A few days after the announcement of the big tournament in Abu Dhabi, which will feature teams USA, Germany and Greece, USA Basketball executive director Grant Hill spoke to 20 reporters via Zoom call. The Sportish watched the veteran basketball player’s presentation, who showed incredible anticipation for the preparation of the US national team and meeting with our representative group on the way to the World Cup, which will be held from August 25th to September 10th in the Philippines, Indonesia and will take place in Japan.

In detail, what the USA Basketball CEO said:

“We look forward to traveling to Abu Dhabi, a new market that is passionate about basketball and specifically Team USA and the NBA. The anticipation for the World Cup is great. We found out that we will also play in Spain, with Spain and with Slovenia. In Abu Dhabi it will be an opportunity to face competitions like the World Cup, we look forward to playing against Germany and Greece. It’s an important game for us, we’re looking forward to it because not only the USA Basketball members will be there, but also Germany and Greece, all members of a world sport.

I had the opportunity to visit Abu Dhabi for the NBA friendlies last October and was really surprised by the city. The enthusiasm for basketball exceeded my expectations. They have a thirst for NBA basketball players, since then we have talked about these national team games and everyone has been looking forward to seeing such teams there. I can’t wait for the world to see basketball at a high level, from us, from Germany and from Greece.

Since then, in 1996, I have also visited Manila. It was an incredible experience. I had lost my mind! I felt like I was in an NBA arena with thousands of people waiting outside the hotel. I was like a rock star, like a member of the Beatles. People were hungry for basketball, Michael Jordan was one of the first to go there. I returned in 2000 and again it was an amazing experience. Any player who has World Cup experience comes back a better player. I’m glad to be back in Manila. This love, this passion in the world for basketball doesn’t exist anywhere else.

USA Basketball turns 50, we’ve been working with the NBA for 30 years. So with logistics and security we will be prepared. We work together, we want to have fun but also be safe. Let’s see Manila and play basketball. We want everyone to be safe, we will take all necessary measures and everything will be fine.

International basketball is very different, much more dynamic. They can beat you with incredible players who are already in the NBA. In the past we’ve seen big guys who can shoot and handle the ball, it’s a different sport. I’m glad because we have talented shortstops, we need to have shooters, especially in games with less possession. We need goal scorers, guys who can put the ball in the basket. We are working with Steve Kerr to give us the best chance of winning the gold medal.

We didn’t do well at the 2019 World Cup and that played a role in the rankings. Spain has overtaken us. We don’t like the fact that we’re not number 1. But we have an additional motivation to be successful. We don’t like the idea of ​​not being number 1 and we have the opportunity to change that.

Everyone is waiting to find out which players have agreed to play in the summer. We had good conversations, in the last few weeks we have turned up the volume of these conversations. In June or early July we will announce the team line-up. Like I said, there’s an incredible enthusiasm from players who really want to be on the team. We have to find the best chemistry. A lot of work goes into this gold medal, anything else would be a failure. I love a challenge, I love an opportunity, I love working with great people.

We will have squad tryouts, this is the best time to become a team, build chemistry and prepare for another sport like international basketball. We’ve had great athletes at previous events who have grown with age. Now we look forward to the younger players, of course we will also have some experienced veterans. We will have to adapt. Every generation is different, we have to be aware of that.

There will also be a Select Team, I cannot describe the importance it will have on our preparation. I was there in 1992, we had one win and a lot of losses against the Dream Team in the days that followed. This team will prepare the squad, it will have young athletes who will be members of the national team in the future. It happened in the past with Irving, with Durant, who later played in the majors“.