| | Grant Hill, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen were officially added
to the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team Tuesday, with Mourning
warning that a gold medal will not be automatic.
"It's not just a shoo-in," Mourning said. "A lot of teams are
preparing themselves to dismantle the U.S.
|  | | Grant Hill won gold in Atlanta in 1996. |
"With our collection of talent we should get the job done, but
it's not going to be easy. We can't lay down and expect them to
just give it to us," Mourning said.
The U.S. team's 12-man roster is now complete, with the three
newcomers joining Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Gary Payton, Tim
Hardaway, Steve Smith, Allan Houston, Vin Baker, Tom Gugliotta and
Jason Kidd.
The team will assemble in August for training camp before
competing in the Olympics from Sept. 17-Oct. 1 in Sydney,
Australia.
As usual, the United States will be a prohibitive favorite to
win the gold medal.
The U.S. team has a record of 101-2 in Olympic play, including
16-0 since professionals were allowed to play beginning in 1992
with the original Dream Team in Barcelona.
That team routed opponents by an average of 43.8 points. Since
then, the average margin of victory in Olympic, world championship
and Olympic qualifying tournaments has steadily shrunk.
Recent scares for the U.S. team, if they can be called that,
include the 1996 gold medal game in Atlanta and last summer's
first-round game against Brazil at the qualifying tournament in
Puerto Rice.
Against Yugoslavia in 1996, the U.S. team led by just one point
with 14 minutes remaining before breaking the game open and winning
by 36.
Against Brazil, the Americans led by three points early in the
second half before going on to win by 17.
When the Olympics begin, there's no telling whether the rest of
the world will have caught up some more to the best basketball
players on the planet.
"Yugoslavia always has a good team. You can't count Russia out,
and I hear the home team (Australia) has a pretty good team with
some good shooters," Mourning said.
Aside from those three, the rest of the Olympic field consists
of China, Angola, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, France, Lithuania and
Canada.
Mourning, a center for Miami, was a member of the 1990 Goodwill
Games and world championships team and the 1994 world championships
team. He is averaging 23.0 points and an NBA-leading 4.59 blocks a
game for the Heat.
Hill, a member of the Olympic team in Atlanta, is averaging a
career-high 27.8 points for the Detroit Pistons.
Allen, who beat out Vince Carter of Toronto for the final spot
by a 6-3 vote of the selection committee, is averaging a
career-high 21.9 points for the Milwaukee Bucks.
"The three players bring a tremendous amount of additional
talent to our national team," said NBA vice president Rod Thorn,
also chairman of the USA Basketball selection committee. "Mourning
brings a terrific inside game, rebounding, shot-blocking and the
ability to run the open court.
"Hill can score and pass, play multiple positions and has
tremendous flexibility, while Allen is a pure shooter who will help
us when we go against a zone defense plus he's an all-around
athlete who can play many positions." | |
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