:00:24. > :00:28.Welcome to this special edition of extratime from Las Vegas and the
:00:28. > :00:33.training camp of the American Olympic basketball team. If you are
:00:33. > :00:36.a gambler, you would be better off not betting against this team to
:00:36. > :00:41.win gold at the London Games. They are the defending champions and
:00:41. > :00:51.their ranks include some of the biggest names in the NBA. One of
:00:51. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:01.them hoon is our guest today. -- Carmelo Anthony is an Olympic
:01:01. > :01:07.veteran, whose rise to the top came by way of the gritty streets of New
:01:07. > :01:11.York and Baltimore. Now, he and his team-mates assume the mantle of the
:01:11. > :01:16.famous American Dream Team of the 1990s, whose path to gold did so
:01:16. > :01:26.much to boost support for basketballers round the world. 20
:01:26. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:53.years on from that, is there any Carmela Anthony, welcome to this
:01:53. > :02:01.special edition of extratime. Thank you for joining us. How confident
:02:01. > :02:05.are you of lifting gold at these Olympics? We have to remain
:02:05. > :02:09.confident, especially coming off what we have accomplished at
:02:09. > :02:15.Beijing, we won the gold medal. But we understand it will be different
:02:15. > :02:20.going into these London Games. A lot tougher. And you are without
:02:20. > :02:26.some key members of the squad. People like Dwayne Wade. How much
:02:26. > :02:33.of an impact could that have? miss them, we definitely miss them.
:02:33. > :02:37.But we also have guys that can fill the void of those guys. And as of
:02:37. > :02:41.right now, guys that are doing a great job doing that. As far as
:02:41. > :02:47.opponents are concerned, Spain off course will be looking to avenge
:02:47. > :02:53.their defeat in the final last time. They have five NBA players
:02:53. > :03:01.themselves in their squad. Are the biggest threat? Right now, Spain
:03:01. > :03:07.would be one of the biggest threat. Argentina is always good. France.
:03:07. > :03:12.But everybody is bringing the best of the best from their country. To
:03:12. > :03:19.try to win the gold medal. You have some very big NBA players in the
:03:19. > :03:25.American team. Yourself, Kobe Bryant. How important is it for you
:03:25. > :03:29.guys to entertain as well as simply win? We are not worrying about
:03:29. > :03:34.entertaining. We just want to win basketball games, win the gold
:03:34. > :03:38.medal. Throughout the course of the game, if we play the way we know
:03:38. > :03:44.how to play and win the game, that is entertaining to us. Off course
:03:44. > :03:52.all of this brings to mind the Dream Team of 1992. People like
:03:52. > :03:59.Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and so on. Now, there is a move to
:03:59. > :04:04.basically limit to the age of 23 those who can play from America in
:04:04. > :04:10.the Olympics in basketball. What do you make of that, the
:04:10. > :04:15.recommendation from the NBA commissioner? My opinion is I don't
:04:15. > :04:18.think there should be an age limit. It should be up to the players to
:04:18. > :04:23.decide whether or not they want to take on the opportunity to
:04:23. > :04:28.represent their country, whether they are 23 off 33. It shouldn't
:04:28. > :04:32.matter. And such a ruling, had it been in place a few years ago,
:04:32. > :04:37.would have had indications for you because you would not have got a
:04:37. > :04:41.gold medal. Absolutely. I would have been one of them guys who
:04:41. > :04:45.would not have had the opportunity to win a gold medal. The Dream
:04:45. > :04:49.Team' success was of course instrumental in boosting the
:04:49. > :04:54.popularity of pass the ball virtually all around the world. One
:04:54. > :05:00.place it has become enormously popular it is China. We have seen
:05:00. > :05:06.some NBA players go and play there. Is that something that you could
:05:06. > :05:11.conceive for yourself later perhaps in your career? Hopefully. We look
:05:11. > :05:16.at what the Dream Team did, the way it was able to transcend
:05:16. > :05:20.basketballers globally. The way it changed the views of NBA players or
:05:20. > :05:24.American players. They definitely laid the platform for us to be able
:05:24. > :05:30.to go over there and do what we are able to do now. What about
:05:30. > :05:35.yourself? Hopefully. Her flee when my time comes after 2008, after
:05:35. > :05:39.this one, we made a big enough stance to change the game even more.
:05:39. > :05:47.-- hopefully. Could you see yourself going to China? I don't
:05:47. > :05:52.think so. Right now, who knows how many more years I have in the NBA?
:05:52. > :05:57.It is ironic in a way that it could be the Chinese who are competing
:05:57. > :06:02.for American talent ahead of Europe. China is big. So many fans and
:06:02. > :06:06.people over there. The game is only growing globally and in China. For
:06:06. > :06:10.guys over here that have the opportunity to play in China, I
:06:10. > :06:15.think a lot of guys are taking that opportunity. I want to talk a
:06:15. > :06:23.little bit about your own background. You grew up off course
:06:23. > :06:27.in the projects. You were born in Brooklyn and manufactured in
:06:27. > :06:34.Baltimore. Your father died when you were two years old, leaving
:06:34. > :06:39.your mother to raise you and your siblings. The EU have also been
:06:39. > :06:46.quoted as saying you honed not only your athletic skills but also vital
:06:46. > :06:51.skills. -- you have also been. Tell me about that. You become a cup of
:06:51. > :06:59.your environment. Growing up in the ghettos and slums, or whatever, you
:06:59. > :07:05.have to deal with life, which is drugs, prostitution, guns, poverty
:07:05. > :07:09.as a whole. You have to find ways to survive there as a young -- at a
:07:09. > :07:13.young age. And I found a way. Whether it was through sports,
:07:13. > :07:18.education or just through the streets period. You have to find a
:07:18. > :07:23.way. An escaped from gangs and drugs? Sports definitely helped me
:07:23. > :07:28.out, from basketball, football, baseball, whatever sport it was at
:07:28. > :07:32.the time. I read somewhere there was a basketball court totally on
:07:32. > :07:37.your doorstep in New York, growing up there? Absolutely. It was right
:07:37. > :07:42.outside my window. I was able to go outside and play pass the ball and
:07:42. > :07:46.watch all of the guys play. I was at the age where I did not care
:07:46. > :07:50.about but the ball too much. I just wanted to be a kid. I read
:07:50. > :07:56.somewhere that there was one summer where you grew five inches in
:07:56. > :08:02.height? Yes. Was that the seminal moment, the moment at which is
:08:02. > :08:08.thought, this is the career for me? I grew five inches in the summer
:08:08. > :08:13.going to my junior high school. At that point in time, I did not know
:08:13. > :08:16.what was going on. I just knew I grew five inches. That next year,
:08:17. > :08:22.that is when I started taking basketballers seriously. And you
:08:22. > :08:26.actually never forgot those roots, have you? Never. Philanthropy has
:08:26. > :08:31.been a big part of giving back. Tell me about some of the things
:08:31. > :08:35.you have been doing. I started a foundation, the Carmelo Anthony
:08:35. > :08:38.Foundation, and under that umbrella I do something where I build
:08:38. > :08:45.basketball courts in under privileged neighbourhoods and give
:08:45. > :08:51.back to the community. I have a couple of -- a couple in Cordery Co,
:08:51. > :08:57.a couple in Baltimore. It is just little things that make it in packs
:08:57. > :09:07.in the community. Given you are very much a role model yourself,
:09:07. > :09:11.
:09:11. > :09:15.the fact is, there are some statistics, that of 166,000 people
:09:15. > :09:20.to play pass the ball in high- school here, just 44 have a chance
:09:20. > :09:25.of actually doing it professionally. It is really a very small number,
:09:25. > :09:31.isn't it? Not a lot of people have the realistic hope of emulating
:09:31. > :09:37.somebody like you? Absolutely. The window of opportunity is shorter
:09:37. > :09:41.and shorter. We have so many guys in the US that play pass the ball
:09:41. > :09:45.at high-school level or college level that never get a chance to
:09:45. > :09:49.play on a professional level. What we are able to do now by
:09:49. > :09:53.transcending the game globally gives places like China or Europe
:09:53. > :10:00.the opportunity to give more players over from the US. Now you
:10:00. > :10:06.have had a homecoming at the New York Knicks and, for a start, how
:10:06. > :10:10.much of a homecoming has that been? How welcoming? For it is welcoming.
:10:10. > :10:14.I am back home where everything started but it is a lot different
:10:14. > :10:21.now. Than when I was covering -- growing up. Going back and seeing
:10:21. > :10:27.the place that I came from. And it is 40 years since the New York
:10:27. > :10:32.Knicks won an NBA title. How much pressure to do that? There is a
:10:32. > :10:36.possibility but not pressure. I try not to compete and play under
:10:36. > :10:39.pressure. Once you start doing that, you start becoming timid and
:10:39. > :10:45.thinking about things that you should not do, rather than just
:10:45. > :10:51.going out there and doing it. you are up against an attempt to
:10:51. > :10:58.win a title, up against the trinity of Lebron James and so on with the
:10:58. > :11:05.Miami Heat. A lot of competition. Definitely competition. It is
:11:05. > :11:10.friendly competition. We are all close friends and we want to
:11:10. > :11:18.represent our home team's. Four you, what about after the game? You are
:11:18. > :11:23.at your peak now. Not yet! At the age of 28. What does the future
:11:23. > :11:29.hold for you after the Games? Hopefully I will be sitting around
:11:29. > :11:33.in one of my pieces as at that point in time, whatever that may be.
:11:33. > :11:39.-- one of my businesses. I am starting the groundwork now so that
:11:39. > :11:43.when I am downplaying, I can just roll over to that. As far as this
:11:43. > :11:48.Olympics is concerned, do you think this will be the last one? Right
:11:48. > :11:54.now, who knows? I am just focusing on this one. The next one is in
:11:54. > :11:59.four years and I will be 31. Who knows? I will see when the time
:11:59. > :12:04.comes. Right now, this is my main focal point. A quick word about the
:12:04. > :12:08.British team, being the London Olympics. Britain has a team in the
:12:08. > :12:12.Olympics this year for the first time since about 1948, something
:12:12. > :12:17.like that. Be honest, how much chance do you give them? I don't
:12:17. > :12:21.know who is on the team. Honestly I don't. We will not know until
:12:21. > :12:26.probably a couple of days before we play the Britain team when we get a
:12:26. > :12:32.report and the film that we have to watch. But you would not presumably
:12:32. > :12:37.be worrying too much? At this point, everybody is coming after us so we
:12:37. > :12:45.have to be prepared. That we just go back briefly to your upbringing.
:12:45. > :12:52.That was fascinating. How much of your upbringing has shaped who do
:12:52. > :12:57.are, both as an athlete and as an individual? As an athlete it made
:12:57. > :13:02.me to I -- it made me who I am totally. Just from being able to
:13:02. > :13:05.hold your own, being tough, knowing how to handle different situations.
:13:05. > :13:11.The survival tactics from off the street transcends on to the
:13:11. > :13:15.basketball court and it kind of works hand-in-hand. Was there a
:13:15. > :13:22.point at which you thought yourself, this is the only way out, sport is
:13:22. > :13:26.the only escape? When I started realising that I was like in the
:13:26. > :13:32.game of basketball, I fell in love with it, that is when I said, this
:13:32. > :13:40.is the only way. If I don't take this seriously, I am just going to
:13:40. > :13:46.be a product of my environment. how much of it has been down to a
:13:46. > :13:52.lark and how much down to application and hard work? 95% hard
:13:52. > :14:00.work. 5% might be I caught a break at the time. But I definitely put a
:14:00. > :14:06.lot of hard work into it. And you are not just a sportsman, you are
:14:06. > :14:12.more than that. You are a product. But you are a reality TV star, a
:14:12. > :14:22.celebrity in so many different ways. How much influence is there for you
:14:22. > :14:24.
:14:24. > :14:28.to be a role model? -- how much It is important for me to be a war
:14:28. > :14:35.model for kids and show them that it is good to be who you are. -- a
:14:35. > :14:41.role model. If you are a doctor, a teacher, an athlete. Regardless of
:14:41. > :14:49.what you are, you have to be, more than that. You have to be accepted
:14:49. > :14:56.for who you are. How much pressure is there going into these Olympics,
:14:56. > :15:00.given the success of the Dream Team all those years ago? What the dream
:15:01. > :15:06.team did, we will never be able to duplicate. The timing was different.
:15:06. > :15:11.The game was different. The rest of the world has gotten better --
:15:11. > :15:16.gotten better. We are just ready for the challenge, for the
:15:16. > :15:22.experience. How much of an inspiration to you were they?
:15:22. > :15:27.Michael Jordan, etc. They change of the game. They changed us as young
:15:27. > :15:34.players, the way we looked at the game. We wanted to represent our
:15:34. > :15:41.country. They definitely had a huge impact on my life. Do you think
:15:41. > :15:49.that was the seminal moment, as far as basketball's identity was
:15:49. > :15:58.concerned? It became an international sport. The dream team
:15:58. > :16:02.were able to -- what they were able to do will never be duplicated
:16:02. > :16:08.again. Or we just want to carry the torch and passed the torch back
:16:08. > :16:13.down to the next team were now time is up. What was it about that team?
:16:13. > :16:18.They were so many good individuals? All the great players on that team
:16:18. > :16:27.came together as one. They put their egos aside and focused on
:16:27. > :16:33.winning the gold medal. How would you compare the current
:16:33. > :16:39.American team to that? Everybody asks that question. It is a lot
:16:39. > :16:45.different. We have younger guys who are great players. The dream team
:16:45. > :16:51.were all in their prime, or after their prime. They were all
:16:51. > :16:58.superstars and fall of Fame's. the legacy endures to this day.
:16:58. > :17:03.will go on and on. When I am gone, the legacy will still be there.
:17:03. > :17:10.Briefly, going back to your closest rivals. Spain, we have talked about.
:17:10. > :17:18.What about France and Argentina? Friends only has five or six
:17:18. > :17:22.players on their team from NBA. Argentina might have three or four.
:17:22. > :17:30.The competition will be spread out. It is a matter of who wants it the
:17:30. > :17:34.most. Do you think America has the hunger? Yes, for sure. It is there.
:17:34. > :17:39.A lot of people have been doubting us. We have dealt with this before.
:17:39. > :17:45.We are ready to go out there and win the gold medal. Injuries
:17:45. > :17:49.notwithstanding, they don't concern you. No, they don't concern us.
:17:50. > :17:56.What is the most important thing going into this Olympics? Having
:17:56. > :18:00.everybody on the same page, focused, fitness levels have to be higher.
:18:00. > :18:07.We have to understand and realise what is at stake. That is a cold
:18:07. > :18:11.metal. Anything else is not satisfying. -- gold medal. You have
:18:11. > :18:18.played at the very height of this game. Is the Olympics still
:18:18. > :18:24.something special? Or is it just... Almost an inconvenience? It is
:18:24. > :18:29.still exciting. When I play for the USA team, it is exciting, it is
:18:29. > :18:35.like day one, I just started playing for the USA. It doesn't
:18:35. > :18:42.feel like I have been with them for ten years. Does the legacy of 2004
:18:42. > :18:49.still haunt you? I think 2080 we were able to get that monkey off
:18:49. > :18:59.our back. Two dozen 12, we can put 2004 to bed if we take it out.
:18:59. > :18:59.
:18:59. > :19:03.the biggest team from the Soviet Union has gone away. It will be an
:19:03. > :19:11.ambitious gambling man who doesn't put money on the United States this
:19:11. > :19:18.time around. Well, things happen. I would be surprised if somebody did
:19:18. > :19:26.and put their money on us. But life is a gamble. You will have people
:19:26. > :19:33.who go against us. What went wrong in 2004? We went together as the
:19:33. > :19:40.team. -- we were not together. There were no excuses. We came back
:19:40. > :19:47.and you saw the difference in at 2008. We really focused, and we
:19:47. > :19:51.selected the right players. You saw the difference. If there is a
:19:51. > :20:01.message to your supporters, you fence around the world, what would
:20:01. > :20:01.
:20:01. > :20:08.it be? We are run away. There may the good times start. -- we are on
:20:08. > :20:13.our way. The team is coming together, you