Lebron James is the most consistent performer with very efficient stats: 60.2%FG, 3.75APG, 2.38SPG, 5.25RPG, 2.13 TOPG, 15.5PPG, 1BPG, 24.75MPG.

Dwayne Wayde is the most explosive performer and, no doubt, the best sixth man in Olympic basketball. A big strategy of Team USA was to kick the opponents when they were down or catching up. Dwayne was Team USA’s kick.

Chris Bosh is much more suited for the international game than Dwight Howard. International play (for now) is not that physical and is faster. This suits Bosh as he is more agile both in offense and defense. I think it’s how the other teams lack a back-to-the-basket center that renders Howard “useless”.

In my opinion, Team USA played better with Bosh around.

Kobe was a confidence boooster in defense but was struggling offensively. Nonetheless, he was Team USA’s go-to guy when things got pretty tight (or relatively tight, which happened just a couple of games). He was also the highlight player making the dazzling moves when the game got boring. With Kobe around, Team USA knew that they had to defend and give it their all.  For short, Kobe was their intangible.

Credit goes to Coach K for utilizing a very athletic team with limited inside and outside presence. At any given time, all five players on the floor were moving in both offense and defense. This is very opposite of NBA games where three to four players stand and watch their marquee players go one-on-one.

Wayde as sixth man also was a “genius” move. It worked perfectly well for Team USA.

I feel sorry for the NBA teams that had international players play in the basketball Olympics. Most of the big names suffered either physical or emotional injuries.

Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony thought they were big in China, until Kobe Bean Bryant came along. I wonder how Nike will re-design their marketing around Bryant knowing that Bryant is the most popular basketball player (and probably athlete) in the country with the largest population.

Kobe’s marketability has just gone up, up, up.

Congratulations to China, for a communist country, they surely know how put on a show!

• USA Basketball - 2008 Beijing Olympics
• Kobe Saving Sugery for After the Olympics
• Lebron James vs. Kobe Bryant in Team USA
• Most Valuable: Kobe Bryant
• Lebron James for MVP