Jason Kidd has made sure to get away some this summer, but his offseason never steers completely clear of basketball. This one just happens to be bigger than most.

Kidd has joined Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and the rest of USA Basketball men's national team to resume preparation for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. Kidd is the starting point guard for Team USA, a once-proud international dynasty that hasn't won a gold medal since 2000.

The Americans haven't finished first in the last three major competitions -- the 2002 and 2006 World Championships, and the 2004 Olympics. Kidd represents a link to the team's glorious past. He's 44-0 with USA across his chest, and helped captain the last gold medalist in Sydney eight years ago.

Kidd, 35, isn't interested in smudging his legacy now.

"I'm taking this very seriously," he said recently. "We all are."

Team USA is made up of a lot of guys used to being leaders on their teams. Kidd, though, has been cast in the role of leading the leaders.

"Just being the oldest -- older, I should say -- and just the experience of playing international ball, I think you can put me in that position," he said.

"The one thing I can share with the guys about the gold medal is it's not easy. The world has gotten better and you can see that with the performances we've had the past couple of years."

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