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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, Elton Brand, Jermaine O'Neal and Tim Duncan. The U.S. team has an exhibition game against Puerto Rico in New York on August 17. The tournament is in Puerto Rico and begins on August 20. InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner and two other reporters conducted this interview with Jermaine O'Neal right after a practice scrimmage against the Puerto Rico team.

Question: Talk about getting to know your teammates and having fun in this.

Jermaine O'Neal: Getting to know them as a person I think is the biggest and best part of it all. Hanging out with these guys, having dinner with them; we're so competitive during the season we don't get an opportunity to hang out with each other, but now we've been hanging out with each other, playing video games, and it's been like one big family, so I think that's the best thing I've been getting out of this so far. So hopefully after this, after we win the games down in Puerto Rico, the ultimate goal is to get a gold medal.

Question: Anyone in particular that you've gotten close to?

Jermaine O'Neal: So far it's been me, Allen (Iverson), Vince (Carter) and Tracy (McGrady). We've been hanging out pretty tough. A lot of funny guys. Karl Malone was even funnier than I thought he was. On the court he's more serious, he's more laid back, more business-like, but he's a comedien. Unfortunately, his mother passed away, I give him my condolences, I wish he could be here, but everything's been a great experience for me so far.

Question: How did it feel to getting that first game out of the way? (A scrimmage took place between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. This was not the exhibition game.)

Jermaine O'Neal: It felt really good to kind of team up with everybody and get some new looks out there, some new faces, rather than killing each other and banging each other, but overall I think it was a pretty good scrimmage. There are some things we need to work on as a team, and I think as times goes, we'll be a lot better.

Question: So was the scrimmage a positive step?

Jermaine O'Neal: I think it's definitely a positive step. You really don't know how things will pan out until you play another team. You can't really judge your progress when you're playing each other. But I think tonight was a pretty good view of what we can do. We can really put up spurts in a hurry. If we clean up some things on defense and also some things on offense we can be really impressive.

Question: How much do you care about starting? Does it matter?

Jermaine O'Neal: No, doesn't matter. Starter, role player, bench player, doesn't matter. I think that's a problem we had last year, we worried about what we were doing individually. And you lose like that. Talent doesn't win games. A team wins games. A dedicated team, a disciplined team wins games. I don't think anyone cares whether they start or not, we're a starter on our team for 82 games; right now the ultimate goal is coming together and competing and trying to get a gold medal next year.

Question: If you had to guess at who may start at center, what would you guess?

Jermaine O'Neal: Who knows. Who knows. Coach Brown and the rest of the staff is just mixing it up. They tried a lot of different lineups today. They tried me and Timmy (Duncan) together, Elton (Brand) and Timmy together, me and Elton together, Nick is in there, Nick Collison is in there, so I don't know, I think they're trying to find the best fit.

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Question: What have the coaches told you about what you need to know about the style of play of the teams you'll be playing against?

Jermaine O'Neal: It's totally different. It's totally different than NBA basketball. You have to match every team's energy, because everybody's coming out trying to shoot us down. Even today, Puerto Rico came out hot as a pistol, shooting, so we have to be able to go out, absorb the blows, continue to do what we do best, and compete hard.

Question: And today, what did you see from the opponents as far as little things go, the style of pick and roll, team movement, etc.?

Jermaine O'Neal: In the NBA you get a lot of individual one-on-one, in international play you can't do that. You got to be able to set a screen, roll, find the open play. It's so crowded, because you're running two-three zones, and you have to be really smart with it.