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Team USA represents the best in basketball as the Team USA roster is announced this weekend in Las Vegas. The US gets back in the game this year by selecting a team to represent our country at the Olympics in August in Beijing, China. The team has been chosen and the men have gathered together in Las Vegas for their first week of training before traveling to Beijing in August. Their first practice session was held this weekend at the Cox Pavilion. Superstars on the team include Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince, and Deron Williams.
The team has been completely restructured. Only 3 members of the winning team from the 2004 Athens Olympics still remain. Although the men are all from rival teams, they have agreed that they must pull it together to represent what the country stands for. When playing in the Olympics the whole world is watching and the team represents everything about our country, including our troops oversees. The first few days of practice were held this weekend in Las Vegas. In the next three weeks the team will be back in Las Vegas for another round of practice before playing a practice game against Canada in the upcoming weeks.
The media has been dying to get a look at this all star team since the roster was announced. However, no one was allowed into their first practice this weekend. The team had to stay focused the first time they played together and couldn’t be distracted by fans and the media. The team has a lot to live up to this year. In 2004, the team walked away with a bronze metal. However, Team USA is expected to do much better this year in Beijing.
"When we originally thought about where to train, it had to be the West Coast so we could launch to the Far East," said Jerry Colangelo in an interview with Las Vegas Review Journal, managing director for USA Basketball's senior national program. "It became very evident that Las Vegas was very interested, and we were familiar with what Las Vegas had to offer."
However, these boys don’t come cheap. Las Vegas Events paid a reported $750,000 in order to get the team to practice in Sin City. There will also be an exhibition game held in Las Vegas each year in order to draw-in fans and see return on the investment. Twenty-three players came out to the camp, but only a select few made the team. The team has been hand selected by coach Mike Kryzewski who says that he selected players who are both great players as well as role models who will represent the country in this years Olympic Games.
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