Redemption Team 2.0 is coming? Read the inside story of James' recruitment of stars The dream team is bound to be disgraced in Paris
On September 12, Beijing time, the basketball World Cup has come to an end. The U.S. team only won 5 wins and 3 losses in this World Cup, and finally finished 4th. It's clear that the U.S. team needs to restructure its roster, and they'll send more big-name stars to next year's Olympics.
James is recruiting stars for next year's Olympics
According to Shams, James plans to compete in the 2024 Olympics, and in addition to him, there are several superstars who are willing to compete. James has spoken to the likes of Curry, Durant, Davis, Tatum and Dreamcatcher, and they are ready to make commitments, and Booker, Lillard, Fox, Irving and others are also interested in playing. In fact, James has been working early on to assemble stars for the Olympics, which has nothing to do with how the U.S. men's basketball team wins or loses this year.
James has not played for Team USA since 2012 and will turn 39 in December. Durant, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, will turn 35 next summer. The two of them saw the Paris Olympics as the "last dance" of their national team careers, the sources said. The two of them have spoken to Curry about the matter, and unlike James Durant, Curry has never been in the Olympics.
James Curry Durant, three superstars are expected to be teammates
If James can compete in next year's Olympics, it will be James' fourth Olympic appearance for Team USA. The previous three results were as follows: bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics; 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Gold Medal; London 2012 Gold medal. In these three Olympic Games, James averaged 11.4 points, 4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game, shooting 60.1% from the field, 37.9% from three-point range and 59.5% from the free-throw line.
Durant has previously played in four international tournaments (1 World Cup + 3 Olympics) for Team USA. He averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game during his national team career, shooting 53.8 percent from the field, 48.8 percent from three-point range and 87.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Curry has only played in two World Cups for the United States, in 2010 and 2014. He averaged 15.9 minutes per game, had 7.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists, shot 42.2 percent from the field, 41.8 percent from three-point range and 100 percent from the free throw line (19 of 19). Considering that the coach of the U.S. men's basketball team is none other than Warriors coach Kerr, even if James does not recruit, Curry is very likely to participate in next year's Olympics.
U.S. men's basketball voice: Still working hard for Embiid This year's World Cup 12 may not be able to stay
Team USA has done some work to recruit Embiid to the national team, but Embiid has not made a commitment at the moment. Embiid acquired U.S. citizenship at the end of last September, in addition to his French citizenship. On April 30 this year, the French men's basketball coach said at a press conference after the World Cup draw that Embiid is unlikely to represent France in the 2023 World Cup, but did not rule out the possibility of his participation in the 2024 Olympics.
In addition, according to Shams, Grizzlies star Bane's style is a perfect fit for FIBA's game, and he could have been selected for this year's World Cup USA roster if it weren't for foot surgery in the offseason. Now Bane could still be named to the U.S. team for next year's Olympics. The U.S. team exposed very serious interior problems at this year's World Cup, and Heat center Adebayo is widely regarded as a strong candidate for the U.S. men's basketball team to compete in the Olympics.
At the same time, Grant Hill, the general manager of the U.S. men's basketball team, said that participating in this year's World Cup is not a necessary condition for being selected for next summer's Olympic team, which means that the 12 stars who will represent the United States this summer may not necessarily participate in next year's Olympic Games, or even extremely unlikely.
Hill's U.S. team recruitment last season was reportedly split into two parts, one for this year's World Cup and the other for the Paris Olympics. He is aware of the interest of high-profile stars such as James for next summer, but declined to comment further. Most people on the U.S. side believe that the Paris Olympic team will definitely have a stronger lineup than the World Cup lineup, and there will be more stars to join.
The outside voice agrees: if successfully formed = Olympic gold medal
For the news that James summoned the stars, different media people at home and abroad gave different reactions, but they all acquiesced that this lineup could almost win the championship.
NBA legend Garnett: "That's what TMD has to say, nice morning, everyone." After the U.S. World Cup loss, Garnett wrote, "NBA MVPs are international players, and NBA championships are led by international players." The United States did not win a medal in the World Cup, what is the situation? ”
Rivers Jr. wrote: "Curry, Lillard, Irving, Tatum, Booker, Edwards, James, Durant, Butler, Anthony Davis, Adebayo, Jaren Jackson Jr. wrote. This lineup = gold, I don't even want to hear anything else. ”
Former NBA player Decker tweeted: "These legends have an incredible last dance for Team USA. ”
Domestic media person Inspector Zhao of the football circle: "No, is it possible that the US men's basketball team relies on 39-year-old James, 36-year-old Curry and 36-year-old Durant? ”
Ji Mengnian, a well-known domestic reporter, wrote: "LeBron James is interested in participating in the Paris Olympics and has already communicated with Durant and Curry. In addition to these three bigwigs, Tatum, Thick Eyebrows, Dreamcatcher, Booker, Lillard, Fox, Irving and others are also interested in participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics. If it were really this lineup, Team USA would have no opponents at the Paris Olympics. ”
Redemption Team 2.0 is coming?
In the early 21st century, Team USA failed to win three consecutive major tournaments at the 2002 World Cup, the 2004 Olympics, and the 2006 World Cup. So the US men's basketball team made up its mind and sent the Dream Eight team led by Kobe Bryant and James in 2008, which successfully won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and established the supremacy of the US men's basketball team.
If the U.S. team can assemble James, Curry, Durant, the three highest-honored stars in the current star next summer, and also have stars such as Davis, Lillard, and Dream, as well as late-stage stars such as Tatum and Booker, then the American men's basketball team at next year's Paris Olympics may not lose to the Dream Eight team in terms of star quality. Coupled with the fact that the U.S. team just folded at this year's World Cup, this new U.S. team has a good chance of becoming a Redemption 2.0 team.
Give promises ≠ appear Paris
Shams pointed out in the article that even if these players promise to compete in next year's Olympics, it does not mean that they will definitely appear at the Paris Olympics. Just like after the 2019 U.S. World Cup finished only seventh, many stars, including James, expressed their desire to represent the U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympics, but in the end, only Durant lasted until 2021.
Because there are many factors that affect whether a player plays, for example: the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team will start training camp and warm-up games by July 26, and if a promised star has a good record in the playoffs (the NBA Finals will be played until mid-June), then those stars will evaluate their injuries and energy to decide whether to play in the Olympics. Cole and Grant Hill need to think very seriously about these situations, and if some stars do go very far in the playoffs, leaving places for them by the national team will affect their preparations. In extreme cases, if all the stars James has approached are willing to play, then the United States team will only have six open places, and if Booker and Lillard also participate, there will be only four.
In addition, the group stage of the Paris Olympics is not played in Paris, and the venue is in Lille, which is 1 hour and 40 minutes by train from Paris, which is only known to a few NBA stars. Shams quipped: "I understand that these stars want to complete their last dance of the national team in romantic Paris, but the reality is that most of their dance needs to be done in the industrial city of Lille, not far from Belgium.
But regardless, after this year's World Cup, the U.S. team is determined to make a comeback next year. I believe that with the matchmaking of superstars such as James, there will be more NBA superstars on the Olympic field next year, and they will do their best to help the American team complete the Olympic Games 5 consecutive championships!