From players to coaches to executives, Team USA’s 2008 ‘Redeem Team’ wasn’t lacking in legendary figures.
As far as nicknames go, the one hung on the 2008 Team USA men’s basketball team — “Redeem Team” — 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 “Dream Team.”
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’s 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.
However, the “Redeem Team” — which will be enshrined this weekend as a team entry in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — 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’s 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.
The 2008 group — featuring Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd — 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), but also its embarrassing setbacks in the 2002 and ’06 FIBA World Championships.
After nothing but gold in ’92, ’96 and 2000, the NBA stars finished sixth in ’02, followed by bronze medals in ’04 and ’06.
“I still think we’re the best, the model for the world, but people are catching up,” 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. “They beat us, and they beat us in our own country. We have to tip our hat to them.”
Karl’s more widely circulated quote came in the emotional aftermath of America’s worst showing in international competition. “The money and greed of the NBA,” he said. “Does that have an effect on our competitive nature? Yeah, you can write that.”
Things got worse before they got better.
The roster that coach Larry Brown took to Athens in 2004 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’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Bryant and Kidd didn’t play.
As a result, the names skewed younger, with James, Wade and Anthony added after their rookie seasons. Coach Brown — whose “play the right way” ethos had helped his Philadelphia 76ers reach the 2001 NBA Finals — imposed that on the collection of random stars and limited the young players’ minutes.
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 ’04 opener. It was a signal to the other national teams that the once invincible could be had. Six days later, it was Lithuania’s 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.
“It was terrible to watch,” Wade said, “and it was terrible to be a part of.”
Sources said then-NBA commissioner David Stern was on the verge of yanking the league’s players out of international play altogether. Instead, he and the program turned to Jerry Colangelo, 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.
Colangelo’s 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 — James, Wade, Anthony and Carlos Boozer — now had a shot to fix it.
This Redeem Team faced a tougher challenge than the Dream Team, in part because the latter had done so well in boosting the sport’s and the league’s 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.
Colangelo tabbed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to coach, choosing him over Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Krzyzewski’s 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.
“We have to be committed to one another before we can be committed to the team,” Krzyzewski said in the early stages. “No one ever ‘selects a team’ — you select people and hope they become a team.”
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, “I’m tired of watching y’all lose,” and brought an edge to the group.
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’s 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.
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.
Team USA beat Gasol’s squad by 37 points that day. Then they got revenge on Argentina from the 2004 defeat, beating them — and a hobbled Ginobili — 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.
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 ‘glue guy’ in a shift that served him well in the ’12 and ’16 games, too.
Kobe Bryant provided a veteran voice and scoring touch to the 2008 U.S. Men’s National Team.
“I felt joy, I felt a relief,” Anthony said in the Netflix 2022 documentary on the Redeem Team. “Like, all right, we did it. We came together for a cause.
“My jersey didn’t have ‘Denver Nuggets’ on there. ‘Bron didn’t have ‘Cleveland,’ Kobe didn’t have ‘Lakers.’ We had ‘USA.’”
Seventeen years later, they’re a team again, heading into the Naismith Hall after Saturday’s enshrinement ceremony at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass. The global balance of basketball power continues to rock — the NBA’s last seven Kia Most Valuable Player awards have gone to foreign-born stars and there were 125 international players from 43 countries in the league last season.
But Team USA has captured gold at every Olympics since Beijing — at the London, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Paris games — and has a 36-game winning streak. Order, restored in 2008, prevails.
Said Wade: “We were on a mission of redemption, and we did just that. We brought USA Basketball back to global prominence.”
* * *
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.