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By InsideHoops.com

USA basketball senior team practices for the Americas Olympic Qualifying tournament have begun in New York. Stars on the team include Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Elton Brand and Tim Duncan. The U.S. team has an exhibition game against Puerto Rico in New York on August 15. The tournament is in Puerto Rico and begins on August 20. This interview with Carter was recorded right after the first day of practice. Questions were from a few different reporters.

Question: Talk about how you felt when...

Vince Carter: Happy to be here.

Question: ...when you got your invitation to...

Vince Carter: Happy to be here. So, I'm indifferent. As long as I can put this on and play and run up and down with these guys, that's all that matters. I don't care how I got here. In the books, when you look at it 10 or 20 years from now, it's not not going say how he got here, it's going to say he's here and he represented the team. So, that's my goal, just to play well. That's what matters, and now that I'm here, what I'm going to do about it.

Question: In a conference call, Larry Brown said that if we didn't have Vince on the team in 2000 we probably wouldn't have won the gold medal.

Vince Carter: It means a lot coming from him. He's a guy I respect. He's also a Carolina guy, so I really respect him. But I just play hard. I'm not worried about what the past brought. If anybody here... if you (journalists) injured your hand or your speech where you couldn't talk, they'd talk bad about you because you're not doing your job. That's just the way it goes, and it's unfortunate that it's happened to me, but I'm the same person, and when I come back and play well, things will be back to normal and nobody will have anything to say. I'm a confident person, I feel confident about my game and what I can do for this team and for the Toronto Raptors. So, I'm just going to come back and play.

Question: And things were bad for the Raptors as well, lots of other injuries and changes, etc.

Vince Carter: You're exactly right. And, it's a new season, new things, new staff, new guys and new attitude, so I think it's going to bring good things.

Question: In sports and NBA entertainment, when you're the biggest name, things tend to focus on you, when things go wrong...

Vince Carter: I can take it. I've been in the gym, my shoulders are heavy enough to take it all. I don't mind. There's not a thing that any of you guys can say bad about me that would hurt my feelings... I'm not coming at you, what I'm saying is that, I'm willing to take that heat for my team, if we're playing well or if we're not playing well. It's my fault, it's not my fault, I'll take that blame, that's what I'm saying, I'm not particularly coming at you. What I'm saying is, I'm prepared to handle all that weight, because I just want the best for my team.

Question: Healthy?

Vince Carter: I'm healthy, ready to go.

Question: What kind of pressure do you think is on the U.S. team to perform extremely well?

Vince Carter: No pressure. This is something we love. They've put together an unbelievable team, if you look down the line. The biggest pressure I think is for us to play together, more than anything. And that's going to happen. We have a wonderful coach in Coach Brown and his staff, who is fine-tuning that today - making sure we play together, make sure it's just like, we don't stand around and give the ball and say "your turn, your turn." We have a goal and that is to make it to the finals, and get back into the Olympics, and win it again. I guess the pressure comes by us making sure we win convincingly. To us, that's the pressure. It's a wonderful thing to be here, but I think just playing together is the biggest key.