10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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AHS Discount
Cards on sale
USA Men’s Basketball
The Daily Astorian
Astoria High School stu-
dent-athletes will be “blitzing”
the community today from 6:30
to 8:30 p.m. selling their annual
AHS Discount Cards.
Cards cost $10. Over 40 local
businesses are offering savings on
the card. After Thursday evening,
cards may be purchased at Gimre
Shoes, Englund Marine & Indus-
trial Supply, or at the AHS Main
Offi ce.
All proceeds go directly to help
the athletic and activity programs
at Astoria High School.
RED, WHITE
AND WHO?
Falls sports night
Astoria High School’s annual
Fall Sports Preview Night is set
for Friday at CMH Field, with
scrimmages in football and soc-
cer, and team photos of all Fisher-
men fall sports teams.
Team photos begin at 5 p.m.,
with a performance by the Astoria
Dance Team scheduled for 6:30
p.m., followed by scrimmages for
girls soccer, boys soccer, fresh-
men/sophomore football, and var-
sity football.
AP Photo/Tony Dejak
The jerseys say USA, though that’s about all that will be recognizable for Jeff Van Gundy’s team. The Americans are cautiously
entering a whole new basketball world, one in which not only are the best U.S. players not available, but neither are any in the NBA.
USA basketball
enters a new world
— without its stars
By BRIAN MAHONEY
Associated Press
T
he jerseys say USA, though that’s
about all that will be recognizable.
When the U.S. men’s basket-
ball team returns to action later this
month, fans might be left wondering, “the red,
white and who?”
The Americans are cautiously entering a
whole new basketball world, one in which
not only are the best U.S. players not avail-
able, but neither are any in the NBA. LeB-
ron James, Kevin Durant and the stars might
show up in a few years for the Basketball
World Cup and Olympics, but only if a group
of minor leaguers can get them there.
It’s all part of FIBA’s new qualifying for-
mat and the road starts at the AmeriCup 2017.
It’s a tournament the Americans don’t need to
win — and aren’t sure they can — but one
they have to play to make themselves eligible
for the events that will matter.
“It’s going to be really interesting,” USA
Basketball men’s national team director Sean
Ford said. “We don’t know. We’re fl ying blind
a little bit.”
Even the Americans’ best-known com-
modity is a bit of an unknown now.
Jeff Van Gundy coached in the NBA Finals
and is analyst for them every year on ABC,
but he’s leading the U.S. team as an interna-
tional basketball rookie. He is busy brush-
ing up on the nuances of a game that can be
played and offi ciated completely differently
than in the U.S.
He begins Thursday in Houston for train-
ing camp, where he will seek the 12 play-
ers who will travel to Uruguay and possibly
Argentina for the AmeriCup and the poten-
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Mariners’ Jean Segura slides
safely into home in the fifth in-
ning Wednesday in Seattle.
Seattle edges
Baltimore 7-6
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Yonder Alonso
was acquired by the Seattle Mar-
iners to provide power for a play-
off push. After a slow start with his
new team, he delivered.
Alonso hit his fi rst homer for
Seattle and drove in three runs, and
Marc Rzepczynski struck out Chris
Davis with the bases loaded to end
the Mariners’ 7-6 win over the Bal-
timore Orioles on Wednesday.
Alonso, traded from Oakland
on Aug. 6, hit a two-run homer in
the fourth inning, his 23rd of the
season. An All-Star this year with
the A’s, he added an RBI single
during a three-run fi fth and also
singled in the seventh.
“I think he’s been swinging the
bat great the last three, four days,”
said Mariners manager Scott Ser-
vais, who was ejected in the ninth
inning. “It’s really been much bet-
ter. He’s been much more aggres-
sive, it looks like the guy we saw
early in the year when he was with
Oakland.”
Leonys Martin opened the sixth
with his third home run to put Seat-
tle up 7-4.
Seattle closer Edwin Diaz came
on in the ninth and walked the fi rst
three hitters. Manny Machado fol-
lowed with a sacrifi ce fl y to make it
7-5, but Martin prevented an extra-
base hit with a sensational diving
catch in right fi eld.
Diaz struck out Jonathan
Schoop, but then hit both Trey
Mancini and Mark Trumbo to
force in another run. Rzepczynski
relieved and fanned Davis on three
pitches for his fi rst save, and just
the second in his career.
“I’ve come in with the bases
loaded, two outs plenty of times, but
never in the ninth with the game on
the line,” said Rzepczynski, whose
only other save in 466 appearances
was with Cleveland in 2014. “One
other career save, and it was a four-
out save, so it was a little different.
But, I’ve come in plenty of times
with the bases loaded, so I kind of
just treated it like that.”
Tony Zych (6-3) pitched 1 2/3
scoreless innings in relief. Ubaldo
Jimenez (5-8) allowed six runs in 4
1/3 innings.
AP Photo/Aaron Gash
Philadelphia 76ers’ Kendall Marshall (5)
drives against Milwaukee Bucks’ O.J.
Mayo during an NBA basketball game in
Milwaukee in 2015.
tially better-prepared opponents who wait.
“What we have to do is match and exceed
their passion, how hard we play, how together
we are as a group,” Van Gundy said, “because
when the U.S. has not succeeded in interna-
tional competitions, it’s because there wasn’t
as much maybe sacrifi ce as you need, or
maybe you were defi cient in one skill that was
important.”
It’s the Americans’ fi rst appearance in
the former FIBA Americas tournament since
2007. Their starting lineup in that romp to gold
— James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony,
Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard — was one
of the strongest the U.S. has ever assembled.
The 17 players in camp with Van Gundy
include Kendall Marshall, Reggie Williams,
Darius Morris and Marshall Plumlee, players
good enough to play in the NBA but not stick.
The Americans haven’t needed to play
in their zone championship since because
they’ve won every Olympic and world title,
exempting them from qualifying. But FIBA
has revamped its qualifi cation system to look
more like soccer’s, where national teams will
play home-and-away games against teams in
their pool.
But some of the windows are during the
NBA season — the opening games are sched-
uled for Thanksgiving weekend — and play-
ers under NBA contract won’t be permitted to
play. So the Americans plan to primarily use
players from the NBA G League, with per-
haps some who have been playing overseas.
“Look, no one’s going to feel sorry for us.
But we know that this is different and we’re
going to have to fi gure out how to be success-
ful in a different model,” Ford said. “There’s
always unknowns, but there’s probably more
unknowns because No. 1, we don’t know how
good we need to be. We don’t know how good
we can be.”
Ford considers the prospective players a
notch below the NBA, calling them “survi-
vors, grinders, competitors.” That’s far from
the level that suited up for Mike Krzyzewski
for a decade or would play for Gregg Popo-
vich in 2019 and 2020, but Van Gundy is
eager to work with them in his fi rst coach-
ing assignment — not counting his daugh-
ter’s youth league — since he was fi red by the
Rockets in 2007.
“There’s very few LeBron James of the
world — obviously one — or great players
who have it easy. These guys’ careers have
not been easy and so I really admire their per-
sistence, their grit and their determination,”
Van Gundy said. “To get to work with them
and coach them, that was part of the pull for
me.”
With limited time and options, the Amer-
icans know the AmeriCup could be a chal-
lenge. Ford said they hope to reach the semifi -
nals in Argentina and see what happens from
there.
They will need to start winning come
November, when they open their fi rst-round
pool that includes Puerto Rico, Mexico and
Cuba.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Timbers keep former players in the fold
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
P
ORTLAND — Even though
they retired after last season,
three Portland Timbers didn’t
ride off into the sunset. They moved
from the fi eld to the cubicle, so to
speak.
Former captain Jack Jewsbury
is now Portland’s director of busi-
ness development, while fellow mid-
fi elder Ned Grabavoy was named
director of scouting and recruitment.
And defender Nat Borchers joined the
Timbers’ broadcast team.
The Timbers have a reputation for
keeping it in the family — even GM
Gavin Wilkinson played for the team
from 2001-06. Former players Adin
Brown, Cameron Knowles and Sean
McAuley are fi rst-team coaches.
It’s not unusual in any sport for
former players to remain with their
teams in a new capacity, and it’s fairly
common throughout Major League
Soccer: LA Galaxy goalkeeper Dan
Kennedy retired in April and moved
into a front offi ce role while also
helping out on broadcasts. It is kind
of unusual to have three high-profi le
players make the leap at once.
Billy Gates/The Oregonian
Portland’s Jack Jewsbury reacts after a 1-0 win over Colorado in a
match at Providence Park in 2016. After retiring last season, Jewsbury
and two other players stayed with the Timbers in another capacity.
Jewsbury retired after a 14-year
career, including his fi nal six sea-
sons with the Timbers. He is one of
just 10 players to have played 350 or
more games in Major League Soc-
cer’s history.
“It’s a place that people want to
be. I think you see that in Ned, myself
and Nat, all staying here post-play-
ing career,” said Jewsbury , who has
a business degree. “When you look at
the Timbers and keeping us on board,
it’s probably relatively rare that three
guys with experience in the league,
having grown up in the league and
building the league all retire at the
same time and there’s an opportu-
nity to keep them in three different
capacities.”
Grabavoy played 13 seasons in
the league, with prior stops on sev-
eral teams before landing in Portland.
Borchers spent most of his career in
Salt Lake City, but played on the Tim-
bers team that won the MLS Cup in
2015.
Owner Merritt Paulson said he
believes the team’s embrace of for-
mer players is something that makes
the Timbers unique in the league.
“I think, No. 1, players fall in
love with the community. They’re
embraced by the city and the support-
ers in a big way and they love living
out here,” Paulson said. “And No. 2,
the club treats former players really,
really well. We’re proud to have a
number of former players working
within our organization.”
The only problem? Jewsbury said
sometimes he misses donning his
jersey.
“Game days are really hard, espe-
cially the fi rst few. It was weird not
being out there with the guys,” he
said. “You defi nitely miss the locker
room, the banter with the guys. I
don’t miss the preseason or the two-
a-days, but you miss the game that’s
for sure.”