Iverson, O'Neal invited to Olympics

Allen Iverson and Jermaine O'Neal will be asked to join the 2004 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team, a source told The Associated Press on Thursday.\nThe decision was made in a conference call among members of the USA Basketball selection committee, a basketball source with knowledge of the selections said on condition of anonymity.\nThe choices of Iverson and O'Neal bring to nine the number of players who have been either selected or officially named to the team.\nUSAB only has said publicly that Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd and Tracy McGrady are on the team. Further announcements will be made to include the additions of Iverson, O'Neal, Mike Bibby, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant.\nIverson's selection fulfills one of his wishes and sets him up to play for his Philadelphia 76ers coach, Larry Brown, on the national team.\nO'Neal, who plays for the Indiana Pacers, will become the first member of the U.S. team that finished sixth last summer at the World Championships to be invited back to play for Team USA.\nThe U.S. team now has plenty of backcourt scorers and three power forwards, but still no center.\nIf the selection committee does not select a true center when it fills out the final three roster spots, O'Neal and Duncan would presumably play out of position and fill that role.\nPreviously, USA Basketball said the final two or three spots on the roster would go to collegians or people playing overseas.\nThe team will play in a qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico in August, attempting to gain one of three Olympic berths available to the FIBA-Americas region for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.