Names in basketball don’t get much bigger than Steve Kerr, the nine-time NBA champion - five as a player with the Chicago Bulls and four as a coach of the Golden State Warriors.
Now the head coach of Team USA, at the front of his mind right now is the New Zealand Tall Blacks.
“We have great respect for them, they're very well coached, play really hard and they make you guard difficult actions - cut hard, they screen, look for quick shots - you have to be really well prepared to beat them," Kerr told 1News.
New Zealand and the USA open their World Cup campaign against each other in Manila early Sunday morning (NZT time) and for the Americans they have a point to prove after their worst finish in a tournament four years ago.
Coach Pero Cameron said it was going to be a challenge but not one his team would shy away from. (Source: 1News)
“We're in the midst of putting together our game plan for them. some of the things we did in practice were based on how New Zealand plays. So we're getting ready for them," Kerr said.
The USA don’t boast the big name stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry but their roster depth is still very strong, with the likes of NBA Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson.
“There’s winning and losing. What goes into that is effort, the approach, chemistry. I love being part of a team, doing what we're doing right now trying to build something and have something at stake. The beauty of sports is no-one's gonna die. We're gonna compete, we're gonna play as hard as we can, try win a gold medal. If we don’t, we understand
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