In preparation for the 2008 Olympic games, Judge Dredd invites everyone on a proverbial trip back in time. It’s a chance to go back to the good old days, to the summers of 1992, 1996 and 2000.
These were summers when some of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled and gave the U.S. memories of a lifetime.
The NBA was the harbor for the best professional basketball players in the world. America’s dominance in the Olympic games for 12 years, starting in 1992, proved that.
In 1989, International Basketball Federation passed the rule that allowed NBA players to participate in the Olympic games and opened the floodgates, allowing Team USA to unleash the largest and most consistent butt whippings the world had ever seen.
They were known as the Dream Team in 1992 with greats such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and David Robinson running the show. The 1996 team boasted two of the greatest centers of all-time Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal, daring the world to stop its dominance in the paint and using pure intimidation to win the gold.
The 2000 Olympic games were not a cake walk for Team USA, but with driven players Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Duncan holding down the front lines, and sharpshooters Allan Houston and Ray Allen dismembering the competition, that team got it done as well. And who could forget Vince Carter’s dunk over seven-footer French center Frederick Weis? Gold was the standard.
Then there was 2004. Sure, it’s easy to name most of the NBA stars who played for that team. It’s also easy to remember what those guys did and didn’t do. The team was led by Stephon Marbury, a gifted guard with all the stats but never seemed to win under pressure.
Inexperienced versions of Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade struggled against more savvy international ballers. Meanwhile, Allan Iverson did what he does best, crossing over slower defenders only to settle for a jumper.
What those players failed to do was win gold. They didn’t even win silver.
Nothing gets the competitive juices flowing like a big piece of ego-crushing humble pie, especially when it’s hand-fed by a few "second-class" athletes on "second-class" foreign teams in front of a world-televised audience.
Yes, the summer of 2004 was a sad one in U.S. basketball history.
The funny thing is, this year Team USA has a reason to take the games more seriously. This team has a reason to put on more than a slam dunk contest for the fans in Beijing.
Wade, Anthony, James and Carlos Boozer all remember listening to another team’s national anthem being played at the awards ceremony. Kobe Bryant, Michael Redd and Jason Kidd remember turning down invitations to play for that Olympic team, forcing their country to send a few not-so-superstar players as substitutions.
And the NBA’s newest stars – Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Tayshaun Prince – remember watching from home as Team USA was destroyed by Puerto Rico and Argentina.
America must earn back the respect of the world and the world’s top players; however, to do that it must leave the world with memories. It will be interesting to see if this year’s team can shoulder that responsibility.
