Team USA Basketball preparing for Beijing

Just 20 days out from the tipoff of the 2008 Beijing Olympics men's basketball competition, the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team resumed its training in Las Vegas.

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the USA team were getting after it right from the start, according to a press release from USA Basketball. The newly named USA Select Team featuring the future - Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo, Derick Rose, Jerryd Bayless and other, went head-to-head against the USA Olympians.

Here are comments from USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke:

On preparing the team for the past three years for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games:

We were winning that game and then all of a sudden it changed on us for a quarter and a half. We had not been in that situation. We were a young team and because we didn’t have that experience in playing, it took us more time to adjust. We lost. So that’s why we play against more teams like Lithuania, Russia, Australia and Greece before we go over there, because they are in the other bracket. The only team we will have not played by the time we get to the medal round is Argentina, who probably will be in the medal round. It’s about the big games and these guys want to win. They know and they respect everyone.

Mike D’Antoni and I were talking on Saturday and he said, “Imagine if we were getting together for the first time right now.” And I couldn’t imagine it. We as a country needed to go through a period where we didn’t play as well, or where we played well and lost. It requires this much preparation. We need to be prepared to the point where Mike D’Antoni and I know each other, where LeBron James and I know each other, where LeBron James and Kobe Bryant know one another, where all of these guys come in right now and we’re all familiar with each other. That’s what the international game had over us. In 2004, those guys wanted to win. I respect what they did. It just wasn’t nearly enough. You have to prepare. You have to give time. That’s the way it will be forever, and it’s only going to get tougher.

On being accepted as a part of the NBA family:

I think being a part of the 1992 (Olympic) Team helped me a lot in terms of credibility and also with being a part of the NBA family. Everyone in that group will always be like brothers to each other. It’s actually been pretty easy. We are all good guys and we are after the same goal. My belief has always been no surprises. As soon as I find out something, they know it and everyone is equal.