Team USA once ruled the international basketball world. The "Dream Teams" of 1988 and 1992 were collections of All-Stars and Hall of Famers, and 40-point victories were the norm. The team also won gold medals in 1996 and 2000.
Since those Olympic Games, however, U.S. Basketball has seen its greatness eclipsed and has fallen to third and sixth place finishes in the last two international competitions. The 2006 FIBA World Championships offer the new Team USA an opportunity to recapture its dominance.
The decline of U.S. basketball took nearly a decade. The lack of team cohesion, practice time and experience with international rules left Team USA at a serious disadvantage in 2002 and 2004. Dominant international teams -- the likes of Yugoslavia, Argentina, or Germany -- practice and train year-round. For the United States, the development of chemistry was given second priority to fielding a team of highlight-quality talent.
The effects were clear, with a wake-up call coming in the 2002 World Championships. Team USA finished sixth and was eliminated from medal contention before the quarterfinals. The 2004 Olympic Games brought a third-place finish, and included an embarrassing loss to Puerto Rico. United States Basketball reorganized following the 2004 debacle, hiring Phoenix Suns' General Manager Jerry Colangelo to head the program and Duke University's Mike Krzyzewski as head coach. Krzyzewski, the first college coach at the helm of a national team since 1992, hopes to lead the NBA stars to a gold medal.
Team USA has started strong, with a 3-0 record the exhibition games leading up to the world championship, although the victories came against injury-depleted international squads. A 114-69 tramping of Puerto Rico set the tone for a return to the top. A 119-73 victory over China, who finished eighth at the last Olympic Games and was playing without Yao Ming, their only NBA-quality player, moved the team to 2-0. The third game brought stiffer competition and the U.S. escaped with a slim 90-86 win over Brazil on Tuesday, albeit without significant contributions from Carmelo Anthony, who sat the second half with a hyperextended knee.
Onlookers feel confident that Krzyzewski can lead his all-star squad to a gold medal in Japan. With 10 days remaining to refine its game, Team USA's stars have developed an understanding of the international basketball scene. Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony, three of the brightest young stars in the NBA, have led the team while effectively sharing the ball. Role players and defensive specialists such as Bruce Bowen or Shane Battier compliment the scoring trio.
All three also played together on the 2004 Team USA, but failed to start a single game. According to James, the group has put the past behind them.
"We're not thinking about what happened in 2004. It's a different time, a different team for us, a different coaching staff," James said in an interview with NBA.com. "We are just going out and preparing ourselves the best way to win every game."
The U.S. has not won the FIBA World Championships since 1994, and success in the upcoming weeks will be crucial to the restoration of US basketball as the preeminent international power. This collection of All-Stars and NBA starters still composes the strongest squad in the 24-team field.
It would be unwise for the team to assume that Argentina or Yugoslavia will roll over at the championships in Hong Kong. Team USA still commands respect and stiff competition from every international team, and the FIBA Championships will be marked by close games. The next two weeks, however, should give U.S. Basketball its best opportunity since 2000 to reclaim its title as the strongest basketball power in the world.
