2008 Olympic Basketball Picks & Predictions

With the rest of the world proving that they have caught up with the United States in recent major international competitions, the pressure is on for Kobe Bryant and company to bring the gold back to the U.S. Jimmy Boyd reveals his Olympic basketball predictions in this article. The betting line on the United States to win the gold is 1-5 odds at BodogLife.com.

Despite new world basketball powers Spain (5-1 to win the gold) and Argentina (12-1 to win the gold) emerging, the rich history of the United States in this world competition still has oddsmakers listing them as the overwhelming favorite. Let’s take a look at what some of the other top teams have to offer before blindly laying heavy juice on the Americans.

Spain (5-1) – The Spaniards are next in line in terms of the odds after the U.S. and are the current world champions. This team has a strong front line and could actually give the U.S. some trouble because of it. The U.S. elected to select a small team without much depth inside to take advantage of its athletic ability, but if Spain can control the tempo and pound the ball inside to Pau Gasol, his brother Marc, and Jorge Garbajosa, it could spoil U.S. gold medal hopes. The Toronto Raptors’ Jose Calderon plays the point for Spain. Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, and 17-year-old Ricky Rubio, who has already garnered much attention from NBA scouts, makes the Spaniards a tough out.

Argentina (12-1) – Argentina is the defending Olympic champs and it has a lot of confidence against the U.S., having defeated them in the 2004 Olympics and at the 2002 Worlds. No other country has ever beaten professional American teams more than once. There was some speculation that Manu Ginobli might not play in Beijing because of an ankle injury but it appears that he will be good to go. He’ll combine with Luis Scola, and three other NBA players to form a formidable roster. The U.S. beat Argentina in 2007 at the FIBA Americans Championship (the last time the teams met), but the South Americans certainly have enough talent to pull off their third win over the U.S.

Russia (20-1) won the European Championship a year ago and the U.S. will have to deal with Andrei Kirilenko and Kansas forward Sasha Kaun. Germany (100-1) and China (50-1) are longshots, but both have NBA talent on their rosters. Germany will go to battle with NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzky and Chris Kaman and China will look to get it done with Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

While the price is steep, I still think the U.S. is the team to beat. When the Dream Team dominated the international scene in the 1990’s, they did so by getting out on the break and using their athleticism. There’s no doubt that other nations have improved since then, but this United States team has the roster to get out an run as well and it has been working very well in their Olympic warm up games. Having arguably the two best players in the world on your side in Kobe Bryant and LeBron James never hurts. Adding a knockdown three-point shooter in Michael Redd to the roster and a lockdown defender in Tayshaun Prince adds two more key ingredients. Expect the U.S. to run and gun and really get after teams defensively. There is a lot of pressure on this team to deliver, and I like them to rise to the occasion.

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