Team USA Notebook: Lamar Odom Says He's in 'Horrible Shape'

LAS VEGAS -- You'd think Lamar Odom would be in as great as shape as anyone on the roster. After all, the Lakers forward and Boston guard Rajon Rondo were the last Team USA players to have participated in a game, battling in the June 17 Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

But Odom doesn't buy that. Just listen to him.

"I'm in horrible shape,'' Odom said after Team USA's first day of training camp here Tuesday. "But I'll get in shape ... I took some time off (following the Lakers winning their second straight title). This is my first basketball activity. I boxed and some things like that. But this is the first time I ran up and down the court, and actually had a basketball in my hand.''

Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team is preparing for the World Championships, Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey, didn't think Odom was in that bad of shape.
"Lamar said they had a long season,'' Krzyzewski said. "He's boxed. I asked if he got knocked out. He said he had not been knocked out. So that's good. He already gained a couple of points for Turkey by saying he had not been knocked out.''

Krzyzewski said he "didn't see anybody huffing and puffing" Tuesday even though 10 of the team's 20 players didn't make the postseason, meaning this was their first practice in more than three months.

"No one's going to play more than 22 or 24 minutes,'' Krzyzewski said. "In certain games, somebody might get 26 or 28.''

MOTIVATION FROM 2008

Kevin Durant didn't make the 2008 Olympic team and neither did Tyson Chandler. Both players are using that as motivation this summer for Team USA.

"Yeah, it was,'' Durant said of being disappointed at not making the team after his rookie NBA season and said he would have played this summer even if he were a free agent still negotiating a contract. "I'm very competitive. I thought I had a good opportunity to make that team, but I just didn't. But I know I've got to wait my time, and hopefully my time will come. I was sitting at home watching (the Olympics on television), and I'd be upset. Maybe I could have hustled a little bit more (in training camp). Maybe I could have made a shot to help my team win a game.''

Chandler came very close to making the 2008 team. He was being looked at to go to Asia for some pre-Olympic games as an alternate before he was shelved with a toe injury.

"Because I wasn't on that Olympic team, I do want to be able to represent my country and possibly win (a gold medal),'' said Chander, who said he's overcome nagging foot and ankle injuries and feels "the best I've ever felt in a while.'' "Any time you play (for Team USA) it's a great experience and it's an incredible feeling.''

Chandler also said Tuesday he considered opting out of a contract this summer that will pay him $13.2 million next season. But he didn't do it, and ended up being traded last week from Charlotte to Dallas.

"I was (thinking about it) just because I was feeling good and I wanted to be in a situation where I would be somewhere for a while, for a long time,'' Chandler said. "That's one of the reasons why the trade came about. I wanted to be in a situation where I felt like I could either re-sign with the team or sign with a team.''

IS HARRINGTON ENOUGH?

Denver guard Chauncey Billups said he liked his team's signing last week of free-agent forward Al Harrington. But will it be enough to get Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, who has wanted to see what offseason moves Denver will make, to sign the three-year $64.7 million extension offer he has on the table?

"I hope so,'' Billups said. "I haven't talked to (Anthony since the signing).''

Billups has worked out the past 12 summers with Harrington. He helped talk the free agent into coming to Denver on a five-year, $33.4 million contract.

"A great deal,'' Billups said. "That's one of my really good friends, and great for us.'''

FACE OF USA BASKETBALL

When told he's now the face of Team USA, Durant doesn't buy it. Just listen to the modest Oklahoma City forward talk about the difference in how he and star LeBron James made announcements two weeks ago.

James had an ESPN show called "The Decision'' to let it be known he would leave Cleveland to sign with Miami as a free agent. Durant sent it out by Twitter that he had finalized a contract extension with the Thunder that begins in 2011-12.

"I told somebody the other day, man, Lebron James is the biggest name in sports,'' Durant said. "Nothing he does is ever going to be quiet. You can't blame him for what happened and how he made his decision. But I'm a little different. Nobody really knows me too much. Nobody really knows our team. So they didn't really care where I was going.''

Durant is only the NBA scoring champion off a team that threw a first-round scare last spring into the eventual champion Lakers. And Durant hopes the Thunder can stay together, saying he hopes fellow Team USA members Jeff Green, eligible this summer, and Russell Westbrook, eligible next summer, will eventually also sign long-term extensions.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson