AND NOW FOR SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT...

Some of the players on this list are lights-out jump shooters, of course. Kobe Bryant and Tayshaun Prince have two of the sweetest strokes in the game. Carmelo Anthony, too. But a check of last season's NBA 3-point % leaders shows that not one of the members of this Olympic roster finished in the Top 35 in 3-point shooting. And only one finished in the Top 50. The five highest on this team:

Williams, 37th, .395 (83/210)

Kidd, 52nd, .381 (119/312)

Paul, 65th, .369 (92/249)

Redd, 69th, .362 (130/359)

Bryant, 52nd, .361 (150/415)

Below are three American NBA players who attempted at least 250 3-pointers this past season and who finished in the Top 12 in the league in 3-point shooting %:

Daniel Gibson, G, Cavs......5th..... .(118/268)..... .440

Matt Carroll, F, Bobcats.....9th.......(105/241)...... .436

Mike Dunleavy, F, Pacers...12th.....(165/389)....   .424

Quite the significant difference (think batting .395 versus hitting a Cobbesque .440). And those latter two players are an upgrade in size over one of the players who should be replaced. Does Team USA really need four guards who love to penetrate but will find it difficult to do so against a zone (or did you not see the NBA Finals in which the Celtics frustrated the greatest one-on-one player in the planet?).

Chris Paul is a stellar talent, the No. 2 finisher in the past season's MVP race. He also leads with his left elbow on most drives into the lane and could be called for a charge at least 50% of the time. How international referees will interpret Paul's style is up for debate at the moment.

Deron Williams? With his size, speed and tenacity when driving to the hoop, he's like a young Jason Kidd. Whereas Jason Kidd is like an old Jason Kidd. Does Team USA need two Jason Kidds?

Of the four true guards on this team--Kobe, CP3, Kidd and Williams-- one should be jettisoned (Perhaps by age? Or by whose team was eliminated earliest from the Western Conference playoffs? I'm just spit-ballin' here...) in favor of a spot-up 3-point shooting gunslinger. Heck, even Jason Kapono, who led the league in 3-pt. % (.483 on 57/118) and won the All-Star Weekend 3-pt. Shootout, would be a more valuable asset to this lineup than a 4th-point guard.

Kobe, Carmelo and LeBron can all operate with the ball at the top of the key and create their own shot. Thus, the idea of having three more point guards, none of whom is a better spot-up shooter than Kapono, Gibson, Carroll and Dunleavy (or Ray Allen, for that matter, who seemed to demonstrate that he can operate on a big stage recently) is superfluous. And ridiculous.

I'd even take James Posey and just hypnotize him into believing he's still playing in the NBA Finals.

Spot-up three-point shooters. And role players with spunk (if only Diana Taurasi could suit up for the men, they'd have both...it figures that, like Manu Ginobili, she has Italian heritage by way of Argentina). That's what the 2004 Team USA was lacking. And that's what this team lacks as well. And that's why I don't see them winning gold in Beijing. Does the NBA really want its marquee player of the next decade to be known as LeBronze James?