Bryant, James, Wade Top U.S. Basketball Roster

Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant has a shot at another big prize after falling short of the NBA championship, and he'll have plenty of help along the way.

LeBron James is there. Dwyane Wade, too.

They will lead a U.S. Olympic basketball team that was announced yesterday and hopes to capture the gold medal in Beijing in August after a third-place showing in Athens four years ago.

The team already has "re-established itself" on an international level, the managing director of USA Basketball, Jerry Colangelo, said during a news conference.

The next step is to bring home the gold, and America will send a deep, versatile team to China. Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd were also among the 12 players chosen from a pool of 33. They were joined by the Detroit Pistons' Tayshaun Prince, along with Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Michael Redd, and Deron Williams.

"It was a very difficult selection process," Colangelo said. "When you have as many outstanding players as we have in this country — to select a group of 12 is obviously going to leave out a number of outstanding people."

The Pistons issued a statement from Prince in which he said he was "honored to be selected."

"I take great pride in being given the opportunity to represent my country, and I strongly believe that with the team that has been assembled, the United States will be represented well," Prince said.

The team was selected without a tryout. It will have a minicamp this week in Las Vegas and meet there July 20-25 to train and play an exhibition against Canada before heading overseas. The Americans open Olympic play against China on August 10.

Although the Americans captured the gold at the Sydney Games in 2000, they no longer dominate international play as they once did. The talent gap has narrowed and many top players have chosen to not play for the national team in recent years.