Jamison Is Learning A Valuable Lesson Playing With NBA's Best Gives Him Chance to Help Wizards' Teammates By Brian Windhorst Special to The Washington Post Friday, September 1, 2006; Page E03 SAITAMA, Japan -- Practice has just ended in the small, third floor gymnasium at Japan Institute of Sport Sciences, Team USA's hideout in Tokyo's northern suburbs. It's an off day for the highest-profile team in international basketball's highest-profile tournament, the FIBA World Championship. Which means it's playtime for some. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, the team's captains along with Dwyane Wade, quickly become engaged in a shooting game with hints of some extra, monetary motivation. Others start throwing down inventive dunks or attempting impossible-angle shots. Antawn Jamison eschews the action and heads to a chair for a drink and a precautionary ice bag for his knee, occasionally smiling or giggling at his teammates' antics. The Washington Wizards' star has a role with the U.S. national team, one that isn't desirable for many ex-all-stars, but one he freely and honestly accepts. At 30, Jamison and Brad Miller are the oldest players on a new-age Dream Team constructed around the rising draft class of 2003, which includes the three captains, Kirk Hinrich and Chris Bosh. Jamison is not really part of the young core USA Basketball is preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And he plays the same positions James, Anthony, Bosh, Shane Battier and Elton Brand have been playing with the team. After starting the first game of pool play two weeks ago against Puerto Rico, Jamison has mostly fallen out of Coach Mike Krzyzewski's rotation. As the Americans prepared to face Greece on Friday morning at 3:30 a.m. EDT in the world semifinals, he was averaging eight minutes and just 3.7 points per game. Yet there are no complaints, or even hints of them, coming from Jamison. He's immersed in the sense of togetherness and the team-before-individual attitude that has, somewhat surprisingly, become the trademark of what some are referring to as the "Redeem Team" -- a squad that will restore the luster to U.S. basketball in international play. "It has been a great experience, it's been a journey, and all of us are taking something from it," Jamison said. Jamison's Wizards teammate Gilbert Arenas saw things differently. At one point the two-time all-star was considered a safe bet to make the national team, but he injured his groin and didn't survive the second round of cuts. This week he told The Washington Post that he did not receive a fair tryout. Jamison is determined to learn from his unlikely journey. He was part of the junior national team in 1995 when he was a teenager, back when the United States dominated the basketball world. But the United States hasn't claimed the world championship title since 1994 and infamously wheezed to a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Back wearing "USA" on his chest, Jamison is sure he'll bring something from Japan to the Wizards' locker room. "I think the most important thing I'm getting out of this is the way these guys approach practices and approach games and the way they carry themselves," Jamison said. "This is a formula for being a successful team, and that is something that, in the past, not all 12 or 15 guys in the Wizards' locker room have been doing." At a dinner the first night the team gathered in Las Vegas before a two-week training camp last month, Krzyzewski delivered an impassioned speech about how everyone on the team was going to be treated equally. "He said that on the first night and everyone bought into it," Wade said. "From that time on I think we started becoming a team and it has been working." It may have seemed cliche, but the U.S. players developed into a close group and have played unselfishly. Seven players are averaging eight points or more and five have picked up 10 assists or more. "My teammates in Washington usually listen to me, but perhaps after this they'll listen even more," Jamison said. "Being a leader I have to come in at training camp and emphasize that I was with a guy who finished second in the MVP voting [James], a guy who led his team to the NBA championship [Wade], and this is what they do. This is what I'm trying to preach." For that reason, Jamison finds himself wishing Arenas were still with the team. "I definitely regret that Gilbert couldn't be here, he is someone who really could benefit from this," Jamison said. "He still has another eight or nine years in the league. He got a good glimpse of it, but this is a time when it goes up another notch." -- 男孩問女孩為什麼不接受他的愛。 女孩淡淡的回應：「一杯滿的水，要怎麼再倒水進去？」 男孩：「我願意等，直到水份全部蒸發為止。」 --

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