BEIJING • We fly like no one else. Our dunkers rule the planet. For most of the 20th century we pounded nearly every nation silly enough to challenge us.

We – the mighty Americans – tower as the best basketball nation on earth.

Right?

Ah, no. Argentina reigns as defending Olympic champion. Spain won the 2006 World Championship. Somehow, the stupendously talented, high-flying Americans crawled to third-place finishes in both tournaments.

Carmelo Anthony took part in the Disaster of 2004 in Athens. That’s when U.S. players collected more losses in two weeks than their ancestors did in 68 years.

Anthony and his teammates remain shaken by the debacle, which is good. Humiliation, handled correctly, is a great first step toward redemption.

On Friday morning in Beijing, Anthony relaxed in a chair and talked about the biggest disappointment of his basketball life.

It was an alleged press conference, but Anthony was surrounded by basketball groupies from around the world. They begged for autographs, sat beside him for photos and in general acted like human mosquitoes. You know, pests.

Anthony ignored the circus as he talked solemnly about how far his country has fallen. He talks often about the pain of Athens with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, his Olympic teammates now and then.

“That was the lowest point you could be at,” Anthony said. “It wasn’t the Denver Nuggets. It was the USA team. We were at our lowest point in the world. Now we have a chance to be at the highest place in the world.”

His statement is staggering. The Nuggets pay Anthony $15 million per season. But don’t make the mistake of misunderstanding Anthony. He’s not saying he doesn’t care about the Nuggets.

He’s saying he cares for his country goes even more.

Anthony realizes the greatest American sports conceit is our basketball supremacy. If you love basketball and you’re American, it’s excruciating to even think about another country ranking No. 1.

The biggest obstacle to America’s reclaiming its rightful place atop the world is simple math. American players remain obsessed with mind-boggling rides to the rim. We love our dunkers.

That’s our biggest problem. A dunk, no matter how outlandish, is worth 2 points. The rest of the world is obsessed with 3-pointers. The rest of the world makes 3-pointers. That’s why the United States keeps losing world tournaments.

On even the best NBA and college teams, only one or two players are dangerous from beyond the 3-point arc. Centers in the NBA are expected to rumble in the lane, not shoot 3s. America’s basketball big men tend to be huge, menacing creatures, lost outside the lane.

On many of the teams competing here in China, everyone can drop 3s and that includes the trainers. Centers and power forwards, no matter how brawny, shoot softly from long range. It’s a requirement.

Anthony and his teammates must understand you can’t leave anyone open behind the arc. They must understand how hungry the world remains to conquer the former kings of basketball.

There’s no reason for pessimism. If you picked the top dozen basketball players in the world, 10 of them would be American. With Kobe Bryant, Anthony and Chris Paul leading the way, the United States should again reign.

But it’s not a given. For a century, we could afford to be smug.

Those days are long gone.

–

Columnist David Ramsey can be reached at 476-4895 or david.ramsey@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out David’s blog, David Ramsey Says What?, at daveramseysez.freedomblogging.com

Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

MARK REIS