Pooh
08-15-2003, 04:31 PM
By Mark Montieth
[email protected]
August 15, 2003
NEW YORK -- The price of gold rises every summer for U.S. teams in international basketball competition.
For Jermaine O'Neal, the current cost is two sore knees and a blister on the ball of his left foot. He can only hope it doesn't escalate, the way it did for Reggie Miller last summer.
"This is one of the toughest training camps I've seen in awhile," O'Neal said Thursday, wearing an ice pack on each of his three sorest body parts. "It's almost nonstop."
For O'Neal and other members of the USA Basketball national team, the glamour and glory of chasing an Olympic dream ended with the opening-day photo session. Now they're encamped in a grungy fourth-floor gym at John Jay College in Manhattan, working to erase the embarrassment of last summer's sixth-place finish in the World Basketball Championship tournament in Indianapolis, which made it necessary for the U.S. team to earn an Olympic bid this summer.
The team of NBA stars, plus first-round draft pick Nick Collison, will play Puerto Rico in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden tonight. Three more practices follow before it flies to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for competition that runs from Wednesday through Aug. 31 and includes as many as 10 games in 12 days.
The Americans need to finish among the top three teams to earn a spot in the 2004 Olympics.
O'Neal could think of easier ways to spend his off-season. The seven-year, $126 million contract he signed last month gives him plenty of entertainment and leisure options.
He also knows the risk of his third consecutive summer-volunteer effort for USA Basketball. His Pacers teammate, Miller, suffered a severely sprained right ankle while playing in an exhibition game before the world championship last August, an injury that limited his performance throughout the season and required postseason surgery.
O'Neal said an inflamed bursa sac on his left elbow and his left shoulder could be eased by surgery. He hopes to put off those options long enough to help the U.S. team qualify for the Olympics -- which likely would involve him in a fourth consecutive summer of international competition.
The motive is simple: Make up for last year's showing in Indianapolis and add an Olympic gold medal to his trophy case.
"It's all about getting back to the top of the world and USA basketball being No. 1 again," said O'Neal, who threw away all the reminders of his involvement with last summer's world championship team.
"If we had won last year, we wouldn't have to play this year. It was a tough decision to play, but I'm happy I made the decision. It's very rare that you get this opportunity."
For O'Neal, an Olympic gold medal is outranked only by an NBA championship on his list of team-oriented goals. He's felt that way since he was a 13-year-old watching the original Dream Team coast through the 1992 Olympics.
"I wondered whether these guys could play on one team," he recalled. "They came out and smashed everybody. I think this team can do the same."
O'Neal said this U.S. team, which was sharply upgraded from last summer, has shown improvement in attitude and teamwork. So far, U.S. coach Larry Brown agrees.
"We shared the ball, we ran the floor, and I thought we tried to play like a team," Brown said after a Thursday scrimmage against the Puerto Ricans in which the score was not kept. "That was fun."
Draped in ice packs, O'Neal probably had a different word for it. He and Tim Duncan are the only centers on the U.S. team, meaning they get few breaks during practices and scrimmages.
But he's gone this far with USA Basketball, and plans to complete the itinerary -- whatever the physical cost.
"I guess I'll be in the best shape of my life for training camp," he said, smiling. "Hopefully my body can hold up."
[email protected]
August 15, 2003
NEW YORK -- The price of gold rises every summer for U.S. teams in international basketball competition.
For Jermaine O'Neal, the current cost is two sore knees and a blister on the ball of his left foot. He can only hope it doesn't escalate, the way it did for Reggie Miller last summer.
"This is one of the toughest training camps I've seen in awhile," O'Neal said Thursday, wearing an ice pack on each of his three sorest body parts. "It's almost nonstop."
For O'Neal and other members of the USA Basketball national team, the glamour and glory of chasing an Olympic dream ended with the opening-day photo session. Now they're encamped in a grungy fourth-floor gym at John Jay College in Manhattan, working to erase the embarrassment of last summer's sixth-place finish in the World Basketball Championship tournament in Indianapolis, which made it necessary for the U.S. team to earn an Olympic bid this summer.
The team of NBA stars, plus first-round draft pick Nick Collison, will play Puerto Rico in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden tonight. Three more practices follow before it flies to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for competition that runs from Wednesday through Aug. 31 and includes as many as 10 games in 12 days.
The Americans need to finish among the top three teams to earn a spot in the 2004 Olympics.
O'Neal could think of easier ways to spend his off-season. The seven-year, $126 million contract he signed last month gives him plenty of entertainment and leisure options.
He also knows the risk of his third consecutive summer-volunteer effort for USA Basketball. His Pacers teammate, Miller, suffered a severely sprained right ankle while playing in an exhibition game before the world championship last August, an injury that limited his performance throughout the season and required postseason surgery.
O'Neal said an inflamed bursa sac on his left elbow and his left shoulder could be eased by surgery. He hopes to put off those options long enough to help the U.S. team qualify for the Olympics -- which likely would involve him in a fourth consecutive summer of international competition.
The motive is simple: Make up for last year's showing in Indianapolis and add an Olympic gold medal to his trophy case.
"It's all about getting back to the top of the world and USA basketball being No. 1 again," said O'Neal, who threw away all the reminders of his involvement with last summer's world championship team.
"If we had won last year, we wouldn't have to play this year. It was a tough decision to play, but I'm happy I made the decision. It's very rare that you get this opportunity."
For O'Neal, an Olympic gold medal is outranked only by an NBA championship on his list of team-oriented goals. He's felt that way since he was a 13-year-old watching the original Dream Team coast through the 1992 Olympics.
"I wondered whether these guys could play on one team," he recalled. "They came out and smashed everybody. I think this team can do the same."
O'Neal said this U.S. team, which was sharply upgraded from last summer, has shown improvement in attitude and teamwork. So far, U.S. coach Larry Brown agrees.
"We shared the ball, we ran the floor, and I thought we tried to play like a team," Brown said after a Thursday scrimmage against the Puerto Ricans in which the score was not kept. "That was fun."
Draped in ice packs, O'Neal probably had a different word for it. He and Tim Duncan are the only centers on the U.S. team, meaning they get few breaks during practices and scrimmages.
But he's gone this far with USA Basketball, and plans to complete the itinerary -- whatever the physical cost.
"I guess I'll be in the best shape of my life for training camp," he said, smiling. "Hopefully my body can hold up."