FanHouse Jerry Colangelo

It got to the point when all Danny Ainge and his family could do to keep sane was laugh.

So Ainge's teenage nephew, Owen Toolson, offered up a knock-knock joke.

"Knock, knock,'' he said to his uncle.

"Who's there?''

"Owen.''

"Owen who.''

"Owen-13.''

Ainge, you see, coached the Phoenix Suns in 1996-97, and they got off to a 0-13 start. But even Ainge got a kick out of that joke.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh might want to wait. Jerry Colangelo is willing to let them do so.

James, Wade and Bosh all can become free agents next summer, which has clouded their chances of playing for Team USA in the World Championships in Turkey, Aug. 28-Sept. 12. But Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball, sees a scenario in which the three still could play even if they might not be available for the team's minicamp in Las Vegas during the third week of July.

"There is a gap between the minicamp and when they have to be back [for a training camp beginning in Las Vegas around Aug. 10],'' Colangelo said in an interview Monday with FanHouse. "That's about three weeks. I could see them getting all their business done by then.''

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee is cutting costs. With that being no secret, guard Michael Redd doesn't deny there is a possibility he could be traded before his contract expires in the summer of 2011.

But that's not what Redd wants.

"Oh yeah, absolutely,'' Redd said Thursday in an interview with FanHouse about wanting to remain with the Bucks through the life of his deal. "I've been here for 10 years. So I've enjoyed my time here, man, and the team keeps getting better.''

Redd, 30, is making $17.04 million this season and has an $18.3 million early-termination option for next season. It would be a shock if Redd, who has played his entire career with the Bucks since entering the NBA in 2000, opted out.

DENVER -- Chris Bosh said his contract situation could prevent him from playing for Team USA in next year's World Championships. But another big man off the 2008 gold-medal winning Olympic team has no such reservations.

Utah forward Carlos Boozer told FanHouse on Wednesday morning he wants to play for Team USA in Turkey, and his contract situation has no bearing on it.

"I definitely would love to play if I get invited,'' said Boozer, a free agent next summer. "Not at all (will Boozer's contract situation affect his decision to play). If I've got a chance to put USA on my chest again, I'll do it in a heartbeat. The contract stuff will take care of itself.''

Carmelo Anthony has committed to play in the World Championships in Turkey next year, the Denver Nuggets star told FanHouse on Tuesday.

Anthony said he made up his mind late last season that he wanted to return to Team USA for the event after winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008. He told USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo that, but Colangelo didn't consider his answer binding until the two spoke earlier this month at the Hall of Fame inductions in Springfield, Mass.

"I just told Jerry that I was down,'' said Anthony, who also reiterated to FanHouse on Tuesday his desire to play in the 2012 Olympics in London. "He asked me again. I just told him that I was in. There wasn't really nothing to it. He asked me what I thought. He asked me about the team. I told him I was in.''

In August 2004, Team USA played a pair of exhibition games in Turkey before heading to Athens for the Olympics. One morning, seven miles from the team's hotel in Istanbul, two bombs went off, killing two and wounding 11.

The incident summed up the 2004 Olympic team. Numerous top players had dropped out before the Games due to terrorism threats. As for those who did make the trip overseas, they, well, bombed.

Team USA settled for a disappointing bronze medal in Athens. But that set the stage for the Jerry Colangelo era.

Colangelo, now USA Basketball's chairman, rebuilt how American international teams are chosen and brought back enthusiasm that had waned following Dream Team I in the 1992 Olympics and Dream Team II in the 1994 World Championships.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Wednesday, there are 69 days remaining.

It's been 40 years since Phoenix Suns executive Jerry Colangelo last called "heads" in a coin flip. And it still haunts the franchise today.

When that Kennedy half-dollar landed on "tails" in the NBA office that spring day, it meant that the Milwaukee Bucks – and not the Suns – would get the No. 1 pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

It's been nearly six years since the Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series, defeating the Yankees in seven games for their first and only title. Lots of things have changed in the desert since then, including the name of the stadium, the ownership group, the team colors and logo, and the overall business plan for the team. Such change was apparently necessary, considering current ownership is still paying for the World Series team (Jerry Colangelo pictured along with Curt Schilling):

One of the key players who agreed to deferred payments and won a ring was Mark Grace, the former first baseman who now does television color commentary for the Diamondbacks.

"It wasn't fiscally endearing, maybe," Grace says of the big spending that produced a title. "I'm not going to say irresponsible. Jerry got what he paid for, a World Series champion. Was it worth it? To me, d--- right. To Jerry [Colangelo], d--- right. But when it comes to pay the piper, the banks will probably say "d--- no.' "

That debt has been reduced to $100 million but has forced a halt to pricey free-agent signings, resulting in a $52 million payroll that ranks in the bottom third.

"The economics," [managing general partner Ken] Kendrick says, "would not allow us to go for the long term with free agency as the primary focus of our business plan."

That explains why Arizona elected to let franchise icon Luis Gonzalez walk in the off-season in favor of younger, cheaper outfielders like Carlos Quentin, Chris B. Young, and Eric Byrnes. All things considered, GM Josh Byrnes is doing a good job building a competitive team that has finished well below .500 the past three seasons. And to think, they're still paying $7 million to Russ Ortiz to pitch against them on top of everything else.

Previously at FanHouse:
Russ Ortiz's $2.5 Million Start
It's a Homecoming Party for Luis Gonzalez