Colangelo seeks golden finish to time leading USA Basketball

Jerry Colangelo recalls it as a watershed year in his life.

He sold the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in 2004. He stepped down from the Arizona Diamondbacks, three years after they had won the World Series.

For Colangelo, who was also diagnosed with prostate cancer that year, a career in sports seemed to be heading toward its finish.

Instead, a new chapter would soon be starting.

When the U.S. stumbled to a third-place finish that summer in Athens, Greece — the first time it hadn’t won Olympic gold when using NBA players — former NBA Commissioner David Stern decided the USA Basketball program needed to be overhauled. The guy he had in mind to take over was Colangelo, who had been a trusted confidante on many matters in basketball and beyond.

“It was kind of perfect timing and the result was, it’s been a great run,” Colangelo said. “I’ve loved it. It’s been terrific.”

Now he needs one more victory to end it on top.

The Olympics will be Colangelo’s final tournament as the managing director of USA Basketball’s men’s national team. He took the Americans from their darkest days back to the top of international basketball, getting the sport's biggest stars to give up portions of their summers and commit to playing for the national team — sometimes multiple times — after many had begun to shun the program.

The Americans have won three straight Olympic gold medals and added a pair of world championships since Colangelo took over in 2005.

But his tenure began with another U.S. loss —- in the very Saitama Super Arena where the Americans are headed back to now — and he is driven to make sure it doesn’t end the same way.

“My focus is on the win, for everyone’s sake,” the 81-year-old Colangelo said. “For the country, for USA Basketball, for...

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