Phoenix Suns' Chris Paul part of USA's 'The Redeem Team' featured in Netflix documentary

Jerry Colangelo remembers having several emotions entering his role as managing director of the USA men’s basketball program in April 2005.

The former Phoenix Suns team owner was upset with not only Team USA coming away with a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics in Greece, but how the players were viewed globally.

“It wasn’t a very good showing on and off the floor by our American athletes,” Colangelo said. “That led to wanting to change. That’s when I was approached about taking it over and I was willing to do that because I cared. Basketball has been pretty good to me.”

So when Team USA took gold four years later in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Colangelo took great pride in having a role in the Americans returning to the top of the world of basketball.

“I have a great, great affection for that team because it was our first,” he said.

Netflix is reliving that journey with its documentary, “The Redeem Team” which debuts Friday.

“I’m interested to see it because, what year is this, 2022?” said Suns point guard Chris Paul, who was on the 2008 and 2012 USA Olympic gold medal teams. “In 2006, we lost the World Championships, so ’08 was probably one of the best teams I’ve ever been on in my life.”

The late, great Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony led the 2008 squad to gold with Paul being a key reserve who closed out games for the team.

“He was just a bright-eyed, wide-eyed type of kid at the time,” said Colangelo about Paul. “He was so refreshing. As innocent as they come. He was just getting started and you fall in love with him, which I did. He wanted it so bad. I thought enough of him and wanted him to be a part of it.”

Colangelo’s first decision in building Team USA was hiring then-Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

After that, he looked to meet “eyeball to eyeball” with the players to lay down what was expected of them.

“We had to change the culture,” he said. “We had to make it hip again to represent your country because that kind of got lost in the shuffle.”

Colangelo remembers Carmelo Anthony, who was on the 2004 team along with James and Wade, being the first player he met in person in the fall of 2005.

“I was heading east, and I was going to be in Washington D.C. and he was with Denver at the time,” said Colangelo as the Nuggets played against the Wizards on Nov. 22, 2005. “I had breakfast with him.”

Colangelo felt James, Wade and Anthony hadn’t earned their way to be on the Olympic team as all three had just finished the rookie seasons in the NBA before playing in the 2004 Summer Games.

“I’m not pointing fingers, but some people in higher authority saw it as an opportunity, since they couldn’t get none of the vets to commit or some of them backed out, they went with some young, up-and-coming players in those roles,” Colangelo said. “That’s not knocking them. They hadn’t done anything to really earn it at that point. They were just getting started. So you can’t blame them for anything that happened.”

Colangelo had a heart-to-heart talk with Anthony, saying there were people in the league who told him not to waste his time with the young star who won the 2003 national championship as a freshman at Syracuse.

“I said to (Anthony), ‘I tell you what, I’m going to throw that down the toilet,’” Colangelo said. “I said, ‘If you are willing to commit that you want this, then you’ve got a shot. I’m making this team and I’m going to be watching you very carefully as this (2005-06 NBA) season unfolds.'”

Colangelo later got a hotel suite in Chicago to have meetings with players as teams always passed through the city. He recalls Michael Redd driving up from Milwaukee after practice to talk with him.

Redd was a star shooting guard for the Bucks.

“He was in his sweats and he had a garment bag with him,” Colangelo said. “He got to my suite and he asked to go use the men’s room and he put on a suit and tie to sit down and have the meeting.”

Impressive. Redd made the team.

“Little things that like that was huge,” Colangelo said.

82-years-young: Colangelo still rolling with HOF golf outing, Integrity Summit

The next day, Colangelo said he met with James at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago.

“I had meetings set up on the second or third floor,” he said. “There was a seating area near the elevator. At exactly  9 o’clock in the morning, we’re opening up and there came LeBron and we sat and talked.”

Colangelo later met Paul in Oklahoma City as that was the first year the Hornets played in OKC after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans on Aug 29, 2005.

Three years later, the two were in Beijing needing to have their credentials “tweaked” as Colangelo put it. So Colangelo said he and Paul had a memorable conversation while riding on a small bus to get the credentials fixed.

“We talked about him and his future and I said, “You know, at your age Chris, things go well, you might be able to do it three or four times,’” Colangelo said. “And he was really excited about that. He was in hook, line and sinker for sure. He just loved every minute of it.”

Paul was a finalist for the team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that was played in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more: What we learned from Suns' preseason comeback over Lakers

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chris Paul part of USA's 'The Redeem Team' featured in Netflix doc