Arguably the greatest honor a basketball player or team can receive is induction into the Hall of Fame, and from this month onwards, the 2008 ‘Redeem Team’ can boast that achievement. One of the most iconic sides in the sport’s history, its legend cannot be denied, but not everyone is thrilled about the recognition they are set to receive.
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The very reason the 2008 ‘Redeem Team’ came into existence was the humiliation at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Team USA lost to Puerto Rico and Lithuania in the group stages before being humbled by Argentina, led by Manu Ginobili, in the semifinals. Pepe Sanchez, who was part of that historic Argentina side that went on to win Gold by defeating Italy in the Final, recently expressed his disappointment that the international basketball community has not recognized their story first.
To be fair, Argentina is not the biggest basketball market. But that should never diminish what they accomplished. A nation with a fraction of the U.S. population, and where soccer overshadows basketball completely, defeating the Americans to capture the most prestigious medal in international basketball deserves Hall of Fame recognition in its own right. Yet Sanchez feels their achievement was overlooked because of bias.
“Just because we are a small-population country, I guess we are being overlooked,” he said, per Yahoo Sports. “If we were Americans, we would be in the Hall of Fame.”
The Redeem Team featured some of the NBA’s biggest stars, including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Chris Bosh. Two members of that squad, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, are also set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame individually this month. So, Sanchez is not arguing that Argentina was better than the 2008 side that lit up Beijing, but that they deserve the honor for being a team that played incredible basketball.
“We played some of the most beautiful basketball you can ever play. I think we played Hall of Fame basketball and we backed it up with results,” the former EuroLeague champion added. “We’re not comparing individually. That would be very stupid. That’s not the conversation. We’re talking about team.”
“The Hall of Fame is inducting teams and you’re not going to mention our team? It’s crazy.”
Sanchez hopes that one day the panel responsible for Hall of Fame inductions will recognize the impact of the 2004 Argentine basketball team. Still, the fact that the Redeem Team was honored before them will always leave a sour taste in his mouth.
