The United State's highly publicized "Redeem Team" recently was able to live up to their hype and grab a much anticipated gold, defeating Spain 118-107. It was the first time Team USA had been challenged in a game as late as the fourth quarter, however, stars Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant were able to produce clutch plays to cement the team's goal. The point of this post though is not to report on how the Redeem Team fulfilled their own prophecy or how a certain other blogger could have been wrong about some of his predictions, but actually it concerns recent comments about OKC star Kevin Durant's chances at the 2012 Olympic Team.In today's Sunday Oklahoman, P.J. Carlesimo who was also the coach for the Team USA Select Team, said that he didn't "think that there was any question" about Durant's chances at making the next Olympic team. Also, according to the article, it says that Durant only didn't make the cut for this Olympic team because of his age and lack of experience. Apparently, all the Team USA coaches were very impressed by Durants game.
It's probably for the better that Durant wasn't on this year's Olympic squad. He fills the scorer niche, and on this most recent version of the U.S. Dream Team, that niche was not just full but overflowing. Not to say that that won't be the case for the upcoming team or the next 20 versions of Team USA, but a Kevin Durant 4 years from now could potentially be just as valued as any of the members of the 4-headed monster of Bryant-James-Wade-Anthony were this year.
As for the 2012 games themselves, basketball looks like it will be very interesting. Some teams, like Argentina, look as if they won't be as good as they were the past decade. However, with China's game developing and the fact that the U.K. seemingly has gotten commitments from natives Ben Gordon and Luol Deng for their national team, we could have new powers in the works...
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