Kobe Bryant, LeBron James head Olympic basketball team

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and its leading scorer, headed the 12-man U.S. Olympic basketball team named on Monday for the Beijing Olympics.

Premier point guard Chris Paul was also included in the squad, which the U.S. Olympic Committee hopes will reverse a trend of disappointing results for American teams in recent international competitions.

Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball and chairman of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, said the emphasis was on building a team that would play well together, rather than collecting NBA all-stars.

"It's already been proven that a group of all-stars does not necessarily ensure that you're going to win," he said at a press conference.

"You need scorers, you need size, you need distributors, you need role players and we've stayed true to that."

The team features six guards and five forwards with Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic the only regular center named in the team.

The U.S. team's head coach Mike Krzyzewski said the emphasis was on speed and versatility.

He added that team defense will decide whether the U.S. team can win the gold medal, and said three point guards were selected so the U.S. team could win that critical match-up every game.