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Carmelo Anthony - US Olympic basketball player

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Welcome to this special edition of extratime from Las Vegas and the

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training camp of the American Olympic basketball team. If you are

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a gambler, you would be better off not betting against this team to

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win gold at the London Games. They are the defending champions and

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their ranks include some of the biggest names in the NBA. One of

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them hoon is our guest today. -- Carmelo Anthony is an Olympic

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veteran, whose rise to the top came by way of the gritty streets of New

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York and Baltimore. Now, he and his team-mates assume the mantle of the

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famous American Dream Team of the 1990s, whose path to gold did so

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much to boost support for basketballers round the world. 20

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years on from that, is there any Carmela Anthony, welcome to this

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special edition of extratime. Thank you for joining us. How confident

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are you of lifting gold at these Olympics? We have to remain

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confident, especially coming off what we have accomplished at

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Beijing, we won the gold medal. But we understand it will be different

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going into these London Games. A lot tougher. And you are without

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some key members of the squad. People like Dwayne Wade. How much

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of an impact could that have? miss them, we definitely miss them.

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But we also have guys that can fill the void of those guys. And as of

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right now, guys that are doing a great job doing that. As far as

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opponents are concerned, Spain off course will be looking to avenge

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their defeat in the final last time. They have five NBA players

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themselves in their squad. Are the biggest threat? Right now, Spain

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would be one of the biggest threat. Argentina is always good. France.

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But everybody is bringing the best of the best from their country. To

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try to win the gold medal. You have some very big NBA players in the

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American team. Yourself, Kobe Bryant. How important is it for you

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guys to entertain as well as simply win? We are not worrying about

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entertaining. We just want to win basketball games, win the gold

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medal. Throughout the course of the game, if we play the way we know

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how to play and win the game, that is entertaining to us. Off course

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all of this brings to mind the Dream Team of 1992. People like

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Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and so on. Now, there is a move to

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basically limit to the age of 23 those who can play from America in

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the Olympics in basketball. What do you make of that, the

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recommendation from the NBA commissioner? My opinion is I don't

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think there should be an age limit. It should be up to the players to

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decide whether or not they want to take on the opportunity to

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represent their country, whether they are 23 off 33. It shouldn't

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matter. And such a ruling, had it been in place a few years ago,

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would have had indications for you because you would not have got a

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gold medal. Absolutely. I would have been one of them guys who

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would not have had the opportunity to win a gold medal. The Dream

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Team' success was of course instrumental in boosting the

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popularity of pass the ball virtually all around the world. One

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place it has become enormously popular it is China. We have seen

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some NBA players go and play there. Is that something that you could

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conceive for yourself later perhaps in your career? Hopefully. We look

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at what the Dream Team did, the way it was able to transcend

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basketballers globally. The way it changed the views of NBA players or

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American players. They definitely laid the platform for us to be able

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to go over there and do what we are able to do now. What about

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yourself? Hopefully. Her flee when my time comes after 2008, after

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this one, we made a big enough stance to change the game even more.

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-- hopefully. Could you see yourself going to China? I don't

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think so. Right now, who knows how many more years I have in the NBA?

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It is ironic in a way that it could be the Chinese who are competing

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for American talent ahead of Europe. China is big. So many fans and

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people over there. The game is only growing globally and in China. For

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guys over here that have the opportunity to play in China, I

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think a lot of guys are taking that opportunity. I want to talk a

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little bit about your own background. You grew up off course

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in the projects. You were born in Brooklyn and manufactured in

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Baltimore. Your father died when you were two years old, leaving

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your mother to raise you and your siblings. The EU have also been

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quoted as saying you honed not only your athletic skills but also vital

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skills. -- you have also been. Tell me about that. You become a cup of

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your environment. Growing up in the ghettos and slums, or whatever, you

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have to deal with life, which is drugs, prostitution, guns, poverty

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as a whole. You have to find ways to survive there as a young -- at a

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young age. And I found a way. Whether it was through sports,

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education or just through the streets period. You have to find a

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way. An escaped from gangs and drugs? Sports definitely helped me

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out, from basketball, football, baseball, whatever sport it was at

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the time. I read somewhere there was a basketball court totally on

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your doorstep in New York, growing up there? Absolutely. It was right

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outside my window. I was able to go outside and play pass the ball and

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watch all of the guys play. I was at the age where I did not care

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about but the ball too much. I just wanted to be a kid. I read

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somewhere that there was one summer where you grew five inches in

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height? Yes. Was that the seminal moment, the moment at which is

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thought, this is the career for me? I grew five inches in the summer

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going to my junior high school. At that point in time, I did not know

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what was going on. I just knew I grew five inches. That next year,

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that is when I started taking basketballers seriously. And you

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actually never forgot those roots, have you? Never. Philanthropy has

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been a big part of giving back. Tell me about some of the things

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you have been doing. I started a foundation, the Carmelo Anthony

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Foundation, and under that umbrella I do something where I build

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basketball courts in under privileged neighbourhoods and give

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back to the community. I have a couple of -- a couple in Cordery Co,

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a couple in Baltimore. It is just little things that make it in packs

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in the community. Given you are very much a role model yourself,

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the fact is, there are some statistics, that of 166,000 people

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to play pass the ball in high- school here, just 44 have a chance

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of actually doing it professionally. It is really a very small number,

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isn't it? Not a lot of people have the realistic hope of emulating

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somebody like you? Absolutely. The window of opportunity is shorter

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and shorter. We have so many guys in the US that play pass the ball

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at high-school level or college level that never get a chance to

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play on a professional level. What we are able to do now by

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transcending the game globally gives places like China or Europe

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the opportunity to give more players over from the US. Now you

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have had a homecoming at the New York Knicks and, for a start, how

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much of a homecoming has that been? How welcoming? For it is welcoming.

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I am back home where everything started but it is a lot different

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now. Than when I was covering -- growing up. Going back and seeing

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the place that I came from. And it is 40 years since the New York

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Knicks won an NBA title. How much pressure to do that? There is a

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possibility but not pressure. I try not to compete and play under

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pressure. Once you start doing that, you start becoming timid and

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thinking about things that you should not do, rather than just

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going out there and doing it. you are up against an attempt to

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win a title, up against the trinity of Lebron James and so on with the

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Miami Heat. A lot of competition. Definitely competition. It is

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friendly competition. We are all close friends and we want to

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represent our home team's. Four you, what about after the game? You are

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at your peak now. Not yet! At the age of 28. What does the future

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hold for you after the Games? Hopefully I will be sitting around

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in one of my pieces as at that point in time, whatever that may be.

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-- one of my businesses. I am starting the groundwork now so that

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when I am downplaying, I can just roll over to that. As far as this

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Olympics is concerned, do you think this will be the last one? Right

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now, who knows? I am just focusing on this one. The next one is in

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four years and I will be 31. Who knows? I will see when the time

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comes. Right now, this is my main focal point. A quick word about the

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British team, being the London Olympics. Britain has a team in the

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Olympics this year for the first time since about 1948, something

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like that. Be honest, how much chance do you give them? I don't

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know who is on the team. Honestly I don't. We will not know until

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probably a couple of days before we play the Britain team when we get a

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report and the film that we have to watch. But you would not presumably

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be worrying too much? At this point, everybody is coming after us so we

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have to be prepared. That we just go back briefly to your upbringing.

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That was fascinating. How much of your upbringing has shaped who do

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are, both as an athlete and as an individual? As an athlete it made

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me to I -- it made me who I am totally. Just from being able to

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hold your own, being tough, knowing how to handle different situations.

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The survival tactics from off the street transcends on to the

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basketball court and it kind of works hand-in-hand. Was there a

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point at which you thought yourself, this is the only way out, sport is

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the only escape? When I started realising that I was like in the

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game of basketball, I fell in love with it, that is when I said, this

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is the only way. If I don't take this seriously, I am just going to

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be a product of my environment. how much of it has been down to a

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lark and how much down to application and hard work? 95% hard

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work. 5% might be I caught a break at the time. But I definitely put a

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lot of hard work into it. And you are not just a sportsman, you are

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more than that. You are a product. But you are a reality TV star, a

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celebrity in so many different ways. How much influence is there for you

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to be a role model? -- how much It is important for me to be a war

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model for kids and show them that it is good to be who you are. -- a

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role model. If you are a doctor, a teacher, an athlete. Regardless of

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what you are, you have to be, more than that. You have to be accepted

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for who you are. How much pressure is there going into these Olympics,

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given the success of the Dream Team all those years ago? What the dream

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team did, we will never be able to duplicate. The timing was different.

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The game was different. The rest of the world has gotten better --

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gotten better. We are just ready for the challenge, for the

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experience. How much of an inspiration to you were they?

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Michael Jordan, etc. They change of the game. They changed us as young

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players, the way we looked at the game. We wanted to represent our

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country. They definitely had a huge impact on my life. Do you think

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that was the seminal moment, as far as basketball's identity was

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concerned? It became an international sport. The dream team

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were able to -- what they were able to do will never be duplicated

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again. Or we just want to carry the torch and passed the torch back

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down to the next team were now time is up. What was it about that team?

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They were so many good individuals? All the great players on that team

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came together as one. They put their egos aside and focused on

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winning the gold medal. How would you compare the current

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American team to that? Everybody asks that question. It is a lot

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different. We have younger guys who are great players. The dream team

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were all in their prime, or after their prime. They were all

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superstars and fall of Fame's. the legacy endures to this day.

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will go on and on. When I am gone, the legacy will still be there.

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Briefly, going back to your closest rivals. Spain, we have talked about.

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What about France and Argentina? Friends only has five or six

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players on their team from NBA. Argentina might have three or four.

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The competition will be spread out. It is a matter of who wants it the

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most. Do you think America has the hunger? Yes, for sure. It is there.

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A lot of people have been doubting us. We have dealt with this before.

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We are ready to go out there and win the gold medal. Injuries

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notwithstanding, they don't concern you. No, they don't concern us.

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What is the most important thing going into this Olympics? Having

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everybody on the same page, focused, fitness levels have to be higher.

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We have to understand and realise what is at stake. That is a cold

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metal. Anything else is not satisfying. -- gold medal. You have

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played at the very height of this game. Is the Olympics still

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something special? Or is it just... Almost an inconvenience? It is

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still exciting. When I play for the USA team, it is exciting, it is

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like day one, I just started playing for the USA. It doesn't

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feel like I have been with them for ten years. Does the legacy of 2004

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still haunt you? I think 2080 we were able to get that monkey off

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our back. Two dozen 12, we can put 2004 to bed if we take it out.

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the biggest team from the Soviet Union has gone away. It will be an

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ambitious gambling man who doesn't put money on the United States this

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time around. Well, things happen. I would be surprised if somebody did

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and put their money on us. But life is a gamble. You will have people

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who go against us. What went wrong in 2004? We went together as the

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team. -- we were not together. There were no excuses. We came back

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and you saw the difference in at 2008. We really focused, and we

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selected the right players. You saw the difference. If there is a

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message to your supporters, you fence around the world, what would

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it be? We are run away. There may the good times start. -- we are on

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our way. The team is coming together, you

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