As the reigning gold medalists, Team USA is automatically qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. There will not be any competitive games for Team USA this year. An intersquad scrimmage next Thursday August 13 is as good as it gets.
Two two hour practice sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, a scrimmage Thursday. That’s it for Team USA this calendar year.
Be that as it may, USA Basketball chief Jerry Colangelo has let it be known that in order to get a place on the 2016 team, you have to show up in Vegas.
To that end, a handful of players will be there without participating fully, including injured players like Kevin Love and superstars like LeBron James. It remains to be seen how active Chris Paul will be.
Team USA has an embarrassment of riches, needing to choose a 12 man roster for Rio from 34 candidates in Vegas this week. Even allowing that newbies like Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter-Williams have no chance, it’s still going to be insanely difficult to get this group down to 12. (Oh, and the pool could always grow beyond 34, despite what Colangelo says.
Imagine for instance that Karl Anthony-Towns dominates in the NBA as a rookie the way Anthony Davis did. Don’t be surprised if a couple of names are slipped into the pool next summer.)
Why will it be so difficult to choose a team? Start with the fact that there are nine players in camp with Olympic experience and another nine with World Cup/Championship experience.
So just choosing from players that have already represented Team USA, you’ve got 18 players vying for 12 spots — and that list omits two more players who made teams but missed competitions because of injury (Blake Griffin for the 2012 Olympics and Paul George for the 2014 Worlds). So you’ve essentially got 20 Gold-medalists in camp.
Most of the other 14 can be assumed to be long shots. Colangelo has made it a habit to reward loyalty, so if the vets want to play, they probably will. Of the players without prior Team USA experience, only Kawhi Leonard would seem to have a legitimate shot.
Draymond Green could be the designated energy guy and his ability to guard almost anyone would make him a great choice from a basketball perspective, but here’s hoping that USA Basketball realizes that his antics will not play well on an international stage and passes on him.)
DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers would slot nicely into the vacatedTyson Chandler role, but as one of only two bigs in camp without prior competitive experience with the team, I just don’t see him getting the nod. It’s not DJ’s fault that Team USA picked Andre Drummond over him in 2014, but they did, and I see them doubling down on Drummond if they want an athletic rim protector.
And then there’s Dwight Howard, who hasn’t been on Team USA since the 2008 Olympics, but who may nonetheless be rewarded for prior Olympic experience. There’s not room for more than one terrible free throw shooter on the team, so it will come down to (at most) one guy from those three. That’s not likely to end well for DJ.
(Jordan was terrific in this showcase two years ago, and has far outperformed Drummond and even Howard in the two intervening NBA seasons, though Howard has admittedly been hurt. If Colangelo et al put more stock in NBA performance, and if DJ continues to shine with the Clippers, it will of course improve DJ’s chances.)
How USA Basketball handles the experience question will be key.Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James have been around since the 2004 Olympics (the last Olympic tournament Team USA did not win) and CP3 and Howard were there for the 2006 Worlds (the last major tournament the team did not win).
Saving face is incredibly important in this entire process, which is why you always end up with so many “injury” scratches. If Colangelo and his coaching staff are going to cut a superstar, that superstar almost always withdraws from consideration with some “injury” before the ax actually falls.
When the time comes next year, some things will sort themselves out. Maybe LeBron and CP3 will opt for rest at the age of 31. Some players will no doubt legitimately be injured. But it’s going to be a crowded field no matter what happens.
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