August 26
Q: How does it feel to be here?
Carter living dream with youthful U.S. team
Olympic favourites lack experience of past champions
CARTER: I guess so, not actually here, but it seemed real when we met in San Diego and started getting our gear and taking the pictures and all the other things we needed to do. That's when it started hitting me that it is time to play.
Q: Is it tiring to be here after such a whirlwind season and summer?
CARTER: Of course it is tiring, but I am really excited and it is dream come true and an honor. If you look around the court and look at these guys on the team that have accomplished so much, for me to be a part of it and represent the NBA and Toronto is amazing.
Q: What were your impressions of the first practice today?
CARTER: It was a regular first practice. It was hard, guys ran at each other hard and we had fun.
Q: What is it like to be on the court with so many great athletes?
CARTER: It is sort of like an everyday thing, not too new or difficult. I've played with all these guys before. Whether it was in summer league, other All-Star games, charity games. I know what it is like and it just fun. It is like old times with everybody getting together for one goal and one purpose.
It's Official: Carter to be Olympian
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — NBA star Vince Carter (Toronto Raptors) was added to the 2000 USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team, which is expected to participate in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, USA Basketball officially announced Sunday. Carter's addition to the USA team came after previously named team member Tom Gugliotta suffered a serious knee injury on March 10 and underwent reconstructive knee surgery on March 17. Carter's selection was made by the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Committee.
The 2000 USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team will be nominated to the United States Olympic Committee to participate in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, which are being held Sept. 16- Oct. 1.
"Vince Carter brings tremendous flexibility to the team. He is an explosive scorer who has the ability to play multiple positions," said Rod Thorn, chair of the USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team Committee.
"I think Vince is a great selection. He's a very talented player who will add versatility to our team," said USA head mentor Rudy Tomjanovich.
"It's an honor and I hope I can represent the USA well," said Carter. "It's a great opportunity to be in the Olympics and I'm looking forward to playing with the guys and winning a gold medal. That's the most important thing."
"I'm excited at the opportunity and I will try to help this team win any way I can," Carter added, "This has always been a dream for me."
Carter, who becomes the youngest member of the USA squad at 23, has worn a USA Basketball uniform previously. Selected following his senior year in high school for the 1995 USA Basketball Junior World Championship Team, Carter averaged 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds for the USA squad that finished in seventh place in Athens, Greece with a 4-4 overall record.
Currently in just his second NBA season, Carter left the University of North Carolina in 1998 following three very productive seasons during which he compiled 1,267 points (12.3 ppg.), 466 rebounds (4.5 rpg.) and 197 assists (1.9 apg.). He was named by The Sporting News All-America second team following his junior season during which he averaged 15.6 ppg., 5.1 rpg. and 1.9 apg.
Carter was selected as the fifth overall pick by Golden State in the 1998 NBA Draft and was almost immediately traded to Toronto. Posting impressive numbers in his rookie season of 18.7 ppg., 5.7 rpg. and 3.0 apg., he was named the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA All-Rookie first team.
IN VINCE'S WORDS
Here is what Vince Carter had to say on his selection to the U.S. Olympic selection:
Vince Carter on his selection to the 2000 USA Basketball Senior National Team: "It feels great and something I'm very proud of, but I'm not able to enjoy it as much as I'd like right now because we're trying to win games for the Toronto Raptors. It will hit me when the season ends, but right now I'm very happy."
Carter on his 1999-2000 season: "It just keeps getting better and better. First the All-Star Game and now the Olympic Team. I'm on cloud nine, maybe not physically, but this is a huge honor."
August 28
HONOLULU - It's the Wow! factor and it's powered every American Olympic or world championship basketball team since the very first one in 1992.
This time, there's no Michael Jordan, no Magic Johnson like in Barcelona eight years ago; no huge home-country hype machine pumping up the volume like there was in Atlanta in 1996.
Next month, it's going to be the cutting edge of up-and-coming NBA stars who'll have the fans in a frenzy at the Sydney Olympics.
``I am really excited and it is a dream come true and an honour,'' said Vince Carter, at 23 the youngest member of the squad. ``If you look around the court and look at these guys on the team that have accomplished so much, for me to be a part of it and represent the NBA and Toronto is amazing.''
Carter, the man most fans will want to see, has a trio of teammates under the ripe old age of 25, and 10 of his 11 teammates are making their Olympic debuts.
They are players who have yet to make their biggest splash on the NBA scene, but they'll be all the rage Down Under in three weeks.
Carter certainly didn't feel wowed by his first Olympic workouts.
``It is sort of like an everyday thing, not too new or difficult,'' he said. ``I've played with all these guys before. Whether it was in summer league, other all-star games, charity games. I know what it's like and it's just fun. It is like old times with everybody getting together for one goal and one purpose.''
With no Shaquille O'Neal, no Karl Malone, no Patrick Ewing, no David Robinson, no Hakeem Olajuwon, no Charles Barkley, no Grant Hill, there's definitely a youthful exuberance to the squad which has just begun practising and which plays its first game against Canada here on Thursday night.
With Carter, Milwaukee's Ray Allen (25), Vancouver's 23-year-old Shareef Abdur-Rahim and 25-year-old McDyess, the team is laden with 20-somethings. They aren't exactly chopped liver and it'll be one of the all-time big basketball stories if any team makes any game even close against the U.S. between now and the Oct. 1 Olympic final. Still, coach Rudy Tomjanovich won't take anything for granted.
``We can't just show up,'' Tomjanovich said. ``I can't just roll the ball out and say: Just go play. We have to be a real team. We have to have a system. We have to create chemistry. We have to make each other better.''
Go to USA 2
