Redeem Team Strikes Gold in Beijing!

Team USA basketball now has its spot back on the World Map. Sunday at 2am EST the "Redeem Team" as they've been dubbed, ended their 3 year quest to capture the elusive gold medals. Spain was the final team to be taken out by USA, with a closer than expected 118-107 victory Sunday morning. D-Wade had 27 points with Kobe Bryant adding 20. Kobe's Laker teammate Pau Gasol scored 21 in a losing effort. Gasol's teammate Rudy Fernandez lead the way with 22. After the victory, Team USA was quick to extend hugs and obligatory handshakes and pats to their opposition. During their steamroller trip to the Gold medal game, Team USA took down various foreign opposition including familiar NBA players. Dirk Nowitski, Yao Ming, Manu Ginobli and others were among the casualties.

This team had been carefully crafted by NBA GM Jerry Colangelo, and practiced together for a solid 3 years to make sure they could co-exist. Initial cuts were made to wittle the team down into one capable of demolishing international opponents. Gilbert Arenas, Bruce Bowen, Amare Stoudamire and Kirk Hinrich were amongst those not part of this team that finally appeared in Beijing. The final roster read like a "who's who" of the current NBA, minus the 3 superstar Celtics who are definitely up there in age. Kobe and Lebron have been the 2 most talked up superstars in the league for several years now, with debates as to who's better. In this competition, they were teammates, setting up each other for layups and spectacular dunks. Add in players such as Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, and you've got the makings of gold medalists.

Of course the debates started as to whether or not this team eclipses Dream Team 1992. That legendary team consisted of the well-respected forefathers of today's basketball: Bird, Barkley, Jordan, Ewing, David Robinson, Malone, Stockton, Pippen. You'd be hard-pressed to find a player on the 2008 roster who doesn't choose one of these 92' stars as their idol growing up. Lebron, Kobe, Melo, D-Wade and others on this team will be those legends one day, but for now they continue to achieve more milestones.

Congratulations again to Redeem Team 2008 for achieving Gold in Beijing!

Read more about Team USA winning the gold including pictures at CBS News!

Can Team USA Recapture Gold?

When pro ballers were first put into the Olympics about 16 years ago, they were dubbed the "Dream Team". It was a who's who of the best of US basketball, not only for that time but for generations. Jordan, Barkley, Ewing, Magic, Bird, Stockton, Malone, & the Admiral David Robinson were amongst the squad that completely destroyed each and every opponent. Team USA captured the gold easily and the US held bragging rights in the World of Basketball. But all that changed within a span of about 10-12 years.

The influx of European talent began to show in the NBA with stars like Manu Ginobli, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitski and Tony Parker. Soon that carried over to the worldly competition in the Olympics and the once "Dream Team" became runners up to other nations such as Argentina, who just had a better handle of the European version of basketball. They simply played more of a balanced team game, used the foreign rules to their advantage and outplayed our stars who seemed to coast at times. The US was soon considered second rate in terms of its players, making Europeans a hot commodity for upcoming NBA drafts.

Now we have what's been dubbed as the "Redeem Team". General Manager Jerry Colangelo assembled the best of the best which includes stars like Kobe, Lebron, Melo, D-Wade, and legendary Duke coach K at the helm. Notably the team has just one gold medal winner in Jason Kidd, who assists with its other two bright young point guards, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. The emphasis here is on re-establishing the United States as a dominant player in world basketball. They have their work cut out for them, as they surely don't have the experience of a Dream Team. During their last exhibition game against Australia they won by a paltry sum of 11 points. We've come to expect our NBA stars to completely pulverize opponents and it's seeming to get harder. Our team has plenty of flash and highlights, but may lack in pure shooters, outside of Michael Redd's talents. It's also notable that opponents can employ a "Hack-a-Howard" strategy similar to the way NBA teams foul Shaq in the late stages of games. Howard's free throw shooting is a glaring problem for our team at this point, as is the concept that possibly many of the stars we have want the spotlight.

Overall the team needs to focus together and work as a team, not trying to showboat individual talents so much. We have a sum of great talent, but it needs to be put to proper use in order to return our stars to the gold medal stand. And there's always that "Great Wall of Defense" from the Houston Rockets looking to defend his home team as they host the Olympic games...

Team USA Grabs Gold

Mission complete. On Sunday, Team USA defeated Argentina 118-81 to take home the Gold Medals in the FIBA Tournament of the Americas. This earns the US team a spot at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jason Kidd took the team captain trophy. Puerto Rico took Bronze, while Argentina's loss to the US earned them the Silver.

On Saturday, the U.S. National Team pulled away for another convincing win at the FIBA Americas Championship, 135-91 over Puerto Rico. The game was close for 6 minutes before the United States blew it wide open with an 18-0 run. The Americans scored the final 15 points of the first quarter, then Chauncey Billups opened the second with a three for a 38-14 lead. In the game versus Argentina, Lebron James lead the way with 31 points, while Kobe had a quiet scoring night but 8 assists. James closed out the tournament shooting 76 percent from the field, and he was 8-of-11 from 3-point range and also led the tournament in that category, hitting 62 percent.

Luis Scola had 23 points for Argentina (8-2), which lost twice to the Americans. He earned the MVP award for the tourney and will suit up for the Houston Rockets this season.

Read more on the game here at Fox Sports.

Now the players can finally take a rest, head back home and prepare for NBA training camp. Congrats to Team USA for bringing the gold back home, and let's hope they can assemble these names again for the 2008 Olympics Medal run.

USA's Mission Almost Complete

Team USA continues to dominate all competition at the FIBA Americas Tournament, as they should. Lead by Kobe, Lebron and Melo, opposing teams are simply being left in the dust as the US players dazzle the crowd. The latest victory came over Argentina, and had one of the closer margins of victory. However, Argentina was considered the toughest competition for the US team in the tournament.

From ESPN.com:

"Kobe Bryant's strong start quickly took the drama out of the most-anticipated game of the FIBA Americas tournament.

Now comes the only one that matters.

Bryant scored 27 points -- 15 in the first quarter -- and the United States cruised into the semifinals of the FIBA Americas tournament as the No. 1 seed by beating Argentina 91-76 Thursday night.

Carmelo Anthony added 18 points and LeBron James had 15 for the Americans, who will face Puerto Rico in Saturday's second semifinal game. A victory there gives them a berth in the 2008 Olympics.

"It was a little stagnant at the start and I came out and got hot early and we rode that for a little bit and helped us get off to a quick start," Bryant said. "We're close to accomplishing our goal."

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Time to be proud to be an American basketball fan again as Team USA keeps rolling. Hats off to Jerry Colangelo for assembling this group of talent who are basically steamrolling all competition. A win in the Finals will qualify the US team for a spot at the 2008 Olmypics in Beijing.

Weekend Schedule

Saturday, at Las Vegas
Game 1: Brazil vs. Argentina, 4 p.m. ET (ESPN360)
Game 2: United States vs. Puerto Rico, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN Classic, ESPN360)

Sunday, at Las Vegas
Bronze medal game, 4 p.m. ET
Gold medal game, 7 p.m. ET

Famutimi Impressive vs USA

A definite positive for foreign teams competing with the tough Team USA squad in these FIBA games is the fact that any player who shows well just might land an NBA deal. One such player is Olu Famutimi of Team Canada.

From the London Free Press:

"Canadian forward Olu Famutimi picked a good game to have his strongest showing in the tournament thus far.

Famutimi had a game-high 17 points in a 113-63 loss to the U.S. yesterday. His performance, which was televised on ESPN throughout the U.S. and picked up in Canada had commentators suggesting someone in the NBA should be giving this guy a look.

Currently, Famutimi is playing in the NBA development league with the Arkansas RimRockers."

Despite the loss, Famutimi showed well. Seeing as he's already got NBA ties, it shouldn't be long before we see him in an NBA jersey.

Latest NBA News & Notes

NBA.com has an official "Countdown to tipoff" timer on their site. As of this blog entry, there's just 66 days until the 2007-08 NBA season begins!

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According to Miami Herald:

“Veteran guard Gary Payton is not expected to return to the Miami Heat next season. Heat coach Pat Riley said Thursday that while the 17-year veteran Payton is unlikely to return, the team has interest in signing free agent forward P.J. Brown and are hoping to re-sign forward James Posey. Payton averaged 6.6 points in two seasons with Miami, and helped the Heat win the 2006 NBA title. Payton said several times last year that he's considering retirement, but the nine-time All-Star hasn't decided, yet.”

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NBA.com reports:

After evaluating his physical condition to determine whether he would make a comeback, Reggie Miller told The Indianapolis Star late Thursday that he will remain retired and not return to play in the NBA.

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The WNBA playoffs have been going on, and a historic Triple OT game took place the other night with the Connecticut Sun defeating the Indiana Fever. An exciting contest. This is the breakdown of the 4 Playoff series so far:

WESTERN:
Phoenix Mercury lead Seattle Storm 1-0
Monarchs lead San Antonio Stars 1-0

EASTERN:
Connecticut Sun lead Indiana Fever 1-0
New York Liberty lead the Detroit Shock 1-0

Visit WNBA Playoff central for more info.

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Team USA will be in action today at 3PM EST on ESPN2. The USA team will be taking on Canada. USA is currently 2-0 as it continues to try to earn a spot for the Olympics in Beijing.

Team USA & David Stern news

Team USA will play its first game of the FIBA Tournament of the Americas tonight at 11PM EST on ESPN Classic. NBA.com provides an extensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Venzuela's team. Venzuela's main star player is Oscar Torres, the only of their players to have played in the NBA (Houston and Golden State 2001-2003).

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From NBA.com:

NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today that the NBA has named Lawrence B. Pedowitz, a former Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and current partner at law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to lead a comprehensive review of the league's rules, policies, and procedures relating to gambling and its officiating program.


The news comes several days after former ref Tim Donaghy said he will name several NBA referees who have been involved in a gambling ring or gambling incidents.Read more at NBA.com.

Durant and Collison Cut

Two Seattle Supersonics have been dropped from the Team USA roster. Nick Collison and Kevin Durant were both sent home. Understandable choices, despite Durant's tremendous upside, he's still got the rookie stigma attached. Team USA's Roster should be trimmed even more by the end of today. Tuesday is when the final roster must be submitted before the FIBA America Tournament begins against Venezuela..

From USAToday.com:

As expected, Michael Redd and Mike Miller had nothing to worry about. The Americans have gone too long without a reliable perimeter threat, so they weren't going to send home two of the NBA's best.

"We knew exactly what we felt we needed in terms of adding certain components to our roster, and the good news is we were able to accomplish that," USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said.

The U.S. roster includes: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, Redd, Miller, Tyson Chandler, Tayshaun Prince and Deron Williams.

Team USA Squares Off

I caught a repeat of the Blue vs White Team USA scrimmage on FoxSports today. Many have called the game better than recent All star games, and they just might have a valid point there. On one squad you have J Kidd leading the troops into battle, and his favorite assist target; King James. On the other side you have the up and coming Deron Williams and his point man, Kobe Bryant. Then throw in sharpshooters like Michael Redd and Mike Miller and newcomers with loads of potential and talent like Kevin Durant.

Jason Kidd definitely shows his veteran leadership skills out there and he should by all indications continue to be the main point guard for Team USA into the Olympics. Kidd had some sweet alley oops and no look passes to Lebron for serious rim rattlers. Mike Miller showed a hot shooting hand and Kobe showed that he's still Kobe. One baller who I haven't seen much of up til now was Kevin Durant. And from what I saw it looks like he could definitely be the real deal in the NBA. Durant had a sweet dunk put back out of nowhere, while the veterans were just standing around.

The game wasn't without its inconsistencies. The commentators noted at one point that players were being too unselfish, as several passes sailed past players. You could also make a case that having some of these guys on the same team could hurt Team USA (Kobe, Lebron, Carmelo) because those 3 want to be the leader, but they can't all fill that role together. Overall, whoever makes the final cut out of these guys is going to make for one tough team to beat and for some exciting basketball to watch.

The game was won by Kobe Bryant, but Lebron took the last shot and missed. Now the question is if Lebron will allow Kobe to take that last shot while they are both on the court..?

Check out NBA.com's "Roster Math" where they examine the depth of the final Team USA roster. Team USA has 2 days of practice left.

Team USA Needs a Trim

As of right now Team USA is faced with a 32 man roster, of which only 17 players will make the final cut and be involved in tournament play, starting August 22 in Las Vegas. The US will try to qualify for a spot in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing. Here's the 32 names on the list right now:

Carmelo Anthony, Forward
Gilbert Arenas, Guard
Shane Battier, Forward
Chauncey Billups, Guard
Carlos Boozer, Foward
Bruce Bowen, Forward
Elton Brand, Forward
Kobe Bryant, Guard
Tyson Chandler, Center
Kevin Durant, Guard/Forward
Kirk Hinrich, Guard
Dwight Howard, Center
Lebron James, Forward
Antawn Jamison, Forward
Joe Johnson, Guard
Jason Kidd, Guard
Shawn Marion, Forward
Brad Miller, Center
Mike Miller, Guard
Adam Morrison, Forward
Greg Oden, Center
Lamar Odom, Forward
Chris Paul, Guard
Paul Pierce, Celtics
Tayshaun Prince, Forward
JJ Redick, Guard
Michael Redd, Guard
Luke Ridnour, Guard
Amare Stoudamire, Center
Dwyane Wade, Guard
Deron Williams, Guard

There you have it. As you can see it may come down to some tough cuts. But for starters, take Elton Brand out of the list. Then remove JJ Redick, Adam Morrison Luke Ridnour and Mike Miller. I believe at this point in all of their careers there is at least one better player on the list than them. The toughest choices would seem to come at who to keep/remove in point guards and centers. I'd keep Kidd, Paul and Billups around. Eliminate Hinrich, as much as I am a Bulls fan he doesn't compare to the 3 aforementioned. In terms of Centers, Id keep Stoudamire, Oden and Howard. Take Miller out of the list, I believe he's been injury prone at this stage in his career. The other 3 names, even Oden will own Miller in a 1 on 1 matchup, and can take on the likes of big men from other countries. While Miller has been considered a defenisve gem, Howard, Oden and Stoudamire give a nicer intimidation factor in the lane.

Here's my final roster, based on basically eliminating guys who don't measure up to the talent of the other names. You can argue this player or that based on minor aspects. Reddick, Ridnour, Morrison, Durant and Chandler I eliminated based on they have talent but are still expanding on that talent. Deron Williams, who had a breakout season is going to be great in the league. However, comparing him to Kidd, Billups and Paul, I think many would take those names first. Other guys like Brand who is injured and Miller/Odom, who are recent injury questions are easy to decide as well.

I think this final 17 is tough to argue against. It's a team full of the best the NBA has to offer and that's what the original Dream Teams were all about. The past few times around there seemed to be guys looking for individual notoriety. I feel having the big 3 in Melo, James and Wade is great, but you have to believe these guys each want the spotlight and are competitive amongst themselves. But having leadership of guys like Kidd, Billups and Pierce will most likely help with that. There wasn't much at the point guard position before and now its fully loaded. With J Kidd, Paul and Billups at point and guys like Kobe, Melo, Redd, Johnson to shoot as well as the inside presence of the big men on this list, we should be playing in the 08 Olympics.

Love & Basketball's Final 17 Man Roster:

Carmelo Anthony, Forward
Gilbert Arenas, Guard
Chauncey Billups, Guard
Carlos Boozer, Foward
Kobe Bryant, Guard
Dwight Howard, Center
Lebron James, Forward
Antawn Jamison, Forward
Joe Johnson, Guard
Jason Kidd, Guard
Shawn Marion, Forward
Greg Oden, Center
Chris Paul, Guard
Paul Pierce, Celtics
Michael Redd, Guard
Amare Stoudamire, Center
Dwyane Wade, Guard

Kobe's Team USA Heroics

Kobe was the hero in the split-squad face off Team USA held yesterday, hitting the deciding shot in the game. Lebron's shot fell short. Question becomes who will defer to who when Team USA starts up and needs that game winner?

From Las Vegas Review Journal:

They're supposed to be teammates, but it might as well have been January for Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

The two rival superstars took over the final moments of Sunday's USA Basketball Blue-White scrimmage, much to the delight of the 15,132 that showed up at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bryant rallied his Blue team to a 105-104 win over James' White squad.

At the end, it looked a lot like a Lakers-Cavaliers game, given the one-on-one antics by Bryant, who had 26 points, and James, who finished with 18.

"Everyone got a chance to see what we'd gone through the last two days," Bryant said of the three-day Las Vegas minicamp, which concluded with the scrimmage. "There's so much talent here. I'm excited to see what happens when we're all together."


Bryant won't have long to wait. Team USA reconvenes at the Andre Agassi Preparatory Academy Aug. 14 for the training camp to prepare for the Aug. 22 to Sept. 2 FIBA Americas Tournament at the Thomas & Mack.

Can Team USA Return to Glory?

The FIBA Americas tournament will start on August 22nd, in which America must finish in the top two to earn an Olympic spot. This time around the team will have the services of some more stars, possibly Chauncey Billups, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Amaare Stoudamire and the top 2 draft picks, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. The US Team lost in the semifinals of last year's tournament despite having some serious star power and a specially selected team by Jerry Colangelo, the USA's managing director.

From seattlepi.com:

"The U.S. national team opens minicamp Friday, its first time together since finishing third in the worlds and being forced to play its way into the Beijing Games.

"We had a changeup thrown at us," USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said recently. "Because when we spoke originally about that, the intent was to go out and win the world championships and that '07 would be a down year, just kind of prepare for '08. But because we didn't win the world championships, that changes what we have to do. We have some work to do."

Hopefully this team can find the right mix of inside/outside scoring and point guard leadership to return Olympic Gold to the United States. It almost seemed as if the mix of young stars on the team last time around was showcasing the "1 on 1" style that many say dominates the current NBA game. In the days of the original Dream Team, it seemed as if all the star players on the team could co-exist and play off each other's strengths. As good as Carmelo, Lebron and D-Wade are, these guys seem to be in a constant competition with each other for notoriety and that will always hurt a team effort. I'm not going as far to say as those 3 guys are the reason for Team USA losing either. Foreign basketball players have been more dominant in the NBA than ever before, and especially more so than the days of the Dream Teams.