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It’s a darn shame that Kon Knueppel didn’t get a chance to play for Coach K at Duke, because his family has a serious thing for the letter “K.” After being selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft we had a chance to meet Knueppel’s four brothers, and it was a tongue twister in its own right. From oldest to youngest we have ... Kon Knueppel, Kager Knueppel, Kinston Knueppel, Kash Knueppel and Kidman Knueppel.
“Coach K used to follow me in warm-ups. I once held his first born in the palm of my hand,” Hillman said. “So, one day we’re all on this bus talking and laughing. So, he was reading the paper and he yells, ‘Hey Darn, you’ve been drafted.’ I said, ‘Man, the Army can’t draft me again. I’m already sitting here doing time for the man.’ Everybody fell out laughing. I was not aware of the American Basketball Association.”
Shane Battier: So, during this particular locker room meeting, here I am, full of righteousness, coming from Duke—the Coach K way—and I’m the first one to stand up. I say, 'I gotta be honest, the veteran leadership on this team sucks.' Very honest, very direct. And they said, 'Hey, Duke boy, shut the fuck up. Go sit in the corner. Who are you?' And I was just like, 'Oh, man.' I did not read the room. It humbled me. I realized I couldn’t come in guns blazing, because there’s kind of an ethos, a creed—an unspoken locker room path you’ve got to walk to earn credibility. I hadn’t done that yet. So I shut my ass. I went to work. But I didn’t become cynical. I didn’t become jaded. I wouldn’t allow that locker room to change me. So I kept working. And a funny thing happened. The guys who were maybe on the fence, who didn’t know how to act or how to win, started to develop winning attitudes and behaviors. All of a sudden, you kind of feel the locker room begin to shift. We started to believe a little bit.
Falk reminisced on the prosperous early days of the Jordan Brand, but he also remembered the difficult times representing the Bulls star, like navigating the scandal after Jordan was found to have paid infamous scammer Slim Bouler tens of thousands of dollars after gambling on the golf course in the early 1990s. Falk said he believed Jordan was going to fire him after confronting him at a lunch meeting about publicly apologizing for the incident. But, as Falk recounted, “[Jordan] apologized to his parents. He apologized to the owner. He apologized to his teammates -- and it was over,” Falk said. “If you think I wanted to have a confrontation with Michael Jordan -- hell, no. But if you want to have a relationship with someone like that, or Mike Krzyzewski, or John Thompson, they have to know, at all times, when they ask you for your advice, that you’re never going to flinch, you’re not going to B.S. them, and you’re going to tell them exactly what you think.”
In an exceptional evening, FIBA honoured several iconic figures who have left an indelible mark on the sport’s history. Among the inductees were: Pau Gasol (Spain) – Two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and Spain’s all-time leading scorer in EuroBasket. Mike Krzyzewski (USA) – Legendary coach known as “Coach K,” who led Team USA to three Olympic gold medals and Duke University to five NCAA titles.] Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal) – WNBA’s all-time assists leader and one of the greatest playmakers in women’s basketball. Andrew Bogut (Australia) – NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors and three-time Olympian. Dawn Staley (USA) – Three-time Olympic gold medallist and flag-bearer for Team USA at Athens 2004. Alphonse Bilé (Côte d’Ivoire) – West African basketball icon and 1981 FIBA AfroBasket champion. Ratko Radovanović (formerly Yugoslavia) – Olympic gold medallist (Moscow 1980) and 1978 FIBA World Cup winner. Leonor Borrell (Cuba) – Four-time World Cup participant and 1986 tournament top scorer.
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"He impacted more people in our game than anybody," Krzyzewski said. "He's probably the most unique coach ever -- pro, amateur. He's as good as anybody, but I think you can't be like him. He did so many things that it's hard to believe one person could do all that." The two met in Las Vegas when Popovich was in town for Team USA's training camp. Krzyzewski knew the pressure of the position as Team USA's head coach. "Unless you're sitting in that seat, you don't know how it feels," he said. "Everyone is telling you it's going to be a sure thing and all that, and it's not a sure thing."
Adam Silver: “Recently, I was at a meeting with Mike Krzyzewski, former coach at Duke, and he condensed it with this headline. He said, ‘We should educate people about the game, and celebrate the game.’ Educate and celebrate. And I wish there was more of that.”
Adam Silver: I respect the job the media does. It's not a suggestion that people shouldn’t ask tough questions, be critical, or talk about things they don’t like about the game. But I would say—this ties back to Enjoy Basketball—sometimes they don’t spend enough time talking about why people love this game. Recently, I was at a meeting with Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), and he summed it up with a headline: “We should educate people about the game and celebrate the game.” Educate and celebrate. And I wish there was more of that. Especially within the four corners of the game—there are so many platforms: podcasts, blogs, TV shows. But I feel like when presenting the game to fans, we miss the opportunity to show why these players are so great—beyond just their physical talent.
Draymond Green: This is Team USA. That’s the best basketball team in the world. And Melo was the go-to scorer. And so I think—just even with that—I’ll never forget. We had a little situation in Brazil, and after that happened, we had like a two-and-a-half-hour meeting. I call Jerry Colangelo “Doc.” So Doc is up there, Coach K says something, and then Doc just keeps going on and on and on, man. And we’re all just sitting there, taking it on the chin. Whole team. Sitting there, quiet, taking it. Finally, after like two hours, Melo was like: 'Hey Jerry, we got it. We’re all grown men. Let’s move on now. If this happens again, someone’s going to have to go home. You’ll be kicked out of the Olympics.' And that ended it. That was it. That was the end of it.
Cooper Flagg the fourth freshman to win Wooden award
Duke's Cooper Flagg on Saturday became just the fourth freshman to win the Wooden Award as the most outstanding men's college basketball player. Flagg edged Auburn's Johni Broome, while Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama's Mark Sears and Purdue's Braden Smith were the other finalists. Flagg had been considered the favorite for the award during the second half of the season, when he emerged as the most consistently dominant player in the sport in leading Duke to the ACC regular-season and conference tournament championships and the program's first Final Four appearance since Mike Krzyzewski retired. He won both ACC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and is the clear-cut leader to be selected No. 1 in June's NBA draft.
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“I always had a great amount of respect for the role of the job of coaching and obviously I played for one of the greatest coaches in any sport, Coach K,” Redick explains. “He taught me how to operate at the highest level of intensity and professionalism, and how to be a consistent contributor to a team.”
Spanish legend Pau Gasol, multi-time champion Dawn Staley of the USA and venerable coach Mike Krzyzewski headline the nine inductees to the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Every member of the Class of 2025 will be honored at an enshrinement ceremony on May 17 that will take place alongside the FIBA Mid-Term Congress in Bahrain.
But when Hill does engage, he’ll have a harder choice to make this time. Whereas Kerr was the most decorated NBA coach on Popovich’s staff, Spoelstra and Lue are both NBA champions, with a pile of NBA Finals berths (six for Spoelstra, three for Lue) and are regarded as two of the best in the profession. Mark Few, Gonzaga University’s coach, was also on Kerr’s bench with Spoelstra and Lue, but the program has steered toward NBA coaches since Mike Krzyzewski stepped down after the 2016 Olympics for Popovich, who was his assistant. “I’d be willing to do anything for USA Basketball,” said Spoelstra, 54, who is in his 17th NBA season coaching the Heat. “That’s how it should be for anybody, for players and for staff members, if you’re asked. It’s such an honor and such a life experience, so you just do it. You don’t want to miss out on those experiences. And I would do any role.”
For all the focus on how Steve Kerr used his rotations in the Olympics, he actually has brought some of it to the Warriors. With Team USA, Kerr used a strategy that has been a key for American teams since Mike Krzyzewski was in charge: play with huge defensive energy and then mass sub to use the great depth against the world.
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