Yesterday USA Basketball announced their extended 20-man squad for London 2012. It will be narrowed down to 12 in June just before the team heads off to the United Kingdom with golden destiny on their mind.
Off the back of a dominant gold medal winning effort in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the USA went through a winless lull for the next three major international tournaments, and it wasn’t until the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games that the USA were once again at the top of basketball’s pecking order. They backed up that win with another emphatic victory at the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.
This includes 10 members of the Beijing 2008 ‘Redeem Team’ and eight members of the 2010 FIBA World Championships team.
The squad, coached by Mike Krzyzewski is as follows:
LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers); Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks); Chauncey Billups (Los Angeles Clippers); Chris Bosh (Miami Heat); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Tyson Chandler (New York Knicks); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (New Orleans Hornets); Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); LeBron James (Miami Heat); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Dallas Mavericks); Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat);Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder); and Deron Williams (New Jersey Nets).
As I did a couple of months ago with the Australian team, I am going to try and get inside ‘Coack K’s’ head and pull together how I think the final 12-man Team USA roster should look like in London.
C – Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic)
“All Night Dwight” is a lock for the starting center position in this squad. He is undoubtedly the best in the business at the position and no one in the international game can stack up to his size.
PF – Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Love is a great compliment to Howard in the starting lineup. He’s a hard core defender and the best rebounder in the game. A great asset to have looking at the other pieces in the squad. He won’t be brought upon at the offensive end to shoot too often with the other players around him.
SF – Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Durant was the tournament MVP in Turkey two years ago and is one of the frontrunners to take out the NBA’s top gong this season. He’s a natural scorer and a great team player. Two things that ‘Coach K’ will be looking at. His length also makes him a great guy to have guarding the lanes on the defensive end.
SG – Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)
‘The Renaissance Man’ of the NBA at the moment will be a shoe in to make the final 12-man roster. But it would be entirely up to him. Kobe may decide not to go to London as he will more than likely be needing surgery during the off season on his weary 33-year-old body.
One thing that may have his eyes firmly on London is the fact that the man that he is compared to the most, Michael Jordan, has two Olympic gold medals to Kobe’s one.
PG – Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls)
The reigning NBA MVP also had a great tournament in Turkey where he showed off his court leadership on the international stage. He’s the best point guard in the game. Even though it seems like he’s a ‘shoot first’ point guard, he’s also very unselfish when he’s got players around him such as Bryant, Durant, Howard, James and Wade who can get the job done better than he can.
The rest:
6 – LeBron James (Miami Heat)
7 – Dwayne Wade (Miami Heat)
8 – Chris Bosh (Miami Heat)
Miami’s ‘big three’ are a great combo to have off the bench. They already have a good chemistry with each other and the fact that they would be able to easily combine in what will be a short training camp to prepare for London, ‘Coach K’ would more than likely pick all three of them.
Having the three of them come off the bench to take on the weaker reserves of their opponents would send shivers down the spines of the opposition coaches.
9 – Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers)
Paul is arguably the best pure point guard in the NBA and will be a shoe in for this side. Teaming him up with ‘the big three’ from Miami makes for a scary bench force.
10 – Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers)
AI6 is having a great season where his Philadelphia 76ers have been the surprise packet of the NBA so far this season. Igoudala has shown leadership skills and the ability to work as an offensive piece rather than a number one scoring option that ‘Coach K’ will love to have as a part of his squad.
11 – Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks)
Nicknamed ‘Captain America’ after being the undeniable leader of the 2006 World Championships campaign, he also showed great leadership skills in the 2008 Olympic team also. In previous Team USA lineups he has been used at both small and power forwards. Along with his experience (he’s the most capped player in the squad) he will definitely be a major consideration for ‘Coach K’.
12 – Deron Williams (New Jersey Nets)
For the third backup point guard in the squad ‘Coach K’ can pick from Billups, Westbrook and Williams. Westbrook probably won’t come into consideration because of his inability to have selfish streaks, something that has plagued Team USA in previous incarnations. Billups and Williams both have their pro’s and cons and are both very good choices, however the flat out talent of Williams should see him get the nod.
Other considerations:
Blake Griffin, Tyson Chandler, LaMarcus Aldridge. These three will all miss out on the fact that ‘Coach K’ tends to name guard and small forward heavy squads. Having Howard, Love, Bosh and Anthony playing down low means that the squad doesn’t need to name another center or power forward.
Lamar Odom, I believe will miss out on the squad purely because of how he has been playing this year since he moved from the Lakers to Dallas. He’s out of shape and doesn’t have the killer instinct that we’ve seen from him in recent seasons. His ability to be a great piece off the bench may see him relegate Anthony or Igoudala out of the final roster, however, I see this as unlikely at this point in time.
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