United States’ redemption is complete. The story is over and they did what they needed to do. Now let’s look at the results of this competition that pitted NBA teammates against eachother.

Preceding the Olympics there was a lot of talk about NBA players heading east to Europe. Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and even Lebron James said that they would consider playing in Europe. There’s more money to be made there and a completely different atmosphere, something that they may easily welcome.

Now, I don’t know whether there was any validity to the comments but if there it’s not there any more. The rest of the world is in no competition with American basketball. Not only that but the international rules are not condusive to a successful career. The game seems to be sloppy, choppy, and reckless. A career ending injury is basically imminent.

I appreciate what international players have brought to the NBA, but the last thing I want to see is NBA players going to Europe. David Stern and the NBA need to do whatever they can to prevent this. Call me selfish, but I want these guys over here so I can watch them, too bad Europe.

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Mike Krzyzewski said it best about developing an Olympic Basketball team…

We’re not ‘selecting a team’, you select people and hope they become a team.

Mike Krzyzewski on the USA Olympic Team

This year, I think everything is falling in place. It seems like there is a completely different demeanor on this Olympic team. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have taken the leadership roles and they have enstilled in this team, and many basketball fans (me being one of them), that USA basketball is going to be on the top podium come Beijing.

LeBron James and Carmello Anthony

An article in Sports Illustrated gave an excellent title to their article on this USA Olympic team that fits so well. “The Redeem Team.” It’s so true. They need to redeem themselves after the pathetic, unenthusiastic basketball they have played in the past decade. Sure Jordan and Magic left huge shoes to fill with the Dream Team, but if players like Carmello Anthony, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant can’t fit in those shoes, I don’t know who will.

This team is the closest to the Dream Team that dominated the 1992 Olympics and they cannot take this for granted. In an interview on the MIke and Mike show on ESPN Radio, Mike Golic asked Kobe Bryant where a Gold Medal from the Olympics would sit on the proverbial trophy case. Bryant said it would sit on top, above the NBA Finals trophy which shows just how important this medal is to him (plus, that trophy case was expecting a Finals MVP this season…). Bryant said there is nothing more rewarding than playing for your country and I hope the rest of this team feels the same way.

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