With the lockout in full swing, Jerry Colangelo has no doubt that he will find 15 National Basketball Association (NBA) players to put on the red, white and blue.

Speaking to NBA.com, Colangelo said: "I haven't even really started reaching out, and I'm fielding calls.

"They're calling me and they're calling me to say they're playing."

If the lockout is still ongoing for the start of next year's Olympics, it could mean a number of logistical and potentially legal nightmares.

But Colangelo is defiant and insisted: "I think it's important that people in the basketball world - fans, media - understand something very basic.

"USA Basketball is self-sustaining; it's its own entity; it is not an arm of the NBA."

The dispute, which began on July 1 when the NBA started a lockout of its players, will continue until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached with the National Basketball Players Association.

The two sides remain far apart on several financial issues, with players opposed to a new salary cap system.

During the lockout, players are not receiving their salaries; teams are not negotiating, signing or trading player contracts; players are not able to use team facilities for any purpose; and teams are not conducting or facilitating any summer camps, exhibitions, practices, workouts, coaching sessions, or team meetings.

Colangelo said he does not have a specific plan for what to do about the US roster if the lockout consumes all of the 2011-12 season and is still going when USAB has to submit a roster to basketball's international governing body, FIBA, next June.

He believes however he can put a team together from members of the 2008 Olympic gold medal team and the 2010 World Championship squad.

The 2012 roster will be comprised solely of NBA players and some like 34-year-old Kobe Bryant (pictured) and Kevin Durant, who led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2010 World Championships in Turkey, have already expressed their willingness to compete.

Others such as Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James have yet to have discussions about what they would do in case the lockout is ongoing.

Colangelo said: "I would hope people would take care of their business.

"I know all of the issues from both sides, the pros and cons.

"I have to look at it from a different perspective as chairman of USA Basketball.

"We're moving ahead; we're fielding a team.

"The only question is who's going to be on it - we have to submit a roster to FIBA by next June – we're going to have a great response to participation in 2012 from our players.

"We have the depth of players, looking at the Olympic roster and the World Championship roster, to field a team."

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