girllovesthegame

If LeBron James wants to assure himself of a trip to the Beijing Olympics, he'd better show up for more than a cameo in Las Vegas this summer.

In a blunt retort to James' statement that he is only "50-50" on playing for the United States at the Tournament of the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament, Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo told ESPN.com that James could be jeopardizing his status as one of the five or six core players for the Beijing Olympics.

"Unless people have a legitimate reason for not participating, I expect them to uphold their three-year commitment. I'm standing by my commitment and I expect people to stand by theirs. If someone chooses not to participate just because they'd rather not play, that person would put himself at risk as far as who ultimately represents us at the Olympics," Colangelo said.

Coming off a third-place finish at last summer's World Championship, Team USA will attempt to qualify for the Olympics at the Tournament of the Americas in Las Vegas Aug. 22-Sept. 2. Because two spots are at stake for teams from the region, the most important game will be the semifinal on Sept. 1.

Team USA will have a roster that looks quite different from the one Colangelo brought to Japan last summer, with new additions Jason Kidd and Carlos Boozer -- both former Olympians -- expected to play alongside Kobe Bryant, Michael Redd, Chauncey Billups, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire, none of whom was on last summer's Japan roster due to extenuating circumstances.

"It'll be based on merit, but you could see a number of changes," Colangelo said.

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I don't know about LeBron but I kind of hope Paul just gets done to his foot whatever it is he needs to get done and take it a bit easier this summer. Dude did just too much last summer. He's basically been playing basketball for 2 years straight.

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Diable

I don't think there's any other option for CP.I don't really understand exactly what his injury is,but he has to have a screw put in and the sooner it's done the better it shall be.Right now it's just a matter of whether or not he can take the pain,but that's not a position you can take for the rest of your life.

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girllovesthegame

Right. Paul needs to take care of his business with that injury. I don't know how different Paul's injury is that of Josh Childress' because Josh has a stress fracture and he's already shut it down for the season. Obviously Paul can play on his foot(I don't know how much pain he's feeling) as he's been doing pretty well so far but maybe that's not the case for Childress. He'll probably go ahead and have the surgery as soon as the season is over. And he's been playing with at least 3 fingers on his left hand taped up. Dude is serious about trying to make the post-season.

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girllovesthegame

Paul needs to sit out this summer. Let someone else....anyone else, take his place.

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- Aspiring to win a gold medal, Chris Paul made a commitment last summer to give his full attention to the USA basketball team after the Hornets' season ended.

Paul said he went through a training camp that was as tough as Coach Byron Scott's, and he participated in scrimmages against Dwyane Wade, Kirk Hinrich, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony.

Similar to the NBA's preseason format, Paul played exhibition games before traveling to Japan to compete in the World Basketball Championships, where he played in nine games before the tournament concluded in September with the USA winning bronze.

But Paul, who earned a starting role on the U.S. team, was unaware that the intense action in the summer eventually would take a toll on his body during the NBA's 82-game regular season, which ends this week.

Almost less than a month after playing in Japan, Paul was in New Orleans going through training camp with the Hornets. While the majority of his teammates reported back refreshed after the offseason, Paul had not fully recovered.

"The more you play, the more wear and tear you have," Scott said. "I understand that most of these guys love to play for their country. Believe me, I would never want to take that away from a player. But when you are competing in preliminaries, where you have to win a spot to qualify, your summer is pretty much shot. The time you normally need your body to recuperate from a tough season is pretty much gone."

It caught up with Paul in December, when he severely sprained his right ankle during a game against the Seattle SuperSonics. The injury forced him to miss 17 games. In March, he was diagnosed with having a stress reaction in his left foot. Although Paul missed only one game because of the injury, Scott revealed last month that his point guard would need surgery in the offseason.

Also in March, Paul sprained his left thumb and pinky finger but continued to play. For the past month, he has been held out of practices and shootarounds to avoid extra pounding on his injured foot.

"It has been a tough season," Paul said after Saturday's 123-112 loss to Houston Rockets that eliminated the Hornets from playoff contention. "I pushed it because I just love to play. I just can't imagine watching from the bench.

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