Team USA Basketball Heavy Favorites for Gold Medal at London Olympics
That's nothing new for Team USA. Considering how dominant the Americans have been in the sport since its inception, it's no wonder their goals are so high. In recent years, though, teams from around the world have closed the gap. The days of the Dream Team schooling all of the other countries are long gone. The United States' opponents have learned, improved and grown stronger.
Still, the United States is heavily favored to bring home the gold medal at 1-7. Even the closest competition is just a two-horse race: Spain, at 11-2, is the only other team with better than 28-1 odds.
Argentina and 2011 EuroBasket runner-up France come next, both listed at 28-1, while Lithuania and Russia are both 33-1 shots. Brazil and Greece are listed at 40-1, and from there, every other country has to be considered an extreme long shot. Australia has 100-1 odds, Puerto Rico 150-1 and hosts Great Britain 250-1. China is 400-1, while Tunisia is the longest shot in the field, at 1,000-1.
We can safely rule out Tunisia from a shot at gold. Many of the other teams also have a huge talent gap to overcome. But the one team that will give the Americans a run for their money is Spain.
NBA fans will recognize names such as brothers Pau and Marc Gasol on the team as well as Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka. While the Spanish team may have a lot of size and scoring inside — possibly a slight advantage over the United States since Dwight Howard will not be playing in the tournament — the key to stopping the U.S. team will be keeping its stars from running.
In the 2008 Games, nobody could keep Team USA from running up and down the court, and that led to the Red, White and Blue running away with the title. Considering this team is chock-full of All-World wings like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and James Harden, and star point guards that can lead the rush like Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook, this is going to be one heck of a team to contain.
The U.S. did have a disappointing result in 2004 when it was left stinging with a bronze medal. Argentina took gold in those Athens Games, but the Argentines are a 28-1 longshot this time around.
Eight years ago, though, the American team was poorly constructed. There was a lot of role duplication and some key team aspects missing. The point guards were questioned, and the outside shooting seemed absent. This team won't suffer from that.
The only thing that has ever stopped the United States in the Olympic basketball tournament has been teamwork, and after the 2004 Games, it doesn't look like that's going to be an issue. Right after the 2008 team won the title, a slew of team members said they'd be back for 2012. That's a good sign regarding the team chemistry.
If there are any question marks on this squad, it's up front, where Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin are relatively short on Olympic experience. All these guys need to do is clean up the glass, collect blocked shots and let everyone else handle the scoring load. It may appear to be a concern that Team USA doesn't have a center to grind it out down low, but remember that this is the Olympics — not the NBA. Howard played on the 2008 team but wasn't really effective throughout the tournament.
Anything other than gold would simply be shocking for the Americans. Given their talent, nothing less should be expected.
