While it’s easy now to assume Krzyzewski, a West Point alum, would’ve had the immediate buy-in from the stars, he was still a college coach-granted, an incredibly accomplished one-from a Duke program that a number of players didn’t necessarily care for growing up.īryant, James, Wade and Carmelo Anthony pose with their gold medals after defeating Spain in the final.īob Rosato/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images There’s solid context and behind-the-scenes footage of Coach K’s talks with the Team USA roster, ones he explains mattered quite a bit at the time. Still, even with those storytelling opportunities left out, there’s plenty here. But Kobe owned it, and after that, it was irrelevant.”

He said, ‘You’re right.’ … Because of the impact that sort of thing could have on the others, it had to be talked about. “We didn’t want to be a habit, so it was my responsibility to talk to Kobe about it. “That did happen,” Krzyzewski confirmed in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “Yo coach, you’d better fix that motherf-er,” James told Krzyzewski, according to the book. In Ian O’Connor’s book, Coach K, released earlier this year, the longtime reporter recreates a scene in which James pressed Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to get in Bryant’s ear about his poor shot selection, which was hindering the team during an exhibition game with Australia. The other omission, though far less glaring: While Kobe and LeBron developed a good rapport by all accounts, as is shown in the documentary, at least one tension seemed close to bubbling to the surface during the Olympic run, yet wasn’t touched on in the film.

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