The Redeem Team had one goal at the 2008 Olympics. Its final reward awaits in the Hall of Fame
The Redeem Team had one goal at the 2008 Olympics. Its final reward awaits in the Hall of Fame
Jerry Colangelo still remembers all the meetings. They were in 2005 and 2006, sit-down sessions, often over breakfast, with the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and more. Colangelo would lay out his vision for how the U.S. Olympic team would look for the Beijing Games in 2008, then sit back and wait for a response.
The basketball world knows what happened next.
“We accomplished and achieved everything we set out to do,” Colangelo said.
That 2008 team — the Redeem Team, as it will be forever known — gets honored again this weekend, taking its place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It went 8-0 in those Beijing Olympics, winning gold and righting a ship that had gone a bit wayward after losses in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 world championships. The U.S., even with NBA-laden rosters, was no longer unbeatable on the international stage, and it was up to the team that Colangelo would assemble as USA Basketball’s men’s managing director to remind the rest of the world who was best.
“We kind of say a little bit of the ’08 team is a little bit of a North Star for us,” said Sean Ford, the men’s national team director for USA Basketball. “It got us guided back on the right ship in the right direction, and we’re still on that direction and a lot of it goes back to that.”
For some members of that 2008 team, this weekend means a repeat trip to the Hall; Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the late Kobe Bryant are already in as players and now get the double distinction. Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard go in twice this weekend, both as individuals and as Redeem Team members in the same class. LeBron James and Chris Paul are locks to become Hall of Famers a couple years after their playing days end and now get the history-making honor of being enshrined as still-active players. Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams also were on that team, which has long been considered a lock for the hall.
“These guys, they were great guys,” said Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski, the longtime Duke coach who also coached the Redeem Team. “Everyone talked about, ‘Well, how is it going to be coaching all these superstars and guys with egos?’ And I said, ‘Look, you want to coach guys with egos as long as they have the talent to back it up.’”
They had the talent. That was obvious. All eight games at the Olympics were won by double digits, though the final against Spain was a four-point game with about 2 1/2 minutes left — before the Americans found a way to slam the door. They were golden again, reestablishing the standard that hasn’t slipped since with Olympic gold medals also won at London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
“The Redeem Team, we had to come back,” said James, who also won golds at London and Paris. “We had a couple years where we weren’t playing to our capabilities. So, in ’08, we had the Redeem Team. We came back.”
The stories of how that team developed an identity are famous, or infamous, to this day. Bosh has detailed several times, including in his own Hall of Fame enshrinement speech, about how he wanted to set the example of being a hard-worker right when camp started. He set his alarm for an early hour, thinking he would be the first one at breakfast. Bryant had already gone through a full workout and was at breakfast when Bosh arrived, soaked in sweat.
“That set the tone,” Bosh said.
Colangelo still remembers Bryant diving for a loose ball off the first tap of the first team scrimmage. Howard tells the story of how he and Bosh were trying to go to another Olympic event as fans in Beijing and got chased onto a bus by 200 screaming well-wishers who just wanted to say hello. James remains fond of spending time with other Olympians, swimming legend Michael Phelps in particular.
There was a job to do, and nobody lost sight of that.
“We understood the process,” James said.
It started with the meetings. Job interviews, so to speak.
Colangelo accepted the role of managing director at then-NBA Commissioner David Stern’s urging with a few non-negotiables in mind, foremost among them that he would have control of picking the team. He met with Anthony first, revealing to him that some people suggested he shouldn’t be on the Olympic team. Anthony said he’d prove his worth to Colangelo — then proceeded to call the Olympic boss every couple of weeks to ask what he thought. Colangelo was sold.
Wade committed quickly. Most players did as well. James and Colangelo were due to meet in a hotel lobby at 9 a.m.; James walked off the elevator at that precise time and interrupted Colangelo about halfway through his first sentence.
“I’m in,” James said.
Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers were in Phoenix for a game on Jan. 20, 2006, which made it convenient for him to meet with Colangelo then. Colangelo was playing a bit of a joke on Bryant when he told him that he wanted him to be a distributor on the team. Bryant didn’t push back, telling Colangelo he’d play whatever role was required.
Coincidentally or not, two nights later, Bryant showed he was no distributor. He scored 81 points for the Lakers against Toronto.
Colangelo soon knew he had his team. He had the coach he wanted in Krzyzewski, who needed about zero seconds to accept the job. “To me it was a no-brainer,” he said. “There’s no bigger honor for a coach than to be the coach of his country’s or her country’s national team.” It had some youth, some veterans, some players who’d already been NBA champions, and all of them were willing to check their egos at the door to win gold.
“When it happened, it was seminal moment for me,” Colangelo said. “And I’ll say the following: Very seldom does one have the opportunity to have a plan, a dream, and to watch it be perfectly executed. So, when the gold medals were being distributed, when the flag was being raised, when the anthem was being played, it was a moment of total satisfaction. It was really an incredible, incredible moment.”
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
