A lot has been said and written about the additions of Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups to Team USA this summer. Amare Stoudemire is also a big (literally and figuratively) addition, as he's fully healthy this time around. And there's always hype surrounding LeBron James, who is coming off his first trip to the NBA Finals.
But let us not overlook the man who was Team USA's best player when they won the bronze medal at last year's World Championships.

While Kidd is the leader and floor general, Bryant is the go-to scorer down the stretch and LeBron is the runaway train on the break, Carmelo Anthony's role might be as or more important than all of them.

Throughout the first three practices of this second session of training camp, Coach Mike Krzyzewski has had a primary lineup of Kidd, Bryant, James, Anthony and Stoudemire. He has said that it won't be his only starting lineup, but it's safe to say that Anthony will spend a lot of time playing the power forward position.

That means that he will be asked to bang with the big guys, rebound and defend the paint. It's not the same role that he plays on the Nuggets for sure, when he plays alongside Marcus Camby and Nenê. Bryant though, believes that Anthony can handle the role just fine.

"He's a three in the NBA, but he plays like a four," Bryant said. "Man, he's strong. You see him in the post against guys that are much bigger than he is, but he can power his way to the hole. Aside from that, if you look at European basketball, a lot of fours are on the perimeter anyway. We're very fortunate to have a guy like Carmelo who can go inside and outside just as easily."

Indeed, playing Anthony at the four gives Team USA an additional shooter on the floor. Among the true bigs, Stoudemire and Nick Collison have decent mid-range games, but none of the them can truly stretch a defense. And with opposing teams likely to pack it in the paint and force the Americans to shoot it from the outside, playing two of the bigs together might limit them offensively.

"At the four position, we're kinda small," Anthony admitted, "but at the same time, we've got a lot of speed and quickness out there. We're gonna use that to our advantage."

Still, he will have to adjust to catching the ball in different spots on the floor. As one of the bigs, he'll be asked to play behind the defense at times, looking for the gaps in the zone. He did that to perfection on one particular play in Friday's five-on-five, halfcourt workout, when Kidd found him cutting behind the zone for an alley-oop.

"On this team," Anthony explained, "you never know where you're going to get the ball at, so you've got to be prepared. I can catch the ball in the post. I can catch it on the wing. I can catch it up top. It doesn't matter."

That open-minded, whatever-it-takes attitude has been the theme here at camp, as it was last year. These guys don't care how it gets done; They just want to win. In fact, Anthony admitted that he didn't know he was Team USA's leading scorer at the 2006 World Championships until after he had returned from Japan.

"After I got back home," he said, "I was like, 'Man, how was I the leading scorer on that team like that?'"

He was the leading scorer, and he was the second leading scorer in the NBA this past season, because he's got perhaps the most complete offensive game in the world. While Bryant may be the most dominant scorer in the game and clearly has the best perimeter repertoire, he can't do damage in the low post like Anthony can.

That, along with Anthony's work ethic, made Bryant a fan from the time 'Melo carried his Syracuse team to the 2003 NCAA title. And teaming with Anthony and working closely with him in camp this summer hasn't changed KB24's mind one bit.

"I've always had the utmost respect for Carmelo, his ability and his work habits," Bryant revealed. "Coming here just reinforces that. He's always been one of my favorite players in the NBA."

The Olympic gold medal is a year away. And it's entirely possible that this team could have another off-night and fall short of their goal. But it won't be because these guys aren't willing to sacrifice personal achievements for the good of the team.

And Carmelo Anthony is at the forefront of the let's-do-this-together movement that permeates this roster from top to bottom.

"My role is to go out there and lead the team," he said. "My role is to go out there and do what I gotta do, whether it's rebound, score or play defense."