Current:Home > MarketsIndexbit-USA Basketball men’s Olympic team arrives for camp in Las Vegas -SecureWealth Bridge
Indexbit-USA Basketball men’s Olympic team arrives for camp in Las Vegas
Oliver James Montgomery View
Date:2025-04-10 20:04:38
LAS VEGAS (AP) — There’s something that Kobe Bryant once said that has stuck with U.S. men’s Olympic basketball coach Steve Kerr and Indexbitseems especially important now.
It was about how other nations have made big strides in basketball, how the gap between the rest of the world and the U.S. is closing and how that’s been a great thing for the NBA. And Bryant’s response, paraphrased, was basically, “so what?”
His point: If everyone else is getting better, then the U.S. better find ways to do the same.
“Maybe we’ll show that one to the guys,” Kerr said. “I love that. And it has to be our attitude this summer.”
After months of planning, it’s time for the U.S. Olympic team — one that will go to the Paris Games later this month seeking a fifth consecutive gold medal — to take the floor. The first practice for the squad is Saturday, the start of a four-day training camp before its exhibition opener against Canada on Wednesday.
Players began arriving Thursday in Las Vegas; Stephen Curry was the first to check in for camp, perhaps underscoring how anxious he is for what will be his first Olympics. The 12 players have all known each other for years, but the task of becoming a team starts in earnest Saturday.
“I feel like it starts when it gets there, because that’s when you really see each other eye-to-eye,” said Bam Adebayo, who is seeking his second gold medal after winning one at the Tokyo Games three years ago. “You have those conversations, you have those many conversations within what we’re going through, what we’re trying to do. And that’s when it’s time to really be honest about what we want to do.”
Paris Olympics
- The Olympics are more than fun and games. They’re a billion-dollar business with political overtones.
- Breakdance will make it’s debut as an Olympic sport in Paris.. Here’s what else will be different at this year’s games.
- Follow all of AP’s coverage of the Summer Games.
That part is easy: Win gold.
The how-to-do-it part, that’s the key.
Last year brought another humbling World Cup experience for the U.S.; after finishing seventh in 2019, the Americans were fourth at Manila. But the argument — or justification, for lack of a better word — for those stumbles was that the U.S. wasn’t sending the best possible roster to those tournaments. Getting the big names like Kevin Durant and LeBron James for the Olympics, that’s one thing. Getting them for the World Cup and asking them to represent their country in back-to-back summers, that’s something else.
Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards were on that World Cup team last summer and were picked for this Olympic team as well.
“Obviously, last year we didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Haliburton said. “And that was frustrating because any time you get to represent USA Basketball, the expectation is to win. And we weren’t able to do that.”
This team was put together with a very different ending in mind. James is back on the Olympic team for the first time since 2012 and seeking a third gold, Durant is going for what would be a men’s Olympic record fourth basketball gold, and five other players — Adebayo, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Anthony Davis — each have one. The first-time Olympians are Haliburton, Edwards, Curry, Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid, someone who the U.S. convinced to play despite a strong push by France for the Philadelphia star to represent the host nation in Paris.
As far as choosing a starting lineup, good luck.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Kerr said. “I’m guessing that all 12 players on this roster will be in the Hall of Fame someday. So, how do you pick five out of 12? The idea is, you find combinations that click, and you find two-way lineups that can be effective at both ends. Our big job in Las Vegas is to find five-man combinations that fit and to just ask all 12 guys to fully commit to the goal of winning a gold medal no matter what it looks like, no matter who’s playing.”
The Americans play their first exhibition against Canada in Las Vegas, then have games at Abu Dhabi (against Australia and Serbia) and London (against South Sudan and Germany) before the Paris Games start. The U.S. opens Olympic play July 28 against Serbia and will also have group games against South Sudan and the winner of Sunday’s qualifier in Puerto Rico — either Mexico, Lithuania, Italy or Puerto Rico.
“We’ve got 39 days or so to get locked in to go get this gold medal, 12 amazing, talented guys ready to come together for one goal,” Curry said when he arrived to check in for camp. “I’m hyped for it all.”
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
veryGood! (499)
Related
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Oversight board says it will help speed up projects to fix Puerto Rico’s electric grid
- Proof Maren Morris and Ex-Husband Ryan Hurd Are on Good Terms After Divorce
- Hayden Panettiere breaks silence on younger brother's death: 'I lost half my soul'
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- WNBA MVP odds: Favorites to win 2024 Most Valuable Player award
- New Orleans Regional Transit Authority board stalled from doing business for second time this year
- Watch: Astros' Jose Altuve strips down to argue with umpire over missed call
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Target Fall Clothes That Look Expensive: Chic Autumn Outfits on a Budget
Ranking
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Judge dismisses an assault lawsuit against Knicks owner James Dolan and Harvey Weinstein
- 'STOP!' Meet the humble heroes keeping kids safe every school day
- Cher to headline Victoria's Secret Fashion Show's all-women set
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Raven-Symoné Says Demi Lovato Was Not the Nicest on Sonny with a Chance—But Doesn't Hold It Against Her
- See Snoop Dogg Make His Epic The Voice Debut By Smoking His Fellow Coaches (Literally)
- Autopsy finds a California couple killed at a nudist ranch died from blows to their heads
Recommendation
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Judge dismisses an assault lawsuit against Knicks owner James Dolan and Harvey Weinstein
A body is found near the site of the deadly interstate shooting in Kentucky
Inmates stab correctional officers at a Massachusetts prison
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
The Smoky Mountains’ highest peak is reverting to the Cherokee name Kuwohi
Hayden Panettiere breaks silence on younger brother's death: 'I lost half my soul'
Woman suffers leg burns after hiking off trail near Yellowstone Park’s Old Faithful