Scenes of Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and coach Larry Brown mouthing off at each other while young talents such as LeBron James and Dwayne Wade look bored on the bench still haunt most basketball fans.

What the ''nightmare team'' of the Athens Olympics in 2004 did was a disgrace to the game in its purest form. Even the classy Tim Duncan managed to stoop to some pretty low levels with his constant pouting and whining.

Let’s be clear, the USA was de-throned as the best basketball nation in Indianapolis at the 2002 World Championships. They were humbled by the team basketball that most international squads had shown at that tournament. One could argue that the reason for the losses was that the best players declined to participate at the event, yet this still was a team comprised of All-Stars.

Simply put, the rest of the world was no longer being awed by playing against the “Dream Team”, the NBA select. Their game had caught up with that of the Americans. Thus the fact that the USA did not win gold was not so much of a surprise.

In 1988 the USA had already had to settle for a bronze medal finish, so how dare I say that the 2004 version was the worst showing ever? Simply put, this version was classless, cocky, arrogant and in the end they got their behinds handed to them in proper fashion. Alas, this piece is not intent on examining the past, it is looking more towards the future and the question: Can the “Redeem Team” – as the media has dubbed them – reclaim top spot in international competition?

It’s a tricky question, but my answer at this point is that they certainly talk the talk and have so far walked the walk as well. They have all the necessary pieces to win. The last missing part was revealed with the loss to Greece at the 2006 World Championships. It taught them that they needED at least one deadly shooter, so they added Michael Redd to the mix.

With Kobe Bryant they have a proven winner, a ''do everything'' glue guy for the squad. The young star trio of James, Wade and Carmelo Anthony gives them the type of firepower that no team at the event can expect to match.

So how come we are not giving the USA the men’s gold automatically? Just this past week Russia has provided a blueprint on how to beat them, in a warm-up to the main event. The US did win in the end, but for the first time since that loss to Greece in 2006, they looked uncomfortable on the court.

This Redeem Team looked mighty good as it cruised through the FIBA Americas Cup, one of the qualifying events for the Olympics. Last summer in Las Vegas Kobe Bryant and Co. simply made an easy run for gold against strong international competition including Brazil and Argentina. I might even commit the sacrilege of comparing that performance to that of the original Dream Team in Barcelona in 1992. Much like that miraculous squad, the Vegas version of Team USA never even broke a sweat as they disposed of each foe in convincing fashion.

As for who could stop this NBA select, you have to look no further than the last world and Olympic champions – Argentina and Spain. These two teams have each managed to shock the basketball world with their respective victories. Argentina disposed of the US in 2004 and, although Greece beating the USA was the big story in 2006, the 75-74 Spanish victory over Argentina in the other semi-final was just as surprising.

Spain’s main power is represented by the Gasol brothers. Pau is of course better known, as he is already an established NBA star who played in the NBA finals this year. Younger brother Marc only won the Spanish League MVP title this past season. He has grown into a true power player, and I can only imagine how happy the Memphis Grizzlies are to be welcoming him to the team next year. Marc is certainly going to raise some eyebrows during this tournament.

A steady group of NBA experienced veterans make up the core of the Spanish armada, and they are especially well represented at the point guard spot, which means you should not expect many turnovers from this outfit.

Argentina is all about veteran leadership. They have Manu Ginobili, who might be a hated flopper but he also is one of the most brilliant basketball players of his generation. Manu is a true leader on and off the court for this squad. He is joined in the trenches by Luis Scola, an exceptionally gifted forward whose game is actually better suited to FIBA rules than the NBA’s version.

Other than those two, a plethora of current and past NBA players round out a roster. Even at the one spot where they lack NBA experience – point guard – they have Pablo Prigionni, a veteran general who is all for the team and seldom makes mistakes.

Of course, any of the teams at the Olympics can pull off a Greece-like run, but the trio of the USA, Argentina and Spain look mighty strong heading into the Olympics. Lest anyone forget, last year the Russians managed to upset heavily-favored Spain at the FIBA Eurobasket competition, which simply proves that in today's basketball world, no one is to be taken lightly.