Even with a revamped roster, the US still couldn’t end the world basketball championships with gold medals around their necks, let alone making it to the gold medal game. Ok, I know that Allen Iverson was excluded from the team, Chauncey Billups’ wife was pregnant, Amare Stoudemire is trying to recover from micro-fracture knee surgery, and the plethora of other superstars had their own reasons for not participating in the event. But isn’t it still disappointing that we can’t thump the opposition in the game that we invented?With the inexcusable performance during 2004’s Olympic Games, fans finally realized that the Olympic committee had to not only take the international opponents more seriously, but also that the Olympic team itself needed to incorporate better players that delved into a more all-around game. However, as I stated earlier, due to personal reasons, most of the esteemed veterans chose not to participate. This in turn, made Coach K, coach of the US team, have to create a team compromised of mostly young players. Stars such as Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony led the way, but not even they could lead the team to a gold medal.I emphasize the gold medal because not only does this bear the obvious garner of respect and prestige, but the winner also receives an automatic bid to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. But I can’t completely bash Team USA, because not the entire fault lies on them. For example, teams such as Spain (who won the gold) and Greece (who stunned Team USA with a win) practice year round and know each other very well. Therefore, they bond well and have great team chemistry. Team USA, on the other hand, goes through a long process of selecting viable players. However, those players only get to practice with one another for a short period of time, resulting in a lack of team chemistry and confusion.All I’m saying is that we need the true superstars of the NBA to be part of the team. We need them to remind the world where basketball originated from. We need the Shaqs and the Kobes and the Iversons on the team. These are the guys that can get the job done. However, this is only a dream of mine. Only time will tell what happens come the 2008 Olympics.