Rewind to 2004.
Team USA wasn't going to win gold. I predicted it back then. I told my friends, guys whose lives revolved around basketball.
I told them. They didn't believe.
With Allen "The Answer" Iverson showing up late for team practice, he provided more head-scratching questions than answers.
I guess with Larry Brown as the head coach, Iverson, whom Brown often criticized for missing practice when he was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, saw fit the perfect time to go on the "we're talking about practice" tirade. (If you haven't seen that classic, quickly Google it. A.I. says practice about 27 times - almost as many shots as he averages a game. Almost.)
Between Iverson and another shooting guard masquerading as a point guard, Stephon Marbury, there just weren't enough balls to satisfy Starbury or The Answer's shoot-first-ask-questions-later, run-and-gun, trigger-happy style of play.
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Then there was a young rising star in Carmelo Anthony, melting quicker on the Olympic stage than a Caramello candy bar in the summer sun. He proved to be ineffective, playing in the forward position and averaging 2.4 points and 1.6 assists.
Then there were five more forwards: Carlos Boozer, Richard Jefferson, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James.
Marion and James are more 3-guard-ish, as opposed to small forward.
I looked at all this. Analyzed it. Made up my mind. My conclusion: Team USA wouldn't win.
I was ridiculed, even called unpatriotic by my baller buddies. Little did they know they'd be crawling back, sniveling for forgiveness after Team USA was beaten by Manu Ginobili and Argentina.
And this year, I'm predicting it again. Team USA will not winˇgold.
Silver, maybe, but not gold.
It's sad how shaken my confidence is in Team USA. I was tempted to pick them, jump on the bandwagon, proclaim that the country that invented basketball has rebounded and is ready to put every competitor into submission. I can't do it - not with the 2004 fiasco still fresh in my mind.
Yes, managing director of Team USA Jerry Colangelo has retooled the 2008 roster. He added Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Tayshaun Prince, Chris Bosh and Deron Williams. He kept 2004 members Boozer, Anthony, Dwayne Wade and "King" James. He got one of the most coveted coaches in the country, Mike Krzyzewski, to coach Team USA. He has done everything right.
Bryant will score. Kidd will pass. James will soar. Wade will provide the emotional spark. Boozer will team up with his former coach at Duke. And Team USA will cruise to the gold medal game.
Only to come up short.
Why? Three-point shooting. 'Melo shoots 29.4 percent. James shoots 32.4 percent. Save for Bryant, who shoots 34 percent for his career from 3-land, there really isn't a true 3-point shooter on this squad. As Argentina proved in 2004, shooting, especially 3-point shooting, can compensate for all other deficiencies.
I don't care how well Team USA played against Canada in Friday's exhibition game. They did, in fact, clobber the Canadians 120-65, but it was an exhibition.
Live and die by the 3-ball. Team USA will die.
Call me stupid. Call me brash for going against the grain.
At the end of the 2008 Olympics, you will be calling me something - the Prophet Isaac.
So it has been said. Now it shall be done.
Amen.
