Team USA eyeing Jazz duo

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 16, 2008 | by Scott Taylor Deseret News

CHICAGO -- With the chance of giving the Utah Jazz their first dynamic Olympic duo since Karl Malone and John Stockton a dozen years ago, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams have the eyes of USA Basketball's top brass Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski.

And maybe the right ties, too?

Boozer and Williams are two of the 33 players currently on the U.S. Men's Senior National Basketball Team roster, hoping to be named to the Olympic squad to compete this summer in Beijing.

"I admire what these guys have done -- those two guys are going to be in the mix," said Krzyzewski, the Duke University head coach who doubles as the same for Team USA, during Tuesday's session of the 2008 Olympic Media Summit.

Boozer played his three-year collegiate career at Duke for Krzyzewski, who this summer coached the United States -- with Williams as a reserve guard -- to a 10-0 record at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas.

"He's sugar-coating this," interrupted Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns chairman and U.S. team's managing director, with a quick quip. "The fact is that Boozer played for him at Duke, and Deron Williams played at my alma mater, the University of Illinois, so they have great shots."

Of course, Boozer and Williams' top priority is their day jobs -- leading the Northwest Division champion Jazz into tonight's regular- season finale at San Antonio, followed by the NBA playoffs.

And Colengelo, Krzyzewski and staff won't pare down the roster to 15-18 finalists until a couple of weeks after the NBA Finals.

The Olympic roster of 12 players and three alternates is due June 30, with the team returning to Las Vegas in July for a week's worth of practice and an exhibition game before leaving for four exhibitions in Asia prior to its first Beijing Olympics contest on Aug. 10.

Krzyzewski and Colangelo say Boozer won't be discounted by his U.S. team absences the last two summers. He missed the '06 World Championships because he was still nursing his prolonged hamstring injury, and he asked to be excused last year because his wife, CeCe, was expecting twins.

"Carlos will be contesting for a spot, even though he didn't play the last two years," Krzyzewski said. "He did play in the 2004 Olympics, and he was willing to play last year.

"He is one of the best players. Obviously, I coached him in college, but that's not why -- if he's picked -- that he'll be picked."

And Krzyzewski was doubly pleased with Williams last summer in Vegas.

"Deron Williams is one of the best guards in the world. I was really impressed with not only how well he played but how well he accepted his role. Basically, he said, 'I'll do anything you want me to do -- play no minutes, five minutes or start. I'll do anything you want, coach.'"

But Williams is caught in the team's logjam of point-guard talent.

"At certain positions, we're kind of overloaded, and the point- guard spot happens to be one of them," Colangelo said. "Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul -- it's going to be a tough selection."

For Krzyzewski, he has an admitted affinity for all 33 players currently in his U.S. program. "We feel like teenagers at a dance," he said. "You fall in love with everybody."

Joining the U.S. Men's Senior National Team last May, Boozer and Williams are two of the 10 roster members that have been added since the original 23 selections were named in March 2006.

On the bronze-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Athens Games, Boozer played in seven of the eight games. He helped Duke to a pair of NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and finished as the Blue Devils' all-time leader in field-goal percentage (.631).

Williams played in all 10 U.S. games in Las Vegas last summer, averaging 4.7 points and 4.6 assists in nearly 15 minutes a game while shooting 61 percent from the floor and 50 percent behind the arc.

E-mail: taylor@desnews.com