London Olympics 2012: Power Ranking Biggest Threats to Team USA Basketball

The 2012 USA Men’s Olympic basketball team is one of the most stacked rosters the country has ever put together. There have been plenty of arguments on whether this group of players could potentially beat the 1992 Dream Team who destroyed their opponents on the way to a gold medal at the Barcelona Games.

However, instead of a purely hypothetical matchup against a team of Hall of Famers, Team USA actually has to get through a number of top-flight international squads before they can even say they are the best team on the planet at this instance.

Let’s take a look at which nations could conceivably pull a massive upset.

No. 1 – Spain

This team is stacked with NBA talent and their biggest strength—Marc and Pau Gasol down in the low post—is where America has their biggest talent deficiency.

Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro and the Gasols make up quite a potent attack that is balanced and fit for the international game.

The Spaniards have traditionally given Team USA their best challenge and it should be no different in 2012.

No. 2 – Argentina

The No. 3 team in the FIBA rankings has the veteran presence to possibly beat Team USA once again (they pulled that feat off back in 2002 at the World Championships).

Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni have all played in the NBA and know what it takes to get it done against top-flight competition, but their teammates will have to step up in a big way if they want to even keep this contest close.

No. 3 – France

France is a solid squad that has some experienced players and young guns that have the confidence to match the Americans.

Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum are most talented French players, but the absence of Joakim Noah will hurt their chances to actually cause Team USA to break a threat.

They have a lack of serious big-man talent and their best positions are going to be outmatched by the reigning gold medalists’ MVP-caliber players.