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Former 49er Rozone Following Team USA
by Jeff Faruando, Contra Costa Times
July 20, 2007
Oakland native Tony Ronzone, who has followed international basketball
longer and more closely than virtually anyone in the country, will
lend his expertise to the 2008 Olympic team four years after the U.S.
was embarrassed in Athens.
Ronzone, 42, was named Thursday as USA Basketball's director of
international player personnel. The 1983 Bishop O'Dowd High graduate
will be responsible for scouting international opponents the U.S. will
face at the Beijing Olympics.
"Tony is considered one of the premiere talent scouts in the business
and his strength certainly is international basketball. We are pleased
to have him involved," said Jerry Colangelo, managing director of
the
USA men's basketball senior national team.
Ronzone, director of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons the
past two seasons, has been involved with international basketball as a
player, coach and scout for nearly two decades.
He has worked as Detroit's director of international scouting for six
years and scouted for the Dallas Mavericks from 1998 through 2000. In
1998, while coaching in China, he attended Yao Ming's 18th birthday
party in at the young star's family home in Shanghai.
For Ronzone, who led O'Dowd to the 1983 state high school championship
game, the USA Basketball assignment will be to provide coaches and
players a scouting report on the players and teams they will face in
Beijing.
Ronzone's appointment is the latest in a series of changes USA
Basketball has made following a disappointing bronze-medal finish at
the 2004 Athens Games. Unbeaten in three previous Olympics since NBA
players became eligible, the Americans lost three times in Greece. In
14 previous Olympics, the U.S. had lost just two games.
In particular, the USA squad has struggled defensively in top-level
international play recently, also failing to win a gold medal at the
past three World Championships. At the Athens Games, opponents shot
better than 49 percent from 3-point range in three wins over the USA.
Since the inclusion of professionals starting in 1992, NBA players
have been appointed to the Olympic team. Instead, the pros will have
to try out this time, with a mini-training camp set for July 20-22 in
Las Vegas determining the team that will compete at the FIBA Americas
Championships later this summer.
Among those auditioning in Las Vegas are Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant,
LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
Ronzone has coached in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates and in China, where he served as assistant coach for the
Chinese youth national team in 1998, and in 2001 was coach of the
Chinese national team, which won a gold medal at the East Asia Games.
After graduating from Bishop O'Dowd, Ronzone played collegiately at
the University of Nevada and Long Beach State, then professionally in
New Zealand, Australia, Italy and the Philippines.
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