Building a new 'Dream Team'

After poor World Cup showing, Team USA expected to strengthen with some of NBA's biggest superstars at Paris Olympics

There was a long flight awaiting USA Basketball last week. Manila to Los Angeles, about 13 hours on a chartered jet that didn't have the wi-fi that's necessary to communicate with the outside world. No texting, no emails.

That's unfortunate. Those were 13 hours where recruiting for Paris couldn't happen.

The World Cup is over. The US didn't medal. The world proved again that the Americans, even with NBA players, are vulnerable on the international stage. And now, every bit of USA Basketball's focus shifts to the Paris Olympics — where the challenge will be even tougher than the World Cup, which again reminded the Americans how much the FIBA game has changed.