Carmelo Anthony?s commitment toward helping restore the U.S.?s dominance in men?s basketball began on an airplane nearly four years ago after the team?s disappointing showing at the 2004 Olympics.
Flying back from Athens, Anthony was distraught over the United States? bronze medal finish, which marked the first time a “Dream Team” failed to win gold.
It was on that flight that Anthony, a Baltimore native and Towson Catholic graduate, made a pledge with fellow NBA stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer they would not leave the 2008 Olympics in Beijing without the ultimate golden bling.
“Every offseason for the last three years has been about preparing for the Olympics,” Anthony said. “We are a much better team now than the one four years ago and we know what to expect now from in the international game instead of just being thrown to the wolves. Winning a gold medal would be the best feeling I?ve had other than the birth of my son.”
Anthony, a forward for the Denver Nuggets, said the core of this year?s team is much more mature than it was when it headed to Greece just a month after completing their rookie seasons in the NBA.
“What happened in 2004 wasn?t the best for myself, Dwyane and Carmelo,” James told reporters. “It was a bad situation, we didn?t play as much as we thought we should have and it left a bad taste in our mouths. We wanted the opportunity to get better and make an impact on the USA team and now we?re going to be able to do that.”
But it will be against a much more competitive field than the one Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird ran through as they led the inaugural “Dream Team” to gold in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. In the last Olympics, Argentina won the competition, as the Americans went 5-3 after defeating Lithuania, 104-96, for the bronze medal.
“There is only one Dream Team,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters. “That was 1992. The mistake that American people make is calling then every team after a ?Dream Team.? This isn?t Rocky one, two, three and four. It?s Dream Team one forever, and the next teams have to get their own identity. This team will have to work at developing its identity.”
And it all starts with getting a dozen great individuals to play as one great unit ? something the team did not do four years ago. For Anthony, he?ll know how far this year?s team has come when it faces China on Aug. 10 in the first of five games of pool play.
“We don?t think of this group as 12 stars,” Anthony said. “We?re one team. We?re going to put USA Basketball back on the map.”
