USA team member Ray Allen admitted he "started despising" coach George Karl in Milwaukee before Allen was traded to Seattle from the Bucks.

"George, when he first came to Milwaukee, he was every bit a players' coach. He listened, he responded to things we needed, things we wanted and everyone wanted to play hard for him," Allen said of Karl, who was fired last month.

"If we were tired, he made us work harder. If we needed a day off, he made us practice. It always seemed like when something went wrong he'd bash us in the papers . . . I started despising him . . . I got tired of that after a while, and my hatred started growing."