Former NBA standout Gilbert Arenas didn’t hold back when discussing the 2004 Team USA basketball squad, which secured a bronze medal at the Athens Olympics.
The polarizing topic came up during a recent episode of Gil’s Arena, Arenas’ popular basketball podcast.
Arenas made a bold statement, declaring, “That was the worst team ever.” He emphasized that people mistakenly call LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade as the faces of that team.
He argued that the actual leaders of the 2004 Team USA were veterans like Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, and Tim Duncan.
Amar’e Stoudemire, who didn’t see much playing time, also fell victim to the coaching decisions of Larry Brown, according to Arenas.
In his opinion, players like James, Anthony, and Wade weren’t given sufficient opportunities to showcase their talents during the Olympics.
“That was the worst team ever…” Arenas said. “That’s the problem – everybody is using LeBron, Melo and Dwyane Wade as their face. They were rookies. The whole team was better (than them). They didn’t play at all.
“[Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Tim Duncan] were the faces of this team! Amar’e Stoudemire wasn’t playing. It was [Larry] Brown, so he wasn’t playing the young guys.
“Amar’e didn’t play, LeBron didn’t play, Melo didn’t play and D-Wade played a little bit more than them, LaMar Odom was playing. Richard Jefferson played more than LeBron and all of them.”
