Vegas Trip Is All Business For Team USA

LAS VEGAS • If Amaré Stoudemire wasn’t preparing for the FIBA Americas championship, he might be far from a basketball court this week. “Right now, I’d probably just be on a vacation with my family,” the All-Star center said.

Read Jerry Brown's Rim Shots blogLeBron James said he would probably be back home “working out and playing video games all day.”

But both NBA stars are in Las Vegas, along with the rest of Team USA, practicing for the tournament that begins next week. The U.S. will be among 10 teams competing for two spots in the 2008 Olympics.

The tourney could be viewed as punishment for finishing third in last year’s world championships in Japan, behind champion Spain and Greece. Had the U.S. defeated the underdog Greeks in the semifinals, it wouldn’t be preparing to play 10 games in 12 days beginning Aug. 22.

Of course, it could have been worse — the tourney was originally scheduled to be held in Venezuela, which lost the bid for financial reasons.

Las Vegas is a popular destination for NBA players, but perhaps not in the summer, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees each day since training camp opened. Players also were in town for a minicamp in July.

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source : eastvalleytribune.com