People genuinely underestimate the talent gap between the US team and the other teams in the Olympics. Like you could’ve taken the worst five guys on that team and it would’ve easily been the 2nd best starting 5 in the field. If they played a best of 7 series we’d never lose. The fact that it’s a one off is really the only thing that gives the “world” a shot.
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The USA team in 2004 did not win gold. They won bronze. They lost 3 games at that olympics.
A very young LeBron James was on that team - by the way.
And… Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, D. Wade, Stephon Marbury, Emeka Okafor, Richard Jefferson.
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That roster was the c or d team of USA. The best players were worried about terrorism at those games and opted out of playing. That easily could have been another gold medal.
2028 Olympics should be very competitive for Gold. France, Australia & Canada should be strong again. Others like Serbia could be sneaky good again.
But replacing all timers like LeBron, Steph & KD will be hard to replace…!
That is what they said about the original dream team with Jordan, Bird, and Magic. Do not worry about the talent level of the USA. It is good that the other countries are getting better. It makes for a competitive Olympics.
The U.S. has more talent but some of the other countries are better in fundamentals and play well as a team.
No guarantees the U.S. should win gold every Olympics.
And many of the international coaches have attended clinics taught by American coaches.
The internationals know the game.
A lot of those international teams have been playing together longer. The USA teams are usually put together in a couple of weeks. So, the chemistry is better. The main thing is that their players are more and more playing in the NBA. But Kerr said it the other night, the US still has the most collection of talent compared to the rest of the world.
Hopefully Jaylen Brown will be a part of it. But who knows. The next stars could be entering college or even on a play ground right now.
For those that follow closer, how much if any effect does playing with FIBA rules have?
they have better footwork…hmm, i wonder why…
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Others may disagree, but I think that is mostly negligible.
I’m going to disagree that they have better footwork.
It also helped that Yugoslavia went into a civil war during the 90’s. They were the only team that could have given Team USA a game back then.
A unified Yugoslavia would be a tough out now with Luka and Jokic plus at least 15-20 NBA players to build a roster from.
Glad we had 3 or more HOFs to get by.
2024 marks the 52nd year since I watched a men’s Olympic basketball game. I often hear fans say that the refs were “out to get us”, or on the take or some other whining foolishness. Well, the 72 final was the real thing. The refs (and IOC hoops officials) actually were out to get the Russians the gold and they didn’t even care if we knew it. I’ll watch my next Olympic hoops game after Dwight Jones gets his gold medal. As if…
And I usually can let stuff go. The Valvano game, the Montana Cotton Bowl, the Jets beating my Colts in SBIII… next day I’m pretty much over it. But that 72 Final still pisses me off LOL
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If you want to watch a great documentary, watch :03 From Gold (2002). Very balanced presenting both sides, but it will definitely anger you.
And if you want to stay on the 1972 Olympics theme, watch One Day in September (1999). Academy Award winning documentary. Should have been required watching before seeing Munich (2005). I knew so many people who watched that and didn’t fully understand the background.
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