AHC: USA wins Gold in Basketball in 2004

While the United States had emerged as easy contenders for the gold medal in basketball ever since NBA players were allowed, beginning with 1992's "Dream Team", they would not be able to establish dominance after the 2000 Olympics. Beginning with the 2002 FIBA World Championship, team USA finished sixth after being beaten by second-place Argentina. Argentina would also haunt them in Athens, beating the Americans in the semifinals, making them settle for a bronze.

So, how can the USA win gold in 2004? Would a backcourt not composed of Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson (both notorious high volume, low efficiency scorers) help? Would a coach apart from Larry Brown help?
 
So, how can the USA win gold in 2004? Would a backcourt not composed of Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson (both notorious high volume, low efficiency scorers) help? Would a coach apart from Larry Brown help?

Iverson should never be more than a supporting piece in the international game. Marbury was a joke. James/Anthony/Wade should have been backups ideally. Duncan is fine though. IMO, in international basketball a team can be too young, and US 2004 is a great example.

Too many of the top players skipped out. Garnett, Kidd and O'Neal all would have been useful, but the player they really needed was Bryant. I can't remember if these 4 were injured or not.
 
Iverson should never be more than a supporting piece in the international game. Marbury was a joke. James/Anthony/Wade should have been backups ideally. Duncan is fine though. IMO, in international basketball a team can be too young, and US 2004 is a great example.

Too many of the top players skipped out. Garnett, Kidd and O'Neal all would have been useful, but the player they really needed was Bryant. I can't remember if these 4 were injured or not.

Kidd was injured IIRC. Bryant had a little issue in Denver to deal with.
 
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