Carmelo looking to make amends for '04 Olympics

Anthony excited for chance to help U.S. regain gold

By Matt Lynch, Special to the Rocky

Published June 23, 2008 at 3:03 p.m.

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Photo by Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images/2004

LeBron James, left, and Carmelo Anthony are part of a powerful frontcourt for the United States.

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Carmelo Anthony hopes his second Olympic experience bears little resemblance to his first.

Teaming with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James as the youngest members of the 2004 team, Anthony left Athens with a disappointing bronze medal, the first time Americans failed to strike Olympic gold since NBA players began participating in 1992.

"We didn't know what to expect," Anthony said of the first Olympics for the three young players, in which he got little playing time. "So we felt like we were thrown out there to the wolves."

Since then, Anthony has been a focal point of an effort spearheaded by USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski to revitalize American basketball with an emphasis on continuity and greater familiarity with the international game.

Those efforts materialized Monday when Colangelo officially unveiled the members of this year's Olympics in Beijing.

Joining 2004 holdovers Anthony, Wade and James will be veteran guards Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd. Young point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams give the team additional backcourt depth. Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd complete the roster.

"We're just here right now to go over there and redeem ourselves and put that USA basketball back at the top," Anthony said.

That so many elite players such as Anthony committed their summers to USA Basketball to build chemistry with teammates and familiarity with the international game is one cause for optimism that this Olympics might be different.

Anthony is expected to be a major part of returning America to its previous stature after leading the team in scoring during the 2006 FIBA World Championships and during Olympic qualifying.

"I'm blessed to be on the court at the same time as guys like

Dwyane Wade, LeBron and Kobe Bryant and all the other guys that we have. Sometimes the teams seem to leave me open," Anthony said laughing. "They can't guard everybody."

The meeting in Chicago also afforded a chance for Anthony and Colangelo to speak. The two had not had not talked since Colangelo commented earlier this month that Anthony had taken "a half-step back" in the past year.

"I talked to him about that," Anthony said. "He was saying that he didn't really mean on the court, he meant off-the-court incidents. I understand where he was coming from. I let him know and I'll let the world know I'm still the same player (as the past two summers)."

Anthony's off-court incidents include a pending DUI case.

While Krzyzewski indicated there could be a number of starting lineups, he said the team expects to begin its training camp July 20 with the same starting lineup it used for most of last summer. That would mean Anthony and James at the forwards, Dwight Howard at center and Bryant, making his first appearance in the Olympics, and Kidd in the backcourt. The team will have a minicamp in Las Vegas this week.

"It's really the world's game," Krzyzewski said. "We think we're the best at playing that game. But unless we show the respect to the rest of the world that it is the world's game, I don't think we'll ever really reach the point that we need to."

Staff writer Chris Tomasson contributed to this report

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