The 2008 Olympics team was formed to redeem Team USA from the 2004 conundrum in Athens. Multiple superstars who had declined to play 4 years ago, came back to help the team. The team had Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and other young stars. Jason Kidd (35) was the only 30-year-old in the squad.
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Any team having Mike Krzyzewski as their head coach, a 3x NBA champ and an MVP in Bryant, and a generational talent like James, would not necessarily need a veteran. However, Kidd accepted that role and had the respect of everyone on the team.
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James had the highest respect for Jason Kidd in the 2008 Olympics squad
Speaking to the former ESPN journalist on Showtime Basketball’s HEADLINERS With Rachel Nichols recently, Kidd was reminiscing his time with the 2008 Olympics team at their first practice session together.
Nichols asked him about the story Coach K told her in an interview, where Kidd was not getting things right with the young group, throwing passes out of bounds expecting LeBron, Kobe, Howard, Wade, and Anthony to catch some of it. And as the coach called a time-out and Kidd was about to take the blame, that’s when Kobe and Bron pitched in,
“No, no, no. That’s Jayson Kidd. We’re gonna adjust to him,” Nichols recalled her interview with Coach K.
That team, “The Redeem Team”, as we know them, obviously went on to avenge the 2004 Olympics team, who could only bag a Bronze, that too, by going undefeated in the tournament en route to their Gold.
Kobe might have been the captain of this Olympics team in Beijing, but the then 35-year-old Kidd was their unspoken leader.
Jason Kidd’s legacy
One of the greatest point guards to ever play the game, Jason Kidd, is probably the game’s biggest overachiever. The man, who came without a jump shot into the world’s grandest stage for basketball in 1994, stayed in the league for 19 years.
And it wasn’t just a long career. The 10x All-Star made 9 All-Defensive Team selections, was a 5x assists leader, and also finished with an NBA championship unlike John Stockton and Steve Nash. He got compared to those two point guards throughout his career.
He finished his career just behind Stockton as both, all-time assists and steals leader of the NBA and still remains the second-best in both categories 10 years after his retirement. He is also among the Top-5 of triple-double getters.
However, the biggest achievement of his career should be his improvement as a shooter. Kidd finished his career with the 13th most 3-point made, despite having a broken jumper to start with.
