Despite their overall dominance in international play, team USA has had its ups and downs in the Olympics throughout the past 20 years. After the dream team era in 1992 and 1996, Team USA struggled to maintain its dominance in the early 2000’s. Barely winning gold in 2000, and barely winning a bronze medal in its most discussed disappointment, the 2004 Athens Olympics. Times have changed since then and USA has reclaimed its dominance on international basketball, but the rest of the world has caught up. Richard Jefferson attributes the rejuvenation of USA basketball to the failures he and his olympic team had in 2004.
The NBA champion and current Cleveland Cavalier, Richard Jefferson, sat down to speak with Jemele Hill of His & Her’s via ESPN, and Jefferson claims that the 2004 team was terrible. The team that was made up of all-stars and superstars like Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, and a young LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, didn’t work for a reason, and Jefferson believes it was because they just threw a bunch of players together. Similarly to what they did this year, and although Team USA just finished winning gold once again, it wasn’t as easy of a road as they thought. Per Ximo Pierto:
