Philadelphia ? You applaud when you see the names LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. You say “about time” when you see a shooter such as Michael Redd on the list.

But once you analyze the preliminary roster for the U.S. national basketball team – and notice the omission of Allen Iverson – the nausea that instinctively kicks in should not result from the inclusion of Luke Ridnour or rookie Chris Paul over the 76ers’ dynamic superstar.

Try the name Kobe Bryant.

It may sting a little bit, but deal with it.

When you have Kobe Bryant, you don’t need another shooter or scorer. You don’t need a point guard who likes to shoot or score, either. You barely need another defender and, without question, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better winner or leader when it comes to basketball.

Of course, you’ll never hear Jerry Colangelo, the national team’s managing director, say such a thing.

Colangelo said he interviewed 36 players – and 28 accepted. What he didn’t say was that he did not interview Bryant. He asked the three-time NBA champion if he would play and, 10 minutes later, Bryant accepted.

Period.

The coach of the team is Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who happens to be the coach Bryant might have played for had he attended college, and is the same man who turned down the chance about 18 months ago to succeed Phil Jackson as the coach of the Lakers.

This team is being built around Bryant – a star fixated on the roundball like no other.

Iverson’s 72nd career 40-point game Friday, his 33.4 points-per-game average, may continue to solidify him as a future Hall of Famer, but they do nothing to make him anything other than an unfair casualty in these Olympics festivities, which is the other part of this continuing saga of untold stories.

No one would dare blame Iverson for the team’s bronze-medal finish in Athens. But while USA Basketball was very pleased with what he did in front of the cameras, they weren’t too pleased with what they perceived he did behind them.

If coach Larry Brown alienated Stephon Marbury and Carmelo Anthony, Iverson got blamed for it.

If the team shot too many jumpers, the finger was pointed at Iverson. If James sauntered into film sessions or practices late, the perception was Iverson had something to do with that, too.

On this team, you won’t see Richard Jefferson starting over Shawn Marion. Or players like James or Amare Stoudemire riding the bench. You won’t see any point guards like Marbury interested in quitting before the Games begin, demoralized before opening ceremonies.

One would think none of this should have anything to do with Iverson, considering how well he’s played over the last few years, especially since Team USA swears it’s thinking about the future, about how a player’s game will evolve over the next few years instead of where he is right now.

Evidently, though, they thought about the past as much as the future.

Commissioner David Stern would love to have Iverson on the roster, for global marketing purposes if nothing else, and still, the Sixers’ star was not invited.

It doesn’t matter what that tells the rest of us.

Only what it tells Iverson.