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That's a great Tim Duncan wuote. I like it.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/t...ountry-playing
USA basketball is led by a Kidd
"Win as a team" is point guard's point
By Janis Carr
Kobe Bryant is playing in his first Olympics, never having worn a Team USA jersey before joining the team for the 2007 FIBA tournament.
Teammate Jason Kidd has played so often for his country, red, white and blue is a regular part of his wardrobe.
At 35, Kidd is the elder statesman on the latest version of Team USA and the most experienced in international play. His involvement with USA Basketball dates back to his college days when, as a freshman at Cal, he was selected to the elite team.
"I think any time you can represent your country … (it) is a small token of giving back," he said. "This is what this country stands for and to have this opportunity, it's special. So I would never turn this down.
"As long as I can play, I will always play. But know this is my last year, the last time around, I will enjoy it as much as possible."
Kidd has continued to play for the United States through his 14 NBA seasons, having been a member of five USA Basketball teams, including the Olympic gold medal team in 2000. A tri-captain of that team, Kidd averaged 6.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 51.6 percent.
After taking a break in 2004, Kidd is back. He hopes to be part of another gold medal experience at the Beijing Olympics and re-establish the United States as a world basketball power.
"I feel we can show the world that we can play the game at a high level,and play the right way, and win as a team and not be known as team of individuals," said Kidd after a Team USA's second practice. "That's what I take pride in."
Not only is Kidd the veteran, he also happens to be the starting point guard and his teammates are happy to be playing alongside him.
"He's our leader," forward Carlos Boozer said. "He's the only one on this team that has won a gold medal, and now I have the opportunity to play with him. I consider that an honor."
Kidd said that of course his teammates are going to praise him because, "They want the ball. And they're going to get it, so they don't have to say my name.
"It's a great honor for them to show the respect, but this isn't about me, it's about them, about us."
Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said he isn't surprised Kidd is back for one final go-around. He called the veteran guard "one of a kind" when it comes to playing for his country.
"It shows commitment," Kzyzewski said. "Any guy who has given any time to play for his country, I admire because they don't have long careers and they put themselves at risk for their (NBA) careers. And to see Jason do it multiple times puts him at the highest level of admiration.
"I don't think anyone is more respected in this group."
Bryant said the team can learn from Kidd's experience and, like his older teammate, looks forward to playing in another Olympics, barring injuries. An assortment of injuries has kept the Lakers star from participating in previous years.
But 2012 is on his radar.
"But I'll be an old dog then," he said. "I'll be Jason."
That's a great Tim Duncan wuote. I like it.
It's my favorite.
Kidd's getting a ton of press...
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/...SA-Kidd-080723
Team USA's golden oldie brings leadership, experience
By Chris Sheridan
LAS VEGAS -- The thought struck Jason Kidd as he was packing his suitcase and preparing to spend more than a month on the road with Team USA: Should he bring along his Olympic gold medal, the one he won eight years ago in Sydney?
It's the only gold medal that any of the 12 American players on the roster can brag about owning, and Kidd pondered whether the jealously and envy factors might backfire somehow along the way.
And with that, he decided to leave the gold medal inside a safe deposit box at a bank in Houston and to start concentrating solely on what lies ahead: The challenge of coming back to America from Beijing with another gold -- one that would represent the end of an eight-year championship drought for senior men's national teams that have worn the red, white and blue.
"I didn't want to jinx myself by bringing it and looking at it. I want to play for this: Beijing. I want to play for this gold medal," Kidd told ESPN.com.
"I thought about bringing it, I wanted to show the guys, but I thought differently -- for us to be hungry to get that gold medal, I just left it at home. I'll leave it in the box and then leave it to [son] T.J., and hopefully he won't lose it."
Kidd asked back into the U.S. national program in the fall of 2006 following the Americans' third-place finish at the World Championship in Japan, where the play of the point guards -- Kirk Hinrich and Chris Paul -- was one of the team's biggest weaknesses. Both had trouble defending the pick-and-roll, and Paul's greatest strength -- his quickness -- was negated by the opponents' ability to keep a defender in the lane as a second line of defense, something NBA teams are not allowed to do without drawing a defensive three-second violation.
Kidd offered an option that Team USA saw in many of its opponents but didn't itself possess -- a steady floor general with experience playing the international game. Kidd has never lost as a member of the senior national team, going 38-0, and his presence garners nothing but respect from the other members of the team whose only recollections of Sydney were what they saw on TV, back when most of them were still in high school.
Kidd, 35, is the elder statesman on Team USA, nearly 5½ years older than the next-oldest player, Kobe Bryant, who will turn 30 on Aug. 23 -- the day before the gold-medal game.
Of the 11 players who went to Sydney with Kidd eight years ago, five are retired (Vin Baker, Tim Hardaway, Steve Smith, Gary Payton and Allan Houston), one is mulling retirement (Alonzo Mourning), and the others (Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Antonio McDyess and Shareef Abdur-Rahim) have been out of the Team USA mix for a long time due to either disinterest or declining skills.
The 2000 team had an average age of 27.7, slightly higher than this team's average of 26.04. (The 1992 Dream Team averaged 29.0, and the 1996 team averaged 29.4.) The 2004 U.S. team, which lost three times in Athens but defeated Lithuania for the bronze medal, had an average age of 23.6.
LeBron James was only 19 years old in Athens, Carmelo Anthony was 20, and both Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer were 22 when they were used sparingly by coach Larry Brown, who never changed his starting lineup of Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson, Lamar Odom and Stephon Marbury (although Brown started Shawn Marion over Jefferson in the second half and went with James and Wade down the stretch of Team USA's third game in Athens, a 10-point victory over Australia in which the Americans trailed early in the fourth quarter.)
That American team (which was trounced by Italy in an exhibition nearly two weeks prior to the Olympics) lost its Athens opener by 19 to Puerto Rico and its fourth game by four points against Lithuania, before defeating Spain 102-94 in the quarterfinals and then losing 89-81 to Argentina in the semis.
"It was tough; we wanted to hear our anthem and instead we were listening to Argentina's," said Boozer, who attempted only 32 shots -- the same number as James -- over the course of the Americans' eight games in Athens.
"For us, that was something painful we had to endure, but the four of us that were on that team, we look forward to righting that wrong. That still sits with us today. We let our country down, and we have a rare opportunity to make it right."
Boozer's bronze medal is on display in the trophy room at his home, and Anthony retrieved his from his mother's house last year so it could be displayed at a sports museum in his hometown of Baltimore.
The exact location of James' bronze is somewhat hazy -- "Oh, I don't know. I think my mom's got it" -- and the whereabouts of Wade's bronze are a complete and utter mystery.
"I have no idea where that thing is," Wade said." The last thing I remember is packing it in the bag, and I don't know what happened after that. Some of my bags didn't make it back, so it might be in one of them. It's not what I want."
Wade then drew an analogy that anyone who has been to a Mercedes dealership can relate to.
"It's like going in to buy a car. Your mind is made up that you want an SL55, you got to leave with a CLK, you're mad as , and you're going to enjoy it for a minute, but you're still going to be thinking about that SL, and do what you can do to get it," Wade said. "So I'm not thinking about that bronze. I'm thinking about the gold."
Chris Paul > Deron Williams >> Kidd
Correction: USA basketball team is led by Kobe Jelly Bean Bryant, aka Mr. MVP himself. We got it down this year for show!!
For once I agree with my troll alias. Chris Paul is a beast.
LeBron is the leader of this USA team. No question about it.
Kidd had a smooth 0points and 0assists vs Canada...
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