The 2008 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball squad—forever known as the “Redeem Team”—will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, this weekend.
The class enters on the strength of a gold-medal run at the Beijing Games that restored USA Basketball’s dominance after a bronze finish in Athens in 2004 and a semifinal loss to Greece at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Key players such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer experienced those earlier setbacks, and James later revealed in a Netflix documentary that he briefly considered leaving the national program.
USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo responded by requiring multi-year commitments, while head coach Mike Krzyzewski adjusted tactics, including a greater reliance on zone defense. Kobe Bryant set the cultural tone at a 2007 training camp in Las Vegas, skipping nightlife to conduct predawn workouts that teammates soon joined, according to accounts from the period.
The team’s defining image came in Beijing when Bryant hit a four-point play against Spain and signaled the crowd to be quiet, helping the United States secure an 118-107 victory in the gold-medal game. Spain had trimmed a double-digit deficit to two points early in the fourth quarter before Bryant took control of the huddle and the game.
Six members of that roster are already in the Hall of Fame, and more are on the way. Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard will be honored this weekend alongside the team for their NBA accomplishments and Olympic gold. James and Chris Paul are expected to join in the future, which would make them the first active NBA players ever inducted.
The Redeem Team’s success marked the start of a run that has produced four additional Olympic gold medals for the United States. The Dream Team set the original standard in 1992; the Redeem Team ensured the program stayed there.
Source: Hoops Wire
