U.S. Basketball's Blessing and Curse

Before the 2004 Olympics in Greece, USA Basketball lost many members of the squad that won the qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico. Player after player backed out until Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan were the only ones remaining. The selection committee was forced to scramble for replacements at the last minute, and the team failed to win a gold medal for the first time since NBA players were allowed to compete in international competitions.

Jerry Colangelo, managing director of the U.S. men's national team program, said he asked the 23-man unit to make a three-year commitment last year with the expectation that the 12-man roster selected for the world championship would likely change from year to year. Players could choose not to participate because of injuries or other obligations. Whether the team that competes in Las Vegas looks significantly different from last summer's "remains to be seen," Colangelo said.

Odom and Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant, Boston's Paul Pierce, Milwaukee's Michael Redd, Detroit's Chauncey Billups, and the Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion were among the players who couldn't participate last summer for various reasons. "Chances are, if everyone would've been healthy and available, the team would've looked a little different than it did," Colangelo said in a telephone interview late last month. "The basis on which everyone bought in was that we were going to pick a national team and from that national team, we were going to select those to represent us in the world championships. It's a three-year commitment and we believed there would be some changes from the world championships to the Olympics, but the core players would certainly stay together. We might make a few deletions and additions, just to maintain flexibility, but nothing has changed."

Going down the list of players who were unable to play last summer, Brand smiled and said, "They owe us."

Redd got married last summer but plans on playing in Las Vegas. He said he has kept track of the players who have suffered through injuries or exhaustion this season. "It's a challenge, but it's a commitment that we all accepted, obviously," Redd said. "Absolutely it's a concern, because your first obligation is to your organization."

The Memphis Grizzlies (12-37) have the league's worst record, partly because star forward Pau Gasol missed the first 22 games of the season after fracturing his left foot in the semifinals of the world championship while playing for gold medal-winning Spain. The Grizzlies' slide has contributed to the firing of coach Mike Fratello and recently led Gasol to ask for a trade.

Gasol was asked how this season would have been different if he hadn't been injured playing for his country. "I think that if that it didn't happen, there is no way you would know," Gasol said. "If I didn't break my foot in the world championships, then I played the final and everything was wonderful, I could've broken my foot the second game of the year and I would've been out almost a whole year and then what? It's always easy to blame it, playing with the national team."

"The summer was very rigorous, very tough," Paul said in a telephone interview last week. "A lot of people draw conclusions about being tired and how guys are doing in the season, but during the summer, that's representing your country, that's an honor and a privilege."

The Hornets point guard plans to participate in Las Vegas, but he said he will think about it again as summer nears. "The Olympics only comes around once every four years, but it will be interesting to see how guys approach the summer."