Worldly Obsession

It won’t be your older brother’s Dream Team. Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon almost certainly won’t play, and Allan Houston will. Allan Houston?

No matter.

“I really want to be there,” Eddie Jones says.

In Athens next summer, he means, playing for the United States in the World Championships. Because it would be great for him to go from playing for the Lakers to playing for his country in international competition at the elite level, a notch above when he played for the college-only squad in the same tournament after his junior season at Temple. Because many of the NBA’s other rising stars will be showcased. And, just because it’s enough to “let people know that, hey, we’re still on top and nobody can mess with us.”

“I want to be on the Olympic team too,” he continues. “I want to be there. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do--defensively, offensively, leadership, whatever it takes for us to win as a team. Then you’ll get little things like that.

“I want to be one of those guys who say, ‘Hey, I got a gold medal. I got this. I’ve done this.’ Just to be there, in the glory for the USA.”

His coach with the Lakers, Del Harris, will be in Athens as one of the three assistants under Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets. One teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, may be there, having amended previous comments that he is retired from international play, or at least amended it enough to say he’s now about 50-50. Another, Rick Fox, will play for Canada, unless he stays home to resolve his free-agent status.

One problem:

Jones might not be there.

The 11-man selection committee for USA Basketball--10 voting members from the college and pro coaching ranks and front offices and an NBA player, plus a league executive as the non-voting chairmen--will not comment on their possible choices. They won’t even publicly confirm the list of the 10 players invited so far, though none disputes it either.

But several insiders confirm that Jones was discussed as a possibility for the original 10 before being passed over and left to wait until the spring to see if he’s chosen for one of the final two available spots. The bad news for Jones is that the backcourt is already filling up, assuming Gary Payton, Terrell Brandon and Houston accept their invitations, especially since Grant Hill can also be used as a ballhandler and Glen Rice has played shooting guard.

“I think the guards are pretty well down,” said one member of the selection committee.

Penny Hardaway already has told USA Basketball he won’t play, thus the obvious oversight on the invitation list, but check back with him in 2000 for the Olympics. That helps Jones’ case. So does his reputation.

“They’re looking for kind of a younger look now,” said Harris, who had, and will have, no vote on the makeup of the team. “And, certainly, they’re image conscious. They don’t want bad-news guys on there.”

Jones would not elbow an overmatched player from Angola. He would not scream to the heavens after throwing down an alley-oop dunk. He usually doesn’t even want to grab the spotlight, so forget about grabbing his crotch.

Jones would score in transition and from the perimeter. He would defend. He would be a good-news guy.

Now to see what that gets him near the end of the season. Growing five or six inches wouldn’t hurt the cause either--O’Neal is the only true center among the 10.

“I don’t think he’s a lock, I don’t think he’s off for sure,” is how one member of the selection committee assessed Jones’ chances. “But he may be off by a couple of years.”

Meaning 2000 in Sydney may be a better bet than 1998 in Athens.

As for O’Neal, he’s already done 1994 in Toronto for the World Championships and ’96 for the Olympics. Now he says he’s just done.

Probably.

“It could change down the line,” he said.

Or it could not.

“Maybe 50-50,” O’Neal said. “Right now, though, it’s like, no, I’ve been there. I’ve been on Dream Team II and III and I’ve won on that level. I’m trying to win on this level right here.”

The NBA. Jones is with him in that quest. It’s just that he’d like to be with O’Neal on another in the off-season.