BARCELONA, Spain —
Nobody remembers whose idea it was, or when it was first mentioned. A couple players just assumed it was the plan all along.
Memories may fade after four years, but these friendships haven’t, nor has the desire to spend another summer together.
Sometime during the 2008 Olympics, even before the U.S. men’s basketball team won the gold medal, the core players decided they would be coming back in 2012. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Deron Williams love playing together on the court and hanging out off it, and once one of them decided he was going back, that meant they all had to go back.
So they flew to London on Thursday, along with fellow remaining ’08 holdover Kobe Bryant, returning to the Olympics for a country that only eight years ago had fallen so far it couldn’t find guys who wanted to play once, let alone multiple times.
“These are guys I talk to just about every day,” Paul said, with Dwyane Wade also included in that group. “I knew Bron wanted to do it. D-Wade wanted to do it, but his injury set him back. I knew Melo was in, so we’ve got one of those things where regardless what anybody says, once one or two of us commit to something, we’re all in.”
That sounds good during the fun times, but things change in four years. Bryant is the only one of the five who even plays for the same NBA team he did in ’08, with James leaving Cleveland for Miami, Paul and Anthony forcing their way to bigger markets, and Utah trading Williams in case he decided to do the same thing.
“In the locker room after the game when we won the gold medal, there was a euphoric feeling,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “So sometimes when you have that euphoric feeling, you say things at that moment that you’re not necessarily thinking about four years later.”
And true, their commitment wasn’t always firm. Just two years later, all the players took a pass on playing in the world basketball championship. But they couldn’t let go of the plan to wear the red, white and blue together again on the Olympic stage.
“It’s easier said than done,” said Anthony, like James, back for his third Olympics. “When the gold-medal game was over, we was all talking about, ‘we’ve got to do this again, we’ve got to do this again, we’ve got to come back,’ and then 2010 came and none of us played on that. And then after that, we committed and said we were going to do it one last time.”
The commitment required for another tour was so great that Krzyzewski, a U.S. Military Academy graduate who has served on 12 U.S. teams since 1979, took longer than the players to sign on again. Told his coach’s theory about saying something in the spur of the moment that’s soon forgotten, Paul indicated that doesn’t apply to this group.
“All of us got a funny relationship. Two of us could say we’re going to dinner, one of us could be sleepy, but that one is going to go,” he said. “So it’s one of those things where we’re such a tight-knit group, sort of like the wolf pack.”
Still, it was a little surprising in Beijing when they said they wanted another Olympic ticket, and still is now that none changed his mind. The seasons are long and the summers are short — particularly this one, with the NBA lockout delaying the finish of the season. All of them had played at least two straight summers, with Anthony and James doing three in a row, to honor USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo’s requirement of a multiyear commitment to the national team to play in the Olympics.
But James and Anthony have been friends since before coming into the NBA together in 2003, as have Paul and Williams since being chosen with back-to-back picks in the top five of the 2005 draft. They never seem far from each other on the practice court, often with friends or family nearby, and weren’t going to pass up another chance to return.
“It was always talk about what we was going to do, who was going to come back, you know, and then everybody was like ‘I’ll be back.’ It was easy,” Anthony said. “At one of them practices, I remember sitting down and everybody was asking each other like, ‘What are you going to do? What are you going to do?’ And from that day on, we knew who was going to be on that team, who was going to come back. Even with Kobe, he was like, ‘I’ll be there in London.’ So once we had everybody committed, it was a no-brainer.”
Sports
OLYMPIC BASKETBALL: Core group together again
- Sports
-
-
Verdigris’ Hanslovan commits to ORU
One of the biggest decisions of her upcoming senior year is finally behind Verdigris High School soccer standout Caitlyn Hanslovan.
The four-year letterwinner and three-time Class 4A state champion forward announced Tuesday that she will commit to playing NCAA Division I soccer at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. -
RSU's Loy earns third-straight Academic All American honor
Rogers State senior outfielder Katrina Loy was named to the Capital One Academic All-America College Division Softball Third Team as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
-
Area players earn All-Region baseball awards
The awards keep piling up for Verdigris High School graduate Blake Battenfield.
After being named to the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State Large East team earlier this week, Battenfield and numerous other players from Rogers County earned OCA All-Region accolades.
Battenfield was joined by his teammate, Ryan Hurd, who was a senior outfielder/shortstop for the three-time Class 3A state champion Verdigris Cardinals. -
Clyde Barkley Basketball Camp starts May 28-30 in Inola
The Clyde Barkley Boys Basketball Camp will get underway on May 28-30 at Inola High School Gymnasium.
The three-day camp will go from 9 a.m. to Noon and is offered to boys entering third through ninth grade. The cost of the camp is $55 or $100 for two campers in the same family. -
Zebras Baseball/Softball Camp set for May 29-31
The Claremore Zebras baseball and softball camp will take place on May 29-31 at Powers Park.
The camp is for boys and girls ages 4-14. The cost of this camp is $60 or $90 for two campers from the same family. Team discounts are also available for seven or more players. -
OU athletics pledges support to tornado relief efforts
OU Athletics officials have been advised by local relief agencies that the best way to help Oklahoma disaster victims is to text RED CROSS to 90999 to give $10 or go online to make a donation at RedCross.org.
-
ORU hosts "Vaulting for Moore" fundraiser
The day after a devastating tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., the Oral Roberts University Track & Field program has announced that it will host a fundraiser to help in the aid and recovery efforts. The “Vaultin’ for Moore” fundraiser will be held inside the H.A. Chapman Indoor Practice Facility on ORU’s campus on Saturday, June 1 at 1 p.m.
-
ORU claims 4-2 win over SFA in Southland Conference Tourney
Timely hitting and solid relief pitching carried third-seeded Oral Roberts University to a 4-2 victory over sixth-seeded Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday morning at the 2013 Southland Conference Tournament. The opening day victory books ORU (24-30) a spot in the winner’s bracket of the eight-team tournament.
-
Drillers pledge $10,000 toward tornado relief efforts
The Tulsa Drillers announced today that the team was donating $10,000 to the tornado relief efforts on behalf of those who were affected by this week's storms in Shawnee and Moore, Oklahoma.The donation will be made to the American Red Cross.
-
Whitaker ready for new role as Texas Tech coach
Candi Whitaker's introduction as Texas Tech's basketball coach was probably news to many Lady Raider fans on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old mother of one son is expecting a second in September. - More Sports Headlines
-
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
Okla. Teens Get Video of Deadly Tornado Overhead
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
9-year-old Tornado Victim Loved Family, Singing
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Okla. City Mayor: Up to 13K Homes Hit by Tornado
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Paperless Scanner, Vision of the Future
Florida FBI Shooting Has Boston Bombing Links
Garcetti Elected Los Angeles Mayor Over Greuel
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
IRS Official Pleads 5th Amendment
Lawyer: Feds Investigating Susan Powell Case
