Kevin Love eager to represent US at London Games - KMSP-TV

Source: FOX Sports

NEW YORK -- It's 100 degrees in New York City, and Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love has barely slept a wink.

He's just hours removed from shooting an interview for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in Los Angeles on Tuesday night and is mere minutes from getting off a plane at JFK airport Wednesday morning.

He's dressed in standard 20-something hipster gear -- the plaid blue shirt, the designer tennis shoes -- and he's making the rounds at a Samsung event, where he's one of five national spokespersons.

As hot and as tired and as overextended as Love might be on this June scorcher in the Big Apple, his mind is focused on another city next month.

"I can't wait for London," Love says with a giant grin during a rare moment away from the cameras and the hundreds of hoopheads in attendance at the Galaxy S III launch event in TriBeCa.

"During the NBA season, my mind's always on the task at hand. 'Who are we playing tonight? Who am I covering?' But now, it's on the opportunity to play in London, and I am just really excited for the opportunity to represent the USA on the basketball court in the Summer Games," Love said.

Love hasn't been promised a roster spot yet, but it's all but guaranteed that he'll be one of the big men playing for 2012 version of the Dream Team. Filling out the 12-man roster, there are a handful of locks to make the squad, but there's not the same size that filled out the 2008 or even 1992 outfits. Insert Kevin Love, the 6-foot-10 center?

"Coach K's asked me a few times if I could play up there, and I've told him, 'C'mon, Coach, you know I can play up there," Love says, referring to USA Olympic coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"I'll just have to continue to prove myself and that's something I've done my entire career," he added.

Love has long desired to play for Team USA, but that yearning's not directly linked to the Dream Team in Barcelona. Though Kobe Bryant already was entering high school when Larry, Magic, and MJ rolled over the competition in the '92 Games, Love was only three years old. He has no real nostalgia for the legendary squad.

"I was a little bit young then," he says. "I didn't get to watch the [NBA TV] documentary yet, but I am looking forward to watching that. I saw some of the footage, but that's it, really."

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