The Collapse | The Story Behind '04 Team USA

The 2004 Men’s American Olympic team was the only one among the first seven NBA-led squads to not bring home the gold, settling for a bronze medal instead. In basketball terms, it was an unmitigated disaster. So how did it all come together and ultimately fall apart?

#TeamUSA #Olympics #AllenIverson

[kalmkorn]

they shoulda just send the 2004 Pistons at the Olympics back then...

[corpyhogan]

Barely playing Lebron, Melo, and Wade was a mistake

[justinpalmier]

There's a saying that "Coaches don't win games. Players do. Coaches can lose games." Definitely applies here

[stocksguy]

That team was not able to hit 3 pointers. They forgot “to take shooters” in 2004. Why will you take 10 guys that are “slashers to the rack” instead of taking at least 3 or 4 perimeter shooters. The other team played a lot of zone against that 2004 team. Since they couldn’t shoot for shit...they got embarrassed by Puerto Rico and Argentina.

[saulnores]

Argentina defeated the USA in 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis and in 2004 Olympics semiginals in Athens. It's not a coincidence. That is "Argentina's Golden Generation". Great talent and a great coach too.

[LaughingJokerProd]

Me before watching: How could they have lost? Look at that roster!
Me after watching: Larry Brown.

[Caro-ulso]

Argentina was a team, the US wasn't. Period.

[jengibre]

I remember that day, Argentina won basketball and soccer gold medal at the same day. That country is pure talent for sports.

[anon]

Crazy how this team had Tim Duncan and Allen iverson but they blame 18 year old lebron 😂😂😂. Legoat. Just shows his greatness

[josecastillo-ljno]

This year could have a repeat of this but Durant has been carrying the team on his back. Overall, team play hasn't been bad but Durant is clutch and willing to take big shots when down.

[ronbarnabei]

I remember watching that semi finals game and wondered why they didn’t play Wade and Carmelo more. If I remember correctly they looked like they wanted to be on the court and play but some of the other players didn’t look as focused. Damn shame.

[tzckxyu]

Just looking at that team and there's an obvious, glaring weakness: Perimeter shooting.

Also a lack of a true pass first, facilitating PG. And to go with that, why are there 5 SFs???

[finnbalor]

10 of the original 12 players selected dropping out over 6 months and with replacing younger players not yet ready will do that. The 2003 Qualfying team is so different than the 2004 one

[Doje]

but it birthed the 2008 redeem team 🔥🔥🔥

[jaycobdelacruz]

Making iverson play too much was also a problem

[BlackFlash]

Larry Brown was the reason this team lost. Starting Marbury and AI together and barely playing the 03 draft guys. This shit was in him

[tongpocalypse]

Folks didn't wanna blame Brown at the time since he just took the Pistons to the championship but hindsight really is 20-20.

[patfer]

This leaves out some more context: the issues didn't start right on 2004. Going back two years Team USA also had lost the 2002 FIBA World Cup, losing to some of the same teams as in the Olympics (Argentina, for example). USA Basketball was in disarray after Sydney.

And it wasn't just Brown. The team formation was odd and uneven. For example the team have very poor three point shooters and thus they would struggle against interior defenses with no chances to open the middle up. Many players refused to go due to the threat of terror attacks, but even then there was an entire league of players they could have tried to get. It is not just a matter of getting the most skilled or talented players. It is about getting the right players to build a team.

To top off the disgrace, the team itself didn't do itself any favors. Instead of taking the loss like champs they acted like prima donnas during while receiving the bronze medals. Most, outside of Duncan, Iverson, and a few more, behaved really bad during the ceremony acting as if it was beneath them and they were owed the gold medal.

It was a shameful team.

[leadlefthand]

08:30 - Let's get one thing clear: Kobe Bryant led that 2008 squad. When Team USA was imploding against Spain, it was Kobe that took over and won that gold medal.

[balltalkdeep]

finally getting the details and insight on what went wrong with this team makes alotta sense