London 2012 basketball: Why LeBron James and Co. are a true 'Dream Team'

Could the current US men's basketball team beat the 1992 "Dream Team"? LeBron James has said so, and the way he's playing these days, who are we to gainsay anything that comes out of his mouth?

But something else is more certain, and perhaps more important.

The 12 men of the United States Olympic basketball team are unquestionably a Dream Team – both for one man and for the nation he could not abide to see humbled and disrespected. Because eight years ago, when a B team filled with those few players who did not turn down the invitation to Athens finished third, an American basketball team like the one here in London was just that – a dream.   

Jerry Colangelo, director of USA Basketball and architect of America's redemption on the international stage, appeared to have righted the ship four years ago in Beijing when the American team played with pride and respect, and won gold. But only here in London has the full scope of his success become apparent. 

The original Dream Team proved to be a firework – spectacular in its initial brilliance but fading over time. With nothing to hold it together but the patriotic plea to players who were exhausted after NBA playoffs and made enough money to mint golden hubcaps of their own, the Dream Team experiment had virtually collapsed within 10 years.

That, Colangelo says, was his best selling point as he began to try to rebuild the program after Athens. As he talked to America's best players, his refrain hit the one note he knew that they could not resist: respect. America had lost it in the basketball-playing world, and he was going to get it back – and players either had get on board or watch someone else get the unadulterated glory and honor of their country.

"The world basketball community doesn't think very much of American basketball in general and its athletes individually because of their arrogance," he recalled saying to the players he met. "If you want to be committed, you have the change the culture – you have to show respect to get respect."

Then he added the kicker: "If we do it, it will be one of the great moments of your life," he said, speaking of the Beijing Games. "And it was, to a man."

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