Between Kinston and his current role as head basketball coach for the Southside Seahawks, Sean White has spent 15 years coaching basketball in eastern North Carolina. In his experience, he’s seen plenty of talented basketball players come through the area including, most recently, Northside’s Edrice “Bam” Adebayo.

White has also seen elite basketball players develop in the state. He followed Kyrie Irving’s time at Duke University. He looks forward to seeing how Irving rises to the occasion and how USA gels under the leadership of Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Here’s what he had to say about the USA basketball team and how they’ll fare in the upcoming Olympics.

On who he looks forward to watching:

“I think I’m being a little bit biased here. Kyrie Irving is a North Carolina boy. He went to Duke. He’s going to matchup well with most of those guys that they play against. I’m not so sure about (Draymond) Green with everything that’s happening with him. I don’t know what to think about him. He’s almost like a sideshow, almost like Dennis Rodman was for a while.

“Kevin Durant is on there. He’s a great forward and I think he’ll do well. Klay Thompson, I think he’s going to help out a lot.”

On how what thinks of this team’s chemistry:

“I think this is a good group as far as the team concept. If you remember back in the early 2000s, they had a lot of young talent on that team. I think it was Lebron’s first year in 2004. They had a lot of other young guys on that team. That was the team that only won the bronze.

“It was a disappointment. I think it was mainly because they didn’t gel as a team. They had a lot of young superstars that were out to promote themselves, in my opinion. I think they were young and trying to prove themselves and not play as a team.

“This roster here, all these guys have been in the NBA for several years now. Carmelo Anthony is on there and I think he’s the oldest guy on the team. He was a young guy (on that 2004 team). … This team right now has a lot of guys that I think will play well together. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’ve seen some of the exhibition games they’ve played so far and they look good. They’re playing some of the teams that are supposed to be medal-contending teams.”

Ralph Biggs has made a name for himself all over the world. As a Washington native, Biggs played for the Pam Pack before departing to Baltimore to begin his college career with Towson University.

He played at Towson from 1994-98 and, after going undrafted in the 1998 NBA Draft, took his talents abroad. He played in Belgium and France and led the Euroleague in steals per game in the 2000-01 season.

Biggs has since returned to Washington to coach the Lady Pack basketball team. He completed his first season this past year and earned 2-A Eastern Plains coach of the year honors.

On his favorite moments in Olympic basketball:

“My favorite was the first Dream Team in 1992. I was about 13 or 14 years old. That’s the team that really made an impact on me. I think they were the greatest team ever with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird and all those guys.

“I was there in Europe in the 2000s when the USA started losing. The rest of the world had thought they caught up. Those were the times that made me think we could do better, but, as you see, the world never really caught up.”

On how this year’s roster stacks up against the Dream Team:

“I don’t think they could beat the Dream Team. I don’t think any team could beat that team, personally. Maybe that’s my nostalgia kicking in. I think this team is very strong with versatile players. That’s the strength with USA basketball. The players are so versatile compared to European basketball players.

“They don’t have one player in the rest of the world that’s like Kevin Durant. You have no players like Kyrie Irving. It’s so unbelievable how the US basketball players are.”

On what possible matchups he looks forward to:

“It’s always fun to watch them play Spain. You’ve got the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc. From my experience playing in Europe, Spanish league basketball is always the best. It’s the best outside the NBA. And there’s Argentina with (Manu) Ginobili, Luis Scola and those guys. They have a strong team.”

 

John Lampkins has been an AAU coach for about of 20 years. As a player, he also has some experience playing in semi-professional tournaments. He has been working in the Beaufort County community coaching basketball for the majority of his career.

On what he thinks this team’s place will be in history:

“I think this team can go down as one of the greatest. In every area from the one to the five, it’s an outstanding matchup against every team. I don’t really see a team in the Olympics that can come close to giving those guys a scare. They’re almost like the 1992 team. They’re not quite close to it, but they’re close.”

On who he thinks will be the team’s impact player:

“To me, every guy in the league gets enough attention. But, who I don’t think gets enough is Kevin Durant. Since he’s gotten into the league, I’ve been following him, and he’s improved every year. There’s not too many guys that can say that. That’s one of the things I don’t think he gets enough credit for.”

On how important Mike Krzyzewski is to this team:

“I don’t think Mike Krzyzewski gets enough credit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Duke fan, but I have to give him credit. He’s a coaching genius. Any guy that can take any team any year with any chemistry and put it together, he deserves more attention than he has.”