![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2008-olympics-group-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
From players to coaches to executives, Team USA\u2019s 2008 \u2018Redeem Team\u2019 wasn\u2019t lacking in legendary figures.<\/p>\n
As far as nicknames go, the one hung on the 2008 Team USA men\u2019s basketball team \u2014 \u201cRedeem Team\u201d \u2014 falls short of the all-time keeper that preceded it by 16 years. The 1992 assemblage of NBA talent, arguably the greatest roster put together in any professional sport, was known from the start as the \u201cDream Team.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n From Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson to Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton and the rest, it was stocked top to nearly bottom with not just All-Stars and eventual Hall of Famers, but legends. The league\u2019s first foray into Olympic competition shredded a series of star-struck opponents, caused a ruckus in Barcelona and rendered silly any notions of sequels. Jordan, Johnson, Bird and the others truly were one of one.<\/p>\n However, the \u201cRedeem Team\u201d \u2014 which will be enshrined this weekend as a team entry in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame \u2014 might have had a heavier lift than that 1992 crew. That first group was asked merely to flex American basketball superiority on a stage where this nation had always sent amateurs. The world\u2019s best national teams had advantages in development and continuity that were becoming too great to overcome with a hastily assembled collection of college kids every four years.<\/p>\n The 2008 group \u2014 featuring Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd \u2014 was tasked with setting right a troubling slump by Team USA not just in the previous Olympics (a stunning loss in the 2004 Athens Games<\/a>), but also its embarrassing setbacks in the 2002<\/a> and \u201906 FIBA World Championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n After nothing but gold in \u201992, \u201996 and 2000, the NBA stars finished sixth in \u201902, followed by bronze medals in \u201904 and \u201906.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think we\u2019re the best, the model for the world, but people are catching up,\u201d Hall of Fame coach George Karl said after that 2002 World Cup failure in Indianapolis. The U.S. squad lost to Argentina, Yugoslavia and Spain in a span of four days. \u201cThey beat us, and they beat us in our own country. We have to tip our hat to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Karl\u2019s more widely circulated quote came in the emotional aftermath of America\u2019s worst showing in international competition. \u201cThe money and greed of the NBA,\u201d he said. \u201cDoes that have an effect on our competitive nature? Yeah, you can write that.\u201d<\/p>\n Things got worse before they got better.<\/p>\n The roster that coach Larry Brown took to Athens in 2004<\/a> was beset by injuries or other schedule conflicts, with nine of the 12 USA players who won the 2003 FIBA Americas title not participating a year later. Only Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and Richard Jefferson returned. Prime veterans Shaquille O\u2019Neal, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Bryant and Kidd didn\u2019t play.<\/p>\n As a result, the names skewed younger, with James, Wade and Anthony added after their rookie seasons. Coach Brown \u2014 whose \u201cplay the right way\u201d ethos had helped his Philadelphia 76ers reach the 2001 NBA Finals<\/a> \u2014 imposed that on the collection of random stars and limited the young players\u2019 minutes.<\/p>\n The hubris that any 12 NBA players could show up and beat the world fizzled quickly. Puerto Rico beat Team USA, 92-73, in the \u201904 opener. It was a signal to the other national teams that the once invincible could be had. Six days later, it was Lithuania\u2019s turn. Then came Argentina, with San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili leading an experienced, cohesive group to an 89-81 win that bumped the Americans out of the gold medal game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was terrible to watch,\u201d Wade said, \u201cand it was terrible to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n Sources said then-NBA commissioner David Stern was on the verge of yanking the league\u2019s players out of international play altogether. Instead, he and the program turned to Jerry Colangelo<\/a>, longtime Phoenix Suns general manager and owner, who had recently sold his team. Colangelo was looking for a new challenge and he found it, accepting the role as Team USA director on the condition that he had autonomy over the selection of the coaches and players.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Colangelo\u2019s plan? Address the continuity shortfall by securing NBA stars for a three-year commitment. His credibility and salesmanship clicked, creating a snowball effect of players eager to be invited. Bryant signed on, Kidd came back and four young players who were part of the 2004 embarrassment \u2014 James, Wade, Anthony and Carlos Boozer \u2014 now had a shot to fix it.<\/p>\n This Redeem Team faced a tougher challenge than the Dream Team, in part because the latter had done so well in boosting the sport\u2019s and the league\u2019s popularity around the world. The international squads in 2008 boasted numerous NBA players, making the opponents even more formidable, despite FIBA rules and the style of play forcing adjustments on the U.S.<\/p>\n Colangelo tabbed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to coach, choosing him over Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Krzyzewski\u2019s track record of disciplined, selfless basketball seemed essential in crafting a new Team USA approach. The prospect of leading multimillionaire NBA stars, several of whom never played in college, was no more daunting than fostering camaraderie and humility in the group.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be committed to one another before we can be committed to the team,\u201d Krzyzewski said in the early stages. \u201cNo one ever \u2018selects a team\u2019 \u2014 you select people and hope they become a team.\u201d<\/p>\n The loss to Greece in the 2006 World semifinals in Japan hit hard, but Krzyzewski and his team absorbed it as part of the learning curve. Bryant joined up in the summer of 2007, after allegedly telling Anthony, \u201cI\u2019m tired of watching y\u2019all lose,\u201d and brought an edge to the group.<\/p>\n The Lakers legend was deeper into his career and several years older than James, Anthony, Wade, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh and others. He was that generation\u2019s Jordan, a loner with some team and individual baggage himself. The 2008 edition was going to be his first taste of the Olympics, and he set a tone with his willingness to defend, dive for 50\/50 balls and outwork anybody with his 5 a.m. weight-room sessions.<\/p>\n Bryant surprised his summer teammates in the first minute of a preliminary game against Spain, vowing to flatten Lakers teammate Pau Gasol at the first opportunity, then doing precisely that.<\/p>\n Team USA beat Gasol\u2019s squad by 37 points that day. Then they got revenge on Argentina from the 2004 defeat, beating them \u2014 and a hobbled Ginobili \u2014 by 20. Early foul trouble for Bryant and James pushed Wade to center stage in the first half of the gold medal game against Spain. Then Bryant keyed their push down the stretch to win 118-107 vs. Spain.<\/p>\n Ready this time to shine, Wade led Team USA with 16 points per game in Beijing and James had 15.5 while shooting 60%. Bryant took the most shots, 13 per game, while averaging 15 ppg. Anthony, a ball-dominant scorer in his day job, served more as a \u2018glue guy\u2019 in a shift that served him well in the \u201912 and \u201916 games, too.<\/p>\n Kobe Bryant provided a veteran voice and scoring touch to the 2008 U.S. Men\u2019s National Team.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt joy, I felt a relief,\u201d Anthony said in the Netflix 2022 documentary on the Redeem Team. \u201cLike, all right, we did it. We came together for a cause.<\/p>\n \u201cMy jersey didn\u2019t have \u2018Denver Nuggets\u2019 on there. \u2018Bron didn\u2019t have \u2018Cleveland,\u2019 Kobe didn\u2019t have \u2018Lakers.\u2019 We had \u2018USA.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Seventeen years later, they\u2019re a team again, heading into the Naismith Hall after Saturday\u2019s enshrinement ceremony at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass. The global balance of basketball power continues to rock \u2014 the NBA\u2019s last seven Kia Most Valuable Player awards<\/a> have gone to foreign-born stars and there were 125 international players from 43 countries in the league last season.<\/p>\n But Team USA has captured gold at every Olympics since Beijing \u2014 at the London, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Paris games \u2014 and has a 36-game winning streak. Order, restored in 2008, prevails.<\/p>\n Said Wade: \u201cWe were on a mission of redemption, and we did just that. We brought USA Basketball back to global prominence.\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kobe-bryant-olympics-2008.jpg\")
<\/p>\n