New York teen unimpressed with “Redeem Team” victory

HARLEM, N.Y. — Terrell Robinson doesn’t get what all the fuss is about.

Robinson, 17, of Harlem, watched with interest last week as the United States basketball “Redeem Team” handled their competition with relative ease and won a gold medal, restoring the luster to U.S.
hoops.

“I sorta don’t get what the big deal is,” Robinson said. “Me and my friends beat a bunch of Dominicans from Morningside Heights by like 50 points the other day at Rucker Park. So why should I care that Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade barely beat out a team from Angola or China or something?”

When presented with the notion that perhaps the competition from these other countries was better than that which his friends faced at Rucker, Robinson said “Nuh-uh, because that big ol’ Dominican guy who weigh like 300, Raul, he was there. And you can’t move that guy. I mean, at all. He’s like the leaning tower of Dominica or something.”

Still, Robinson was happy that many of his favorite players finally got a chance to hang some gold on their necks.

“It’s good for these guys to see how hard it is to play against the different styles from around the world,” Robinson said. “I know this one time we rolled a bunch of Korean kids in 5-on-5 full court, and it was really interesting, watching how fast they move and talk and stuff.”