A lot is at stake this summer for the U.S. Men's Senior National Team. A lot as in a berth to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The bronze finish at last summer's FIBA World Championship in Japan requires the U.S. Men's team to participate in the FIBA Americas Championship 2007 starting August 22 in Las Vegas. Ten teams will be competing for a berth in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The U.S. needs to finish first or second among the 10 teams to qualify. The Managing Director of the U.S. Men's Senior National team, Jerry Colangelo, spoke about the upcoming FIBA Americas Championship.

Q: Talk about Las Vegas hosting the FIBA Americas Championship and how is this a special opportunity for basketball fans to see international basketball. played at its very best.

Colangelo: Well when you consider some of the teams that are going to be there, the nature of the tournament itself and what’s at stake in terms of qualifying for the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, it’s a great city to be hosting this tournament because there is so much interest in the game of basketball in Las Vegas. So we’re very excited about that.

Q: This looks like a very balanced field of 10 teams. Who do you expect to contend for the two Olympic qualifying berths?

Colangelo: Well obviously Argentina, which has a long tradition of success in international play and is the defending Olympic champion. Brazil is an up and coming team for sure. Puerto Rico is always a major threat, and the United States should be among the top teams. As I look at the entire grouping, it’s going to be very competitive. For basketball fans you couldn’t ask for more. You can sit and watch great international basketball for a couple of weeks and get your fill.

Q: In this tournament, some teams will play 10 games in 12 days. How physically and mentally demanding is this tournament?

Colangelo: You have to be ready. Our experience in the World Championship last summer taught us a number of things in that when you have to play back to back to back, the way we’ll have to, you need to have a deep roster. Fortunately we have a great pool of players. That’s one of the reasons for selecting a national team of 24 players, we have flexibility. It takes into account the fact that you may have injuries, there may be special circumstances where a player can’t perform, but yet you have other players to pull from. I’m anticipating we’ll have some changes on this year’s roster.

Q: What kind of team do you think you’ll have to represent the U.S.?

Colangelo: The premise was that we would keep the core players together to have continuity with this team from the World Championship through the Olympics. We will still be able to accomplish that, but we’ve had a few more injuries than anticipated. I think you’ll see a tougher defensive team this time around as comparing it to last summer. I think you’ll see veteran players more than youth, we had a very young team last year because of circumstances. So we ought to be better. I really anticipate that we’re going to be more physical, a veteran team, and not forgetting what took place last summer.

Q: How much of advantage will it be for the USA team to have this tournament in Las Vegas?

KIDD RETURNS TO TEAM USA

Jason Kidd is 28-0 as a member of USA Basketball. He helped Team USA go 10-0 in the 1999 Tournament of the Americas, 8-0 in the 2000 Olympics and 10-0 again in the 2003 Tournament of the Americas. But at the age of 34, he's probably not the first guy you would expect to make himself available to the USA Basketball program for the next two summers. But Kidd, who was one of eight players added to the USA Senior National Team on Wednesday, sees it as an opportunity to both help his country and help himself. "I'm kind of excited about it," Kidd said recently. "I think as you get older, it's easier to get out of shape, and harder to get in shape, so I may use that to help me stay in shape. And also play with the younger guys... keep me young." "I love competition. I've done it three times. I hate for us to lose, but the world is getting better, so you like that kind of competition. And I felt that it would be good to try to help [us] win, to be a part of the team that can help bring back some pride and some respect." -- John Schuhmann

Colangelo: I think its huge. Playing last year in China, Japan and Korea was a great experience. But when your out on the road for a long period of time during the off season if you will, it takes its toll. We had a good receptions but it wasn’t a home crowd for us. So when we had the opportunity to compete for hosting this event I was very excited when word came down that we in fact would be hosting this tournament in the United States because it’s going to be a factor, I really believe it.

Q: How important is it going to be for the U.S. to have a home crowd for its games?

Colangelo: I think energy in the building behind your team could be the difference. I think the fact we’ve had a very good following in the year-plus this national team has been together and I think Las Vegas will be very supportive. Last summer we played Puerto Rico in a game that sold out Thomas and Mack. There was great energy in the building and I think it could be a factor when we get down to the semifinals and the finals.

Q: What is your expectation for ticket sales for the tournament?

Colangelo: It’s hard to tell this early exactly what the response will be like. But the good news is this, we’re going to have $10 seats available in the building and so if you need a basketball fix you can sit in Thomas and Mack and see an awful lot of basketball with an inexpensive ticket. A number of different ticket packages will be made available and again I’d like to invite all those people who have an interest in supporting USA Basketball to come to Las Vegas and be there.

Q: What about the pressure of this tournament? There are 10 teams trying to earn just two Olympic qualifying berths.

Colangelo: What it really means is you can’t afford to slip up. You can’t afford to lose a game and have an accident because you could be knocked out. So we’re going to be very focused. We’re going to have a mini-camp late in July with a full roster of players, and then we’ll bring back 15 for our August 12 camp getting ready for the comp which begins August 22. It’s all business. I think we really understand what we need to do and what we need to accomplish.

Q: On July 22 at the end of your mini-camp, you’re going to have a very special game that sees members of the USA Senior National team divided up into two teams that will play each other.

Colangelo: Well an interesting game is going to be played on July 22, a blue-white game from players on our roster. There’s going to a number of new additions that weren’t with us last summer. Kevin Durant, one of the top two picks in this year’s draft will be participating, we expect Greg Oden who will be the one or two pick in the draft. But a number of veteran players who weren’t able to compete last summer because of injuries - Kobe Bryant, Michael Redd of Milwaukee, Chauncey Billups of Detroit, and others are going to make it a very, very competitive game. When you look at the total amount of talent on the floor at one time, it’s going to be a lot like an all-star game and I think our fans will be in for a real treat.

Q: Where is the USA Basketball National Team at right now?

Colangelo: We’re very busy in our preparations. The coaching staff meet recently in Phoenix in between Playoff games and it was all about preparation for the July camp and crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s. It’s an ongoing process throughout the year. We’re updating, we’re following our own players, we’re looking at those who might be considered to be added. One of the things we built in was flexibility in terms of adding players, deleting players. We want people totally focused and committed to representing their country and I think we have that. We have a great attitude with this group of players.

Q: What is the first date when the USA team will get together?

Colangelo: The players we’ll be coming in (to Las Vegas for the mini-camp) on July 19 and we’ll be meeting with them and have some good practices. Yet one of things we are very focused on is our players are very valuable assets and the one thing we will not do is put them in jeopardy. That’s why it is important to have a solid roster of players that can compete so you can use your bench. You’ll see our players getting a lot of distributable minutes.

After the mini-camp and the Blue-White game that will be played on July 22, the next step is for our players to regroup Aug. 12 for the training camp and that’s where the real preparation begins. We’ll have 10 days to get ourselves ready for the first game and it will be nothing but business in Las Vegas.

Q: LVCVA, USA Basketball and the NBA are organizing the FIBA Americas Championship 2007. How are things going?

Colangelo: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association are doing a terrific job along with USA Basketball and the NBA in putting on this event, in preparing for this event. We expect a lot of people to be coming in from various countries - Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Panama, Argentina, Brazil and so on, to follow their teams. All of the teams have great followings and Las Vegas is a great place to host this event and we expect a lot of activity from the basketball world in Las Vegas this summer.