After watching the team of NBA stars that he helped choose fizzle to a sixth-place finish in the World Basketball Championships a couple of months ago, Kevin O'Connor believes he understands what Team USA needs to succeed at the 2004 Olympics.
   
He will watch them play tonight against Minnesota, in fact.
   
John Stockton and Karl Malone already own two gold medals apiece for representing their country in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Maybe that, as much as their ages, has kept the Jazz veterans from being widely mentioned as potential members of the team that will try to defend the gold in Athens.
   
Don't overlook the old guys, O'Connor urges.