USA has had the best team even in the recent years when they didn't get the gold. A 1-and-out basketball tournament almost never ends with the best team as champion.

The Olympics need to move to at least a best-of-3 format for the top 4 or top 8 teams.

I would have this as the starting team:

PG - Chris Paul
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Lebron James
PF - Carlos Boozer
C - Dwight Howard

2nd Team:

PG - Deron Williams
SG - Michael Redd
SF - Tayshaun Prince
PF - Carmelo Anthony
C - Chris Bosh

We need more dominant big men that can play defense. Boozer can't defend we all know that, and Dwight Howard is a good start, but he can't do it by himself. I wish Duncan would have gotten selected instead of Boozer. Oh well, hopefully we can win anyway.

I wonder if Boozer will fold like he did in the playoffs this year for team USA? It seems he's more interested in being accepted by his peers as a superstar vs. winning at all costs.....If only Carlos has Deron's heart and determination the Jazz would have a much more realistic shot at winning a title.....

they should have taken tyson chandler and added depth at the big guy position

No Pure shooter except Redd?

Come on "Belgie" figure it out. The Olympic Games are only 16 days long. You have pool play and the top two teams in each pool move on to medal round.

If the IOC does what "Belgie" wants, then the Olympic basketball tournament would last a month. That's what we all need

Not to mention that the majority of Team USA played in the Tournament of the Americas last summer, plus NBA preseason (6-8 games), NBA regular season (82 games), plus playoffs (anywhere from 4-28 games to mid-June).

How many games do you want these guys to play heading into the 08-09 season?

Wow, Utah has to be pretty proud. We're the only team with two players on the roster. Boozer was a big question mark this time around.

Wade is on the team? If I was Miami or a Miami fan I would be throwing a fit.

Nice to see DWill and Booz make the team. Hope they can bring home the gold.

why do all of the jazz fans go after boozer for having a struggling playoff its not because he is a bad defender he just does not rotate well and that just takes time to really get good at that another reason why boozer struggled was he was constantly tripled teamed so and yet again it just takes time to get well at passing out of doubles and triples and so how many good low post players that the jazz can get that would be better than him tell me because i know you cant think of one!

I don't believe that Duncan is a USA citizen...

Congratilations Carlos and Deron on being selected to the team. The true fans are proud of what you guys have accomplished. Best of Luck in bringing home the gold.

From the article:

> The Jazz is the only NBA team
> with multiple Olympic team members.

Haven't we done this before? :-)

2008 Sydney Olympics? Don't you mean 2000 Sydney olympics?

Dwill should start.

Actually Duncan is. He was born in the US Virgin Islands. Therefore he could play for Team USA. The reason he probably wasn't selected is because international refs call him for more fouls than he is called for in the NBA.

Duncan played in the 2004 Olympics where we won the bronze. He hated it because of the way they called the game and pretty much vowed never to play for the US again.

This year team is pretty much the same as last years team that dominated with 4 changes. Billups opted out so we added Chris Paul - upgrade. Staudmire opted out so we added Boozer - downgrade.

The other changes make absolutely no sense. The team was already fine. We only had 4 bigs last year (Howard, Bosh, Chandler and Staudmire/Boozer) and we drop Tyson Chandler for Prince. It make no sense. The reason did not win gold during the last Olympics was we had no shooters. Other teams played a true zone and packed it in and we had no one who can shoot. Last year we added Redd and Miller to the team - both awesome shooters. We drop Miller for D-wade. I know Wade is a better player, but we need a more than one shooter. Mike Miller should still be on the team but the US selection committee makes another mistake and select starpower D-wade for Miller. We will still win the Gold

As long as Wade doesn't shoot contested 20 foot jumpers, I'm ok with him replacing Miller. I'm kind of surprised he's gonna be a part of the team with all the injuries he's had recently.

I'm puttin' you in my fave five!

D-Wade off of the team immediately! He doesn't deserve it at all! Boozer off as well. Instead of Boozer it should have been Tyson Chandler, David West, Duncan, or Amare Stoudemire for defensive purposes. (we all know how good Booz is at defense) And instead of D-Wade it should have been a pure shooter, defender. Shane Battier maybe?

Wade gets in because of his star power--him and the Round Mound in TV ads all the time helps him there.

I'll bet D-Will and CP3 get starting positions swapped a bit as the games go on. Hopefully, D-Will's trey ability will be good in the Olympics where zones will be in style. We certainly need as many trey shooters as we can muster.

Coach would be smart to play D-Will and Boozer together a lot, because of their familiarity with each other in the pick-n-roll. Even a European-style zone might have difficulty with that.

This is gonna be a fun summer for Utah fans!

Maybe a month of defense, defense, defense will give Booze the moxy to use more of it during the 2008-09 NBA season. The West's reliance on shooters (Kobie in particular) and the East's on team defense, hopefully, will bring the Western Conference back to where real basketball is played as a team and not as individuals (side note: Jordan killed true basketball by flaunting the superstar role. This also enticed Phil Jackson into the mode of trusting the one vs the team, and see where that got him this year.)

Congratulation on picking Deron And Carlos it not fair to judge Carlos on his performance in the playoff even Tim Duncan struggled when he was playing the Lakers next season Carlos will improve and he will come back better than ever I wish there was not so many critics in regards to Boozer and I think the Cleveland Cavalier fans need to forgive and forget and move on there are two side of the story maybe they need tok talk to Carlos personally

Amare Stoudemirewithdrew his name from consideration not wanting to risk injury. How Boozer was the best PF they could find I do not know. he will probably sit the bench with Howard and Bosh as the starting big men. I'm sure someone will back out at some point giving a chance for another big to be added. Most guys don't want to be on the team because they can't play their style of game or because they don't want to risk injury

You guys are talking crazy talk. Kidd will start every game. He's 44-0 in international play!!! This style of play fits him perfectly. LBJ and Melo with finish with 1000 dunks each thanks to Kidd. These games are not at all played like the NBA (where the other two point guards are better). He might play less minutes than before, but you'd be crazy not to start him.

Way to represent. Best of luck for an excellent Olympic run.

Okay - good job getting selected - I guess - of course if one or both get hurt - there goes the Jazz season. But then again, if they only play "token" minutes - they probably won't get hurt.

I think that it is weird that the US left Nowitski and Ginolbli off the team.. They would have really helped our cause.

This team is doomed. How can you have Bryant, James, Anthony and Paul on one team? There's only one ball!!! They'll have to play those three one at a time. Williams, Howard, Boozer, Redd, Wade and Prince know how to play team ball, but only half of them belong on the team. Kidd is just too slow, and I'm not sure what style Bosh plays, cause his team stinks. Oh, and where are the World Champions? I'd pick Paul Pearce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett for an Olympic team over half of these 12. I'll be surprised if they get the bronze.

come on fritz, you're smarter than that

The US needs shooters. Nowitski would have been perfect.

Sure the US needs shooters but they need shooters that are US citizens. . . .

Nowitzki is German and Ginobli is from Argentina. Both have played for their respective countries in the past. They are not candidates for the U.S. team.

If they are playing basketball in US can't they represent the US at the games. There would have to be a way for us to have Nowitski on the team. Anyone know?

The key to unlock the gold medal puzzle:

Jason Hart for Jason Kidd
CJ Miles for Kobe Bryant
Matt Harpring for LeBron James
Jarron Collins for Carmelo Anthony
Kwame Brown for Dwight Howard

New GM job here I come!

Assuming you are being serious, Nowitski is German and that is the country he represents and is a local hero there. Why would he want to change his national allegiance?

Re: OK

I agree with the Prince/Chandler observation, I think going with Prince was a huge mistake.

Apparently Coach K is going to play Melo at the 4, primarily backed up by Boozer, so mark opposing PF down for 20+ points a game.

It appears as though the philosophy of this team is going to be small ball. The vast majority of the time there will be 2 guards, 2 small forwards, and one center on the floor.

Boozer is the only player on this team with the ability to consistently score with his back to the basket. That skill is going to be very important against teams that can force a half court game.

Kidd will problably start, and Paul may be the best point guard in the NBA, but Willimas is the best point guard for this team. He is better than Kidd in every area accept rebounding, He is bigger and stronger than Paul or Kidd, he is more comfortable not being the #1 option than Paul, he gets better in the clutch, and unlike Paul he played with this team last year.

Nowitzki if he became a US citizen could have played for the US, but once he played for Germany he can no longer in International play.

Thank you for clarifying. I just really like Nowitski. I wish he could play for the Jazz.

YES! Where are the Celtics??? No one from the Celtics? Garnett and anyone. . . Come on!!!

When will it be national news who you bribed?

Who really thinks that they brought Boozer in to play defense for the US? Don't worry about his defense. They put him on the team because he dominates in the post. He'll just push anyone out of his way on his way to the basket! Besides, Howard will be right behind him to stuff anyone like a Thanksgiving turkey. Quit hating on Boozer.

... but how can you leave off someone like KG or Paul Pierce? No champion Celtics? I am a Jazz fan and I love that Booz and D-Will got on, but how do you not at least have one of the C's? Maybe it's because they didn't want to play for the national team, like so many others.

You guy's that are always trashing Carlos Boozer need to get a life. It is very doubtful that any one of you have ever played a game of basketball. Boozer is an Exellent player. He had a rough time in the playoffs, but then He was double teamed most of the time....why? because of his ability to put points on the board, thats why! I hope most of you complainers are not jazz fans. if you are,then you need to pick another team, and please if you do, pick a perfect one!

I'm thinking the only reason KG isn't on the team is he didn't really want to be. I'm a Carlos Boozer fan myself, but I don't think anyone would seriously pick him over Garnett if it was one or the other.

I also agree with the people who have pointed out that good as all these players are, this Olympic team is going to be weak in the middle. Not offensively, but defense could be a problem. Some forwards and centers out there are going to be scoring a lot of points on the US.

But I think the pick and roll will work in our favor, since we've got a lot of people who know how to run it. If this team actually plays like one--big if, considering some of the me-firsters on it--the US will be unbeatable.