Quote:
When Dwight Howard played for the USA Basketball team at the World Championships last summer, he sounded just happy to be part of the all-star cast, merely trying to absorb as much as he could as a setup man for the offense.
His expectations are higher this time.
Howard, along with Orlando Magic teammate J.J. Redick, will be among the 16 NBA players who will begin practice today in Las Vegas for the FIBA Americas Championship, the first step toward the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
The Olympic qualifying tournament starts Aug. 22 and concludes Sept. 2. It's one of five zoned qualifying tournaments that will be held around the world this summer. In Las Vegas, there will be 10 national teams competing for two automatic qualifying berths.
Teams that finish third, fourth and fifth still can reach the Olympics in 2008, but they must do it from another qualifying tournament early next summer.
"I'm still glad to be part of this [USA Basketball], but I'm more comfortable with it now. I'm better prepared,'' Howard said last week. "I want to do my part to put the USA back on top of the basketball world. That's important.''
While Howard is sure to snag one of the 12 roster spots, sharing time at center with Amare Stoudemire of Phoenix, Redick will go into the start of today's practices with only a long shot at making the team. He and NBA rookie Kevin Durant are the only two of the 16 who didn't play a major role for an NBA team last season.
Durant was the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft by Seattle earlier this summer after playing one season at the University of Texas. Redick was buried on the Magic bench for much of his rookie season. His only chance would be if he has a dazzling week of shooting from long range, leaving everyone else far behind.
Kobe Bryant is expected to be the starting shooting guard, playing between point guard Jason Kidd and small forward LeBron James. Other 3-point shooters, which are at a premium in international competition, among the 16 are Michael Redd and Mike Miller.
"If you're talking about him [Redick] being one of the 12 best players there, I don't know if he fits that bill yet. But if they want shooting on the floor, they'll have to really give him a look,'' Magic General Manager Otis Smith said.
"You can never have enough great shooters."
Smith, who will be traveling to Las Vegas to watch at least a few games next week, said the summer experience for Howard and Redick should prove helpful for the next Magic season.
"I don't think there is any downside to this," Smith said. "It's a plus for the Magic to have them out there. To have Dwight going against Amare Stoudemire in practice every day, it's a good experience.
"To have J.J. going against guys he'll eventually be facing, it can't do anything but help him.''
Howard could become the starter ahead of the more experienced Stoudemire. In the final blue/white scrimmage under game conditions during last month's mini-camp, Howard had 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 24 minutes. He made all nine of his field-goal attempts and all three of his free throws.
The first round-robin portion of the USA schedule will include games against Venezuela (Aug. 22), the U.S. Virgin Islands (Aug. 23), Canada (Aug. 25) and Brazil (Aug. 26).
The rest of the schedule, and which other teams they play, will be determined by early results in the opposite bracket....
|
Link
This is actually a few days old, but it's a great read and i don't know how everyone else feels, but it's about time that USA shows the world who dominates on the hardwood. I saw Rush Hour 3 over the weekend and i can't help but think of Chris Tuckers line that goes something like this..
cab driver: "Team USA sucks, they cannot even beat the Europeans"
Tucker: "Say somethin about the NBA again, i dare you... i double you."
1 thing REALLY stuck out in this article...
21 pts 9 rbs 2 bs in 24 min... 9 for 9 FG and 3 for 3 FT... absolutely beastly. I know amare is amare, but i dont see how coach K can use Dwight off the bench when he puts up numbers like this. he's a better defender and offense will be provided by lebron, carmelo, wade, etc. anyhow.