NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) — National Basketball Association superstar LeBron James made a golden guarantee Friday, declaring the United States would reclaim the Olympic crown in six months at the Beijing Olympics.
"We will be Olympic champions this year," the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar said Friday ahead of his starring role in Sunday's NBA All-Star Game.
James, the NBA scoring leader with 30.3 points a game, bases his confidence upon a US squad that has played together the past two years with greater depth and NBA talent than any rival and the guidance of coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"I'm excited," James said. "We have a great coach in Coach K who allows us to do what we want to do as long as we don't let things get out of hand.
"We have guys who don't want to lose - Kobe (Bryant), Carmelo (Anthony), Dwyane Wade - and the guys off the bench are very good. We've got so many great players."
James, Anthony and Wade were all members of the 2004 US Olympic squad that settled for bronze at Athens, but spent much of their time on the bench while a depleted US team lost three times and settled for third place.
"Four years ago, I wasn't put in the position I could care. I didn't get to go out and play the way I could," James said.
"This time I'm a captain and I know we are going to be a very tough team to beat."
The seeds of this year's dynamic US lineup came in the 2004 Olympic struggle in which coach Larry Brown relied heavily upon veterans Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson and was undone when several big men pulled out.
After that, USA Basketball launched a program to have a group of NBA players to select talent from to stock elite teams. A strong US lineup led by James and Wade lost to Greece in the 2006 World Championships semi-finals at Japan.
Last year, the US team made an unbeaten run through the FIBA Americas event, an Olympic qualifier at Las Vegas, twice beating 2004 Olympic champion Argentina.
Argentina will defend the gold and reigning world champion Spain, sparked by new Los Angeles Lakers star Pau Gasol, will be formidable as well.
"It's going to be competitive with us, Argentina and Spain," James said. "It's going to be tough."
Things will be even tougher on the 12 teams who must play next July for three Olympic berths at a qualifying tournament in Greece.
Germany is among those hopefuls, with Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki trying to lead his homeland through and achieve his dream of playing at the Olympics.
"To get through is going to be very tough," Nowitzki said. "Greece is probably the big favorite in their home country. After that it's a toss up.
"Being part of the Olympics is still my dream."
Already set for Beijing men's basketball are the hosts, the US NBA stars, Angola, Argentina, Spain, Iran, Russia, Lithuania and Australia.
Playing for the other three spots will be Germany, Greece, Canada, Puerto Rico, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Brazil, Lebanon, South Korea, Croatia, Slovenia and New Zealand.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
