What will the 2012 team look like?

The way the Olympic men’s basketball team won the gold medal has set the stage for a 2012 team that will have to repeat the feat.

There is a proven blueprint now, showing those that wish to join the team what it’s going to take to win the gold.

One of the best things that came out of the 2004 team’s failure in Athens is there has no longer been a shortage of superstars willing to commit to Team USA.

But what is the next team going to look like? Jordan and others sat out in 1996 because they had been there, done that. He claimed a want to give someone else the opportunity to win gold, but the real reason was how much the Olympics ate into his summer vacation. For a player that would play golf during off days of the NBA finals, having a block of free time that large occupied by what were essentially unpaid exhibition games wasn’t too appealing for for a superstar like Michael Jordan, who's team's were always playing in June.

Ideally, Olympic basketball director Jerry Colangelo would like to return Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Deron Williams, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul for the 2012 team. They would be locks. All they have to do is say they want to play and show commitment.

Jason Kidd is out. Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd are going to have to compete for their positions again. Both appear to be in their primes right now, and if their games slip in their 30s, they’ll be out.

Carlos Boozer and Chris Bosh are still possibilities. Boozer will have to be content sitting the bench again. If he is, he could be valuable. Bosh could be a main player again, given his rebounding capabilities and the fact that he’s a big man that can shoot free throws. He'd get a chance to play more at the four with Oden, who was already on the Olympic team roster this year, healthy.

Al Horford from the select team would be a top candidate to replace Boozer. That’s going to be direct competition there. All things being equal, Horford is younger, bigger and stronger.

Kevin Durant is the only true lock to make it from the select team. He’s a bona fide star on the rise and in his fifth year in 2012, he should be on the same plain as the current smattering of franchise players.


Robin Lopez, Kevin Love, LeMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Duran, Jeff Green, Luther Head, Andre Igudala, Kevin Martin, O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose and Rodney Stuckey were also on that select team. If Colangelo gets the players back that he wants to from this year’s team, the only thing he’ll be looking for out of this group is specialists. None appear to be that right now. There are some good players there now, but someone's going to have to show they can do something great.

Hawks guard Joe Johson and Gilbert Arenas are also on the current team. Johnson is a better option that Areneas. They both are prolific scorers, but Arenas appears to have the same mentality as Marbury or Iverson. Players that can’t play team basketball and be effective. He’s supremely skilled, but it’s about team ball now and that’s not going to change in 2012.

US learns lesson, earns gold

In its best light, the Olympics signified a change in world perception, the perception of China as a closed anti-social society and the perception of the United States as a nation of egotistical and selfish imbeciles.

America was not too popular during the 2004 Olympics, and the failure of the men’s basketball team helped explain why. The Americans had all the resources in the world. They had the best athletes. They had the most money. They had the most experienced coaches, minds that had a connection to the game’s great inventor, Dr. James Naismith.

But it didn’t matter.

America also had a problem, and it was filtering down to the senior men’s national team.
Larry Brown didn’t play rookies — period. So ‘Melo have a seat and put your warm-ups back on, you ain’t goin’ anywhere.

By the way, it’s not Marbury, it’s Starbury.

Tim Duncan might be the best post player in the world, but Allen Iverson can’t be effective unless he’s shooting 25 times a game. And don’t talk about practice….practice, man…PRACtice. I mean…we’re talking about practice….not a game…not a game…we’re talking about practice…practice, man…practice.

But even with all that clashing of egos, the Americans could still say they were the best — until 2004 when someone finally showed them they weren’t.

Sure Manu Ginobli and Fabricio Oberto are nice players, Ginobli is great even by NBA standards, but if they played for the 2004 US team, neither one would have started. Oberto’s application would have been shredded before it reached Brown’s desk.

But here they were, representing Argentina, and winning the gold medal over a team that was far more talented, but a team that didn’t take the world seriously enough.

Sure the Americans were good, the world said, but it didn’t matter. They were too selfish, too lazy and too stupid to play team ball. In the United States, they don’t believe in teamwork. Everyone thinks they can do it themselves. That’s their problem. That’s why they ended up being third-best, losing to countries with a fraction of the basketball population of the United States. The Americans don’t have a clue, the world thought, and it was hard to argue.

But things are changing.

A team more talented than ever put their egos aside. It wasn’t seamless team ball, but they tried. They really did try. They made the extra pass. They trapped on defense. They talked only about playing together.

And when they won the gold, they didn’t act like they deserved it. They acted like they worked for it, like it was special. They actually enjoyed winning it.
They showed the rest of the world that the United States does value its spot in the world and they don’t take it for granted.

Argentina you were right. Hard work, dedication, teamwork, a commitment to each other, that is the way to play. That is the way to live. You can have some success alone, but you can go all the way together.

Thank you world.

You taught, we listened.

Peace.