“USA Has to Do a Better Job Developing Our Players!”: Kobe Bryant ‘Aptly’ Predicted European Basketball’s Rise Against Team USA

Back in 2017, the late Kobe Bryant appeared on ESPN’s First Take to talk about Team USA Basketball’s state. Speaking about the increase in standards of European basketball, Bryant claimed that the USA needs to do a better job of training its players. Talking about the 2008 USA Redeem Team and the effort it took for them to win the gold medal, Bryant claimed that the days of gold medals being a cakewalk for Team USA were over. Making a rather damning prediction, he even suggested that Team USA would “lose some,” unless the country started truly cultivating its talent.

Team USA might have had the talent to emerge as winners at the FIBA World Cup this time around. However, the signs were always there. They ended up losing to Lithuania in the group stages and were eventually knocked out of the race for the gold medal by the eventual winner, Germany. The country eventually concluded its tournament with a disappointing loss at the bronze medal match against Canada.

Kobe Bryant predicted Team USA’s International struggles years ago

Bryant had spoken about a range of topics in the interview. He spoke about how other nations had made efforts to improve their training methods in recent years.

While the NBA was still the best league in the world, the Redeem team struggled to chalk out victories, despite housing superstars like Kobe, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade. Speaking further about how the world may have finally caught up with the US, the following is what Bryant had to say.

“USA has to do a better job developing our players. It’s not a matter of the rest of the world catching up to the U.S. It’s that the rest of the world has been caught up for quite some time,” Bryant said. “It’s to the point now where the U.S., we’re going to win some and we’re going to lose some. That’s just how it goes We’re going to have our challenges for the next team, whether it’s Redeem 2 or whatever you want to call it. No matter what team it is, it’s not going to be easy.”

Bryant effectively predicted Team USA’s struggles on the International stage years ago. He even suggested better development of players in order to avoid the possibility of such losses from happening. Of course, his advice was hardly heeded, leading to the US finishing just fourth in the

Team USA can redeem itself next year at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Now, Team USA will be expected to square in for the 2024 Olympics with a star-studded roster. The likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry are both expected to be considered. This is because the tournament may be the last time they team up for their nation together. A number of other superstars could also be considered

There is little doubt that Team USA has the talent to dominate every team on the international stage. However, the fact that they went for a younger team this time around also seems to have played a part in their downfall.