LAS VEGAS– The Rio Olympics are still a year away, but Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo has already made a bold statement about the quality of the yet to be selected 2016 men’s basketball team.
“I think if everyone stays healthy and all the pieces remain intact, this could be our best Olympic team ever,” Colangelo said after the team’s recent three-day mini-camp.
The 1992 Dream team, with Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, John Stockton David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin, Larry Bird and Scottie Pippen— who are all in the Naismith Hall of Fame and won all eight games by an average of 44 points might argue that point.
But this upcoming Olympic team should be an overwhelming favorite to win a third straight gold medal and reaffirm this country as the dominant force in the global game. The most difficult challenge for Colangelo and U.S. national team coach Mike Krzyzewski will be selecting the 12-man team. There were 34 players at camp and 33 have won gold medals internationally at some point during their careers. At least 20 from the pool could contribute as either a rotation player or specialist. The final roster will be announced after the NBA draft next June.
Assuming 11-time All Star forward and four-time MVP LeBron James wants to play, he has a guaranteed spot on the team.
“He is one of the greatest players of all time,” Colangelo said. “If he wants to be on the team, how is he not going to be on the team? It’s really not my call. It’s really his call. If that is still important to him and what he wants to do, I truly believe that’s what he wants, than he will be there.”
Colangelo wouldn’t make that guarantee to any other candidate, but forward Kevin Durant, center Anthony Davis and guards Stephon Curry, the 2015 NBA MVP; James Harden and Klay Thompson– who established himself as a long range shooter and lock down defender on the Team USA’s gold medal run in the 2014 World Cup– seem to have an edge with the committee.
The rest of the 12-man roster is up for grabs. Expect Krzyzewski and Colangelo to add forward Kawhi Leonard as a defensive wing specialist and 6-11 Demarcus Cousins as a big bodied backup center who can rebound and block shots. The final four spots are interesting from a political standpoint.
Team USA can flesh out its front court with either Blake Griffin or Paul George or a third center. They should offer the final three spots to veterans like guard Chris Paul, forward Carmelo Anthony and guard Kobe Bryant. Those three and James were there when Colangelo and Krzyzewski began rebuilding USA basketball from the ashes after a sixth place finish in the 2003 World Championships in Indianapolis and a bronze medal disappointment in the 2004 Athens Olympics when Argentina won the gold medal and it looked like the system was broken.
James and Anthony, both 31, both were teenagers on the 2004 team. They got received limited playing time on a dysfunctional Olympic team and nearly left the program out of frustration. But they stuck it out once the program was revamped, weathering a bronze medal finish in the 2006 Worlds in Japan. Bryant and Paul played on that team too and the four bonded with Dwight Howard on the Redeem team that won a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics at Beijing and were the core group on the team that won a second gold in the 2012 summer games at London.
The addition of three aging veterans could be seen as a slap in the face to players like point guards Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving and either Griffin or George, who are talented enough to make the team during most Olympic cycles. But it also speaks volumes about the equity and experience those players have earned during their long term association with Team USA. They were loyal to this program when Krzyzewski and Conlangelo were just starting to re-establish the pride of playing for this country in 2005.
Nothing lasts forever and this will be Krzyzewski’s final go round as the national team coach.
He has made it clear that this team will not be a group of all stars, and with a limited turnaround before the start of the games in early August, team chemistry and leadership like the kind veteran guard Jason Kidd supplied to the 2008 team will be more important than ever. When asked about the selection process, Krzyzewski described the balance between honoring a player’s previous service to the program while recognizing the emerging players who are also competing for spots on the roster. “You just try to pick the best team,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s equity [built up from previous participation] as long as the talent from guys who have equity continues to be at that level with the newness of other maturing talented players.”
Krzyzewski has earned the right to choose who he wants to ride off into the sunset with next August. James is the best player on the planet. The 30-year old Paul, entering his 11th season, can provide similar leadership to Kidd. Anthony, who like James is trying to make his fourth Olympics, has stretch four scoring capabilities that could make him dangerous in any international competition even though those skills weren’t always reflected last season with the Knicks.
“We talk about it all the time,” Anthony said of winning another gold medal with James and Paul. “Just about how we want to go out and end it the next year with the Olympics, just how much we want to take from this experience. I’m going on four [Olympics], LeBron is going on four. Paul going for three. We’re connected by the hip.
”I’ve been part of USA since 18 years old. There’s history to be made. You got to start holding on to those moments and enjoy them.”
As for Bryant, he will be 38 next summer, old by international standards, and missed minicamp because he was on vacation with his family in Japan. But he has history on his side. He was a hero in Team USA’s victory over Spain in both 2008 and 2012 gold medal games.
Colangelo said at the conclusion of minicamp that he has had a conversation with the Bryant about that very scenario and has not ruled out Bryant for the 12-man roster next summer. “I was quoted on Kobe,” Colangelo said after USA Basketball’s intrasquad scrimmage at the Thomas & Mack Center. “In response to a question about him, I said it would be a great story if he did [play in Rio].
“And so, he also mentioned to me in a private conversation that if he had his druthers, he would love to ride off into the sunset playing one more time and winning the gold medal. And that would be the end. But he was very quick to say, ‘But, I don’t want a spot. I need to earn the spot. I need to be capable of playing at that level to be considered.’
And said, ‘You got that. That’s always there for you, Kobe.'”
“There’s a guy who’s made great contributions to the game, again, one of the great players of all time,” Colangelo added. “He helped us win the gold medal in Beijing. Trust me, he really did. And so he’s entitled to an opportunity.”
Bryant is entering his 20th season with the Lakers and has hinted at retiring. Winning a gold medal before he retires, would put an exclamation mark on his Hall of Fame career.
Krzyzewski and Colangelo are building a program that has sustaining value by taking seniority into account when selecting a roster. They are not just building a team for one year. Team USA can’t turn into a world of “one and dones.” It has to mean more if this team wants to continue to evolve and achieve the success it enjoyed in the past.
Iconic players like James, Anthony Paul and Bryant helped build this program from the ground floor up. They all wanted to win a gold medal and showed loyalty to the country by sacrificing their summers at the peak of their careers and are still All Star caliber players. The loyalty they showed is the essence of what our Olympic teams should reflect.
Making this team should be a right of passage. In a subjective sport like basketball, there is the opportunity to do that and create necessary chemistry in the process. This roster is not just for players who jump higher or shoot better. In the case of Anthony, Paul and Bryant, it is about the chance to lead a special team by honoring people who led them when they first entered USA Basketball.
