CHICAGO - Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski won't be heavily involved -- "not too much," he said -- in the day-to-day work involved in a search for a new athletics director at Duke.

It was clear why on Tuesday as the coach and Jerry Colangelo, U.S. men's senior national team executive director, tried to explain how they'll choose the 12 NBA stars who will try to reclaim the gold medal for the United States at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

It won't be easy. The toughest choice will be at the point guard spot, where Detroit's Chauncey Billups, Utah's Deron Williams, Dallas' Jason Kidd and New Orleans' Chris Paul are jockeying for three of 12 spots.

Billups has said he hopes the roster doesn't change from the one the U.S. used last summer in Las Vegas to win the gold medal of the FIBA Americas Championship and qualify for Beijing. That lineup included Billups, Kidd, Williams, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Paul, who played at Wake Forest, was a member of the 2006 world championships team that won a bronze medal in Japan.

Krzyzewski and Colangelo said players who have previously participated in competition or training camps have built up "equity" that will give them an edge in the selection process.

Krzyzewski said he thought the U.S would need three point guards in Beijing. Paul was recovering from foot surgery and could not play in 2007. Kidd and Williams were added to the U.S. roster last summer because the U.S. needed bigger guards.

Paul's size does work against him, but he can make a case if the Hornets end up facing Kidd and Dallas in the NBA playoffs.

Though there are 33 names on the national team roster, only up to 18 players will be invited to the selection camp, Colangelo said. Twelve, with three alternates, will be announced as the Olympic team on June 30.

Cleveland's James, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Miami's Dwyane Wade, all 2004 Olympians, are the new young leaders on the team. Along with Kidd, who is undefeated in international play, and Bryant, all appear to have roster spots if they want them and are healthy.

Wade, a 2006 world championships team member who has been resting his ailing left knee since a shock-wave treatment on March 12, may not be ready. He is eager for another shot and went to Vegas to support the U.S. at the FIBA qualifier last summer, even sitting with the coaching staff on the bench for several games.

"We're also curious to know where he is physically," Colangelo said. "We know he's rehabbing. We intend to have some dialogue with him soon. ... We might not know until [June]."

Other spots will be filled with players who can fill roles -- such as Detroit's Tayshaun Prince, Toronto's Chris Bosh, Houston's Shane Battier, Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire and Orlando's Dwight Howard -- and shooters such as Milwaukee's Michael Redd and Memphis's Mike Miller.

Krzyzewski is not concerned that 21 of 33 national team members probably will be in the NBA playoffs in the coming weeks.

"We'll evaluate everything," he said. "We want to also see what everyone does in their own environment. We don't want to have a system where they're not doing instinctive things. We'll watch the NBA playoffs, too. That's at the highest level. ... The longer our guys go in the playoffs, the better. They'll be in incredible shape. They'll need rest, but they're all committed to this."