Pistons Tayshaun Prince, The New Face of Team USA Basketball "Roll Players" and "Team Basketball"
It has been eight long years since the U.S. team won a major basketball championship. During that time, our basketball swagger has diminished. Our supremacy has vanished. Our nation's inner hoopster has been sadly humbled.
So the choice was either to abdicate the basketball hoop to Argentina and pursue team handball as a specialty, or do something about it. Yesterday the march towards respect started with the addition to Team USA of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Redd.
Is this enough to get the job done? In the past we thought superstar names were all we needed, and when I think about that first Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics, the names that stick out are Bird, Magic, Stockton, Malone. Yes superstars all of them, but also four players with a high basketball IQ and a large concept of "team basketball". The main thing missing from every team since and the thing that has caused every ugly defeat Team USA has had since that Olympics.
Read Mercury News Staff Columnist Ann Killion as she takes us back to that first Olympic Dream Team and shows the changes in personnel selection to get the team concept back.
So the choice was either to abdicate the basketball hoop to Argentina and pursue team handball as a specialty, or do something about it. Yesterday the march towards respect started with the addition to Team USA of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Redd.
Is this enough to get the job done? In the past we thought superstar names were all we needed, and when I think about that first Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics, the names that stick out are Bird, Magic, Stockton, Malone. Yes superstars all of them, but also four players with a high basketball IQ and a large concept of "team basketball". The main thing missing from every team since and the thing that has caused every ugly defeat Team USA has had since that Olympics.
Read Mercury News Staff Columnist Ann Killion as she takes us back to that first Olympic Dream Team and shows the changes in personnel selection to get the team concept back.