United States Men’s Basketball will never accept anything less than a Gold Medal at the Olympics. The players in America are just too talented to settle for anything less. Team USA’s bronze performance in 2004 was frankly embarrassing, and the men in charge of the squad needed to act fast. The NBA has the best basketball players in the world and with their skills on the court, they should be unbeatable.
The teams are composed of both young, athletic players and veteran leaders who understand the international game. However, there has been talk about imposing an age limit for Olympic participation. This would restrict the numbers of talented players eligible to participate and would surely lower USA’s chance of winning gold.
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is not a supporter of this proposed change and called NBA Commissioner David Stern’s idea “stupid.”
SportsGrid: “It’s a stupid idea,” Bryant told local reporters at the reception to welcome them to Manchester in advance of Thursday night’s exhibition game here against Team Great Britain. “It should be a (player’s) choice.”
Asked how much he and his Team USA teammates have talked about Stern’s proposal since getting together in Vegas on July 5, Bryant said: “Our discussion is this: Basically, it’s just a dumb idea and we (discuss) it that way.”
The Olympics were once only open to college players and at that time, America was not a dominant team. However, once NBA players were allowed to the Summer Games, everything changed. The 1992 Dream Team set a bar for future squads and ever since then, the United States has been an elite team in international play.
