Olympic Basketball Trials Will Begin Wednesday

John Thompson’s combative mood turns to coaching with the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo., starting Wednesday.

The trials, expected to feature around 80 prospects, continue through May 24. At the end, Thompson and his staff will choose about 20 finalists for a six-week training camp beginning in mid-July.

A 12-man team, with Thompson as head coach, will be named before Sept. 2 to represent the United States in the Summer Games Sept. 17-Oct. 2 in Seoul, South Korea.

In recent weeks, Thompson has shown he already is wearing his game face.

The Georgetown coach railed against agents for allegedly advising college players to skip the tryouts, and he criticized the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers for helping in the rehabilitation of Soviet center Arvidas Sabonis.

Of the original 93 players invited last month to the trials, 10 have publicly pulled out. Olympic basketball officials expect another 10 or so may not show at the camp opening on Wednesday.

Thompson suggested that agents advised several players, including All-Americans Gary Grant of Michigan and Harvey Grant of Oklahoma, to stay away to protect their marketability going into the next NBA season.

Two other top prospects, Pervis Ellison of Louisville and Tim Perry of Temple, also were among the early dropouts. Ellison cited an injury, and Perry is skipping the trials to attend summer school even though he has completed his eligibility.

The good news is that the tryouts will feature some the country’s top amateur players, including the national college players of the year from the past two years. David Robinson of Navy was the consensus pick in 1986, and Danny Manning of Kansas and Hersey Hawkins of Bradley shared various awards for the past season.

Robinson, even though he hasn’t played in serious competition since the Pan American Games last August, is considered a cinch for the team. He has been working out recently with Danny Ferry of Duke and others at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Manning, in particular, but also Hawkins, Ferry, J.R. Reid of North Carolina, Sean Elliott of Arizona and Rex Chapman of Kentucky are considered among the good bets to survive the week-long camp.

“A lot of players will eliminate themselves in the first few days,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who helped assist Indiana Coach Bob Knight at the 1984 trials.

“Some won’t be in very good shape and some others might not be up to it mentally. If 80 players show up, I’d say as many as 50 could be eliminated in the first few days.”

Thompson’s practice schedules calls for four days of workouts, then a double-header scrimmage featuring between 30 and 40 players on May 22 at McNichols Arena in Denver.

Those scrimmages, scheduled for 3 p.m. Denver time, are the only instances when the trials will be open to the public.

Thompson initially opened the trials for the NBA scouts. There has been no announced change, but Thompson since blasted the league for its role in helping Sabonis. The 7-foot-2 Soviet center has been in Portland since April 28 to rehabilitate his injured Achilles’ tendon.