the USA Basketball Senior National Team’s next four-year term. This week, USAB managing director Jerry Colangelo offered some hints. “All leads point to Coach K coming back,” Colangelo stated. “With the success we had, I would do everything in my power to keep everything intact.”
Colangelo continued, “I’m a strong believer in not upsetting the apple cart.” In this case, when you have the likes of LeBron, Kobe, D. Wade, Carmelo and Coach K manning your apple cart, Colangelo’s approach seems rather logical.
Reflecting on his first term with the National Team, Coach K recently told reporters, “There was not one negative thing for me, my program, my family. It helped our program, it helped me (and) it helped our school. It was just a good thing.”
Former Duke player and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas highlighted some of the specific positives for Coach K, telling the Durham Herald Sun, “It has been incredibly energizing for him. He has also learned more from the coaches on his (USA) staff and seen a different way of doing things. It has expanded his basketball horizons.”
The next term kicks off this summer with a training camp in Las Vegas beginning on July 22. The National Team will reconvene next summer to prepare for and participate in the World Championships in Turkey. The four-year commitment wraps up with the 2012 Olympics in London where the focus will be on a golden repeat.
Said Nolan Smith about his coach taking another shot at the Gold, “He has coached the best, won a gold medal this year and if he chooses to do it again I have great confidence that they are going to win another gold medal. I’m proud to be playing for such an honored and respected coach. It makes me a proud player everyday we go to practice to know that this guy, Coach K, coached Kobe and LeBron. It’s just a great feeling.”
Here’s our look back at last summer’s gold-medal win:
Former Devil Dahntay Jones is packing his bags and heading to Indianapolis. After a breakout season with the Denver Nuggets in which he started 71 games, emerged as one of the league’s best defenders, and wowed crowds with his dunks, the 2003 Duke graduate has inked a four-year, $11 million deal with the Pacers.
“(Pacers president) Larry Bird and (general manager) David Morway contacted me the first night of free agency and expressed a lot of interest in Dahntay,” said Dahntay’s agent, Mark Bartelstein. “The Pacers are getting somebody that competes with an edge and is a lockdown defender. He’s going to bring a defensive mind-set to the team.”
Dahntay was a key player in Denver’s run to the Western Conference finals last season, where he scored 7.0 PPG and played some ferocious defense. On the year, the New Jersey native averaged 5.4 points and 2.1 rebounds while earning the assignment to guard the opponent’s top perimeter threat on a nightly basis.
