The 2004 Olympics proved to be one of Team USA’s greatest humiliations on the international stage. After dominating international basketball for the past 12 years, Team USA had to settle for the Bronze Medal at the 2004 Olympics, while fellow basketball powerhouse Argentina took home the Gold Medal. For Team USA, they were missing a lot of their best players and were severely struggling with chemistry during the tournament.
The 2004 Olympics was also the Olympic debut for future superstars LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. But their performances were overshadowed by Team USA’s disappointment at the tournament. 2004 was a wild period for Team USA and the NBA world, and it impacted their performance greatly.
But what would Team USA’s Olympic fortunes have been like if they had their best available players to fill the roster? That’s the question Shaquille O’Neal has been asking himself and the rest of the basketball world. O’Neal posted a story on his Instagram account, which features a post that puts the best players in the NBA in 2004, and questions how these players would have helped elevate the 2004 Team USA contingent at the Olympics. These players include Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Jermaine O’Neal, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd, and Tim Duncan.
Team USA’s 2004 roster was significantly hamstrung by absentees. Reigning MVP Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady were all celebrating their respective marriages or preparing to do the same. Jason Kidd was recovering from an injury. Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine O’Neal, and Ben Wallace were all exhausted after their long run to the NBA Finals, and Kobe Bryant had legal troubles off the court.
Because of this, Team USA had to rely on stars like Richard Jefferson and Carlos Boozer, who were far from the superstars that were away from the team. And young players like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade were relied upon greatly during the tournament.
Furthermore, the leadership combination of Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan didn’t work, because of how different the two personalities were. With the roster that Shaq put forward, Team USA could have dominated the Olympics to secure another gold medal.
But this team would have had larger implications on the NBA. Many of Team USA’s performances at the 2004 Olympics rank among the biggest shock losses in Team USA history. If 2004 wasn’t such a failure for Team USA, there would never have been a 2008 ‘Redeem Team’ at the Olympics. It was in Beijing where LeBron James first sparked the idea to team up with Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony in free agency.
Since then, several players have used free agency in order to team up and create super teams. So the 2004 Olympics changed the NBA greatly, and if another team had gone, perhaps the NBA would have been very different today.
