March to Olympics starts here

No Kobe. No LeBron. No D-Wade.

No Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh or Chris Paul.

No problem.

So says USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo, who believes the Americans can prevail at next month's FIBA World Championships despite an entirely new roster from the one that won the Olympic gold medal at Beijing in 2008.

"I'm very confident," Colangelo said Monday when 21 players arrived in Las Vegas for the Team USA training camp at Cox Pavilion, with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski again at the helm.

"I have a lot of respect for the talent we have," Colangelo said. "We have a lot of veterans to go with a lot of young guys and they all have something they want to prove."

The five-day camp, which ends with the Blue-White intrasquad game at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, likely will cut the roster to 15. That number will be trimmed to 12 by mid-August when the team leaves New York for Turkey, where the World Championships tip off Aug. 28. The winner automatically qualifies for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Several young NBA stars are participating this week, including Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, O.J. Mayo and Russell Westbrook, Among the veterans are Amar'e Stoudemire, Lamar Odom, Chauncey Billups, David Lee, Rudy Gay and Andre Iguodola.

Colangelo knew many of the players from 2008 would not play this summer, and he wasn't surprised that all of them also passed on the World Championships.

"It has been an evolving situation with all the guys from the (2008) Olympics," he said. "Free agency. Injuries. Personal things and the fact some needed some down time.

"Everyone got a pass. That chapter is now closed. We're moving forward and we're excited about this camp. Twelve of the players (in Las Vegas) have been with the Select Team in the past. They have built some equity with us."

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans, NBA Rookie of the Year this past season, said he expects stiff competition during this week's camp.

"There's going to be a lot of good guys out there and I'll do whatever Coach needs me to do," Evans said. "I may not need to score as much. I may need to play more defense.

"It's going to be different for me, being out there for the first time. But I'm excited about the opportunity to be coached by Coach K. I just want to fit in."

Evans said he's not disappointed about missing an opportunity to play alongside Bryant, James, Wade and the other Team USA veterans.

"Those guys had big summers," he said. "They had their hands full. They earned the right to get some time off. So now it's up to us young guys to step up and continue what they started."

■ NOTES -- The daily practices at Cox Pavilion are closed to the public. The lone opportunity to see the team will be the Blue-White Game. ... Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers will not participate in the camp. He continues to recover from knee surgery in January.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.