Positions matter little to Krzyzewski

Mike Krzyzewski doesn't particularly value traditional positions in basketball, and I suspect that approach will come in handy coaching this version of Team USA at the World Championships next month.

Krzyzewski was asked continuously during a media conference call Wednesday about the lack of height on this team. They had some bad luck: David Lee's hand injury, Amare Stoudemire's insurance complication and the after-effect of Brook Lopez's mononucleosis.

That means ex-Charlotte Bobcat Tyson Chandler is the only healthy true center and most everyone might have to play out of position.

But when has that bothered Duke's Hall of Fame coach? I did a magazine article with Krzyzewski years ago, and I asked him why he cares so little for conventional position labels. Krzyzewski answered that if his small forward fouls out, he'd rather put in his next-best player than his next-best small forward, because that next-best small forward might be his fifth-best player not already in the game.

Fast-forward to Wednesday, and Krzyzewski made it clear he won't fret over what he lacks. Instead, he'll put in his best five and hope the other teams have to match up with his odd-ball combinations.

"We don't have (a lot of) big guys...We're not going to pick someone up on a trade or anything like that,'' Kryzyzewski said. "So we're trying to personalize a system to fit the strengths of this group. We're going to have to rely on really good perimeter defense to make sure that we don't get hurt nside.''

That, to an extent, is what Krzyzewski did in the Olympics. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony played a lot of power forward in those games. That sacrificed a couple of inches of height, but it made the other team's power forward guard a dramatically better athlete.

James and Anthony aren't participating this time, but putting some names to positions, it means Kevin Durant might play some power forward and Lamar Odom plenty of center. The idea is to make the other team adapt to your next-best option, not the other way around.