Many basketball fans consider the Redeem Team to be the best international roster ever assembled. Led by the late, great Kobe Bryant, they won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and reclaimed the nation’s throne as the sport’s final boss. However, the star-studded likely wouldn’t have been put together without the humiliation Team USA endured in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Cup.
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Carmelo Anthony, an integral part of the 2008 roster, believes that the losses that led to the formation of the Redeem Team were important because they helped create a gold standard for the home-grown sport. During a recent conversation with Rachel Nichols on Open Run, the NBA veteran explained the importance of the 2004 and 2006 teams’ losses, saying,
“’04 was worth it, ’06 was worth it, we didn’t like it, but it was worth it. And now we get to reap those benefits. It just showed us where we was at as an organization…Like, ’04 and ’06, we wasn’t structured. And then once we put the structure around those teams ’07 and beyond is all gold standard.”
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After sending NBA players to the Olympics and winning the gold medal easily from 1992 to 2000, Team USA felt they’d be invincible in international tournaments as long as they had professional players on the roster. However, as Anthony explained, the humiliating third-place finishes in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Cup in Japan changed their perspective.
They decided to construct a roster that fit well together rather than picking the biggest names from the player pool who made themselves available for selection. The former Knicks guard shouldered the responsibility of playing in every Olympics and being the glue that held the rosters together.
It earned him the nickname ‘FIBA Melo,’ which he admittedly is proud of. Revealing why the moniker is special to him, Anthony said,
“I think that people respect the FIBA Melo because of the journey and like seeing us lose in ’04 and seeing us lose in ’06 and really having to figure it out as a nation from a basketball standpoint.”
Since winning gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Team USA hasn’t looked back. They’ve won the Men’s Olympic Basketball event five straight times and intend to continue their winning streak on home soil in 2028.
International teams continue to close the talent gap to the USA. However, none have been able to usurp them since the cultural reset that came through after their embarrassing losses in 2004 and 2006.
