America is Awesome

It was only two summers ago that the USA Men's Basketball team sucked something fierce at the Athens Olympics. By sucked, I mean only took home the Bronze Medal, making it the third best team in the world, out of the 201 that competed.

Screw that man.

The way I, and most other Americans look at it, we were the 199th worst team. We had a ton of great players, with a roster consisting of Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, Richard Jefferson, and Stephon Marbury. We were coached by Hall of Fame shoo-in Larry Brown. But we had no chemistry and no perimeter shooters. All we were was a team of separate egoes that refused to gel, and it showed. We couldn't shoot either, instead opting to drive to the hoop over, and over, and over, and over again.

Things have changed now. All of the above mentioned players, as well as Coach Larry Brown, are gone. Coach K from Duke is at the helm. Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Carmello Anthony, Antawn Jamison, and Gilbert Arenas highlight ours stars. Granted, the final team hasn't been chosen yet. What I can say though is that the preliminary roster is deeper, smarter, younger, and more energetic than the 2004 roster was. Kobe Bryant aside, there isn't a huge ego on the team.

Last night the USA team played an exhibition in Vegas against Puerto Rico's team, which beat down on us 92-73 in the USA's opening game in the last Olympics. Whatever doubt there was leading up to the game about the USA, be it age or experience, I think we swatted it away. We outscored the Puerto Ricans in each quarter, passed the ball well, played each man the appropriate time they deserved (Lebron averaged only 18 minutes in '04, Dwayne Wade only 11), and forced twenty-five turnovers. The only time we let the lead slip away was in the second quarter, and even then, we showed resiliency. We came back and went on a 31-2 tirade, and turned a 33-29 deficit into a 60-35 blowout midway through the third quarter. We ended up winning by 45 points, with a final of 114-69, Carmello leading the team with 18.

We've got two more years until the Olympics. A lot could happen, and it probably will. I'm happy so far though, and confident. Here's to the Dream Team of '08 (instead of the Nightmare of Despair of '04).