LeBron Jame has been sentenced life in prisonment today as …
When the USA men’s basketball team waltzed into the 2004 Olympics with a roster featuring Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and a young LeBron James, most would have thought that a fourth straight gold medal was a foregone conclusion.
When the USA men’s basketball team waltzed into the 2004 Olympics with a roster featuring Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and a young LeBron James, most would have thought that a fourth straight gold medal was a foregone conclusion.
Instead, the tournament started and ended with disaster, as Team USA dropped its first game to Puerto Rico by 19 points (its worst Olympic loss ever) and lost two more times before finishing with the bronze medal.
And while James is far more wise now than the kid he was in Athens, America’s understanding of basketball has also massively evolved.
The 2004 roster featured plenty of elite talent, with the likes of Stephon Marbury, Dwyane Wade and Amare Stoudemire also included. But it didn’t quite fit.
A backcourt of Marbury and Iverson was undersized and ball-dominant, and there was a huge dearth of effective spot-up shooters.
The results were clunky, as the Americans made the fewest three-pointers of any team per game (5.5) and shot the second-worst percentage (31.4).
Nowadays, spacing rules the NBA, and the final roster selected for this summer will be constructed with that thinking in mind.
The likes of James and Durant won’t be the only All-Stars in Paris, but don’t be surprised if names like Mikal Bridges or Austin Reaves are given the nod over more decorated pros due to their seamless fit alongside primary scorers.
Instead, the tournament started and ended with disaster, as Team USA dropped its first game to Puerto Rico by 19 points (its worst Olympic loss ever) and lost two more times before finishing with the bronze medal.