Gonzaga's Mark Few begins Team USA training camp in Las Vegas: 'It was surreal in some instances'

Few embarks on a quest for the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

The first gathering of the USA men's basketball team at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday looked more like a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony. One by one, some of the sport’s greatest players — LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard — made their way through the Thomas & Mack Center doors for Team USA’s four-day training camp.

“It was surreal in some instances,” Gonzaga men’s basketball coach and Team USA assistant Mark Few said. “Just to have that type of talent ... all gathered in the same room. I mean, it's kind of an iconic group, and then to get them out there on the floor and watch how they interact and see what they bring. It was awesome.”

As the group of 12 NBA All-Stars joined forces over the weekend during a record-high heat wave in Las Vegas, they expect to face a different kind of heat throughout their quest for a fifth consecutive gold medal in basketball. 

While the Americans have dominated the Olympics since the 1992 Dream Team set the standard, the rest of the world has upped its game over the past three decades. Look no further than the slew of foreign talent that has ascended to the top of the NBA — four of the five players named to the 2023-24 All-NBA First Team weren’t from U.S. soil. Over 1/4 of opening night rosters were filled with international players, headlined by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, former MVP and champion Nikola Jokic, Luka Dončić, and Victor Wembanyama. 

"I mean, listen, [the players] get it. They're highly competitive, and they have a lot of pride," Few said. "If we can just be aggressive, but be ourselves and be who we are, and especially at the defensive end, we should be in great shape."

Few has been well aware of basketball’s influence on the world during his time at Gonzaga, which has developed into quite a pipeline for foreigners looking to carve their path to the NBA. Four of his pupils — Kelly Olynyk (Canada), Andrew Nembhard (Canada), Rui Hachimura (Japan) and Filip Petrusev (Serbia) — appear poised to represent their respective home countries in Paris as well. Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania) has reached All-NBA caliber, while Brandon Clarke (Canada) could’ve represented the Canadians in the 2024 Games if not for an Achilles injury last year.

The Paris Games won’t be Few’s first taste of international competition either — he served as head coach of the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men's Basketball Team, a squad composed of collegiate players that won the bronze medal. He was also was an assistant coach for the gold medalist 2012 USA U18 National Team. But the Americans have failed to medal in each of the past two FIBA World Cup tournaments.

Even so, Few recognized last summer’s fourth-place blunder in Manila as the turning point for Team USA. Not long after the 2023 FIBA World Cup, players like James, Curry and Durant voiced interest in wearing the red, white and blue for the Paris Games.

“I think probably one of the best things that happened is right after we got done last summer, I mean, these guys started volunteering that they were in [for USA Basketball] and for this right away,” Few said. “So I think that kind of shows that collective competitive spirit that they all have.”

With the group of NBA All-Stars assembled, it’s on Few and the coaching staff to figure out how all the pieces will fit together on the court. That is probably the best problem to ask for as a coach given the amount of flexibility and star power across the board, and one Few has managed numerous times over the years when constructing the Zags’ rotation. In regard to handling these professional athletes, Few has a “keep an eye on the prize” mentality.

“Just telling everybody that probably the biggest thing is nobody will really remember who the leading scorer was on this team,” Few said. “We're all just going to be judged on how we finish. I mean, I would take it a step further and not even worry about that. If we could just tap out everything and get this entire group, if we could all play together and everybody brings their best, I mean, this thing would be pretty incredible.”

Aside from predicting the starting five, plenty has been made in the media about who will play point guard between James or Curry — a topic Few said “everybody's making way too big of a deal” given how “position-less” the roster is constructed.

Few hammered home that point with what he felt was the best play from the team’s first practice Saturday — a dribble-handoff, or “zoom action,” between Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo, in which Davis found Adebayo for a score.

“Everybody's comfortable pushing the ball up the floor, and there's huge parts to this that are position-less in many ways,” Few said.

“Again, we're just all driven to collectively come together and hopefully feel that this is bigger than all of us, or, our own individual accomplishments and what we have could be something really, really, really special that we'll all remember for the rest of our lives.”